Lucerys Velaryon

Lucerys Velaryon was Rhaenyra Targaryen’s second son and one of the young princes whose contested place in the succession sharpened the divide between his mother’s party and Queen Alicent Hightower’s. Known as Luke within his family, he was betrothed in childhood to Rhaena Targaryen. As a teenager, he undertook a diplomatic mission for his mother; at Storm’s End, his refusal to abandon his duties as an envoy could not prevent Aemond Targaryen from pursuing him into a storm. Lucerys died with his dragon, and his death marked the end of the war of ravens and envoys and the beginning of the war of fire and blood.

Birth and Family

Lucerys was born late in 115 AC, the second son of Princess Rhaenyra. Ser Laenor Velaryon and Ser Harwin Strong were both said to be at Rhaenyra’s bedside. Like his older brother, Jacaerys Velaryon, Lucerys had brown eyes and brown hair, rather than the silver-gilt hair associated with Targaryen princelings. He was described as large and healthy, and Viserys Targaryen was delighted when the child was presented at court.

The welcome was not shared by Queen Alicent. She made a pointed remark to Ser Laenor about the boy’s appearance, and the contrast between the king’s pleasure and the queen’s hostility reflected the wider dispute surrounding Rhaenyra’s sons. As the rivalry between the queen and princess hardened, Alicent remained at the Red Keep while Rhaenyra spent her days on Dragonstone with her children and supporters. Lucerys’s birth thus took place within a family already divided by questions of parentage, standing, and the Iron Throne.

In 118 AC, Viserys gave his blessing to the betrothal of Rhaenyra’s two eldest sons to the daughters of Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lady Laena. Jacaerys was four, Lucerys three, and the girls two. The betrothal made Rhaena Lucerys’s promised wife and tied the children of the two branches of the family together. The arrangement would later become an immediate constraint on Lucerys when he was asked to secure support at Storm’s End by offering a marriage alliance.

Childhood Rivalry and Aemond

The hostility between Alicent’s sons and Rhaenyra’s boys was intensified by their shared upbringing. They attended feasts and balls together, sometimes trained in the same yard, and studied under the same maesters. That enforced closeness did not unite them; it gave their mutual resentment more occasions to grow. The queen’s sons regarded the Velaryon princes as rivals for what they believed was their birthright.

The conflict became physical after Aemond claimed Vhagar at High Tide. Joffrey Velaryon ran to summon his brothers, and Jacaerys and five-year-old Lucerys joined him, armed with wooden swords. In the ensuing fight, Aemond struck Lucerys and mocked the boys as “the Strongs,” an insult that challenged their legitimacy. When Aemond attacked Jacaerys, Lucerys came to his brother’s aid and struck Aemond with a dagger, costing him an eye. The incident left Lucerys at the center of a family quarrel that was no longer merely verbal.

Viserys tried to restore peace by requiring the boys to apologize, but their mothers remained furious. Alicent demanded that Lucerys lose an eye in return; Rhaenyra rejected that demand and insisted that Aemond be questioned about who had taught him the slur. Aemond named his brother Aegon as its source, and Aegon said that the boys’ appearance made the allegation common knowledge. Viserys ended the questioning, forbade further use of the insult on pain of having one’s tongue removed, and ordered his wife and daughter to exchange professions of affection. The reconciliation was hollow. To prevent further conflict, Viserys returned Alicent and her sons to court and confined Rhaenyra and her sons to Dragonstone.

Envoy for the Black Cause

Years later, as the succession dispute became a war, Lucerys was chosen to carry Rhaenyra’s message to Storm’s End. Jacaerys proposed that the princes deliver the messages to the great lords themselves, arguing that dragons would win support more quickly than ravens. Lucerys agreed. Their claim to be near enough to men did not persuade Rhaenyra to let them fight: she insisted they would go as messengers, not knights, and made both swear solemn oaths on a copy of The Seven-Pointed Star.

Jacaerys was assigned the longer route, to the Eyrie, White Harbor, and Winterfell. Lucerys’s journey to Storm’s End was expected to be shorter and safer. He flew there on Arrax carrying his mother’s appeal, but Borros Baratheon asked which of his daughters Lucerys would marry in return for his support. Lucerys answered that he was already betrothed to his cousin Rhaena. Borros refused to be summoned into the conflict on those terms and sent him away without the alliance Rhaenyra sought.

Aemond was also at Storm’s End, having secured Borros’s support for Aegon. As Lucerys prepared to leave, Aemond demanded repayment for the injury to his eye and challenged him to fight. Lucerys held to the promise he had made his mother: he had come as an envoy, not a knight, and would not fight. His restraint preserved the distinction Rhaenyra had imposed on the mission, but left him exposed when Aemond pursued him outside.

Death and Consequences

A violent storm made the flight dangerous. Arrax struggled to remain aloft, while Vhagar was older, larger, and battle-hardened. The dragons met above Shipbreaker Bay; witnesses saw distant flashes and heard a cry amid the thunder. Arrax fell into the water, and pieces of the dragon washed ashore three days later. Lucerys’s body was never found. The history dismisses the conflicting tales of what became of him and concludes that he died with Arrax, aged thirteen.

Lucerys’s death transformed the character of the conflict. Until then, the first battles had been fought through letters, ravens, threats, promises, decrees, and marriage negotiations, while many still hoped that the succession might be settled without war. His death ended that phase. Aemond returned to King’s Landing having won Borros’s support for Aegon, but also the enduring enmity of Queen Rhaenyra. On Dragonstone, Rhaenyra collapsed when she received the news, and Joffrey swore vengeance against Aemond and Borros. Prince Daemon’s message from Harrenhal promised that Lucerys would be avenged. The boy sent to preserve his mother’s cause through diplomacy instead became the loss that made a peaceful resolution far more difficult to imagine.