House Velaryon

House Velaryon was a Valyrian-descended house based on Driftmark whose ships and strategic position made it one of the Targaryens’ most consequential allies. Its history in the account is shaped by two related forms of power: control of sea routes and access to the royal court. The house helped connect Dragonstone to the wider realm through trade and naval service, and its fleets remained important long after the Targaryens had conquered Westeros.

Origins and Maritime Power

For centuries before the Doom of Valyria, Driftmark and Dragonstone occupied a strategic stretch of the Narrow Sea. House Velaryon’s ships, together with those of another allied Valyrian house, dominated the central waters, while the Targaryens commanded the skies with their dragons. The Gullet’s position gave the lords of Dragonstone leverage over shipping into Blackwater Bay; House Velaryon shared in the wealth generated by passing trade. Its standing was therefore not simply a matter of ancestry or courtly rank: ships, harbors, and access to a busy sea lane formed a material basis for its influence.

The relationship between House Velaryon and House Targaryen was close before the Conquest. House Velaryon was sworn to the Targaryens, and its representatives attended when Aegon summoned his friends, bannermen, and principal allies to Dragonstone before announcing that Westeros would have one king. The gathering was small, but the house’s presence placed it among the supporters who stood with Aegon at the start of his campaign. Its allegiance connected the nascent royal cause to a seafaring power already established in the waters around Dragonstone.

Royal Service and Dynastic Ties

After Aegon had taken castles and secured both sides of the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, he confirmed defeated lords in their lands and titles while rewarding his own supporters with offices. Daemon Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, became master of ships and commander of the royal fleet. The appointment gave House Velaryon a central place in the new monarchy’s maritime administration, turning an old alliance into a formal instrument of royal government.

The connection was reinforced by marriage. In 22 AC, Prince Aenys married Alyssa Velaryon, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Aethan Velaryon, Lord of the Tides and Aegon’s lord admiral and master of ships. Alyssa shared the prince’s silvery hair and purple eyes, reflecting her family’s Valyrian descent. Since Aegon’s mother was also a Velaryon, the marriage was regarded as one between cousins. It soon proved both happy and fruitful: Alyssa gave birth to Rhaena the following year. The match thus joined the houses through kinship as well as political service, and placed a Velaryon woman at the heart of the royal family.

The dynasty’s reliance on House Velaryon recurred in later generations. During the succession crisis after King Viserys’s death, Ser Otto Hightower considered the support of Corlys Velaryon and his fleets likely to be a major advantage for Princess Rhaenyra. The Velaryon alliance was not merely a courtly endorsement: a fleet of sufficient strength could change the balance of power at sea. Prince Daemon’s plans for Rhaenyra’s cause accordingly included a Velaryon blockade of the Gullet, with Corlys commanding the ships and Princess Rhaenys flying above them to deter a dragon attack. The fleet was intended to close Blackwater Bay to shipping while the allies sought support among the great lords.

Corlys Velaryon and the Struggle for Driftmark

Corlys Velaryon’s influence continued into the aftermath of the civil war. After his role in the conflict, he did not deny his guilt when accused of helping end the bloodshed. Although Cregan Stark condemned him, Corlys had friends and supporters who appealed for his life, including Baela and Rhaena. Aegon agreed to spare him and restore his offices and honors, including a place on the small council. His return to royal service showed that his standing could survive political rupture: the old Sea Snake remained valuable to the crown even after the struggle had made his actions a matter of judgment.

Corlys died in King’s Landing on the sixth day of the third moon of 132 AC, aged seventy-nine. After lying in state beneath the Iron Throne for seven days, his remains were taken to Driftmark aboard the Mermaid’s Kiss. They were then placed aboard the battered hull of the ancient Sea Snake and carried into deep water east of Dragonstone for burial at sea. The account records a later tale that the Cannibal flew above the sinking ship in salute, while cautioning that the story was probably an embellishment. The funeral’s central image is less uncertain: Corlys was buried aboard the vessel that had given him his name, returning the great seafarer to the maritime world through which he had built his power.

His chosen heir, Alyn Velaryon, faced claims from surviving members of Corlys’s wider family. Ser Vaemond Velaryon’s widow and sons, along with other nephews, disputed Alyn’s right to Driftmark. Their challenge made the succession more than a private family matter: control of the house also meant control of its wealth and formidable fleets. The episode underscores how the maritime strength that elevated House Velaryon also made its inheritance a consequential issue for the crown and the realm.

Fleet, Politics, and Continuing Influence

The scale of House Velaryon’s naval resources is especially clear in Alyn’s later dealings with the royal government. When the crown sought to intervene in the Stepstones, Unwin Peake asked Alyn to assemble the fleets of Driftmark. Alyn bristled at the assumption that they could be directed by another commander, but nevertheless brought together sixty war galleys, thirty longships, and more than a hundred cogs and great cogs to meet the royal fleet. A dispute over who would command the Velaryon squadrons followed: Gedmund Peake sent Alyn authorization to take command in recognition of his experience, and Alyn refused the appointment with a cutting reply. The exchange exposed the tension between the crown’s claim to direct a royal campaign and the practical authority of the lord who controlled the ships.

House Velaryon’s sea power remained useful to royal policy beyond that expedition. During the campaign against the Vale rebellion, the Hand chose to obtain ships from House Velaryon rather than rely on the royal fleet commanded by Gedmund Peake; Alyn was to command the naval attack himself. This reliance showed that the Velaryon fleet was not an incidental supplement but a distinct military resource the crown might need to request and negotiate for.

Alyn also sought to restore the family’s fortunes through commerce. After the Velaryons entrusted much of their gold to Lotho Rogare and lost more than half their wealth, Alyn prepared a large merchant fleet protected by twelve war galleys. He intended to sail to Old Volantis by way of Pentos, Tyrosh, and Lys, returning by way of Dorne. The voyage joined commercial recovery to the house’s established maritime capabilities. Across generations, House Velaryon’s place in Westerosi politics rested on this combination: dynastic closeness to the Targaryens, service at court, and a fleet powerful enough to make its cooperation—and the question of who commanded it—matter to kings and their rivals alike.