Rhaena abandons Maegor and joins Jaehaerys

Rhaena Targaryen’s defection gave Jaehaerys Targaryen’s claim a powerful new ally at a moment when the realm was beginning to divide against King Maegor. She flew to join her brother on Dreamfyre, taking her daughter Aerea and Blackfyre, stolen from the king’s own scabbard. Her departure transformed Jaehaerys’s cause from a challenge backed by two dragonriders into one with three, while making plain the break between Rhaena and the uncle she had been forced to marry.

The challenge at Storm’s End

At Storm’s End, Lord Rogar Baratheon had proclaimed the fourteen-year-old Jaehaerys the true and lawful king. Jaehaerys named Rogar Protector of the Realm and Hand of the King, while his mother, Queen Alyssa, and his sister Alysanne stood beside him as he unsheathed Dark Sister and vowed to end his uncle’s rule. Jaehaerys rode Vermithor, and Alysanne commanded Silverwing; Rogar presented the prince’s two dragons as a source of strength to the assembled stormlords.

The gathering was not merely a declaration: a hundred banner lords and stormland knights cheered it. When word of Jaehaerys’s mustering reached the Red Keep, Rhaena’s decision to join him added another dragon and another member of the royal family to the opposing cause.

Rhaena’s departure

Rhaena mounted Dreamfyre and flew to Storm’s End, abandoning King Maegor, the uncle she had been compelled to wed. She took Aerea with her. The account also records a consequential object among her belongings: Blackfyre, which she had stolen from the king’s scabbard while he slept. Her departure therefore carried both a personal and a dynastic rupture into Jaehaerys’s camp, along with the sword associated with the king she had left behind.

The chronicle marks the change in the balance of dragonriders with the terse observation that Jaehaerys’s side soon had three dragons. Rhaena’s arrival made her allegiance visible and immediate: she brought Dreamfyre into the struggle, rather than merely expressing support from afar.

Maegor’s response and the wider division

King Maegor’s response was described as sluggish and confused. He ordered the Grand Maester to summon his loyal lords and bannermen to King’s Landing, only to learn that Grand Maester Benifer had already sailed for Pentos. After discovering that Aerea had gone, Maegor sent a rider to Oldtown demanding the death of her twin, Rhaella, as punishment for her mother’s betrayal. Lord Hightower imprisoned the messenger instead.

Rhaena’s defection unfolded amid a broader collapse of support for Maegor, rather than in isolation. Two Kingsguard disappeared and joined Jaehaerys; Lord Velaryon declared for the prince, costing Maegor the royal fleet; and major houses, including the Tyrells, Hightowers, Redwynes, Lannisters, Arryns, and Royces, came out against the king. The contrast between Rhaena’s purposeful flight and Maegor’s disordered summons captures the widening political split, without making her departure the sole cause of the defections around it.