Corlys and Rhaenyra's political alliance

Corlys and Rhaenyra's political alliance was a central source of strength for her claim to the Iron Throne: House Velaryon supplied wealth and naval power, while Corlys brought political counsel and, after a rupture, renewed service as Hand of the Queen. The alliance was never merely a shared position against Aegon II. Its course—from a pledge of support through grief and accusation to renewed cooperation and disagreement over the terms of victory—shows how military necessity and personal loss could pull the same partnership in opposite directions.

Formation and Political Weight

When Rhaenyra’s supporters gathered on Dragonstone after Aegon II’s accession, Corlys Velaryon was the most powerful lord to stand with her. His presence beside his wife, Princess Rhaenys, gave the Black council more than another name among its adherents: Corlys commanded the resources and fleets of House Velaryon. The council nevertheless understood that it began from a position of weakness. The forces of its assembled lords could not match those available to the Hightowers, and Aegon held the capital, the Iron Throne, and several of the realm’s richest cities. His coronation and male claim also made his authority appear legitimate to many observers.

Rhaenyra’s advantages were different. Older lords might remember their oaths to her as her father’s chosen heir, and House Velaryon’s wealth could help compensate for the treasury Aegon had taken. Most important to the immediate contest, Corlys’s fleet gave her superiority at sea. This made the alliance a practical counterweight to the Greens’ territorial and financial strength, not simply an expression of loyalty. Its value also depended on Corlys and Rhaenyra coordinating decisions: the fleet could carry out a strategy only if the queen and her principal naval ally agreed on where it should be used.

Shared Strategy at the Outset of War

The first plans made the alliance’s military function explicit. The Black council decided that Corlys would command the Velaryon fleet as it moved from Dragonstone and Driftmark to close the Gullet and block shipping into or out of Blackwater Bay. Princess Rhaenys was to fly above the ships, deterring attacks by enemy dragons. At the same time, Daemon Targaryen would lead an assault on Harrenhal, seeking a mainland foothold from which Rhaenyra’s supporters in the riverlands could gather. The plan joined Corlys’s strength at sea to Daemon’s campaign on land, while keeping Rhaenyra on Dragonstone as she recovered.

That division of responsibilities reflected the alliance’s broader importance. The Velaryon fleet could pressure King’s Landing without attempting to take its defenses by storm, while the council hoped to provoke Aegon into a rash response and win additional lords to Rhaenyra’s side. Corlys’s command was therefore part of a strategy that treated control of the sea, the gathering of allies, and the security of Dragonstone as connected problems. The relationship helped turn Rhaenyra’s claim into a coordinated war effort, even though it could not remove the risks inherent in relying on a powerful partner whose own family would bear the cost of battle.

Bereavement and Rupture

The alliance was badly strained by the deaths of Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys and Princess Rhaenys. When news reached Dragonstone that Rhaenys had fallen, Corlys blamed Rhaenyra for her death. He argued that she should have answered Lord Staunton’s summons herself rather than leaving Rhaenys to respond, and pointed out that Rhaenyra had forbidden her sons to join the mission. Jacaerys and Joffrey had wanted to fly with Rhaenys to Rook’s Rest, but had not been allowed to do so.

His accusation arose amid several losses and pressures at once. Lucerys’s death had devastated Rhaenyra, who had already endured pregnancy, labor, and stillbirth; Rhaenys’s death then struck at Corlys’s own household. The dispute thus brought political responsibility into direct collision with grief. For Corlys, the queen’s decision had left his wife to face danger without the support he believed could have been provided. For Rhaenyra, the account records the exchange of angry words but does not describe a settled resolution at that moment. The rupture mattered because the alliance’s ships and counsel remained important even as the trust between its leading figures was under strain.

Renewed Service and the Question of Mercy

Jacaerys soon brought Corlys back into Rhaenyra’s service by naming him Hand of the Queen. The appointment marked renewed political cooperation: Corlys and the prince began planning an assault on King’s Landing. It also restored Corlys to a position where he could advise the queen at the highest level, after the crisis surrounding Rhaenys’s death had exposed the fragility of their partnership.

Later, Corlys used that position to urge a negotiated end to the conflict. With a large southron army advancing and Rhaenyra’s position under pressure, he proposed pardons for Lords Baratheon, Hightower, and Lannister if they submitted, swore fealty, and provided hostages. He also suggested placing Dowager Queen Alicent and Queen Helaena under the Faith’s care, and making Helaena’s daughter, Jaehaera, his ward. In time, Jaehaera might marry Rhaenyra’s son Aegon the Younger, joining the divided branches of House Targaryen through marriage.

Rhaenyra’s response exposed the limits of the accord between queen and Hand. She challenged the possibility of sparing her half-brothers Aegon II and Aemond, whom she blamed for taking her throne and killing her sons. Corlys urged that they be sent to the Wall, but Daemon rejected this approach, arguing that pardons would invite further rebellions. He favored killing the opposing leaders and destroying the great houses that supported them; Corlys warned that destroying ancient houses such as the Lannisters and Baratheons would turn many other lords against Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra chose a middle course rather than fully accepting either man’s proposal. She would offer terms and pardons to Storm’s End and Casterly Rock, but only after dealing with Aegon’s brothers, who were still fighting against her. The decision preserved Corlys’s aim of reconciliation for some of her opponents while setting a harder limit on mercy toward those she considered most responsible for her losses. Their alliance remained a working partnership, but this debate shows it did not erase disagreement: Corlys pressed for a settlement capable of binding the realm, while the queen’s judgments were shaped by the personal and political costs of the war.