Fire & Blood

Then the storm broke, and the dragons danced.

A ruler needs a good head and a true heart,” she famously told the king. “A cock is not essential.

Words are wind, but wind can fan a fire. My father and my uncle fought words with steel and flame. We shall fight words with words, and put out the fires before they start.

I fed my last husband to my dragon. If you make me take another, I may eat him myself.

The seeds of war are oft planted during times of peace.

The vilest of men and the wickedest of women likewise may do good from time to time, for love and compassion and pity may be found in even the blackest of hearts.

Only you could have won me away from the sea. I came back from the ends of the earth for you.

The Iron Throne will go to the man who has the strength to seize it.

We are as the gods made us. Strong and weak, good and bad, cruel and kind, heroic and selfish. Know that if you would rule over the kingdom of men.

Let no man think that the fire of the Targaryens did not burn in his veins.

Thrones are won with swords, not quills. Spill blood, not ink.

It was a time for warm embraces, for smiles, for toasts and reconciliations, for renewing old friendships and making new ones, for laughter and kisses. It was a good time, a golden autumn, a time of peace and plenty. But winter was coming.

Dear brother. I had hoped that you were dead." "After you," Aegon answered. "You are the elder." "I am pleased to know that you remember that," Rhaenyra answered. "It would seem we are your prisoners...but do not think that you will hold us long. My leal lords will find me." "If they search the seven hells, mayhaps.

Such a fierce little thing she is, they say, she has no need of comfort. They are wrong in that, I fear. All men need comfort.

They call me Baelon the Brave,” the prince told his wife at her bedside, “but I would sooner fight a dozen battles than do what you’ve just done.

I will not fight you,” Princess Meria told Rhaenys, “nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that.” “I shall,” Rhaenys replied, “but we will come again, Princess, and the next time we shall come with fire and blood.

This is a night for song and sin and drink, for come the morrow, the virtuous and the vile burn together.

Surely the Mother Above loved my children more. She took so many of them away from me.

It is always winter now.

The next morning the sea was calm again, the sun was shining, and the water was so blue and innocent a man might never know that under it my brother floated, dead with all his men.

When the gods are silent, lords and kings will make themselves heard.

Will you not weep?” “I do not have the time for tears.

A twisted spine condemned him to walk with a limp, but as he said famously, “I do not limp when I read, nor when I write.

‏"Rhaenyra said, “Tell my half-brother that I will have my throne, or I will have his head.

Brother, you need never kneel to me again. We shall rule this realm together, you and I.

Once a turncloak, ever a turncloak,” Lord Cregan said. “You rose up in rebellion against your lawful queen and helped drive her from this city to her death, raised up your own squire in her place, then abandoned him to save your worthless hide. The realm will be a better place without you.” When Ser Perkin protested that he had been pardoned for those crimes, Lord Stark replied, “Not by me.

The Queen Who Never Was; what did Viserys ever have that she did not? A little sausage? Is that all it takes to be a king? Let Mushroom rule, then. My sausage is thrice the size of his.

Yet unbeknownst to all but a few, storm clouds were gathering on the horizon, and faintly in the distance wise men could hear a rumble of thunder.

The Father made men curious, some say to test our faith. It is my own abiding sin that whenever I come upon a door I must needs see what lies upon the farther side, but certain doors are best left unopened.