#baelor targaryen

What Baelor the Blessed would have worn, Amato by Furne One

Baelor I Targaryen was the ninth Targaryen king to reign on the Iron Throne. Known for his piety, Baelor was a septon as well as a king. None of the Targaryen kings are as beloved by the smallfolk as Baelor. Some remember him as a great and holy man and praise him for his contributions to the Faith of the Seven, for forging a peace with Dorne, his mercy and his many acts of charity. Others are less impressed by him, believing him to be an overly zealous weak fool. 

Upon the death of his brother, King Daeron I Targaryen, in Dorne, Baelor was crowned king and ascended the Iron Throne when he was seventeen. Baelor was married to his younger sister, Princess Daena Targaryen,however he refused to consummate their marriage, causing his sister, who usually dressed all in black, to change her clothes to only whites in an attempt to shame him, as she had sworn to wear nothing else until the was properly bedded. The plan did not work, as Baelor liked to see his sister all in white, feeling it made her look more innocent. He later had the marriage dissolved, and chose to lock his three sisters away in a comfortable prison in the red keep later called the maidenvault so he could  preserve the innocence of his sisters from the wickedness of the world, and from the lusts of men. This action was protested by many in the court. Baelor next decreed prostitution to be outlawed in King’s Landing, putting more than a thousand whores and and their children out of the city. This was heavily protested, but Baelor refused to listen and closed his eyes to the unrest that followed. He busied himself with building a new sept which would later be named after him.

Towards the end of his reign, Baelor would fast to the point of fainting to tame the lusts that shamed him. When his sister and former wife, Daena, gave birth to a bastard named Daemon Waters, she refused to give up the father. Baelor fasted for forty days and nights, refusing to take anything but water and some bread. On the forty-first day of his fast the king collapsed, and neither the Grand Maester or the High Septon could save him. History says Baelor starved himself to death by the prolonged fasting to cleanse himself of lust, but some believe he was poisoned by his Hand and uncle, Viserys. Some claim Viserys did so to gain the throne, but others claim Viserys had done so for the good of the realm, as Baelor had come to believe that the Seven wanted him to convert all the non-believers in the entire realm. Had Baelor been able to put these believes into action, war with the old gods-following north and the Drowned God-worshiping Iron Islands would have resulted.