Baelor Targaryen actually refers to two different characters in A Song of Ice and Fire lore, and what happens to them is quite different in each case.

What happens to Baelor Targaryen?

1. King Baelor I Targaryen (“Baelor the Blessed”)

When people search “what happens to Baelor Targaryen,” they often mean King Baelor I , the deeply pious Targaryen king whose statue stands over the Great Sept of Baelor in Game of Thrones.

His life in brief

  • Second son of King Aegon III, younger brother of King Daeron I.
  • Becomes king after Daeron I dies in Dorne.
  • Known for extreme religious devotion, fasting, and attempts to make peace with Dorne.

Key moments

  • Personally walks barefoot to Dorne to return hostages and later to try to free his cousin Aemon the Dragonknight from House Wyl.
  • He crosses a pit of vipers to unlock Aemon’s cage, showing how far his faith pushes him beyond normal self‑preservation.

How Baelor I dies

Toward the end of his reign, Baelor increasingly turns to extreme fasting to “purify” himself and suppress desire.

  • After his sister Daena gives birth to the bastard Daemon Waters and refuses to name the father, Baelor embarks on a forty‑day fast, taking only water and a little bread.
  • On the forty‑first day, he collapses and dies; the official story is that he starved himself to death.

However, there are in‑world rumors and later debates that he might have been poisoned:

  • Some accounts suggest his uncle and Hand, Viserys, may have poisoned him—either out of ambition for the throne or because he believed Baelor’s fanaticism would ruin the realm.
  • Others insist this is just gossip and that Baelor’s own extreme practices killed him.

In the Game of Thrones show, his legacy appears mainly through:

  • The Great Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing, named in his honor.
  • The execution of Eddard Stark, which takes place on its steps, with Arya hiding at the feet of Baelor’s statue.

2. Prince Baelor Targaryen (“Baelor Breakspear”)

If you’re thinking of Dunk and Egg / A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms , “Baelor Targaryen” usually means Prince Baelor Breakspear , heir to King Daeron II.

Who he is

  • Eldest son and heir of King Daeron II Targaryen and Queen Myriah Martell.
  • Prince of Dragonstone and Hand of the King.
  • A respected warrior and diplomat, viewed by many fans as “the best king Westeros never had.”

What happens to Baelor Breakspear

His fate plays out at the Trial of Seven at Ashford Meadow in The Hedge Knight :

  • Baelor joins Ser Duncan the Tall’s side in the trial by combat, supporting Dunk against Prince Aerion and others.
  • Before the fight, he cleverly advises Dunk’s side to use longer tourney lances and notes that the Kingsguard on the other side cannot truly try to kill him, giving their side an advantage.
  • Dunk’s side wins, but Baelor suffers a devastating head injury from the mace of his own brother, Prince Maekar, during the melee.
  • Baelor later dies of this wound, effectively killed by an accidental blow from Maekar, and he dies in Dunk’s arms.
  • His body is cremated at Ashford according to Targaryen tradition.

This death is a major turning point:

  • It removes a highly competent, unifying heir from the line of succession, which many fans argue contributes to later Targaryen instability and the Blackfyre conflicts.

3. Mini FAQ and forum-style takes

“So, what happens to Baelor Targaryen?”
It depends which Baelor you mean—one starves (or is possibly poisoned) on the Iron Throne, the other dies from a stray mace blow after fighting for justice.

  • Baelor the Blessed (King Baelor I)
    • Dies in 171 AC after a prolonged fast; possible in‑universe theory that he was secretly poisoned by Viserys, but never confirmed.
  • Baelor Breakspear (Prince Baelor)
    • Dies at the Ashford Meadow Trial of Seven from a head wound accidentally dealt by his brother Maekar’s mace; cremated afterward.

From a fan‑discussion angle (Reddit, podcasts, YouTube deep dives):

  • Many discussions frame Baelor I as a tragic religious extremist—either a saintly fool or a dangerous fanatic whose death may have saved Westeros from worse outcomes.
  • Baelor Breakspear is widely treated as a tragic “lost king,” with lots of “what if he had lived?” threads, especially now that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is getting more attention again.

TL;DR:

  • King Baelor I Targaryen (“the Blessed”) dies after forty days of extreme fasting, with rumors he was poisoned by his Hand, Viserys.
  • Prince Baelor Targaryen (“Breakspear”) dies from a fatal head injury during the Trial of Seven at Ashford, struck accidentally by his brother Maekar’s mace and later cremated.

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