To learn the history of The Golden Company; the infamous, finest and most expensive Sellsword company in all of the Free Cities, we first need to learn about eleventh Targaryen to sit the Iron Throne; Aegon IV, as well as his trueborn and Bastard children.
Aegon, known as Aegon the Unworthy was considered one of the worst Targaryen Kings. He began his reign a young and handsome man, but over his rule he became corrupt and morbidly obese. Being in a position of absolute power he tended to overindulge with food, wine, gold, and of course; women. Ageon fathered a number of Bastards, the first being Daemon Blackfyre (born Daemon Waters), who was older than his trueborn children with his Queen, while another two notable ones were Aegor Rivers, frequently called Bittersteel, and Brynden Rivers (who was known as Bloodravens). All three mentioned are very important to A Song of Ice and Fire’s History, so we will come back to them in a moment.

Blackfyre, the Valyrian steel sword of Aegon the Conqueror, was traditionally carried by the Targaryen kings who succeeded the current King, was suppose to be handed down to Aegon’s trueborn son; Daeron, however King Aegon gave the sword to his Bastard Daemon (who changed his last name to match that of the great Targaryen sword). This was mainly due to a falling out between the King and his son Daeron as he thought of Daeron as more scholarly, where as Daemon was a born warrior.
When he gave Daemon the Blackfyre, Aegon formally recognised him and announced that he was in fact his son (in a similar fashion to how Roose Bolton acknowledged Ramsey Snow as his son). Soon there were talks that Daemon might be the heir to the throne, due to Daemon being older, despite the fact that Daeron was trueborn.


King Aegon died a horrible death, his bloated body so swollen that he could not even lift himself from his couch that became covered in his feces. His limbs were rotting and crawling in hosts of flesh worms. On his deathbed, King Aegon legitimized his bastard children, known now as the Great Bastards, which allowed them claim to the throne (given that Bastards can never hold claim to anything). This lead to generations of war, and was considered to be one of the most heinous acts in all of history.

Many Houses were torn as to who to side with to succeed Aegon; Daemon Blackfyre or Daeron Targaryen, who had just been crowned King. Daemon gathered allies and lead a rebellion against the throne. His brother Aegor Rivers joined him, whilst Brynden Rivers, another of King Aegon’s Great Bastards and thought to be a powerful sorcerer, sided with his half-brother King Daeron.

The First Blackfyre Rebellion saw Daemon weilding the mighty Targaryen sword in hand, but was slew by a group of archers; known as the Raven’s Teeth, commanded by Brynden Rivers. Aegor Rivers claimed the sword and attempted to rally the remaining rebels, but was bested in combat by Brynden. Bittersteel managed to damage one of Brynden’s eyes before fleeing the battle and going off into exile.

At this point it is worth noting that Brynden Rivers; Bloodraven, years later was given the choice to taking the black after being accused of murdering a King, and eventually went on to become the Lord Commander, however, he disappeared beyond the wall and was never seen again… until very certainly when a young Stark boy discovers him inside a mysterious cavern infused to the roots of a great Weirwood tree.

Anyway, getting back the point. Aegon Rivers fled Westeros after the First Blackfyre Rebellion was ended, along with all the other Lords and Knights who had sided with Daemon. Most of these signed on with various mercenary groups and saw the support for Daemon’s House; House Blackfyre dwindling away, so he decided to start up his own Sellsword company, and thus The Golden Company was born.


While sellswords are notoriously unreliable, the Golden Company has a respectable reputation. They are said to have never broken a contract. The words of the Golden Company are “Beneath the gold, the bitter steel”, and refer to Aegor’s nickname, Bittersteel. Shortly after its creation, the Golden Company became one of the most famous and disciplined sellsword companies known in the Free Cities.
They even sacked the city of Qohor, when they tried to break their contract with the company.

Aegor used the company to try and stage more Blackfyre Rebellions. Eventually Bittersteel was captured at the end of the Third Rebellion and, instead of being executed, the current King had him shipped to the Wall to serve in the Night’s Watch. The ship was intercepted and Aegon was returned to the Golden Company to plot the Fourth and final Blackfyre Rebellion with Daemon’s grandson (also known as Daemon, but the third), which eventually failed as well, and Aegor returned to Essos.

On his deathbed, he commanded the men of the Golden Company to boil the flesh from his skull, dip it in gold, and carry it before them when they cross the narrow sea to retake Westeros. The captains-general who have since led the Golden Company have followed Aegor’s example. Their sigil is a pike with gilded skulls to show this.

Years later, Jaehaerys II Targaryen; the grandfather of Daenerys, and father of the Mad King, sent an army to deal with a threat lead by The Band of Nine (also known as the Ninepenny Kings) who were a group of merchants, mercenaries and pirates from the Free Cities who banded together to try and carve out kingdoms for themselves. The Band of Nine meant to win the Seven Kingdoms for Maelys the Monsterous; the last known member of House Blackfyre, but King Jaehaerys crushed the rebellion after Ser Barristan Selmy killed Maelys in combat.

The Golden Company are now the most expensive and professional Sellsword company in the known world. They actually prefer to call themselves a free brotherhood of exiles, rather than sellswords, since most of them are exiles from all over the world. Jorah Mormont even joined them for a time after his exile from Westeros following Robert’s Rebellion.
They are well disciplined are said to be 10,000 strong.

In case you were wondering, the Targaryen sword; Blackfyre, was lost following Aegor’s Second Blackfyre Rebellion and its current whereabouts are unknown…

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