Chapter 52
EPILOGUE III
Few can dispute that the reign of King Matarys was one of great progress and prosperity. He was a great King, and his reforms and initiatives continue to shape our society even hundreds of years after his demise.
He was an exemplary warrior, a true noble, and a wise King. But he was not perfect, and he would be the first one to admit it. Perhaps his weakest attribute was parenthood. King Matarys' personal life was filled with many challenges, and he saw little happiness from his wife and children.
His first wife died not long after giving birth to his eldest son, and he married again a few years later to one of Prince Maekar's daughters, who gave him three more children.
His relationship with his second wife, Princess Daella, was a cold one, and while he tried to love his children, the business of kingship kept him very busy. Still, the King tried his best to make time for his sons and daughters whenever he could.
The King and his Queen clashed often over his treatment of their daughters, where the King wished for the two Princesses to be fiercely independent, and often encouraged them to learn controversial subjects and skills like archery, swordsmanship, and warcraft.
He had his daughters attend the Royal College despite fierce opposition from the Queen, and the act was highly progressive and controversial in an era where women were thought of as little more than broodmares to build alliances and shore up lineages.
This single act encouraged ladies from all over the realm to gather at the Royal College, where they learned all the skills the male heirs and sons did.
The Queen was right in her fears, for she believed that such habits would discourage good suitors, but the King had little care for such matters.
"They are not the daughters of a minor lord. They are my girls. Mine. The blood of the Dragon flows through their veins, and any man who shall be turned away because of any agency on their part is not a man worthy of their hand."
(The Rise of The Reviver by Maester Aemon Targaryen)
But the greatest clash between the King and the Queen was not over their daughters. No. It was over their sons. Prince Maekar was the King's eldest son, born to his first wife Lady Gwin of House Ashford.
The young Prince had found himself a dragon alongside his father, from one of Silverwing's clutches, and he had named it Bronzefyre, much to his father's dismay. But three more eggs were recovered from Silverwing's layer, and it was thought that they would be offered to his other children.
Yet, such a thing would not happen. Taking note of the tragedy that was the Dance of the Dragons, the King issued a decree three years into his reign barring any other child apart from the eldest heir from hatching any egg or claiming any dragon.
He called it the "Law of Dragon's Inheritance," and this was the cause of a major rift between the King and his family. The Queen considered the law an insult to herself and her children, who she claimed were even more worthy of claiming dragons of their own given their parentage.
She believed them to be of superior breeding, in comparison to the King's eldest son. But the King was firm in his decision, and it fostered much tension between him and his youngest son, Prince Baelor the Younger.
It remains to this day a controversial decision, and many say that the King made this law just to get his revenge on Queen Daella, but none can argue about its efficacy. For the next five hundred years.
"For five hundred years, the 'Law of Dragon's Inheritance' stood, and in that time no incident like the Dance ever threatened the Targaryen dynasty again, until slowly the magic faded from the world and the dragons followed suit."
(The Rise of The Reviver by Maester Aemon Targaryen)
The situation worsened when Prince Baelor defied his father and tried to claim a dragon for himself despite the law. He was caught, and so the King summoned his entire family to his chambers.
"I have given you all everything you have ever sought. Each of you shall have, upon my death, castles and lands to call their own, and if it is within my power, I shall see to it that your sons and daughters enjoy the same privilege. But a dragon, you cannot have. The dragon shall be Maekar's and Maekar's alone, along with my throne, and if any of you ever covets these things I shall cut off their head myself."
(The Rise of The Reviver by Maester Aemon Targaryen)
Perhaps the King was too harsh in his words, but one must understand that the memories of the Dance and the Blackfyre rebellions haunted him much. The King worried much about his legacy, and did not wish to burden his son and heir with his own mistakes.
Still, after this day both the young Prince Baelor and Queen Daella refused to see him, and the rift would not heal. Not even with his death. Many tried to reconcile the couple, but the efforts would be in vain.
"He may be a good man, and even better King. But he is a bad husband, and even worse father."
(Queen Daela's letter to Princess Kiera)
With a new and powerful navy, he launched a campaign in the Stepstones, and the unruly Isles had been the deathbed for many an empire before. But, with his copper-coated hulls and new swan boats, the King succeeded in taking over the Isles and expanded the realm once more.
One of his more obscure campaigns came in the North, and when he was young, a Free Folk king by the name of Redbeard had smashed into the wall with his armies, though much like his predecessors before him, his rebellion was put down by the Starks of Winterfell.
The Starks found a great friend in the King who strengthened the Night's Watch and revoked the Old King Jaehaerys's edict concerning the New Gift. Not just that, later in his reign, the King funded armed campaigns beyond the wall, where warriors would go out wielding not just sharp steel but also swords and shields made out of dragonglass.
No one knows about the reason behind these campaigns, but we do know that the number of men sent beyond the Wall was some fifty thousand. The only remaining text we have available to us is from a maester's letter to the Old Town.
"I cannot speak of it, but a great enemy lingers beyond the Wall. The King has seen it, and so has the Bloodraven. It is my hope that they will see it dead, before it can ever reveal its nature to the world, for I fear for humanity if they fail."
(Letters of the Maester of Castle Black)
And the Maester's wish would be granted, and the King would succeed in this campaign. It is said that once the news of victory reached the Red Keep, the King's shoulders sagged with relief, and as he put down the letter, he whispered the following.
"Now, my work is done."
(The Rise of The Reviver by Maester Aemon Targaryen)
The wall would stand for five hundred years, and would suffer the same fate as the Dragons. It would begin to melt just as magic would begin to fade away from their world.
By 270 AC, Matarys Targaryen had grown frail and had accomplished more than any of his predecessors. The fate of Westeros had been truly altered, and House Targaryen was the richest and most influential group not just in Westeros but in the entire world.
Kingslanding was the envy of the world, and the city was a symbol of power and splendor, but the man who had made it all possible could feel his age catching up to him.
He could no longer outrun the Stranger. Slowly, he began delegating more and more of his responsibilities to his eldest son, who now had sons and daughters of his own.
He had taught Prince Maekar all that he could, and as he retired to his chambers, he took his eldest grandson under his wing and began to teach him just as he had done so for his father.
The boy was named Matarys, after the King himself. He taught him how to rule, and enjoyed his time remembering tales of his youth with his brother Prince Valarr. His wife and youngest son remained distant and cold, and after a few attempts at reconciliation, the King simply gave up.
He died in his sleep, while his older brother stood by his side. It was fever that took the man, who no sword or spear could fell. It swallowed him whole in three days, and with his dying breath he questioned his brother
"May the Gods judge me with mercy."
When he died in 278AC, Westeros was unrecognizable from the time of his birth. It remains to this day the greatest transformation any kingdom has seen over the span of a singular generation.
He transformed and civilized a land of barbarians. He gave them laws and justice. He made steel and grain aplenty, and built cities of cement and steel. He was a dragon rider, a miracle maker, yet he never shied away from science.
Aegon Targaryen may have begun this dynasty, but it would have died without the contributions of King Matarys Targaryen. He finished his work and transformed the entire world.
Even now, hundreds of years after his death, he remains the most influential man alive, and each and every one of the luxuries and technologies that we enjoy can be linked back to the man who was once nothing more than a spare son.
"History will never see a man like my great-grandfather. He had the uncanny ability to look a thousand years into the future. It has been a hundred years since his death, and many of his predictions and lessons remain as relevant today as they were at the time of his death. He was a visionary, and whether it is today, tomorrow, or a thousand years after that, we are living in a world he built."
(The World We Live in By King Maekar II)
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So, this is it, folks. This was one of my more interesting projects, and while I know that there were some parts of it that frustrated you people, I can only hope that it was still enjoyable overall.
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