Aemon Targaryen and Baelon Targaryen's relationship

Aemon Targaryen and Baelon Targaryen’s relationship is presented as an unusually close brotherhood: Baelon followed Aemon from the time he could walk, copying his older brother’s pursuits so eagerly that even being deemed too young for sword training could not keep him out of the yard.

Their Different Temperaments

When Baelon was born, Aemon was two. The brothers were unlike one another in temperament. Aemon was serious, cautious, careful, and obedient; Baelon was louder and more physically spirited from infancy. Their closeness did not depend on being alike. Instead, Baelon made Aemon his model, turning the difference between them into a pattern of pursuit and imitation.

Following Aemon into the Yard

As soon as Baelon could walk, he went everywhere with Aemon and tried to imitate him. When Aemon received his first wooden sword for training, Baelon was judged too young to take part. He made a sword from a stick and rushed into the yard anyway, whacking at his brother. The episode captures the relationship in miniature: Aemon’s activities set the course, but Baelon’s determination made him a participant, despite the adults’ effort to hold him back.

Baelon’s attachment to the makeshift weapon continued beyond the yard. He carried his stick-sword everywhere, even to bed, to the dismay of his mother and her maids. The sword was both a child’s toy and an emblem of his effort to remain beside Aemon, following the older prince’s example wherever it led.

A Shared Boldness

Their differences also appeared around dragons. Aemon was initially shy around them, while Baelon showed no such hesitation: on his first visit to the Dragonpit, he reportedly struck Balerion on the snout. That daring earned Baelon the name Baelon the Brave. The contrast with Aemon’s caution extends the portrait of two distinct brothers, but does not undo their closeness: Baelon’s defining habit remained following Aemon, even as his own boldness gave him a reputation of his own.

The Fear of Rivalry

Grand Maester Benifer watched the princes closely, mindful of the bloodshed that had followed the enmity between Aenys and Maegor. He feared that the sons of Jaehaerys Targaryen might likewise turn against one another. The account explicitly dismisses that concern: few brothers could have been closer. Their childhood is thus set against the possibility of dynastic conflict, with shared play and Baelon’s constant imitation offering a striking contrast to the feared pattern of brothers becoming rivals.