Quick answer: This Aemon Targaryen family tree traces Maester Aemon, the third son of King Maekar I and the older brother of Aegon V. Born in 198 AC, he refused the Iron Throne at the Great Council of 233 AC, took the black, and lived to 102 as the blind maester of Castle Black. By blood he is Daenerys’s great-great-uncle and Jon Snow’s great-great-great-uncle. Find him on the interactive Targaryen family tree.
Who Was Maester Aemon?
Long before he is the ancient, blind maester advising the Night’s Watch, Aemon Targaryen is a prince. He was born in 198 AC as the third son of Maekar I and Dyanna Dayne, with two older brothers (Daeron and Aerion) and a younger brother, Aegon, nicknamed “Egg.” Aemon chose books over swords, trained at the Citadel, and forged his maester’s chain. If a few things had gone differently, he would have been king. He is also not the same person as Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, the Kingsguard knight of Aegon IV’s day; the two share a name, not a story.
The Prince Who Refused the Throne
The turning point of Aemon’s life is the Great Council of 233 AC. King Maekar I was killed at Starpike during the Peake Uprising, and his two eldest sons were already dead. Daeron had left a daughter, Vaella, who was feeble-witted, and Aerion had left an infant son, Maegor. The lords needed a king, and Aemon, the oldest living son, was the obvious choice. They went to the Citadel-trained maester and offered him the crown.
Aemon refused. He had taken his vows, he did not want the throne, and he told the council the crown belonged to his younger brother Aegon instead. That decision put “the Unlikely” on the Iron Throne; read the full story on the Aegon V Targaryen page and in the profile of their father, Maekar I.
Aemon at the Wall
After the Great Council, Aemon joined the Night’s Watch and spent the next several decades at Castle Black, eventually becoming its senior maester and a trusted adviser to Lord Commanders. By the time Game of Thrones begins, he is blind, frail, and one of the last people alive who remembers the old dynasty. He becomes a mentor to Jon Snow and to Samwell Tarly, whom he encourages to go to the Citadel and become a maester.
His advice to Jon is what fans remember most. “Kill the boy, and let the man be born,” he tells him, and he warns that love is the death of duty. Aemon had given up a crown for the Watch, so he knew exactly what duty costs. He also knew a Targaryen when he saw one, though neither of them knew at the time how close that was: Jon is his great-great-great-nephew through Rhaegar.
Aemon also helped shape the Watch itself. When the brothers voted for a new Lord Commander, he and Samwell Tarly worked to put Jon in the position, and the old maester’s quiet influence is part of why Jon rose so fast. Aemon outlived his brother Egg by more than four decades (Egg died in 259 AC, Aemon in 300 AC), so he watched Aerys II’s reign, Robert’s Rebellion, and the fall of the dynasty from the far end of the realm.
Egg — Aemon’s Little Brother
The most human part of Aemon is how he talks about Egg. They grew up together in the Dunk and Egg era, when Egg was a boy squiring for Ser Duncan the Tall, and Aemon watched his little brother become a king nobody expected. See the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms family tree for the world they came from.
In Aemon’s last days, his mind drifts back to that world. He mistakes people at his bedside for his brother and calls out for Egg, which ties Game of Thrones directly back to the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms stories. He also hears that Daenerys has hatched dragons, wonders whether she is the prince that was promised, and longs to reach her. It is the last link between the old dynasty and the new.
The gap between the brothers makes his story sad. Egg became the king who wanted to protect the smallfolk and died in the fire at Summerhall in 259 AC. Aemon spent the next forty years at the Wall without his brother, a prince who gave up everything for a post at the end of the world. That is why the old maester’s final words to Egg land so hard, and why fans treat Aemon as the emotional heart of the dynasty’s later years.
How Aemon Died
In the show, Maester Aemon dies at Castle Black in Season 5 (2015), at the age of 102, with Samwell Tarly by his side. In the books, his death comes away from Castle Black, aboard a ship, in A Feast for Crows. The two versions differ in place and circumstance but not in spirit: he dies in old age, far from the throne he turned down, still thinking of his brother.
Why Aemon Matters to the Targaryen Dynasty
Aemon is the proof that the Targaryen story is not just about dragons and conquest. He is the one Targaryen who is remembered for stepping away from power rather than seizing it. His refusal in 233 AC changed the succession, putting Egg on the throne; Egg’s children in turn produced Aerys II and Rhaegar, and from them came Daenerys and Jon. A different answer from Aemon at the Great Council and the family tree looks very different.
Aemon’s Place in the Family Tree
Maekar I
├─ Daeron
├─ Aerion
├─ Aemon ← Maester Aemon (born 198 AC, died 300 AC)
└─ Aegon V ("Egg")
└─ Jaehaerys II
└─ Aerys II
├─ Rhaegar
│ └─ Jon Snow (great-great-great-nephew)
└─ Daenerys (great-great-niece)Aemon never married and had no children, so no line descends from him. His importance is in who he stood next to. He is Aegon V’s brother, and therefore a great-great-uncle to Daenerys and a great-great-great-uncle to Jon Snow. For the Jon connection, see Jon Snow’s family tree explained, and for his niece’s side, read Daenerys Targaryen.
FAQ
Was Maester Aemon a Targaryen?
Yes. Aemon Targaryen was a prince of House Targaryen, the third son of King Maekar I. He gave up his title to become a maester and then a man of the Night’s Watch.
Why didn’t Aemon become king?
He was offered the crown at the Great Council of 233 AC and refused. He was a sworn maester who wanted no throne, and he said it should go to his brother Aegon, who became Aegon V.
How is Aemon related to Jon Snow?
Aemon is Jon’s great-great-great-uncle. He was the brother of Aegon V, who was Jon’s great-great-grandfather, through Jaehaerys II, Aerys II, and Rhaegar.
How is Aemon related to Daenerys Targaryen?
He is her great-great-uncle. Aemon’s brother Aegon V was Daenerys’s great-grandfather.
How did Maester Aemon die?
In the show, he dies of old age at Castle Black in Season 5 (2015), aged 102. In the books, he dies aboard a ship in A Feast for Crows.