A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has revealed a vital Game of Thrones character that viewers had overlooked. The prequel, set 89 years before the original series, sees Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) disclose his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, but he is not the only Targaryen of significance.
In episode three, Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas) rants about the Targaryen family, referencing the third son: 'Daeron's a sot. Aerion's just vain and cruel. The third's so useless, they were gonna ship him off to a citadel to make a maester of him. And the youngest...' This third son is Aemon Targaryen, the compassionate brother who gave Egg his nickname.
Aemon Targaryen is actually Maester Aemon, the aged and sightless maester who served in the Night's Watch and mentored Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones. He dies of natural causes in series five, his final words being: 'Egg, I dreamed I was old.'
In the Tales of Dunk and Egg books, Aemon relinquishes his Targaryen name upon becoming a maester. After his brothers Aerion and Daemon die, he becomes next in line to the throne but rejects it, allowing Aegon to become king. He then joins the Night's Watch to avoid challenging Aegon's rule, serving at Castle Black for so long that his Targaryen lineage is forgotten.
Aemon is the last known Targaryen in Westeros and the great-uncle of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and great-great uncle of Jon Snow (Kit Harington). In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, he is still young, while in Game of Thrones he is around 100 years old. Fans have praised his character, with one posting: 'Maester Aemon embodies wisdom, honour, and selflessness, true royalty without ever seeking power.'
