After Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen dies at Ashford, the immediate and long‑term fallout reshapes the Targaryen succession and helps set the stage for later chaos in Westeros.

Quick answer

Right after Baelor dies, his son Valarr becomes heir to King Daeron II, but within a few years disease wipes out Baelor’s entire line (Valarr, his brother Matarys, and Daeron II), so the crown eventually passes sideways to Baelor’s younger brother Aerys and then to their brother Maekar, whose son Aegon V (“Egg”) later becomes king.

Immediate aftermath of Baelor’s death

  • Baelor is fatally injured during the Trial of Seven at Ashford, when his brother Maekar’s mace caves in the back of his skull through his helmet.
  • He dies shortly after the trial, turning a political show of justice into a dynastic crisis because the king’s eldest son and heir is suddenly gone.
  • In the short term, succession is “patched” by making Baelor’s son Valarr the new crown prince and heir to King Daeron II.

In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms context, this is the shocking twist that turns Dunk’s personal trial into a turning point for all of Westeros.

What happens to the line of Baelor

  • Valarr Targaryen, Baelor’s eldest son, becomes Daeron II’s heir right after Baelor’s death.
  • A few months later, the Great Spring Sickness sweeps Westeros and kills Valarr, his younger brother Matarys, and King Daeron II himself.
  • With Baelor dead and his sons gone, the entire line descending from him is effectively erased from the succession.

This is why Baelor’s death isn’t just tragic; it removes what many in‑world treat as the most promising and stabilizing branch of the royal family.

Who rules after Baelor’s line dies out

  • After Daeron II and Baelor’s sons die, the crown passes to Daeron’s next surviving son, Aerys (not the “Mad King,” but an earlier Aerys).
  • King Aerys has no children, so he cycles through several heirs: his brother Rhaegal, then Rhaegal’s son Aelor, and finally Aelor’s twin sister Aelora.
  • Rhaegal dies choking on a pie, Aelor dies in an accident involving Aelora, and Aelora later takes her own life, leaving Maekar (the fourth son of Daeron II, and the one whose mace killed Baelor) as next in line.
  • Maekar eventually becomes king in 221 AC, about twelve years after Baelor’s death.

This sideways progression through the brothers and cousins shows how fragile Targaryen succession has become once Baelor and his children are gone.

Bigger historical consequences

  • Maekar’s son is Aegon V Targaryen (“Egg,” Dunk’s squire), who eventually becomes king after Maekar, tying Baelor’s death directly to Egg’s eventual rise.
  • Aegon V’s well‑meaning but risky reforms and his mysterious death at Summerhall become major background factors for the decline of House Targaryen and the world that eventually leads into Game of Thrones.
  • As one analysis notes, Baelor’s death “triggers” the chain of events that put Maekar and then Aegon V on the throne, indirectly helping create the unstable political landscape that allows the Mad King’s disastrous rule and Robert’s Rebellion.

So, when people ask “what happens after Baelor dies,” the answer isn’t just “his son is heir now” — it’s that his death clears out the most competent potential king, wipes out his line, and reroutes Targaryen history toward Maekar, Egg, and, eventually, the fall of the dynasty.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.