| NOTE: This page is only about his novel incarnation, and thus only the novel version of Aerys Targaryen's info and crimes should be put here. |
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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | The traitors want my city... but I'll give them naught but ashes. Let him be king over charred bones and cooked meat. Let him be the king of ashes. | „ |
| ~ Aerys II to the pyromancer Lord Rossart. |
King Aerys II Targaryen, also known as the Mad King, Aerys the Mad, and King Scab, is one of the overarching antagonists of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.
He was the seventeenth and final Targaryen king to sit on the Iron Throne, ruling from 262 AC to 283 AC. He was the only son of King Jaehaerys II Targaryen and Queen Shaera Targaryen. He was married to his sister, Queen Rhaella Targaryen, and had 8 children with her: Prince Rhaegar, Princess Shaena, Prince Daeron, an unknown stillborn child, Prince Aegon, Prince Jaehaerys, Prince Viserys and Princess Daenerys. However, only Rhaegar, Viserys, and Daenerys lived long enough.
Aerys II originally showed great promise at the start of his reign, bringing peace and prosperity to the Seven Kingdoms, but later descended into madness, which then included paranoia, following the brief uprising known as the Defiance of Duskendale. Ever since the incident, his paranoia and cruelty grew out of control. Because of his madness, Aerys II infamously became known as one of the worst and most hated Targaryen kings to sit on the Iron Throne.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- While he did use to care about his sister and wife Rhaella Targaryen and comforted her over the loss of their children, he subverts this after he grows more insane by frequently raping her violently and making her cry.
- He used to have a genuine friendship with Tywin Lannister and Steffon Baratheon during his youth. However, Aerys subverts his friendship with Tywin after he grows jealous of him and starts believing that Tywin is plotting against him.
- He starts mocking him, ostracizing him along with the other members of the Small Council and when Tywin enters King's Landing and starts pillaging it, Aerys tries to blow up the whole city and orders Tywin's son, Jaime Lannister, to kill his own father. His friendship with Steffon Baratheon is never explicitly subverted the same way and there were rumors that Aerys was planning to replace Tywin with Steffon as active Hand of the King which was ruined when Steffon's ship was destroyed in a storm and he died for which Aerys was angry and blamed Tywin.
- However, years after Steffon's death, Aerys orders John Arryn to kill his son, Robert Baratheon out of paranoia even though Robert hadn't even rebelled against him, yet, which puts into question if Aerys still views Steffon as a friend or if he has subverted that redeeming quality.
- He starts mocking him, ostracizing him along with the other members of the Small Council and when Tywin enters King's Landing and starts pillaging it, Aerys tries to blow up the whole city and orders Tywin's son, Jaime Lannister, to kill his own father. His friendship with Steffon Baratheon is never explicitly subverted the same way and there were rumors that Aerys was planning to replace Tywin with Steffon as active Hand of the King which was ruined when Steffon's ship was destroyed in a storm and he died for which Aerys was angry and blamed Tywin.
- While he has one notable Pet The Dog moment when he spares the life of the young Dontos Hollard and instead of killing him, he takes him to King's Landing because Barristan Selmy asks that of him and it's mentioned that Aerys did this because Barristan was the one who rescued him from his cell in Duskendale with no indication it was done out of pragmatism, there is one thing which puts into question if Aerys still holds the same respect for Barristan as he used to.
- When Aerys decides to blow up King's Landing, Barristan is not in the city at that moment, but Dontos Hollard is in the city and Aerys makes no attempt to evacuate him. This most likely means Aerys has subverted his Pet the Dog moment to Barristan because he is willing to have the person Barristan asked him to spare murdered in the explosion.
- He tears out the tongue of Ser Ilyn Payne for making a public joke that Tywin was actually the one who ruled the Seven Kingdoms and not him.
- When his son Jaehaerys died, Aerys had the wet nurse beheaded because he was convinced it had been her fault.
- Later he changes his mind and decides that his mistress is responsible for Jaehaerys' death. He has her and her entire family tortured to confess to murdering Jaehaerys and then has them all executed.
- After he is freed by Barristan from his cell at Duskendale, he orders House Darklyn to be utterly destroyed because Lord Denys Darklyn was the one who had imprisoned. He did the same thing to House Hollard because they had sided with Darklyn and he only spares the young Dontos Hollard when his saviour Barristan Selmy asks that of him. The execution of Denys' wife, Lady Serala, is exceptionally brutal as Aerys had her tongue and female parts torn before burning her alive.
- Because his imprisonment and abuse at Duskendale have shattered his sanity completely, he has become extremely paranoid and unhinged and has developed an unhealthy obsession with wildfire. He regularly burns alive people he thinks have plotted against him during the later years of his reign and it's described that he enjoys the spectacle and even laughs.
- Oftentimes, the burning of people excites him so much that afterwards he goes to his wife and sister Rhaella Targaryen and violently rapes her to the point where she cries and Jaime feels uncomfortable and wants to intervene.
- When Rickard Stark and his son, Brandon Stark, arrive at King's Landing and accuse Aerys' son, Rhaegar, of kidnapping Lyanna Stark, Aerys kills them in an exceptionally cruel way. He suspends Rickard above a fire and slowly cooks him in his own armor. Meanwhile, Brandon is strapped to a torture device with his hands chained behind his back, a leather cord wrapped around his neck.
- However, his legs were free and his sword was placed just beyond his reach and he was desperately trying to reach his sword to save his father which only caused the cord around his neck to tighten until he died from lack of air while watching his father being cooked alive.
- He orders Jon Arryn to send him the heads of Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon out of fear that they would want to avenge Lyanna as well as Rickard and Brandon Stark. Arryn refuses which leads to a civil war between Robert's rebels and Aerys' loyalists.
- After he realizes he can't win the war, Aerys buries caches of wildfire throughout the entirety of King's Landing. His plan is to wait for Robert and his army to enter the capital and then blow up the whole city and kill his attacking enemies as well as the entire population of King's Landing which consists of half a million people.
- When Tywin Lannister starts sacking King's Landing with his army, Aerys orders his Kingsguard, Jaime Lannister, to kill Tywin and bring him his head, not caring that Tywin is Jaime's father.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He loves his children except for Prince Rhaegar whom he dislikes. When his wife gave birth to Prince Jaehaerys, Aerys is explicitly mentioned to have been filled with joy and almost restored him to his older self. When Jaehaerys died a year later, Aerys was plunged into despair and mourned his death. After the birth of Prince Viserys, Aerys became worried for his health and took extreme measures to ensure he wouldn't die like making his food taster suckle at the teats of the wet nurse to check that the woman had not smeared poison over her nipples or burning all the gifts for his son because he believes they could have been cursed.
- While he had his mistress and her kin tortured because he believed they had poisoned his son Jaeherys, after he had discovered that she actually hadn't killed his son, he felt remorse, fasted for a fortnight and made a walk of repentance across the city to the Great Sept.
- He has a tragedy as he started out as a promising, young ruler with no indication that he was initially cruel, but his madness was fueled by his unhappy marriage to his own sister which was arranged by his father, his sons constantly dying because they are stillborn which causes Aerys to grow more unhinged and also because he was betrayed at Duskendale by Lord Denys Darklyn who killed his escort, imprisoned him for six months and was abused by the people who had imprisoned him. These events would shatter his remaining sanity and would make him paranoid and fearful for his life.
- He has moral agency issues due to his insanity which are demonstrated by him often abruptly changing his mood between loud laughter, sobbing, sudden rages, melanchony and others without any reason, being convinced that a tree on a mystery knight's shield was laughing at him, being paranoid that everyone around him, including his own son, are conspiring against him without any proof, displaying an unhealthy obsession with dragonfire, not allowing himself to be touched even by his servants which causes his hair to become unwashed and tangled and his nails extremely long and grotesque, barely eating due to believing that his food could be poisoned which caused him to grow skinny, burning Viserys' gifts because he believed they were cursed and often cutting himself on the Iron Throne's blades among other things. His insanity is what makes him believe everyone around him is conspiring against him without any proof which in turn causes his tyranny and cruelty.
External Links[]
- Aerys II Targaryen on the Villains Wiki
- Aerys II Targaryen on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire
- Aerys II Targaryen on the Wiki of Westeros
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 Near Pure Evils
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