Rhaegar Targaryen

Eldest son of the Mad King Aerys II, Rhaegar was everything his father was not — loved by the smallfolk, formidable in the lists, and gentle in the hall. He won tourney after tourney, set down his harp between victories, and rode off to the ruins of Summerhall to study prophecy until his own advisors wondered which prince they truly served.

The cause of Robert's Rebellion was his. At the great tourney he crowned Lyanna Stark queen of love and joy instead of his own wife; months later he carried her away — or, in the kinder telling, fled with her in secret — and the fury of her house turned a disappearance into a war that ended a dynasty.

He died on the Trident in 283 AC, unmaking Robert Baratheon's antlered helm with his bare hands before the hammer broke through his breastplate. His children Rhaenys and Aegon were killed in the Sack of King's Landing, and the daughter he left with Lyanna carried the Targaryen line into a world that had outlawed it — until the last Targaryen hatched her dragons.