Summary

The book begins with a title page in which the history is said to be constructed "by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown (here transcribed by George R. R. Martin)"(1). Gyldayn opens by telling us that history in Westeros is determined by Aegon's Conquest, with time moving forward After the Conquest, and time moving backwards Before the Conquest. The Targaryens were one of about 40 different dragonlord families who struggled for power in Valyria, a city in the East that fell in an event called the Doom of Valyria. Aenar Targaryen moved his whole family to a far away island, Dragonstone, 12 years before the Doom when his daughter Daenys the Dreamer foresaw the destruction of Valyria.

The furthest Valyrian outpost to the West, the Targaryens spent 100 years on the island before Aegon the Conqueror, born 27 BC, set sail for the West. Wed to...