Daena Targaryen
(a.k.a. The Defiant)
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born in 145 AC, Daena was the third child and eldest daughter of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon. She had two older brothers, Daeron and Baelor, and two younger sisters, Rhaena and Elaena. The most famous of three sisters, Daena was much loved, both for her beauty and courage. Daena was wild almost from birth.
Daena was lithe and athletic. She was an expert horsewoman and also a hunter and a fine archer. She was also practiced at riding at rings, though she was never allowed to ride in a tourney, despite her best efforts.
She worshiped her father and idolized her brother Daeron. She used a Dornish short recurved bow brought back by Daeron from his conquest of Dorne.
In 160 AC, at the age of fifteen, Daena was married to her brother Baelor. Their marriage was an unhappy one, with her pious brother obsessed by the Faith of the Seven. Baelor refused to consummate their marriage, causing Daena to dress all in white and vowed not to wear anything else until she had been properly bedded, in the hope of shaming her husband. Her plan did not work, as Baelor preferred her in white, feeling it made her look more innocent.
King Daeron I died in Dorne in 161 AC, and Baelor ascended the Iron Throne. Early in his reign, he convinced the High Septon to dissolve his marriage to Daena, since it had never been consummated. Next, the new king had Daena and her two sisters confined to their own apartments in the Red Keep, which soon became known as the Maidenvault, so the sight of them would not tempt Baelor or others in his court to mortal lusts.
During the decade she was confined in the Maidenvault, Daena quickly became known as the Defiant, for she was the most restless of the three sisters. She escaped her confinements thrice, disguised as either a servant or one of the smallfolk. Towards the end of Baelor's reign, Daena contrived to get pregnant. In late 170 AC, she gave birth to a bastard son whom she named Daemon, after her grandfather, Prince Daemon Targaryen. She refused to name the father, who was suspected, and eventually revealed, to have been her cousin, Prince Aegon. Daemon's father was not revealed until 182 AC.
The birth of Daena's son led to a fast by King Baelor I. He fasted for forty days, taking only water and a little bit of bread. On the forty-first day of his fast, he was found collapsed before the altar of the Mother. After Baelor's death in 171 AC, there were some amongst the smallfolk and the lords who felt that the Iron Throne should now pass to Daena, as she was Aegon III Targaryen's eldest surviving child. However, Daena had been isolated for a decade in the Maidenvault, which had left her and her sisters without powerful allies. The precedents of the Great Council of 101 AC and the Dance of the Dragons were cited, and the claims of Daena and her sisters were set aside. So, the crown passed to their uncle, Viserys II Targaryen.
Relationships
History
Upon one of Daena's many escapes from the maidenvault, she eloped with Prince Aegon, who would later become King Aegon IV. Their relationship was short, and it didn't continue once Daena was officially released from the vault. It is possible that Daena's only investment in Aegon was that he could get her pregnant which she might have hoped would give cause for her to be released from the maidenvault.
Ethnicity
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Princess.
Life
145 AC
174 AC
29 years old
Family
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Belief/Deity
The Faith of the Seven
Comments