Who Is History's Aerys Targaryen?

Hey Thrones Amino,

Recently while watching a documentary on the infamous Roman Emperor Caligula, I found a lot of parallels between him and the infamous king of Westeros- Aerys II Targaryen.

First a quick overview of their lives.

Caligula

Caigula formally known as Gaius Julius Augustus Caeser Germanicus was the son of the famous Roman general Germanicus and the grand daughter of Emperor Augustus, Agrippina. He was endearingly named Caligula(meaning little boots) by the soldiers of his father's, a name he hated.

A paranoid emperor Tiberius in an attempt to remove any threat to his power, murdered little Caligula's family sparing him because he was too young to be a threat. This had an enormous effect on him.

In old age, in search for an heir, Tiberius takes a seventeen year old Gaius under his wing and keeps him in his court at Capri, against his will. In Capri, Gaius was exposed to a new level of decadence. Ultimately, he avenges his family by smothering an ailing Tiberius to death.

He takes his great uncle's throne, at the age of 24. The first six months saw him basking in popularity, but after displeasing the senate with his excesses his terror rule began.

He loved to spite the pompous senators and army generals so much so that he was diagnosed by previous historians to be clinically mad! And bizarre events such as, suggesting to make his horse a consul or attacking the sea(literally), was indicative of his madness. Although recently scientists are viewing his shenanigans as mere acts of spitefulness.

Besides all this, he was a sadist. He loved bloodbath. Events of him having two aristocrat boys beaten to death whilst eating at his party stunned the whole empire. His love for gruesome bloodshed led to giving unequal advantages to the gladiators(like one got a sheild the other didn't, or maybe one didn't get a weapon at all).

His incestuous relationship with his youngest sister Drusilla was not being taken well either. He wanted to maintain purity of his bloodline and to lead a life on the lines of the Pharaohs of Egypt. Although he was popular among the people it wasn't enough to keep him safe.

In the third stage of his rule, he returned from a military expedition and realised the conspiracies going about in Rome. So he killed anyone he felt like. He had senators killed for thin pretexts such as a late birthday greeting or that he disliked the way they looked at him. There was slaughter and unrest as he saw ghosts of conspiracy all around. He had his sisters(one of them the mother of an equally terrible emperor: Nero) exiled and brother-in-law killed over this.

The last straw in his fragile reputation was when he declared himself a God. He even had his friend beaten when he hesitated to say who was better, him or Jupiter. He placed himself between gods so that when people came to pray, they worshipped him as well. This turned the people against him. Conspiracies were around every corner. Unable to trust anyone else he kept himself surrounded by the handful of slaves he freed.

The last 30 days of his 1400 day reign went by planning to move to Alexandria, Egypt where he would be safer and his rule would be more acceptable. Senators were not allowed in Egypt which made him safer still. But before he could leave, his doom was upon him. Caligula could not be allowed to abandon Rome and change his capital. Because that would have resulted in the senators and Praetorian guards to lose their power and prestige and also Rome would have been left in complete chaos.

One day while retiring to his palace he took the cryptoporticus. Where he was stabbed to death by his Praetorian guard Cassius Chaerea. Later a few others ed in to end the Mad Emperor of Rome. To finish the entire royal family they entered the palace and stabbed his wife to death and dashed their daughter, Drusilla's head against a wall to kill her.

Hence, came to end the 1400 day long debauchery, decadence and pure terror.

Aerys II Targaryen :dragon:

Son of Targaryen king Jaehaerys II, he showed a lot of promise when he took the throne at the young age of twenty. He had a reputation of an erratically bad temper, but it was always under control.

He married his sister Rhaella according to the Targaryen custom but against his will. He had many mistresses as a result. He even allegedly took the maidenhead of Joanna Lannister, the new bride of his best friend Tywin Lannister. He has long been known to fancy Joanna which worsened the already bitter relationship between him and Tywin. He insulted Joanna when she came to the Red Keep with the 6 year old twins of her and Tywin. The last nail in the coffin of their relationship was when Aerys made Jaime a Kingsguard in Harrenhal to spite Tywin by taking away his heir and snubbed Tywin's expectations of having Cersei married to Rhaegar. He wanted his authority and power unquestioned. The reason why he had Illyn Payne's tongue removed when he pointed out in jest that Tywin was the real ruler. Tywin resigned as his hand.

Things started worsening after the his captivity during the defiance of Duskendale. His rule became widely unpopular and he became more and more paranoid regarding his life and his throne. It took to madness. He had a fear of any blade other than that of his trusted Kingsguard, and refused to cut his nails or hair. His appearance manifested his madness and he looked like an old man. His relationship with Rhaella worsened and he had been known to rape her. He loved burning people with wildfire and it even turned him on. He loved to kill people so, that he had a spit built in the throne room to have random people burned for no reason. He burned his rivals and threats too.

The rebellion triggered after the death of Rickard and Brandon Stark, who came to free Lyanna Stark who had been abducted by Rhaegar. People rose against him and there was no chance of him standing back after Rhaegar the last hope died at the battle of the Trident. Unable to trust any of his councillors he had made Rossart, a pyromancer, the Hand of the King. The rest of the hands were either burned or exiled for displeasing him on the grounds of treason. He kept his pyromancer's close because he wanted to burn the entire city of King's Landing when all hope is lost.

Although he probably didn't expect to burn himself. He was afraid for his own life, as would prove when he ran for the throne when death faced him. He expected to rise from the fire reborn, like a dragon. Many Targaryens had held this belief before that they are somewhat unaffected by wildfire. However his dreams were cut short by his Kingsguard Jaime who slit his throat when he wanted to burn the city.

That's how it ended for Tywin, the second of his name.

🗡Analogies between Caligula and Aerys🗡

:red_circle: Both the rulers came to power at a very young age and held a lot of promise. Although they had performed no previous feats of success to prove their ability, yet the people were looking forward to their rule.

:large_blue_circle: Both of their tendencies towards madness began from their attempt to spite the upper classes.

:red_circle: They both had an incestuous relationship with their younger sister.

:large_blue_circle: Both of them were sadistic by nature. Aerys loved to watch people be burned alive while Caligula enjoyed blood shed and torture.

:red_circle: The senate is equivalent to the small council of Aerys although the small council held more power. Aerys had one of his hand murdered while he exiled two of them. Similar to Gaius who had two of his consuls tortured and killed. He also murdered numerous senators who he suspected.

:large_blue_circle: Both were dubbed mad or insane during their lifetime.

:red_circle: Both had many mistresses. Aerys had an unsuccessful marriage and Caligula just didn't care. He slept with the wives of important people at parties where the wives are taken to his chamber right before their eyes but they could do nothing. And Caligula even came out after and discussed about it in detail at the table.

:large_blue_circle: In the end both failing to trust anyone, surrounded themselves with an odd assortment of men. For Caligula it was trusted slaves whom he freed and for Aerys it was the pyromancer's who made and encouraged his use of wildfire.

:red_circle: The Praetorian guards were exactly equivalent to the Kingsguard. It was an elite force of skilled soldiers(knights in asoiaf), with the duty to protect their Emperor.

Caligula was assassinated by the general of his Praetorian guards and Aerys was killed by a Kingsguard.

:large_blue_circle: Both of them didn't care about the general welfare as much as they cared about projecting a fearful and all powerful image of themselves. Caligula declared himself a god in his lifetime believing himself to be above all. Aerys had the same belief of being superior which apparently guided him to burn KL expecting to survive it himself. They spent their entire reign trying to force the idea of them being powerful and mighty. They killed, tortured and spited people who differed.

:red_circle: The differences in relation kept apart, immediately after the death of the emperor/king, the remainder of their family left in the palace/castle was killed. Elia Martell was raped then killed by the conspirators. Caligula's wife suffered the same fate sans the rape. Aegon, Rhaegar's son had been rumoured to have his head dashed against the wall and killed. Although we know that Aegon did escape, unlike young Drusilla whose head was actually dashed against the wall.

:large_blue_circle: There was a confusion right after their death. It was planned but done in haste. Caligula was to leave Rome in a month or so and they needed to act fast. While Jaime needed to act in haste or otherwise see the city burn. So they both were killed in haste without any planning by their killers as to the future of the throne. There was confusion as to who would succeed but eventually Claudius, Caligula's uncle of some kind became the Emperor whose life was mysteriously spared by the conspirators. Much to the dislike of the senate, because they wanted to go back to being a republic.

There was confusion following Aerys' death as to who would sit the throne. Eventually, Robert Baratheon who was a distant kin of the Targaryen became the king.

Thanks for reading :blush: . I hope you guys liked the analogies. Please add on if you think I missed something out.

Check out the documentary on Caligula .

Know more about Mad King Targaryen