“Good day, Princess.” A knight in white armor greeted Rhaenyra in the Red Keep’s corridor.
It was Ser Harrold Westerling, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard under Viserys I.
He had taken up the mantle after the legendary Ser Ryam Redwyne passed away earlier that year.
“Good day, Ser.
I thank you and your sworn brothers for your loyalty to the Iron Throne.” The Kingsguard were the sharpest blades in a king’s hand.
They bound themselves as sworn brothers beneath a banner of seven white swords surrounding a crown.
Created by Aegon the Conqueror to protect the royal bloodline, they were often called White Knights or White Cloaks by the smallfolk.
They swore lifelong service, unto death.
Even in old age, infirmity, or madness, they served.
They held no lands, took no wives, fathered no children.
Their loyalty was to their monarch alone.
A Kingsguard’s primary duty was to shield the king from harm.
Whether they protected others, even royal family members, depended on the king’s will.
Some kings saw it as natural to send White Knights to guard their queens, children, siblings, or cousins.
Others sent their White Knights to protect lovers, mistresses, or bastards.
Still others kept all seven by their side at all times, delegating other protection duties to household knights and soldiers.
Given Viserys I’s love for his queen, the Kingsguard were frequently dispatched to protect Aemma and Rhaenyra.
That was how Criston Cole, a newly appointed White Knight, had become Rhaenyra’s personal guard.
But White Knights were not infallible.
As one of Daenerys’s Queensguard knights once reflected: “Barristan Selmy was no bookish man, yet he often paged through the White Book, reading of his predecessors.
Some had been heroes.
Others were weaklings, frauds, or cowards.
Most were merely men, quicker and stronger than their peers, better with sword and shield, yet still prey to pride, ambition, lust, love, rage, and jealousy.
They still coveted gold, craved power, and fell to all the sins that plagued mortal men.
The best among them kept their vows, did their duty, and died with sword in hand.
The worst…
the worst played the game of thrones.” Still, betrayals were rare.
Most young knights across the Seven Kingdoms dreamed of becoming legendary warriors, and the Kingsguard embodied that ideal.
This was a cornerstone of Westerosi knightly culture, intertwined with the Faith of the Seven.
This was why Rhaenyra had not simply fed Criston Cole to Syrax.
First, he had not yet committed any treason.
Second, killing a White Knight without cause was a grave offense.
Knightly culture ran deep in Westeros, alongside guest right and sacred marriage vows.
Though the chaos of war would see all these customs shattered, those who broke them paid a heavy price.
Rhaegar Targaryen and Robb Stark were cautionary tales.
Interestingly, Harrold’s house, Westerling, was the same family that would one day produce Jeyne Westerling, the girl Robb Stark would fall in love with, breaking his sacred betrothal.
House Westerling was an ancient and noble family of the Westerlands, whose seat was the Crag.
Their words were “Honor, Not Honors.” Viserys trusted him completely.
In the original history, Harrold gave his entire life to the court, especially to Rhaenyra.
He had known her since birth.
When the war between Greens and Blacks began, he never wavered in his loyalty.
Beyond Ser Harrold, three other sworn brothers would remain loyal to Rhaenyra after Viserys’s death.
They would become her Queensguard, fighting for her until their dying breath.
Among them was Ser Steffon Darklyn.
Before Aegon II’s usurpation, Steffon fled King’s Landing with his squire, two stewards, four guards, and Viserys’s crown.
He rode through the night to prepare for Rhaenyra’s coronation.
Ser Steffon was from the Crownlands, uncle to Lord Gunthor Darklyn of Duskendale.
House Darklyn were steadfast loyalists to the crown.
In truth, most Crownlands lords were loyal to the Iron Throne and to Viserys’s final wishes.
They stood ready to fight for the princess.
They were Rhaenyra’s most reliable foundation.
Duskendale, Stokeworth, and others would answer her call.
Rhaenyra had always seen the Crownlands as her base.
Unless she drove them to fury with tyranny, they would remain Black supporters.
Managing King’s Landing, rooting out Hightower agents and other schemers, and securing the Crownlands was Rhaenyra’s initial strategy.
It was her game of thrones.
From there, she could reach out to her cousin’s Eyrie, ally with the North, pacify the Riverlands, threaten the Reach, and hold back the Stormlands.
If all else failed, she could fortify King’s Landing, bide her time, and deny the Hightowers their dragon-killing plans.
Her predecessor had spent too little time in King’s Landing.
Power vacuums were filled by other Targaryens.
But her father had spent years building political capital for her, and she would not waste it.
Why was this so important?
Because the original Rhaenyra had lost the people’s love through her own folly, though she had once been deeply beloved.
“When Prince Daemon called his banners, the Riverlands rose to answer.
Knights, soldiers, and humble farmers alike remembered the Realm’s Delight, the princess their king had cherished.
They recalled her smile and grace as she toured along the Trident in her youth.
Hundreds, then thousands, girded on swords, donned mail, or grasped pitchforks, hoes, and wooden shields to flock to Harrenhal for Viserys’s darling daughter.” Among the nobles, too, Rhaenyra was a beloved memory.
“The Riverlords were more cautious, hesitant to commit at first.
But soon they too declared for Queen Rhaenyra.
Ser Forrest Frey came from the Twins, the very ‘Fool Frey’ who had once courted her, now grown into a formidable knight.
Lord Samwell Blackwood raised Rhaenyra’s banner at Raventree Hall, though he had lost the duel for her favor (the victor, Ser Amos Bracken, followed his father’s lead and took House Bracken to Aegon).
The Mootons of Maidenpool, the Pipers of Pinkmaiden, the Roots of Harroway, the Dares of Darry, the Mallisters of Seagard, and the Vances of Wayfarer’s Rest all declared for her.
Old Lord Petyr Piper of Pinkmaiden spoke for many: ‘I swore my sword to her.
I am old now, but not so old that I have forgotten my oath.
And my sword is still in my hand.'” This was the political legacy her father had left her.
Otto Hightower sacrificed his daughter for political gain.
Viserys Targaryen sheltered his daughter until the very end.
Rhaenyra could not help but laugh.
Viserys I wins this match.
No contest.
As long as she kept steady and did not gamble recklessly, survival seemed well within reach.