When you think about blood sacrifices in A Song of Ice and Fire, you
probably think about Melisandre burning people alive to appease the Red God, or Daenerys
burning Mirri Maz Duur and Khal Drogo and Rhaego to hatch her dragons, or even the legend of Azor
Ahai, who forged lightbringer after thrusting a sword through the heart of Nissa Nissa. But
the greatest blood sacrifice of them all was an accidental tragedy. Or was it? This video
will consist of me putting together my last two brain cells to cover everything from Summerhall
and how it vaguely relates to dragon dreams, blood sacrifice, and Stannis the Mannis, so
please put on your tinfoil hats and enjoy.
The tragedy of summerhall took place in 259 AC,
39 years before the start of Game of Thrones. King Aegon V Targaryen ruled Westeros, and he was
in the final year of his 26 year long reign. For reference, Maester Aemon was
still at the Wall at age of 61, but Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon weren’t
quite born yet. Barristan Selmy was a young man, and was knighted by Aegon V himself at the age
of 16, after Barristan unhorsed both Aegon’s son Duncan the Small and Aegon’s kingsguard
Duncan the Tall in a tourney.
Aegon V was born the fourth son of the fourth son
of a king, Daeron II. Daeron’s heir Baelor died in a tourney, and Baelor’s sons both died as well.
So when King Daeron died, his second son Aerys I ruled, but he never had any children, so the
throne passed to his brother Maekar. Maekar’s first son died of an STI, his second son drank
wildfire, and his third son became a maester. So when Maekar died, in 233 AC, a Great Council
was held. The lords debated between Aerion Brightflame’s infant son, who was named Maegor;
Maekar’s eldest living son Aemon, a maester; and Maekar’s youngest son Aegon, who spent his
youth traveling Westeros with Ser Duncan the Tall, and had formed super scary opinions about the
smallfolk deserving rights. Maegor was dismissed because he would require a long regency, and some
people thought he’d grow to be insane like his father. And Westeros doesn’t have a great track
record with kings named Maegor. Fearing the lords would pressure him to take the throne, Aemon
sent himself to the Wall, allowing his brother Aegon to ascend the throne at the age of 33. As
he was the fourth son of a fourth son, twelfth place in the succession at the time of his birth,
Aegon became known as Aegon the Unlikely.
In his youth, Aegon went by the nickname
“Egg.” He and his brother Aemon both had dragon eggs they hoped would hatch, despite the
last Targaryen dragon dying 47 years before Egg was born. Egg kept his egg at Summerhall, a
vacation residence of the Targaryens built during Daeron II’s reign. Daeron II married Myriah
Martell of Dorne, and was thus pro-Dornish, so Summerhall was built in the Dornish marches.
In 209 AC, there was a tourney at Ashford Meadow. Egg was supposed to squire for his brother
Daeron, but Daeron got drunk in a tavern. Daeron shaved Egg’s silver hair so he didn’t look
like a prince, and he fooled Ser Duncan the Tall into letting Egg squire for him instead.
After the tourney, Dunk convinced Maekar to let him keep Egg as his squire, so they spent
years roaming Westeros completing side quests. They settled a dispute between Ser Osgrey and Lady
Webber, and got caught in the middle of the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, when Daemon Blackfyre
II tried to solo Bloodraven’s army.
By 258, Aegon was consumed by a search for dragon
lore. He dreamt of dragons coming back to life, and believed “only with dragons would he ever
wield sufficient power to make the changes he wished to make in the realm.” He became
obsessed with finding out how his Valyrian ancestors hatched dragons. Remember, Aegon still
kept the dormant dragon eggs he and Aemon had as children. So Aegon commissioned journeys to
places like Asshai, hoping to find texts and knowledge that didn’t exist in Westeros.
Some people say the Asshai’i were dragonriders long before the Valyrians, and that dragons
originated from the Shadow. That thousands of years ago, the Asshai’i visited the shepherds
of Valyria and taught them the sorcery and magic involved with dragon bonding.
Aegon made bitter enemies during his reign, and “Treason and turmoil followed … ending at
Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief.” There isn’t a lot we know for sure about the tragedy at
Summerhall. We know that Aegon invited “many of those closest to him” to the castle in celebration
of his first great-grandson, Rhaegar. We know that very few witnesses survived, and those who did
refused to speak about it afterward. The maester of Summerhall wrote down what happened before
the flames consumed him, but the note was half destroyed. It tells us that Aegon had seven dragon
eggs, pyromancers, and wildfire - all signs point towards this being a dragon hatching attempt,
so Aegon could regain the lost power of his family and force his malcontent lords to accept
his social reforms, or face the dragons.
The last line of the note probably says that
someone would have died if not for the valor of the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, who
was Aegon’s lifelong friend, Duncan the Tall. Dunk’s last act was probably saving
Rhaella so she could give birth to Rhaegar. Jaehaerys and Shaera, their children Aerys
and Rhaella, and their newborn Rhaegar all survived Summerhall. Aegon, Duncan the Small,
and Duncan the Tall all died, and likely more as well. The whole Targaryen royal family might
have been there to celebrate Rhaegar’s birth, and it’s never confirmed when several
Targaryens from this time period died. Aegon’s sisters Rhae and Daella, and their
children; Aerion Brightflame’s son, Maegor, and Aerion’s wife, Daenora. Daeron the
Drunken’s daughter Vaella as well. Finally, Rhaelle Targaryen, the wife of Ormund Baratheon,
and thus the grandmother of Robert, Stannis, and Renly. All of those Targaryens could
have burned at Summerhall.
The stated reason that The World of Ice and Fire
gives for Aegon trying to hatch dragons is that he wanted more power to force the lords to accept his
social reforms. But based on some other context, Aegon might have had other motives as well.
When Egg was young, roaming Westeros with Dunk, Aerys I was king for over a decade. Aerys left
most of the ruling to his Hand, Bloodraven, and spent his time reading books and scrolls.
Aerys read about dragons returning in a prophecy, according to Egg. He and Bloodraven shared
an interest in “ancient prophecy and the higher mysteries,” as well as “arcane lore.”
That’s as specific as the book gets.
We also know Egg’s older brother, Daeron the
Drunken, was a dragon dreamer. He foresaw the death of Baelor Breakspear at the Tourney at
Ashford, and he dreamed of dragons returning. So Daeron’s dreams and Aerys’s prophecy about
dragons returning were both known to Egg.
Maester Aemon was a dragon dreamer as well. In
fact, all four of these brothers were dreamers, and you could argue all four were killed by
their dreams. Aemon said that he still saw dragons in his dreams, and a red star bleeding
in the sky. “I see their shadows on the snow, hear the crack of leathern wings, feel their
hot breath. My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and the dreams killed them, every one. Sam, we
tremble on the cusp of half-remembered prophecies, of wonders and terrors that no man now
living could hope to comprehend.”
The prophecy Aemon is talking about is the PTWP
prophecy, that the hero will be reborn amidst salt and smoke, and wake dragons from stone.
It’s unclear which prophecy Aerys I read about; perhaps it was the PTWP, or perhaps it
was even Aegon the Conqueror’s prophecy, the one that led him to unite
Westeros under the rule of the dragon. In the books, we don’t know what Aegon’s
prophecy says, but GRRM did confirm it exists. In House of the Dragon, the prophecy
mentions the PTWP will be of Targaryen blood, and that hero will unite the realms of men against
the threat in the North - the Others.
It could be that any number of Targaryens from
this time period found that prophecy and falsely believed they were the ones who would wake dragons
from stone and become Azor Ahai. If Aegon believed that, the belief passed to Rhaegar, who was born
at Summerhall amidst the smoke of the fire and the salt from the tears of those who cried there.
As a boy, Rhaegar read something in his scrolls that made him believe he needed to become a
warrior. He and Maester Aemon both believed Rhaegar was the prince that was promised,
but once Rhaegar’s first son was conceived beneath a bleeding star, Rhaegar thought Aegon
was the prince that was promised. Of course, Rhaegar died on the Trident, and Aegon died in the
sack of King’s Landing (officially. A character named Young Griff appears in book 5, claiming to
be Rhaegar’s son Aegon, who was saved from King’s Landing and raised in Essos. This may be the
truth, or he may be a Blackfyre pretender).
Rhaegar, who was born amidst the grief
of Summerhall, often visited the ruined castle as a young man. But he wasn’t the
prince that was promised, it seems. Dunk’s heroic act of saving Rhaella didn’t only
mean that she could give birth to Rhaegar. Years later, Rhaella gave birth to Daenerys, a
far stronger candidate to fulfill the prophecy. And because Rhaegar was born safely, he went
on to father Jon Snow, another prophecy baby. So that’s how a lowborn hedge knight named
Dunk may be the greatest hero Westeros has ever seen. By saving Rhaella, both Daenerys
Targaryen and Jon Snow could be born.
On his deathbed, Maester Aemon hears the
story of Daenerys’s dragons in the far east, and he realizes he was wrong all these
years. He says, “What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! … Daenerys
is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it … I must go to her. I must.
Would that I was even ten years younger.”
Daenerys woke dragons from stone. She
succeeded where all her ancestors failed, from Aegon III to her own father, Aerys II. What
makes Dany’s dragon hatching different from all the rest? Well, blood magic, probably, which
is why it’s most comparable to Summerhall.
Melisandre says that “The Lord of Light cherishes
the innocent. There is no sacrifice more precious. From his king's blood and his untainted fire,
a dragon shall be born." She’s talking about burning Edric Storm alive, an innocent child,
to help Stannis wake stone dragons.
Dany hatched her 3 dragon eggs after putting
them into a fire with Mirri Maz Duur and the corpses of Khal Drogo and Rhaego, her son. Rhaego
is the innocent one in Dany’s sacrifice. While she doesn’t burn her son alive, she inadvertently
bargains for Rhaego’s death with Mirri Maz Duur, who trades Rhaego’s life for Drogo’s. Dany
thought the witch would sacrifice Drogo’s horse, but Mirri Maz Duur says, “That was a lie you
told yourself. You knew the price.”
It’s possible that Aegon V found his answer with
all his reading and obsession with dragon lore; that only death can pay for life. Could Aegon
have been trying to sacrifice the innocent baby Rhaegar to pay for the life of those dragon
eggs? Maybe, and it might have worked, since Dany’s sacrifice of a Valyrian baby resulted in
the births of Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.
So both Dany’s and Aegon’s hatching attempts
involve fire and the sacrifice of a Valyrian baby. The main difference with Dany’s sacrifice is
that the child died instead of the parent. At Summerhall, Aegon died instead of Rhaegar.
If the children had died, like Rhaego, and like Melisandre believes is necessary, perhaps
those hatching attempts would have worked. It’s quite morbid to think about, but
the death of someone totally innocent might be the only worthy sacrifice
to wake stone dragons.
It was Melisandre who mentioned there is no
sacrifice more precious than someone innocent. Dany’s sacrifice worked because
somewhere in her subconscious, she was willing to sacrifice Rhaego. Will Stannis
Baratheon be willing to sacrifice Shireen?
The burning of Princess Shireen was a
controversial scene in Game of Thrones. But according to GRRM, it was one of the
plot points he explicitly mentioned to the showrunners. Martin said, “I told them who
would be on the Iron Throne, and I told them some big twists like Hodor and 'hold the door,' and
Stannis's decision to burn his daughter.”
Stannis, and more so those around him, believe he
is Azor Ahai reborn, the Prince that was Promised. He struggles with the decision to burn Edric
Storm, until the decision is taken away from him when Davos saves Edric. But the foreshadowing
is there. Azor Ahai killed Nissa Nissa to forge Lightbringer. Daenerys Targaryen killed Rhaego and
Mirri Maz Duur in a ritual to birth her dragons. Stannis will burn his daughter Shireen.
But what will it accomplish?
Assuming Stannis wins the Battle of Ice
and defeats House Bolton (a battle which will occur early in TWOW), he’ll likely
go back to the Nightfort to regroup. Stannis believes his true war is against the
Others, and by that time, the army of the dead may be bearing down on the Wall. It would
be a perfect time for Stannis to gain some sort of power or luck or literally wake a dragon
from stone as the Others are approaching.
At the Wall, Jon Snow’s corpse is being
preserved in an ice cell. It’s possible that when Stannis makes his decision to burn
Shireen, the stone dragon he awakens is Jon Snow. Jon is a metaphorical dragon in the sense that he
is Rhaegar Targaryen’s son. And the blood magic of Shireen’s death might pay for the awakening, or
resurrection, of Jon Snow. The “stone” aspect of this prophecy may refer to how Jon is simply
dead - frozen still like stone, like Dany’s stone dragon eggs. Or it could refer to the stone
grayscale on Shireen’s face; Jon the dragon will awaken when Shireen’s stoney face is sacrificed.
This is just a theory, though. Maybe Stannis will burn Shireen, realize it was all for nothing,
and get killed by a White Walker. Who knows. It’s just a cool way to connect Jon’s resurrection
to Stannis’s sacrifice of Shireen.
So far we’ve discussed what happened at
Summerhall, how Aegon may have been driven by prophecy, what Dany did differently in her
hatching attempt, and how blood sacrifice could show up again in Stannis’s story. Next, let’s
look at how this post-Dance, pre-Dany era of Targaryens tried to wake the dragon.
Targaryens who dream of future events are called dragon dreamers. Daenys the Dreamer
had a prophetic vision of the Doom of Valyria, and it was enough to convince her father Aenar to
move the family to Dragonstone for good. Daenys was the first dreamer we hear about, and Daenerys
is the newest. In book 1, Dany dreamed of her brother Viserys, who told her that she woke the
dragon, and he dissolved into one, its molten eyes meeting Dany’s. She dreamt of the black dragon
again, and felt its fire cleanse her. After her own dragons hatched, Dany dreamt she was Rhaegar
on the Trident, except she was on dragonback, and the enemy host was armored all in ice - it seems
that she dreamt of fighting the Others.
Just about every Targaryen after the last
dragon died attempted to hatch dragon eggs. “Nine mages crossed the sea to hatch Aegon the
Third's cache of eggs. Baelor the Blessed prayed over his for half a year. Aegon the Fourth built
dragons of wood and iron. Aerion Brightflame drank wildfire to transform himself. The mages
failed, King Baelor's prayers went unanswered, the wooden dragons burned, and
Prince Aerion died screaming.”
Daeron, Aerion, Aegon, Aemon, and more were all
plagued by their dragon dreams. They drove Daeron to alcohol addiction, drove Aerion to delusions of
wildfire, and potentially drove Aegon to attempt a blood sacrifice at Summerhall. They couldn’t get
the dreams of dragons out of their heads.
Could these Targaryen dreamers have been
seeing Dany’s hatching in the future, and misinterpreted their dreams
into thinking they must be the one who would wake the dragon? Daenys
saw the Doom before the Doom happened, and Aegon the Conqueror saw some type of magical
northern threat before the Others began to stir. So maybe these dreamers were dreaming of Daenerys,
decades before her sacrifice in the Dothraki sea. Maybe, or maybe they were having the same type of
dream Dany had before she hatched her eggs. I made a whole video about Daenerys and dragon dreams, so
you can watch that if you’re interested.
So Aegon the Fifth had dreams of dragons,
knew of prophecies that Aerys I read, and knew that his brother Daeron
dreamed of dragons returning as well. Aegon gathered his 7 dragon eggs and an
unspecified number of Targaryen relatives at Summerhall. Pyromancers, wildfire, and normal
fire combined to form a tragedy, in which Aegon, his eldest son, and his best friend Dunk all
died. Dunk was presumably able to save Rhaella before dying in the fire himself, so Rhaella
gave birth to Rhaegar right outside the castle. That means both Jon and Daenerys, who both have
a role to play in winning the war for the dawn, would have never been born if Summerhall claimed
the life of Rhaella Targaryen. So, that clearly means Ser Duncan the Tall is Azor Ahai and
the true hero of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Rhaegar would grow into a prophecy-minded
Targaryen himself. He would get all sad and emo with his harp when he visited Summerhall,
and believed that either he or his son would be the Prince that was Promised.
The Prince that was Promised is said to wake dragons from stone. Daenerys
literally did this in book one, and there’s a theory Stannis will try to do this
by burning Shireen, which might resurrect Jon, another Prince that was Promised figure.
It’s interesting that immediately after the Targaryens lost their dragons, they spent over a
century obsessing about bringing them back. From Aegon III, who witnessed the Dance of the Dragons
firsthand, all the way to Aerys II, dreams of dragons never left the House of Targaryen.
Let me know in the comments what you think really happened at Summerhall. Did Egg
try to do a bit of blood sacrifice, or was it just a goof that resulted in his and his
son’s deaths? Thanks for watching and subscribing.
