Rhaena Targaryen and Corwyn Corbray's Marriage

Rhaena Targaryen and Corwyn Corbray’s marriage joined a royal princess to a respected Vale knight at a moment when the regency council was using marriage to manage succession. The match was neither simply imposed nor merely private: the council sought a suitable husband for Rhaena, while she named Corwyn as the man she preferred. Their union connected Rhaena to House Corbray and, through her, to an increasingly consequential network of royal kin and political allies. Corwyn’s later death while serving as a regent made that connection a flashpoint in the Vale.

A Match Made Under Succession Pressure

The marriage negotiations followed Baela Targaryen’s defiant midnight flight across Blackwater Bay to marry Alyn Velaryon. The regents judged Baela unsuitable to serve as Aegon III’s heir and turned to her twin sister instead, on the condition that Rhaena marry. This placed Rhaena’s future within a political calculation: the council wanted a dynastic arrangement that would settle questions around the king’s succession, but Ser Tyland Lannister insisted that Rhaena herself be included in the discussions.

Rhaena agreed that she would marry the man chosen by the king and council, while making clear what she hoped for in a husband: kindness, gentleness, noble standing, and the ability to father children. Asked whether any of the suitors who had visited her had particularly pleased her, she said she was especially fond of Corwyn Corbray. She had first met him in the Vale while she was a ward of Lady Arryn. Her preference therefore arose from an earlier acquaintance, though the account does not describe the courtship or claim how either of them understood the match beyond these circumstances.

Corwyn Corbray and the Wedding

Corwyn was not an obvious choice by age or inheritance. At thirty-two, he was a mature man rather than a young heir; he was a second son and already had two daughters from an earlier marriage. His family standing and reputation, however, made him difficult for the regents to reject. House Corbray was ancient and honorable, and Corwyn was a renowned knight. His late father had given him Lady Forlorn, the Corbray family’s Valyrian steel sword. His brother Leowyn Corbray held the office of Protector of the Realm, adding another public connection to the match.

The council proceeded quickly: a betrothal was followed by a wedding a fortnight later. Tyland would have preferred a longer engagement, but the regents considered haste prudent in case Baela was already pregnant. The marriage thus answered an immediate political concern as well as Rhaena’s stated wish. The account does not report children of Rhaena and Corwyn, nor does it establish how the marriage developed in private; its documented significance lies instead in the choice of spouse, the speed of the arrangement, and the alliances attached to it.

Kinship and Political Connections

The marriage placed Corwyn within the royal family’s circle through Rhaena, a dragonrider and Baela’s twin. It also connected him by marriage to Alyn Oakenfist, Baela’s husband. These ties became relevant when Corwyn later joined the king’s council as a regent. When Manfryd Mooton died, the last of Aegon’s original regents to pass away, Corwyn was chosen to take his place. The appointment gave Rhaena’s husband a direct role in the government that had arranged their match.

Their marriage therefore linked several kinds of authority: Rhaena’s royal birth, Corwyn’s standing among Vale knights, his family’s place in the Vale, and his service in the regency. The account does not say that the marriage itself created Corwyn’s council appointment, but it emphasizes that he was Rhaena’s husband when he was selected. The connection between the royal household and House Corbray was consequently more than ceremonial: Corwyn acted as a royal officer in a dispute over the succession to the Vale.

Corwyn’s Death and Its Aftermath

In the Vale, Corwyn ruled that Lady Jeyne Arryn’s will should stand and declared Joffrey Arryn the rightful Lord of the Eyrie. When the rival claimants refused to accept his ruling, Corwyn imprisoned the Gilded Falcon and his sons and executed Eldric Arryn. Eldric’s father, Ser Arnold, escaped to Runestone, where he had been a squire in his youth. When Corwyn came to bring him out, Gunthor Royce rode out in his ancient bronze armor to confront the regent. Their argument escalated into threats. Corwyn drew Lady Forlorn; whether he meant to strike Gunthor or only threaten him remained uncertain. A crossbowman on Runestone’s battlements then shot Corwyn through the breast.

The killing of a royal regent was treated as treason, and Corwyn’s death reopened armed conflict across the Vale. His kinship and marriage ties sharpened the political consequences: he was uncle to Quenton Corbray, husband to Rhaena, brother-in-law to Baela, and related by marriage to Alyn Oakenfist. The Corbrays, Hunters, Craynes, and Redforts supported Joffrey Arryn, the heir Corwyn had recognized. The Royces of Runestone and Ser Arnold were joined by the Templetons, Tolletts, Coldwaters, Duttons, and lords of the Fingers and Three Sisters, while Gulltown and House Grafton continued to support the imprisoned Gilded Falcon.

Significance of the Marriage

The account gives no closing domestic scene for Rhaena and Corwyn: it records their swift wedding, Corwyn’s service as regent, and his violent death, but does not describe Rhaena’s response or her later life. That silence leaves the marriage most clearly visible through its public consequences. A union negotiated amid anxieties about the royal succession became a bridge between the crown and a powerful Vale family; when Corwyn’s judgment and death divided the Vale, the princess’s marriage made the conflict a matter of royal kinship as well as regional politics.