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Rhaegar Targaryen

Competing memories of a prince

Contains spoilers through A Dance with Dragons. Television events and unfinished preview chapters are outside this collection.

The character in context

Rhaegar, Aerys II's eldest son, grows from a bookish child into a warrior after reading of a duty he believes concerns him. After winning at Harrenhal, he crowns Lyanna instead of his wife Elia, a public humiliation. His later disappearance with Lyanna becomes one cause of rebellion. Returning to lead the royal army, he dies fighting Robert at the Trident. Enemies, friends and admirers reconstruct Rhaegar differently, while the five novels provide no complete first-hand answer about prophecy, marriage or his motives toward Lyanna.

A reading path

These are editorial starting points, not a complete appearance list or a claim that the character narrates every chapter.

  1. 1. A public choice in the Harrenhal story

    A Storm of Swords, Chapter 24, Bran II

  2. 2. Jaime remembers a final charge

    A Storm of Swords, Chapter 44, Jaime VI

  3. 3. Connington reshapes a friend through failure

    A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn

Sources and chapter references

Our original summaries use named novel chapters and the A Wiki of Ice and Fire reference index. The links lead to that secondary index, not the full novel text. Coverage is selective, not exhaustive line-by-line verification.

  1. 1. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 24, Bran II — A Wiki of Ice and Fire reference index
  2. 2. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 44, Jaime VI — A Wiki of Ice and Fire reference index
  3. 3. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn — A Wiki of Ice and Fire reference index
Data methods, coverage and corrections