The Princess and the Queen
| Author | George R. R. Martin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Song of Ice and Fire |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Published | Dangerous Women (anthology) |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
|
Publication date
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December 3, 2013 |
| Media type | Novella |
| Followed by | The Rogue Prince |
The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens is a novella by George R. R. Martin, published in the 2013 anthology Dangerous Women. Set in the Westeros of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, 200 years before the events of A Game of Thrones (1996), it chronicles the "continent-burning warfare" (called the "Dance of Dragons") that explodes between Targaryen Princess Rhaenyra and her stepmother Queen Alicent.
The work is presented as the writing of the fictional Archmaester Gyldayn, also the "author" of Martin's 2014 novella The Rogue Prince, a direct prequel to The Princess and the Queen.
When King Viserys I Targaryen dies, his widow Queen Alicent has their eldest son Prince Aegon crowned King Aegon II before Viserys' daughter Rhaenyra, the only surviving child of his first marriage, can claim the Iron Throne herself. Though Rhaenyra is the king's oldest child and had been named his successor years before, Alicent and her supporters declare Rhaenyra unfit to rule and argue that, as a woman, Rhaenyra should be placed after Alicent's own male children in the line of succession. After Rhaenyra declares herself Queen at the Targaryen ancestral seat of Dragonstone, her middle son Lucerys Velaryon and King Aegon's younger brother Aemond take their dragons to seek the support of Lord Borros Baratheon of Storm's End, however there Lucerys and his dragon are killed. Rhaenyra's husband Prince Daemon has Aegon II's son and heir Jaehaerys murdered in revenge. Soon both branches of the Targaryen royal line are at war, with dragons on both sides. Eventually all of Rhaenyra's children except for Aegon and Viserys are killed and she herself is captured by Aegon II and fed to his dragon, Sunfyre, though the war continues.
Entertainment Weekly called the 35,000-word novella "a great demonstration of Martin's ability to dramatize the slippery complexities of power: how evil begets heroism, how heroes become villains."The Princess and the Queen was nominated for a 2014 Locus Award.
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