Baelor Breakspear: The Best Targaryen King Westeros Never Got

Prince Baelor Targaryen, known as Baelor Breakspear because of an incident in his youth when he broke his lance against a knight and had a splinter drive up into his face, represents one of the greatest what-if scenarios in the entire Game of Thrones universe. He’s a character who embodies everything that a Targaryen king should be — noble, honorable, skilled in combat, beloved by his people, and genuinely concerned with the welfare of the realm beyond his own dynasty’s interests. Yet for all his potential, for all his strength and character, he died in a tourney accident, never became king, and in his absence, the Iron Throne fell to a far less suitable heir. Understanding Baelor’s story is understanding why the Targaryen dynasty was ultimately doomed, even though they had everything they needed to survive.

The Perfect Prince

From the moment we meet Baelor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it’s clear that this is no ordinary royal. He’s not the type of prince who sits in castles being served by servants, waiting for his father to die so he can assume power. Instead, Baelor is actively involved in the governance of the realm. He’s competed in tournaments not for glory or vanity, but because he genuinely believes that a prince should be able to prove his worth in physical competition. He’s beloved by the common people, who see in him an ideal of chivalry and justice. The lords respect him because he’s strong enough to command respect, but wise enough not to demand it unnecessarily.

What’s particularly impressive about Baelor is his combination of martial skill and political acumen. He’s one of the greatest knights of his generation, capable of defeating other legendary warriors. At the same time, he understands the complexities of ruling. He grasps that power comes not just from force of arms but from the respect and loyalty of those you govern. He’s not arrogant or vain. He doesn’t believe that his royal blood makes him inherently superior to everyone else. Instead, he believes that it imposes a greater responsibility on him to be worthy of his station.

The fact that Baelor was Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the throne meant that he was being groomed his entire life to be king. He had every advantage available to him — the best teachers, the best weapons, the best opportunities to learn statecraft and military strategy. Most importantly, he seems to have taken this training seriously and genuinely internalized the responsibility that comes with it. He wasn’t the type of heir who resented his position or felt entitled to the throne. He felt obligated to earn it, to prove himself worthy of it, and to serve the realm rather than rule it for his own benefit.

A Moment That Changed Everything

The tragedy of Baelor Breakspear is that his greatest flaw — or perhaps his greatest virtue, depending on how you look at it — is the same thing that killed him. During his match at the Ashford Tourney, Baelor faces Ser Maekar Targaryen, his own uncle, in a brutal and well-fought joust. The two men are skilled competitors, and their match is genuinely exciting because both competitors are fighting at the absolute peak of their abilities. Baelor wins, but in winning, he does something that shows the kind of man he is. After the joust, as Maekar is mounting his horse again, Baelor helps him. It’s a gesture of respect and courtesy between two skilled fighters.

But here’s where tragedy strikes. During a later match, Baelor faces Ser Duncan the Tall. The two joust, and Duncan’s lance shatters. A splinter from that broken lance strikes Baelor, penetrating his armor at a vulnerable point. It’s not the fault of either man — it’s a tragic accident of the kind that occasionally happened in medieval tournaments. Baelor survives the immediate injury, but an infection sets in. Eventually, it kills him. The Prince of Dragonstone, the greatest knight of his generation, the man who should have been king, dies not in glorious battle but from an infected wound suffered in a tournament accident.

What makes this tragedy even deeper is the timing. Baelor dies, and the line of succession passes to his younger brother, Aerys. Aerys becomes king — the same Aerys II who would later become known as the Mad King, the ruler whose cruelty and insanity would eventually lead to the downfall of the entire Targaryen dynasty. If Baelor had lived, if he had become king, if he had had children and established his line as the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms, the entire history of Westeros would have been different.

The King He Never Became

It’s almost painful to imagine what Baelor might have accomplished as king. He had the strength to command respect from the great lords. He had the wisdom to make good decisions. He had the integrity to do what was right rather than what was merely advantageous. He had the love of the common people, which provides a king with an enormous amount of legitimacy and support. Most importantly, he seemed to have an actual understanding of what it meant to be a good ruler rather than just a powerful one.

Consider what happened in the generation after Baelor’s death. The realm fell into the hands of increasingly unstable rulers. The Targaryen dynasty, which had seemed so secure, began its slow collapse. Wars were fought. Dragons died. The dynasty that had conquered Westeros and ruled it for centuries was overthrown. Had Baelor lived and become king, would any of this have happened? It’s impossible to say for certain, but it’s not unreasonable to think that his presence, his wisdom, his strength, and his integrity might have prevented some of the crises that eventually destroyed the dynasty.

Baelor represents the road not taken, the path Westeros didn’t get to follow. He’s the Targaryen king who would have understood that ruling means serving. He’s the heir who would have ensured that the dynasty’s fall wasn’t inevitable. He’s the man who could have been great, but was denied the chance to prove it.

A Character Study in Nobility

From a narrative standpoint, Baelor is fascinating because he’s a character who is genuinely good but not boring. George R.R. Martin has a reputation for subverting fantasy tropes, for showing us that good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes, and that noble characters often have serious flaws. But with Baelor, Martin seems to suggest that genuine nobility and genuine goodness are possible, even in a world as cynical and dark as Westeros.

What makes Baelor work as a character is that he’s noble without being sanctimonious, skilled without being arrogant, kind without being weak. He’s not the type of good character who makes you roll your eyes. He’s the type of good character who makes you wish he had lived longer. When we read about or watch Baelor, we’re seeing someone who actually deserves to lead, who actually has the qualities that would make him a good king, and who has clearly put thought and effort into becoming the kind of person who can shoulder that responsibility.

The HBO adaptation of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will have the opportunity to really bring Baelor to life on screen in a way that books sometimes can’t. Casting the right actor to play this character will be crucial, because you need someone who can convey that combination of martial prowess and political intelligence, of strength and humility, of confidence without arrogance. You need an actor who can make you believe that this is someone who genuinely deserves to be king, and that his loss is a true tragedy.

The Lesson of Baelor

In the end, Baelor Breakspear serves as a meditation on the randomness and cruelty of fate. He did everything right. He prepared himself for the responsibility of kingship. He proved his worth as a warrior and a leader. He earned the respect and love of his people. And then a splinter of wood got stuck in his armor, an infection set in, and he died. All his potential, all his promise, all the good he might have done — gone in an instant.

It’s a reminder that history is shaped not just by the decisions of great men but also by chance, by luck, by the random accidents that change the course of events. Baelor was better than the king who came after him. He would have been a better ruler than his successors. But he never got the chance, and the realm suffered for it. That’s what makes Baelor Breakspear not just a tragic character but one of the most important figures in the entire Game of Thrones universe. He represents the Targaryen dynasty at its best, and his death represents the beginning of the end for that dynasty. In dying, he inadvertently set in motion the events that would eventually destroy everything his family had built.