"Robert's Rebellion" is a series of short videos included in the "Complete Guide to Westeros", a special feature present in the Blu-ray set of Season 1 and 2 of Game of Thrones. It provides an account of Robert's Rebellion, narrated by Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon and one by Harry Lloyd as Prince Viserys Targaryen, respectively.
Robert Baratheon's perspective
Rebellion was the response to the heinous crimes of House Targaryen. Houses Baratheon, Stark and Arryn united to overthrow the "cursed dragon kings". While Ned Stark and Jon Arryn arranged an alliance House Tully of Riverrun, Robert Baratheon called the banners of Storm's End to ride in force against the Mad King and his followers. Robert revels in the memories of the battles.
Their first victory occurred in Summerhall, where Robert faced the loyalist forces and won three victories in a single day. Robert curses as he looks back at that a glorious day. Afterward, they tried to take Ashford Castle in the Reach, but the Tyrells beat them back. Robert's force had to regroup and was pursued north by Aerys' army. They took refuge in Stoney Sept in the Riverlands. When the Targaryen army entered the town, the local sept's bells tolled, signaling the townsfolk of the coming battle. As the Targaryen soldiers searched house by house for Robert, the combined armies of Ned Stark and the Tullys swept into Stoney Sept. Robert again looks back with excited nostalgia to that day. Then he adds that the battle is now known as the Battle of the Bells and that they overwhelmed the Mad King's forces and sent them scampering back to King's Landing
Aerys' son, Rhaegar, whom Robert blames for starting the war, finally emerged and assembled his own army. Robert considers that the Mad King must have been pissing himself at that moment. The battle that would decide the fate of the Seven Kingdoms took place at the crossing of the Green Fork of the Trident. Rhaegar commanded a royal host of some forty thousand men. Robert's forces where outnumbered by nearly five thousand men but it didn't matter: the loyalists were fresh but the rebels where battle-hardened and had, according to Robert, justice on their side. As the battle raged around them Robert faced Rhaegar in the ford of the river. Robert remembers fighting with the fury of ten men, raining blow after blow upon the vile Prince before burying his warhammer in Rhaegar's chest. The hit was so hard the rubies' of Rhaegar's armor broke free and were flung into the stream. The ford is now called the Ruby Ford.
With the "scum" Rhaegar dead and the royal army shattered, the rebels' next move was to make for King's Landing, but Robert had sustained wounds in battle and was unable to ride. He sent Ned Stark to the capital to face the Mad King and make him pay for his crimes.
Viserys Targaryen's perspective
The Targaryens, blood of the dragon, and the last of Old Valyria were admired by their subjects, and admired as the greatest dynasty in the history of the western world. But the peace and prosperity of nearly three centuries of Targaryen rule were shattered by "the Usurper", Robert Baratheon, and his band of traitors.
House Baratheon owed its very existence to the Targaryens, Viserys asks if it wasn't Aegon the Conqueror who rose the bastard Orys Baratheon in the War of Conquest, and goes on about the Starks, Lannisters, and Arryns, all of whom had been spared and allowed to keep their lands when Aegon easily could've wiped them out. Centuries later, the Usurper and his lackeys repaid Aegon's benevolence with treachery.
There are some who dare to claim Robert and his allies had reason to rebel. They say the crowned Prince stole the Usurper's lady love. They say King Aerys II murdered Rickard Stark and his son without just cause. Viserys considers that it doesn't matter whether this charges were true or not, the dragon answers to noone. He adds that Aerys' good name has been besmirched in the years since the rebellion, being called a dangerous madman, a monster, a tyrant that brought his tragic end upon himself. Viserys rages that these are lies, his father was a victim of weaklings in his council, lackwits who failed him in his hour of need and let the rebellion spin out of control.
The royal army was then shattered at the Battle of the Trident. It was there that valiant Rhaegar met Robert in single combat but the gods betrayed him, and he perished by the Usurper's hand. As the Field of Fire had marked the end of the Andals centuries before, the Battle of the Trident seemed to herald the end of the Dragon Kings.
When word reached the capital of Rhaegar's death, Aerys moved to protect Viserys, as he was the surviving heir to the throne. He send Viserys to the island fortress of Dragonstone, along with his mother, Queen Rhaella, who was great with child. But as his father and king prepared to defend his throne to the bitter end, little did he know of the horrors and betrayals that awaited him and their family.
- Lord Robert Baratheon
- Lyanna Stark
- Lord Torrhen Stark
- King Aegon I Targaryen
- King Aerys II Targaryen
- Prince Rhaegar Targaryen
- Queen Rhaella Targaryen
- Prince Viserys Targaryen