We’re starting to enter Westeros withdrawal now that we’re between the releases of seasons one and two of House of the Dragon, which is slated to release in early summer 2024. So naturally, we’ve turned to the source material and have been diving into the history George R.R. Martin set up for his grand tale. We’ve talked about the First Blackfyre Rebellion and how Brendyn Winters likely had a hand in getting Bran on the throne, but we haven’t gone over the other four (yes, four) Blackfyre Rebellions that took place. So in this series, we’re going to dive into the history of these events, as they’ll be the backdrop for the next HBO Game of Thrones spinoff series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, which will be about the travels of Dunk and Egg during the period between House of the Dragon’s Dance of Dragons and Roberts Rebellion, which was the precursor to the main Game of Thrones series. Casting for that show is currently underway.

The first Rebellion ended at the Battle of Redgrass and saw the Targaryens win against the Blackfyre revolters. The spearhead of the revolt, Daemon Blackfyre, would be killed in this battle while Daeron II Targaryen would end up marrying Myriah Martell. Their union would continue the line that would lead to the Mad King. But despite losing the initial conflict, the Blackfyre’s were not done with their attempt to claim the Iron Throne.

Long story short, this attempt at the throne would be very short-lived and would result in no epic battles. Those loyal to the Blackfyres would gather under false pretenses at a wedding tournament to usurp King Aerys I and take the throne. The plot was orchestrated by a hedge knight named Ser John the Fiddler, who was actually revealed to be Daemon Blackfyre’s third son, Daemon II (these Targaryens and their naming, I’m sorry if this gets confusing) in disguise.

Unfortunately for them, they were busted pretty early on by Brynden Rivers, a.k.a Lord Bloodraven, the man who (very likely) would become the Three-Eyed Crow (or Raven, in the HBO show). Despite being a legitimized bastard, Rivers was a staunch Targaryen loyalist and was Hand of the King. He would march on Whitewalls, the location of the tourney, with a small army to put a stop to the Rebellion before it would even start. He would even deny Daemon II’s request for single combat, arresting the pretender and executing many of his cohorts.

And so the second attempt by the Blackfyre clan would come to a rather unceremonious end, but it wouldn’t be the final attempt to take the throne. This was the only attempt during the five rebellions without open warfare, which makes it the most unremarkable, but it’s still recognized as a failed coup against the crown.