LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 1: Prologue
An Account of events from The Tourney of Harrenhal to the Council of Peace.
In the waning days of the two hundred and eighty-first year after Aegon's Conquest, beneath the aged and looming spires of Harrenhal, a grand tourney was convened, marking a spectacle the likes of which had not been seen in living memory. The tourney was announced a year before by Walter Whent who claimed it was to celebrate the name day of his maiden daughter. Yet, whispers flitted through the autumn air like falling leaves, suggesting ulterior motives at play.
Many believed Prince Rhaegar Targaryen had orchestrated this magnificent gathering not merely for sport but as a veiled conclave aimed at addressing the madness of his father, King Aerys II Targaryen, whose reign had grown increasingly erratic and tyrannical. The events of the tourney would live in infamy, as the events that transpired here would mark the beginning of the greatest upheaval in Westeros since the Blackfyre Rebellion.
Many important events happened during the tourney. King Aerys arrived unannounced, and Ser Jaime Lannister, the young prodigy and heir to Casterly Rock, was inducted into the Kingsguard, to everyone's shock. However, it was the incident at the end of the jousts that the tourney would forever be known for.
As the tournament progressed, knights of great renown tilted in the lists, their lances shattering amidst the roars of an enraptured audience. Ladies of noble birth watched from the stands, their favors fluttering from the arms of their chosen champions. Yet, amidst the revelry, a moment arrived that would sear itself into the annals of history, altering the course of the Seven Kingdoms forever.
It was Prince Rhaegar Targaryen who emerged victorious in the lists. But it was his next act that would eclipse all others in memory. In front of lords and ladies, smallfolk and nobles, Rhaegar rode past his own wife, Princess Elia Martell, and placed the crown of winter roses in the lap of Lyanna Stark. With this gesture, crowning her the Queen of Love and Beauty, Rhaegar sparked a scandal that rippled through the realm.
Afterward, the lords and ladies returned to their lands, gossiping about the scandal. It was only the calm before the storm.
For a year, nothing happened; the scandal at Harrenhal had faded away, but an incident would soon throw the realm into turmoil. Lyanna Stark, the spirited wolf maiden of Winterfell, vanished into the night while traveling to her brother's wedding at Riverrun. Rumors spread that Prince Rhaegar was at fault for the abduction. The news set the kingdom ablaze with speculation and outrage, but none burned with more fury than her kin.
Brandon Stark, the wild wolf, was quick to act, his rage as fierce as the northern storms. He would have ridden straight to King's Landing, seeking justice or vengeance, but Hoster Tully, Lord of Riverrun and Brandon's soon-to-be goodfather, intervened and counseled patience and caution. He persuaded Brandon to remain in the safety of Riverrun and message his father, Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell. Brandon conceded and sent a raven to Winterfell.
It was decided that Rickard would seek an audience with the Mad King to demand the return of his daughter and uphold the honor of his house.
Thus, Rickard Stark traveled south, not with an army behind him, but with silent hope that honor and reason would prevail. The great halls of the Red Keep, however, were no place for hope during those dark days.
When the Lord of Winterfell stood before the king, demanding the return of his beloved daughter and the honor of his house, the Mad King saw not a grieving father but a conspirator in the grand tapestry of rebellion woven by his paranoid mind.
Aerys ordered Rickard Stark imprisoned, charged with plotting the overthrow of the crown, and, with a cruelty that would echo through the annals of history, he ordered him burned to death. Rickard Stark, who had come as a petitioner, became a martyr.
.
.
.
In Riverrun, beneath the banners of his allies and surrounded by the calls of war, Brandon received the grievous tiding: his father had been executed, cruelly burned alive by wildfire while the Mad King watched. The news shattered the fragile peace that had been held so tenuously since Lyanna's disappearance.
The king, in another fit of madness, ordered both Robert Baratheon and Brandon Stark to come to King's Landing. The raven that bore this grim message also carried orders to Jon Arryn and Hoster Tully, commanding them to deliver these two into the hands of the king, an order tantamount to a death sentence.
In the Eyrie, Jon Arryn received his king's command; it is said the calm and collected lord had gone into a fit of rage. Rejecting the Mad King's orders, he called his banners in defiance, a decision that marked the dawn of the rebellion.
Robert Baratheon, upon hearing of his beloved's abduction, her father's death, and the lethal peril he faced, hastened to Storm's End to rally his own forces. Meanwhile, Ned Stark, the quiet wolf, received words from his brother and the new Lord of Winterfell, instructing him to return to the North and prepare their own for the war that was brewing.
Back at Riverrun, amidst the tension and turmoil, a union was forged between House Stark and House Tully. Brandon, with the urging of Lord Hoster, married Catelyn Tully in a ceremony shadowed by war, binding their houses together.
Amidst these stirring tides, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen returned from his mysterious sojourn with Lyanna Stark, only to find the realm teetering on the brink of war. Driven by a vision of a future only he could see, Rhaegar executed a bold and unprecedented move. With the weight of prophecy and the desperation of a kingdom divided, he entered the Red Keep not as a prince, but as a challenger to the throne. In a swift and bloodless coup, he deposed his father, seizing the crown in a bid to heal a fractured realm.
.
.
.
Two battles would decide the fate of the realm. The first was the Battle of the Trident. Leading the rebel forces were Brandon Stark, Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn, and Hoster Tully. Opposite them stood King Rhaegar, flanked by the loyalist forces and the formidable Kingsguard, including the esteemed Barristan Selmy, Arthur Dayne, and Oswell Whent.
The battle was fierce and unforgiving. Amidst the clash of steel and the cries of men, Rhaegar confronted Robert in a duel that would be sung of for generations. Robert was a demon in human form as he smashed his way to the new king. As he was about to defeat the prince, Barristan Selmy and Arthur Dayne intervened, and it took three of them together to finally strike a fatal blow to Robert Baratheon. Yet, in his final moments, Robert unleashed a grievous wound upon Rhaegar—a mark that would never leave the new king.
With their leader gravely injured, the Targaryen forces could not claim victory. The battle ended in a bloody stalemate, with Rhaegar forced to retreat to King's Landing, his dreams of a united realm slipping through his fingers like sand. The news of the battle's outcome reached Tywin Lannister, who, seeing an opportunity to assert his dominance and perhaps earn the new king's favor, marched his Lannister legions to crush the rebel forces.
Thus came the second battle that decided the fate of the realm, the Battle of Riverrun. Tywin had led his army into the Riverlands to finish off what he thought was a weakened rebel army, but he was met by Brandon Stark who led his forces to a shocking victory over Tywin, a defeat that stunned the realm.
With the war mired in a stalemate and the realm bleeding from its many wounds, Rhaegar called for a peace. They met at where it all began—at Harrenhal. It was here in the somber halls that Rhaegar revealed the tragic news: Lyanna Stark had perished, but not before giving birth to a son. The revelation stirred a tumult of emotions among the rebel leaders, but it was Brandon's response that shaped the course of the negotiation. Insisting on the protection of his nephew, he demanded the child be sent to the North with him—a demand to which Rhaegar, seeking peace above all, agreed. The child, named Maekar, would be sent to live with his mother's kin when he was six years of age.
Another proclamation that further split the realm was Rhaegar claiming that he had married Lyanna and that Meakar was thus legitimate. This caused the Dornish delegation to walk out, and the new king faced heavy criticism from the faith, but the news was welcomed by the rebel camp, though they did not show it outwardly.
In a move that shocked his loyalists, Rhaegar granted significant concessions to the North and the Vale. The houses of the Riverlands, though deeply involved in the rebellion, faced no significant retribution.
However, the rebels did not leave the council without consequences. Hoster was forced to have his heir given as a hostage to the king. Stannis Baratheon was made the Lord of Storm's End, but the Lord Paramountship was given to House Connington, angering many in the Stormlands. This peace, brokered under the most extraordinary circumstances, paved a path toward a fragile but hopeful future.
Thus, the rebellion wound down, not with the roar of dragons, but with the quiet, mournful hope of a realm seeking to mend its deep, festering wounds.
Rhaegar was left with a realm that was more fragile than before the dragons hold on the kingdoms was at its weakest. As the lords left the council of peace, many wondered how long the peace would last.
.
.
.
There are many Jon Snow SI's out there here is mine.
Pairing will be Dany or the AU version of Myrcella here I might do both. MC will have other relationships with multiple woman but this is not a harem story.