❲         𝗽 𝗿 𝗼 𝗷 𝗲 𝗰 𝘁 ⠀ 𝗀 𝗈 𝗅 𝖽 𝗐 𝗂 𝗇 𝗀        ❳

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ]   ⁰   ¹    ²    ³   [

││G U I D E

││- in the beginning

││- myths & legends

││- the conquest

││- the philosopher & poets

││- songs & histories

⠀⠀⠀─────⬯⊹⠀ (:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅: 今 ＣＡＥＳＶＥＮ 歌 :]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ﹁    ﹁    ﹁                                                     ﹁

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀☥      𓁙      𓆣      ────────────      𓉑

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   ﹂⠀ ﹂     ﹂                                                      ﹂

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘G𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀diving into the mysteries of the forgotten Targaryen women was the beautiful Baella Targaryen, she shaped the court in her affluence and values, stories were written about her kindness and generosity and benevolence. She was a Targaryen Queen blessing the literatures of chivalry amongst the knights and their fair ladies. Baella of Dragonstone was perhaps the most powerful woman in the court of the after conquest, she was extremely active in politics and as a wife and mother. She was the first female in 200 years to rule over her land in Casterly Rock. When her father died, she became the richest heiress in all of Westeros.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The Targaryens, a family of Valyrian origin, had been in control of Dragonstone for a century before the Doom of Valyria destroyed their homeland in a volcanic cataclysm. For another hundred years on Dragonstone, the Targaryens slowly built up their strength and raised their dragons, the last in the world. When he was of age, Aegon, his two sister-wives and his three dragons led a scant few thousand troops in invading the entire continent of Westeros. Despite being vastly outnumbered, Aegon was able to secure victory after victory using his dragons. He smashed the Gardener and Lannister armies on the Field of Fire, securing their capitulation, and convinced the Arryns and Starks to him peacefully through negotiation. Eventually, all of Westeros acknowledged him as king, save only Dorne, which he decided not to conquer after encountering fierce guerrilla resistance that ultimately claimed the lives of his younger sister-wife Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes. King Aegon I Targaryen, known as Aegon the Conqueror and Aegon the Dragon, was the founder and first king of the Targaryen dynasty who conquered Westeros and united the realm (with the exception of Dorne and the lands beyond the Wall) with three great dragons: Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes. After the Conquest, Aegon founded the city of King’s Landing, began construction on the Red Keep, and forged the Iron Throne from the swords of his defeated enemies, melted with dragonfire. After the Conquest, Aegon ruled for thirty more years, apparently wisely and well. However, upon his death the realm was plunged into a bloody war when the Faith of the Seven rejected his sons, born of incest, from following him on the throne. Eventually the uprising was put down and the Targaryen rule secured for centuries.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ﹁    ﹁    ﹁                                                     ﹁

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀☥      𓁙      𓆣      ────────────      𓉑

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   ﹂⠀ ﹂     ﹂                                                      ﹂

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗠𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗦 & 𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Baella was headstrong and determined, intelligent and quick to learn. She had few restrictions on her behavior and actions, which likely encouraged her unyielding character. She knew how to read and write, which was an uncommon achievement for after conquest women. In these ways, her young life and education were unlike those of most noble girls during her time. However, like the other girls, Baella also learned how to sew, weave, and embroider. Her tutors taught her how play the harp, sing, and dance. She could also ride a dragon better than any boy and “often preferred riding astride to the more ladylike sidesaddle.” At the age of 15, Baella was married off to the Baratheon lord who was 2x her senior and heirless. Her first husband would have thought she would have been not too happy about the dreary castle, however, she wasted no time in making her new cold, bare castle feel more like home. Some of her first acts as lady of the house were to liven up and beautify the dreary castle, much to the dismay and disapproval of her mother-in-law. She hung colorful tapestries on the walls, widened several of the narrow slits into windows, and had shutters attached to keep the air and precipitation out during the cold weather. She had masons build new fireplaces and even dismissed the master of the choir and then hired a different one after hearing how poorly trained the royal chapel was. She established new rules for the servants, insisting they behave more professionally, dress more sharply, clean their hands before serving food, and change the rugs on the floors more often since they were covered with animal droppings from birds and dogs, which left the place smelling like a zoo

                   She changed court behavior: Baella helped popularize courtly love and the romanticized chivalrous knight that would live on in

the courts for hundreds of years after her death. She and her ladies formulated a code of conduct for the men of her court detailing how to behave like civilized young knights who “treat women with gentleness and respect”. It covered all sorts of topics like what gifts men and women could exchange or how men were to obey every command of a lady. She created these ideas, not because she needed a hobby or something to the time, but because she believed that women were superior to men and deserved such treatment. Since a young age, she lived by her belief that women had the right to make their own decisions and it showed through in the atmosphere of her court. She was a lover and patroness of the arts, though she particularly liked poems and music about chivalric knights and courtly love.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ﹁    ﹁    ﹁                                                     ﹁

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀☥      𓁙      𓆣      ────────────      𓉑

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   ﹂⠀ ﹂     ﹂                                                      ﹂

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Baella grew up in the Westerlands in Casterly Rock until the age of fifteen. This land was over twice the size of the land owned by the main base of royal family, the integration of the Targaryen crown and status as well as the mines and agriculture made her family wealthier and more powerful than even the king. Baella’s mother died when she was eight years old, which left her education in the hands of her father and tutors. When she was 15 years old she was sent to Storms End to marry the Lord Baratheon, he was 2x her senior and heirless so he expected that from her. After 15 years of marriage, dissatisfied with her husband’s dull character and with the Baratheon life, Baella wrote to the Citadel demanding an annulment and received both his approval and that of her husband to become a single woman once again and return to her home in Casterly Rock, with her two children Phaedra and Oberon. However, being a rich, young, single woman without the protection of a male was very dangerous at that time. Anyone could kidnap Baella,force her into marriage, and take her land. Knowing this, she wasted no time in marrying again, having already chosen her new husband before divorcing her old one. This man would become King of the seven kingdoms just 2 short years after their marriage, giving her another title of Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Many were against this as she had been married before and had two children resulting from the marriage.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Baella’s first acts as the Queen were much like those as the wife of the Lord Baratheon. She would not live in a place that was not to her liking so she soon set out to make her home more to her taste, filling it with life and color. She brought with her a freer lifestyle uncommon in the Kings Landing court, as well as new poets and musicians, who brought with them different styles and genres. She introduced her favored ideas of chivalry and romance that were so popular in Casterly Rock, as well as even more fanciful tales of King Aegon the Conqueror and his beloved Queen Rhaenys. Also as in Storms End, she helped change the music performed in church, having the choirs sing in unfamiliar, but beautiful new harmonies. She was allowed to rule over her land even after marriage. Often, if it so happened that a woman received her father’s land after his death, it would to her husband or son. While Baella’s land “officially” belonged to her husband, then sons, she was in charge of maintaining peace, traveling throughout the lands to speak with fiefs, visiting towns, business and land exchanges, and the upkeep of the castles. She was an astute politician. She was in charge of domestic affairs in Westeros when her husband, and later her sons, were away. She played the biggest role when raising enough money to pay the ransom for her son when he was captured by the Free Cities of Essos. She died at the age of 82. This was highly uncommon considering the average life expectancy for women during her time was in the 40s.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ﹁    ﹁    ﹁                                                     ﹁

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀☥      𓁙      𓆣      ────────────      𓉑

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   ﹂⠀ ﹂     ﹂                                                      ﹂

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗣𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗦 & 𝗣𝗢𝗘𝗧𝗦

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ She was held under house arrest by both husbands for behaving “improperly” (meaning she acted of her own will and defied their commands).

⠀⠀Maegelle Baratheon

fc: sai bennett

Orys Baratheon

fc:anuerin barnard

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ﹁    ﹁    ﹁                                                     ﹁

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀☥      𓁙      𓆣      ────────────      𓉑

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀   ﹂⠀ ﹂     ﹂                                                      ﹂

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦 & 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Lost by Within Temptation

    Truth Beneath the Rose by Within Temptation

               Kingdom Dance by Tangled  

                 Imaginary by Evanescence

            Covered by Roses by Within Temptation

             Silver Moonlight by Within Temptation

                   The Call by Regina Spektor

                 Hopelessly Devoted by Grease

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

fc: Charlize Theron

art credits: to all the renaissance painters on Pinterest.

𝖢𝖲𝖵𝖤𝖭 - 𝟴𝟴

𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃𝄃

⁰¹⁹⁹⁶ ⁰⁰⁸⁸ ⁰⁹⁹⁶ ⁰¹⁹⁹⁶