Most ‘Game of Thrones‘ deaths seem devastating. A blade drops, a dragon breathes fire, and it’s over. Fans talk about shock, betrayal, and blood. But there’s one death in Targaryen history that doesn’t work like that at all.
That death belongs to Aerea Targaryen. What happened to her was slow, confusing, and so upsetting that even her own family didn’t want the world to know the truth. By the time her story ended, it had shaken the Targaryens enough to change how Westeros dealt with certain places forever.
The Darkest Death In ‘Game of Thrones’ History Never Made It To The Screen
Aerea Targaryen wasn’t always forgotten. During the early reign of Jaehaerys Targaryen, she was once named his heir. Life at King’s Landing gave her attention, purpose, and a sense that she mattered. For a while, she felt seen. That changed once the king and queen had children of their own.
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Aerea slowly faded into the background, and things became much worse when her mother, Rhaena Targaryen, took her to live on Dragonstone. Compared to court life, the island felt empty and cut off from the world. Rhaena kept her close, gave her little freedom, and left her with no friends her own age.
Over time, that isolation started to break her. Aerea argued with her mother often and hated how trapped her life felt. Rhaena loved her, but she didn’t see how deeply unhappy her daughter had become. And that loneliness pushed Aerea toward a choice she couldn’t take back.
Aerea eventually escaped by claiming Balerion the Black Dread, the most feared dragon to ever live. She was only thirteen. Once Balerion took off, she vanished completely. Days passed, then months. No one in Westeros saw the dragon at all, which made everything feel even more unsettling. Balerion was massive. He shouldn’t have been able to disappear. Slowly, people began to realize that Aerea may not have been in control. It likely wasn’t her decision where they went. It was Balerion’s.
The Truth Behind Aerea Targaryen’s Brutal End
When the dragon finally returned a year later, the relief didn’t last long. Balerion came back wounded, badly enough that people noticed immediately. Aerea came back alive, but barely. She was thin, weak, and burning with a fever so intense that the knight carrying her reportedly felt the heat through his armor. Whatever happened during that year hadn’t stayed behind.
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The court told everyone Aerea died from a fever. That was the simple version. The real story stayed locked, and Septon Barth and Maester Bennefer tried to help her, only to realize something was terribly wrong. Things were moving under her skin. These creatures burned her from the inside. Her skin cracked. Smoke poured from her mouth and eyes. Aerea screamed and begged for death as the pain got worse.
In desperation, the men placed her in an ice bath, hoping the cold would slow the fever and ease her suffering. Instead, the shock stopped her heart. Only then did the creatures crawl out and die in the freezing water. Barth later refused to describe them in detail, saying only that they were unnatural things tied to heat and flame. Rhaena arrived too late to see her daughter alive. In the end, she scattered Aerea’s ashes into the sky, giving her the freedom she never had while living.
Aerea’s death terrified the Targaryens. And among all the brutal endings in the franchise, hers was too dark, too painful, and too unsettling to ever be shown on screen.
