Game of Thrones: From Deserter to Power

House of the Dragon Side Story Transmigrated as the nephew of a mercenary captain in Essos, Tiberius Mord wanted nothing more than to live the easy life of a rich man—far, far away from the bloody chaos of the Dance of the Dragons that was coming. But destiny has a wicked sense of humor. One brutal clash in Essos—the Battle of the Golden Spurs—shot his name across the Known World overnight. Famous whether he liked it or not, the reluctant hero gets dragged, kicking and screaming, straight into the Targaryen family’s savage war for the throne. And that’s when everything went gloriously off the rails: He only meant to help Prince Daemon drill a decent company of troops and cavalry to make the prince look good. Instead, he forged Westeros’s very first professional standing army—the legendary Dragonflame Legion. All he wanted was to quietly develop a patch of land on the Crab Claw Peninsula, make a little side money, and build himself a comfortable villa. What he got was a ruthless commercial empire that monopolized the sugar and fine-wine trade across the Narrow Sea. He figured he’d dash off a flattering royal history book to suck up to the crown and pocket some easy royalties. It became the official propaganda bible for House Targaryen. Years later, Tiberius sits on the Iron Throne, fingers idly tracing its vicious iron spikes, and sighs to his inner circle with pure resignation: “Boys… I swear on the Seven, all I ever wanted at the start was to be a simple deserter.”