Table Of Content
House of the Dragon begins with a prelude introducing us to King Jaehaerys I, "The OId King," who had the most peaceful reign of any Targaryen. He married his sister Alysanne and together they had 14 children, with nine making it to adulthood and two outliving him. As he approached death with no heir apparent, he convened a Great Council to decide who would succeed him among at least 14 contenders, with the vote coming down to his two grandchildren Rhaenys and Viserys.
Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon
After his execution of Ned Stark's father and brother during Robert's Rebellion, Aerys was betrayed by his hand, Tywin Lannister, and killed by Jamie Lannister. The reign of the Targaryens was over, but the lineage lived on through his two younger children Daenerys and Viserys, who were smuggled away to the Free Cities. During Daemon's marriage to Laena Velaryon, the couple has twin daughters, elder Baela and younger Rhaena, who we meet briefly in Episode 6.
Los Angeles County, California Genealogy
Laena was also pregnant with a third child, but the baby was stillborn and wouldn't deliver, with Laena commanding her own dragon to kill her by fire rather than suffering a slow, painful death by childbirth. We only meet her briefly in Episode 6, where she makes a prophetic-sounding observation while holding a little bug. By the end of Season 1, she has become queen as her brother Aegon's wife, and she also has given a confirmed prophecy ("the beast beneath the boards" being Rhaenys and her dragon crashing Aegon's coronation").
Aegon, a.k.a. Jon Snow (Kit Harington)
While at first she seems to have an odd and eccentric personality, it appears she has the gift of foresight and prophecy. Rhaena Targaryen is the second daughter of Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon, and Baela's little sister. Following their mother's death, both Baela and Rhaena are in much more vulnerable positions.
The blacks: Rhaenyra, Daemon, and their children
Basically, King Viserys Targaryen had two wives, Aemma and Alicent Hightower. After Aemma and Baelon died, Viserys named Rhaenyra Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne, and even when he had a son, Aegon, with Alicent, he didn’t change his mind despite the protests of Otto Hightower. Aegon the Conqueror and his sister wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, were the Targaryens who kicked off the royal dynasty on Westeros. Using their dragons Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes, they forged the Seven Kingdoms (although they failed to conquer Dorne), bringing the land’s current rulers to heel. However, when Daenys Targaryen had a vision of a great disaster destroying the Freehold, Aenar the Exile led the family and their dragons to Dragonstone, just off the coast of Westeros.
Clever and athletic, Rhaenyra (played by Milly Alcock as a teen) is at first more interested in riding her dragon, Syrax, than in winning games of thrones. That changes when her father can’t make up his mind who to appoint as his heir, and she becomes first an unwitting pawn and then an active player in the battle for succession. Baelon and his sister married and had two sons, Viserys and Daemon Targaryen.
Jaehaerys was the fourth Targaryen to lead Westeros, and the kingdom prospered under his wise and judicious rule. He forged peace between warring houses, brought prosperity to the Seven Kingdoms, and managed to defeat a Dornish invasion with the help of his dragon Vermithor. With Aenys’ first two sons, Aegon and Viserys, dead, the throne passed to Jaehaerys Aenys’ third-born son.
Baelor’s reign showed promise, and he was beloved by the smallfolk, but his religiousness posed a problem for those in court as he refused to conceive an heir. He eventually passed away after fasting for forty days and nights, although there were rumors that his uncle and successor, Visery II, had him poisoned to avoid a holy war. Aegon was then succeeded by his eldest son, Daeron, who sought to bring Dorne into the realm. While he was initially successful, Daeron, like his forefathers, inevitably failed, and he died during a Dornish ambush just four years after he was crowned.
House Baratheon: King Robert’s Ancestors; Related to Princess Rhaenys
A Guide to the Complicated Targaryen Family Tree - Harper's BAZAAR
A Guide to the Complicated Targaryen Family Tree.
Posted: Thu, 01 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
That makes her the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Rhaenyra and the – deep breath – great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Aegon the Conqueror. Below, Variety has listed a family tree of every Targaryen that has so far appeared in “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon” Season 1. There are no future spoilers for what could happen in “House of the Dragon” Season 2, though curious fans can read the novel “Fire & Blood” to find out. Daella Targaryen married young and unfortunately died giving birth to her first and only daughter, Aemma. Sorry for the six-year spoiler (also not sorry, because again, it's been six years), but we can't mention the Thrones-era Targaryens without the secret, non-blonde member hiding in plain sight. As was revealed in the Season 7 finale, the Stark bastard Jon Snow was really the secret love child of Rhaegar and Lyanna, named Aegon after several of his ancestors.
The Targaryens were the only dragonriders (with the only dragons) to survive, and they lived on Dragonstone for the next century. In House of the Dragon, all of these characters have been aged up significantly except for Alicent, who is still 18-ish. This makes her much closer in age to Rhaenyra — much more of a peer than a stepmother twice her age.
Following the death of Queen Aemma Arryn, King Viserys I Targaryen is comforted by Lady Alicent Hightower at the urging of her father, Ser Otto Hightower the Hand of the King. At the end of the eighth episode, King Viserys dies of natural causes in his chambers after being put to bed by his second wife, Alicent. He was the grandson of King Aegon I Targaryen, aka Aegon the Conquerer, who came to rule over most of Westeros after he took control with his two sister-wives, Queen Visenya Targaryen and Queen Rhaenys Targaryen.
Though we never meet him in HotD's first season, Alicent and Viserys actually have a fourth child, their youngest son. Per George R.R. Martin, the young man was living in Oldtown, the second-largest city in Westeros, during Season 1. Though the author doesn't confirm whether he'll be introduced in Season 2, Daeron does play a large role in the source novel Fire & Blood. As the rider of Arrax, he originally promised his mom he’d abstain from fighting during the vicious civil war.
Thanks to the machinations of his Hand Otto Hightower, Viserys ends up marrying Alicent Hightower as his second wife. As of Episode 6, the couple has four children, while Viserys has become an old king who may not be long for this world (it's kind of amazing he survived the ten-year time jump). He dies of leprosy at the end of Episode 8, after which he's known by the moniker Viserys the Peaceful. The Hightowers were and are a small but powerful house; Alicent’s father, Otto Hightower, served as Hand of the King to Jaehaerys and then as Hand to Viserys.
