Dragonstone is the name of the island located at the entrance to Blackwater Bay and the castle thereon, which was shaped from stone to look like dragons. Dragonstone was the original seat of House Targaryen in Westeros, which they had colonized and fortified as the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold.
After the Targaryen conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, the island served as the seat of their heir apparent, known as the Prince of Dragonstone. After Robert Baratheon overthrew the Targaryens, he gave the island to his brother Stannis, creating House Baratheon of Dragonstone. The castle has a dark reputation.
❝Dragonstone was grim beyond a doubt, a lonely citadel in the wet waste surrounded by storm and salt, with the smoking shadow of the mountain at its back.❞ Prologue, ACOK
Dragonstone is a volcanic island at the mouth of Blackwater Bay, created by the active volcano, Dragonmont. The island is damp and dreary The castle of Dragonstone is a small fortress located on the face of the volcano. Outside its walls sits a small fishing village on the stormy coast. Beneath Dragonmont are rich deposits of dragonglass. There is much obsidian seen in the old tunnels beneath the mountain, found in chunks and boulders. The greater part of it is black, but there is some green obsidian as well, some red, even purple.
Through the dalliance of many Targaryen lords and princes over the years, many of the smallfolk of the island are descendants of that dynasty, and are known as dragonseeds.
A short distance off the coast is the island of Driftmark, which is the seat of the bannermen of House Velaryon, another Valyrian house. Dragonstone, though old and strong, commands the allegiance of only a few lesser lords whose islands are too thinly populated to provide any great numbers of troops.
House Targaryen colonization
A century or so before the Doom of Valyria, House Targaryen, a noble Valyrian house, took possession of the island and built a castle upon it, which became the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. The castle towers were shaped by Valyrian magic to look like dragons, giving it the name Dragonstone.
Twelve years prior the Doom of Valyria, the head of House Targaryen at the time, Aenar Targaryen, relocated his family and five dragons (including Balerion) to Dragonstone, because of the visions of his maiden daughter. In Valyria their rivals saw their flight to Dragonstone as an act of surrender, as cowardice.
Four of the dragons brought from Valyria eventually died on Dragonstone, leaving only Balerion. However, two eggs hatched and Vhagar and Meraxes were born.
The Targaryen Lords of Dragonstone were:
- Aenar the Exile, who led the Targaryen exodus to Dragonstone.
- Gaemon the Glorious, son of Aenar, brother-husband to Daenys the Dreamer.
- Aegon Targaryen and Elaena Targaryen, the children of Gaemon and Daenys, who ruled together as kin and a couple.
- Maegon Targaryen, the son of Aegon and Elaena.
- Aelix Targaryen, Baelon Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen, the sons of Maegon.
- Aerion Targaryen, the son of Daemon Targaryen, married to Lady Velena of House Velaryon
War of Conquest
Roughly a century after the Doom, Aegon I launched his invasion of the continent, conquering six of the Seven Kingdoms. He established the city of King's Landing where he first made landfall at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. King's Landing became the capital and Dragonstone became the seat of the heir apparent to the Iron Throne, who was styled the "Prince of Dragonstone".
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