Fire & Blood Vol. 1 by G.R.R. Martin (Audiobook)

Fire & Blood is a fantasy book by American writer George R. R. Martin and illustrated by Doug Wheatley. Audiobook read by Simon Vance. It tells the history of House Targaryen, the dynasty that ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros in the backstory of his series A Song of Ice and Fire. Although originally planned for publication after the completion of the series, Martin has revealed his intent to publish the history in two volumes as the material had grown too large. The second half of this first volume (an expanded version of The Princess and the Queen) has been adapted into the HBO series House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones. Much material published in Fire & Blood originates from the writing of Martin's 2014 book The World of Ice & Fire. The World of Ice & Fire, written from the perspective of Maester Yandel, contains sections from the perspective of Archmaester Gyldayn. These sections were written by Martin on his own; however, he wrote much more than at first intended, and in the end delivered 180,000 words on Targaryen history. The great majority of this covered Aegon's Conquest up to the end of the Regency of Aegon III. Furthermore, Fire & Blood contains an overview of the entire Targaryen succession, and a family tree depicting the Targaryen family until 136 AC. Rather than a novel, Fire & Blood takes the form of a scholarly treatise about the Targaryen dynasty written by a historian within the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, Archmaester Gyldayn. Gyldayn cites a variety of fictional primary sources for the historical events he describes, whose accounts sometimes conflict with each other, reflecting medieval methods of historiography and thus making Gyldayn an unreliable narrator from the reader's perspective. George R. R. Martin has cited Thomas B. Costain's non-fiction books on the Plantagenet dynasty as an influence for Fire and Blood. The first volume of Fire & Blood contains the following texts: - "The Targaryen Conquest": Aegon I Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Published in more or less same version in The World of Ice & Fire. - "The Peace of the Dragon": Aegon I's reign after his Conquest. While Aegon I's reign is briefly glossed over in The World of Ice & Fire, no parts of the text have been published before. - "The Sons of the Dragon": Focuses on the lives of Aegon I's sons, King Aenys I Targaryen and King Maegor I Targaryen, ending with Maegor's death and the ascension of Aenys's son Jaehaerys I Targaryen to the throne. - "Heirs of the Dragon": It focuses on the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen and the succession crisis following the deaths of his sons. . "The Dying of the Dragons": it focuses on the great civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war between Rhaenyra Targaryen and her half-brother Aegon II for the throne. - "Aftermath — The Boy King and His Regents": Covering the first few years of the reign of Rhaenyra's young son Aegon III, when the realm was ruled by Aegon's regents.

Previously referred to as "The Peace of the Dragon". While Aegon I's reign had briefly been glossed over in The World of Ice & Fire, no parts of these texts had been published before.

Previously referred to as "The Peace of the Dragon". While Aegon I's reign had briefly been glossed over in The World of Ice & Fire, no parts of these texts had been published before.

The reigns of Aegon I's sons, King Aenys I Targaryen and King Maegor I Targaryen, ending with Maegor's death and the ascension of Aenys's son Jaehaerys I Targaryen to the throne. An edited-down version of "The Sons of the Dragon" was released in October 2017 titled "The Sons of the Dragon" in the anthology The Book of Swords.

Jaehaerys I Targaryen, also known as the Conciliator, the Wise, or later in life as the Old King, was the fourth Targaryen king to sit the Iron Throne. He ascended the throne in 48 AC following the death of his uncle, Maegor I Targaryen. Jaehaerys was the longest reigning Targaryen monarch, sitting on the throne for fifty-five years. He was a dragonrider, riding Vermithor, the largest dragon after Balerion and Vhagar.

Year 49 After the Conquest (49 AC) was a year of peace and plenty, with the celebration of three significant marriages: Rhaena Targaryen wed Androw Farman, lord Farman's second sond; the Hand Rogar Baratheon and the queen dowager Alyssa Velaryon married in a fastuous ceremony in King's Landing; and king Jaehaerys Targaryen and his sister Alysanne married in secretly in Dragonstone. For this reason, the year is known as the Year of the Three Brides.

After his secret marriage, Jaehaerys remained on Dragonstone, silently training and waiting to come of age with his queen. Alyssa and Roger both hoped to end the marriage before it was consummated and made public, so Alyssa devised to send Alyssane a group of servants, septas, and ladies, who would hopefully teach her and Jaehaerys that incest was immoral. Roger installed a spy and seducer within the group, Coryanne Wylde, a teenage girl who would later go on to write a book about her wild days before becoming a septa. In the book, Coryanne says that a man (either Rogar or his brother, the texts differ) sent for her, inspected her body, and bid her to seduce the king and report back to him. Meanwhile, on Fair Isle, Rhaena had married Androw.

Jaehaerys returned to King’s Landing as a true king on his dragon. Straight away, he set to work with his council, allowing some of his mother’s choices to remain in place, but getting rid of others. When he had thoroughly cleaned out the castle, emptying the cells of prisoners his uncle had wrongly imprisoned, he called Rogar Baratheon to him. Rogar assumed he would be sent to the wall at best, and executed at worse, but Jaehaerys pardoned his treasons and asked him to return to his service under the condition that he act chivalrously toward Alyssa and Alyssane. With tears in his eyes, Rogar agreed. The king then went on to install Rego Draz, a foreigner from Pentos who had become one of the richest men in the world on his own.

Jaehaerys spent more of his reign on the road than at home, almost always travelling with his queen and their two dragons. He travelled with a smaller retinue than Aegon had, and spent less time at each castle, so he could see more of his people and be less of a burden on them. During his first journey, he brought Alysanne with him and she was attacked by a group of religious septas in Maidenpool while bathing in a spring where only women were allowed. Her ladies protected her, and she and her unborn child escaped unharmed. Afterwards, Jaehaerys asked Jonquil Darke, a female warrior, to be the queen’s sworn shield. Alysanne’s child was born early and died, but Alyssa and Rogar gave birth to a healthy son, Boremund.

With no new news of Aerea, Rhaena, or the dragon eggs, Jaehaerys dedicated himself to organizing and reforming all of the realm’s laws. He set off on another journey across the realm while Alysanne went to Dragonstone and gave birth to a boy, Aemon. In King’s Landing, construction on the gigantic dragonpit finally finished, and the monarchy held a great tournament there. Elissa Farman changed her name to Alys Westhill and took her boat around Westeros to Oldtown to find a crew to take her where only few had gone before, into the mythical sunset land she had dreamt of sailing since a girl. The Targaryen's heard about her intent, but by the time they arrived to capture her, she had sailed away and they could not find her. Aerea returned to King's Landing on the thirteenth day of the fourth moon of 56 AC, with a severely-ill Aerea clinging to the dragon's back. She was almost unrecognizable; she was stick thin, and whatever clothes she still wore were nothing more than tatters. Her hair was matted and a tangled mess, and her eyes were bloody. After speaking "I never", Aerea collapsed. Following Aerea's death Balerion became the first dragon to reside in the Dragonpit, guarded by the new Dragonkeepers. Barth began studies that caused him to write "Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns." He likely discussed the princess's death with King Jaehaerys, who issued an edict forbidding any ship suspected of having visited the Valyrian islands or sailed the Smoking Sea from landing at any port or harbor in the realm. Any Westerosi who visited Valyria would be executed.