The war ended when the young Ser Barristan Selmy killed Maelys the Monstrous in single combat. The war occurred in the final years of the reign of King Aegon V Targaryen. The exiled Blackfyres, a cadet branch of House Targaryen, once again gathered up enough strength in the Free Cities in the form of sellsword armies to mount another attempt to seize the Iron Throne.
The rebellion occurred almost 25 years before Robert's Rebellion, and many prominent figures in that later conflict first blooded themselves in it. Petyr Baelish's father befriended Lord Hoster Tully while they fought together in the War of Ninepenny Kings.
