House of the Dragon: The Targaryen history behind HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel

Editor’s note, June 17, 2024: This story was published in 2022 as part of our coverage of the first season of House of the Dragon; you can read a recap of season one here.

House of the Dragon, the long-awaited prequel to Game of Thrones, is finally here, and you know what that means: It’s time for a refresher course on the Targaryens — the family that ruled for three centuries over all of Westeros. Thanks to one talented fanartist, we have a gorgeous family tree to help you figure out what’s happening and who’s who. 

The series adapts portions of George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, a collection of stories accompanying the Song of Ice and Fire series upon which the Game of Thrones universe is based. The book is a partial history of the Targaryens, with whom fans will be well-acquainted, since their reign stretches from Daenerys all the way back to the first king of Westeros. They’re famed for their ability to tame dragons; hence, “house of the dragon.” That rare talent helped the Targaryens establish an immense dynasty over the realm; but as always when we’re dealing with Game of Thrones, even empires can topple, and the iron throne is never a safe place to sit.

Because we’re dealing with a prequel, we’re going to be dropping some major plot points  for both the book series and the show, so be warned: from here on in, there be dragons and spoilers!

If you’re expecting familiar faces, you’re in for a shock: House of the Dragon takes place 190 years or so before the storyline of Game of Thrones begins, and though many things have stayed the same through the centuries — King’s Landing is still the capital of Westeros, the Starks are still the lords of Winterfell — we have a whole cast of characters to familiarize ourselves with and complicated family dynamics to parse. 

We’re introduced to some of the key players in House of the Dragon’s first episode, but there’s a major learning curve thanks to the sheer size of the Targaryen family and their tendency to repeat names from generation to generation. Other family trees in this universe are often easier to follow because they’re, for example, all named after the Muppets; but with the Targaryens, you have something like a dozen Aegons, a half-dozen Aemons, a slew of Viseryses, and on and on. Oh, and let’s not forget their infamous tendency to marry each other — a fun Targaryen trait we’ll soon witness.

We won’t know everything the TV series will retain from the books, of course, so a lot of what we’ll be discussing is speculation based on the main plot lines of Fire and Blood. The series has made some changes, but most of the major events in this tumultuous Targaryen era are so far the same. 

The series plops us in the middle of an ongoing simmering family conflict about — what else? — succession. If you’re confused about where exactly we are in the Targaryen family timeline, never fear: DeviantArt user Maryon B.’s Targaryen family tree is a gorgeous (and GRRM-approved!) road map through three centuries of huge Targaryen broods, internal squabbles, civil war, and, yes, inbreeding. 

We first introduced Vox readers to Maryon’s fanart all the way back in 2016, when she gave us her insights on the long process of creating the tree. (Note: Maryon is no longer active on DeviantArt, but you can follow her Instagram, where she’s begun sharing excerpts from the tree.) A year later, the tree came in handy to help explain one of the series’ biggest plot twists. Now, the “Targtree” can fulfill its ultimate purpose and help us all prep for the series! Click here for the full-size version.

House of the Dragon lands in the middle of the family tree, about halfway between the time the first Aegon Targaryen, known as Aegon the Conqueror, united all of Westeros, and the final fall of Daenerys Targaryen in the series finale of Game of Thrones. The events depicted in House of the Dragon’s first episode set us up to enter the period highlighted on the family tree as the Dance of Dragons — a time when the question of succession split the Targaryens apart and led to a brutal civil war.

The years preceding the beginning of the show witnessed a long period of fighting known as the Faith Militant Uprising that ended only when the reigning king, the cruel Maegor I, died mysteriously. After his death, the only remaining son of the previous king, Jaehaerys I, succeeded to the throne.  

But because of the preceding generation of chaos, the line of succession isn’t clear. So, at the start of House of the Dragon, Jaehaerys summons a council to choose the next heir. The two Targaryens with the best claim to the throne are his grandson, Viserys, and his granddaughter-slash-grandniece, Rhaenys. They’re both his grandchildren, so both have an equal claim to the throne. But because Westeros has never had a queen as ruler before, the council chooses Viserys to be the next ruler; thus he becomes Viserys I. 

Still, Rhaenys, nicknamed “the Queen That Never Was,” is a popular member of the royal family, and many people still profess loyalty to her and her progeny. Meanwhile, until Viserys can produce a male heir — or until the court decides it’s fine for a woman to rule — his brother Daemon is next in line to succeed to the throne. But Daemon isn’t exactly a popular choice.

Let’s take a closer look at our main players. If the books are any indication, their projected storylines won’t be all roses.

Viserys, played in the show by Paddy Considine, is a kind and generous king who brings stability to the realm. However, when it comes to the question of succession, he’s fanciful to a fault in his pursuit of a male heir. This leads to him making a horrible decision that results in the death of his first wife, Aemma, and their newborn son. It also leads to him hedging his bets about who his heir should be after he remarries and has more children. His indecision leads the heirs in question — his daughter Rhaenyra and his son Aegon — to battle for the crown. 

This conflict plays out while the king is still alive, leading him into frequent tussles with his own family members as he attempts to wrangle them all into submission and clear the way for his daughter, Rhaenyra, to inherit the throne. However, not infrequently, the one he winds up butting heads with is Rhaenyra herself.

Rhaenys, a.k.a. “the Queen That Never Was,” is the product of a marriage between Jaehaerys’s eldest son Aemon and Aemon’s own aunt, Jocelyn Baratheon. In her adolescence, she gained fame as one of the Targaryen dragonriders as well as for her beauty. At 16, Rhaenys married a man nearly 20 years her senior: the gallant Corlys Velaryon, known as the “Sea Snake” for his daring sea expeditions. (Their age difference seems to be reduced in the TV series.) Together, they make a power couple at court, and their children continue to have a claim to the throne. But because Rhaenys is a woman, and because her oldest heir, Laena, is also a woman, her family continues to be passed over for the line of succession — which frequently puts her and Corly at odds with King Viserys.

For more context on “the greens” and “the blacks”, check out our article on Alicent’s green dress.

Rhaenyra is Viserys’s firstborn child, the daughter of his first wife Aemma. 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.

Following Aemma’s death, Viserys marries Alicent Hightower (played by Emily Carey as a younger woman), a girl only a few years older than Rhaenyra herself. As she grows up, Rhaenyra finds herself at odds with her former friend Alicent, and soon they’re locked in a battle over whether Rhaenyra or Alicent’s son Aegon should take the throne after Viserys’s death. 

Their supporters become divided into “blacks” and “greens” after the two women make fashion statements at a tourney following the marriage; “blacks” are Rhaenyra’s supporters after she dons a gown in traditional Targaryen red and black. The greens and the blacks aren’t just about who’s more popular; the greens also represent the widespread belief that a woman shouldn’t be able to inherit the crown. Support for Rhaenyra, a.k.a. identifying as one of the blacks, is a sign of support for women’s equality. 

Rhaenyra’s love life is its own dramatic saga. She remains enamored all her life with her own uncle, Daemon, who’s 16 years older. She also has a thing for a dashing knight named Criston Cole (played by Fabien Frankel), who we see getting flirty with her in the first ep. Criston, however, ultimately becomes her enemy after he allies with Aegon and convinces him to go for the crown. 

Later, Viserys, trying to dodge his wife Alicent’s suggestion to marry Rhaenyra to their son Aegon, pressures her into marrying Rhaenys’s son Laenor Velaryon instead. Rhaenyra hates this idea — for one thing, Laenor is gay — but Viserys threatens to disinherit her unless she agrees. The two wind up having three strapping sons, but their real father is generally thought to be Rhaenyra’s lover, Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), who serves as Rhaenyra’s loyal servant and sworn shield. Or, as our artist Maryon said, “Don’t call them Strongs — even if they are in both ways.”

Things don’t end well for Rhaenyra and Harwin, unfortunately — the situation is just too unstable for Rhaenyra to keep a lover on the side while the line of succession is in dispute, and the king sends Harwin into exile. Rhaenyra responds by secretly marrying her uncle Daemon after Laenor Valeryon’s death — which infuriates her father. 

In the ensuing drama, and with conflict heating up between Rhaenyra and Alicent and Aegon, she relocates to the Targaryen keep of Dragonstone, which means she’s not around when King Viserys dies. Instead of telling Rhaenyra about her father’s death, Alicent and Aegon prepare to anoint Aegon as the new king. When Rhaenyra finds out, she enters into a rage from which she never fully recovers. In her quest to take the throne for herself, she winds up going to some very dark places. But the two sons she bears with Daemon, Viserys II and Aegon III, ultimately do both become rulers of Westeros, so perhaps in the end, she wins.

As the eldest of Rhaenyra’s three sons, Jace bears an undue amount of pressure — and since everyone knows he and his fellow brown-haired brothers were born out of wedlock, fathered by Rhaenyra’s guard Harwin Strong, he also bears the sting of illegitimacy. Titled the Prince of Dragonstone, Jace rides the dragon Vermax and carries out his duties as Rhaenyra’s heir faithfully and loyally. Still, the growing rivalry between his family and Alicent’s ultimately consumes him, along with nearly everyone around him. 

Middle child Luke makes up in ferocity and grit what he lacks in age. As the rider of Arrax, he originally promised his mom he’d abstain from fighting during the vicious civil war. Instead, as the inadvertent lifelong rival of Aegon II, he ultimately becomes the poster boy for the rivalry between Alicent’s clan and Rhaenyra’s clan. 

To give you an idea of how complicated the Velaryon family bonds are, Joffrey is actually named after Laenor’s first love, Joffrey Lonmouth — a man who appears briefly in HotD only to meet a terrible end at the hands of Ser Criston Cole. 

Joffrey’s complex family history, as well as his being at the very center of the nation’s civil war alongside his two older brothers, seems to have taken its toll. He grows up reckless and determined to prove himself worthy of their bravery and courage, despite being far too young for fighting. He rides the dragon Tyraxes.

Daemon Targaryen is popular with everyone except the people who can make him the next king. King Viserys’s right-hand man, Otto Hightower (played by Rhys Ifans), repeatedly blocks Daemon from becoming the next heir and then chooses Rhaenyra over him as successor — at least, he does until his own daughter Alicent marries the king. 

But for all his enemies suspect him of plotting to take over the throne, Daemon, a.k.a. the “rogue prince,” has better things to do, like seducing his brother’s daughter Rhaenyra and conquering his own kingdom. Daemon is congenial but aggressive, and he has a bad habit of killing all his potential love rivals. He falls for Rhaenys’s daughter Laena Velaryon — a convenient match in terms of maintaining his place at court — but Laena’s already engaged. No problem; he kills his rival in a duel.

Later, rumor has it he murders his own brother-in-law, Laenor Velaryon, then married to Rhaenyra. Then he maybe seals the deal by murdering Rhaenyra’s lover Harwin, thereby successfully taking out both of his rivals for Rhaenyra’s hand, and marrying her. Ultimately, all of this may have just been Daemon’s way of getting as close to the throne as he could. In short, Daemon Targaryen is not a man you want to cross. 

Laena and Laenor have limited choices in their roles as heirs to the mighty House Velaryon. They each wind up marrying into the Targaryen dynasty — Laenor forms a marriage of convenience with Rhaenyra that allows him to live freely as a gay man under her protection while she pursues her love affair with Harwin Strong. Though he didn’t marry for love, he makes the best of it, and nobly claims each of her three clearly illegitimate children as his own.

We first meet Laena at age 12 as she’s being offered in marriage by her parents to a mortified King Viserys. She thankfully fares better after that and winds up distinguishing herself as a dragonrider and noblewoman. She marries Daemon and they live together happily while she raises her twin daughters, Rhaena and Baela. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the easiest fate when it comes to childbirth — but suffice it to say she doesn’t go down quietly.

We barely get to know Laena Velaryon on HotD before she dies (how else) horrifically; but she clearly passes her spirit and nobility along to her two daughters with Daemon. 

Though the Targaryen sisters are twins, they’re opposites in most ways: Baela’s a tomboy who loves fighting and flying, Rhaena becomes the darling socialite of King’s Landing; Rhaena rides the dragon Morning, Baela rides the dragon Moondancer; Rhaena is a diplomat, Baela a warrior. 

At one point they’re both engaged to their cousins — Baela to Jace and Rhaena to Luke. But ultimately these marriages never happen; instead, both women are destined to play pivotal roles in knitting the kingdom together after the war. Through it all, their different personalities prove vital to this effort: As a natural-born rebel, Baela works her way, while the refined and political Rhaena works hers. But the important thing — a rarity among Westerosi — is that as sisters, they’re always working together.

Sometimes called “Misery,” Mysaria starts out as a sex worker in King’s Landing but quickly becomes indispensable to her patron and lover Daemon as a source of information. (At one point, he claims to be about to marry her, but she rejects him; we might call her the wife that wasn’t.) From there, she becomes the ranking spy first for Daemon and later for Rhaenyra, which makes her one of the most powerful people in Westeros. Not too shabby for a dancer from Essos.

On one level, the Dance of Dragons is really about the clash between two former friends, Alicent and Rhaenyra, who grew up in the king’s court together only to be pulled into opposite sides of the ongoing dispute over who will inherit the throne. 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.

The Hightowers haven’t always had the most fruitful relationship with the crown; several generations prior, Maegor I’s unsuccessful marriage to a Hightower provoked dissension among her powerful family and kicked off the events leading to the Faith Militant Uprising. Now, Otto schemes successfully to present his daughter Alicent to Viserys as a suitable bride. They are married when she’s just 18.

A note on royal marriages here: In Martin’s history of the Targaryens, the timeline is often compressed, with many royals forming alliances and marrying at very young ages. In Fire and Blood, Viserys marries Aemma when he’s just 16 and she’s only 11. (She dies in childbirth at age 23.) He later marries Alicent at age 29, when she’s 18 and his own daughter Rhaenyra is just 9. 

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. But that also means that instead of an 18-year-old being coerced into marrying a 29-year-old, she’s an 18-year-old being coerced into marrying a man of about 50. This makes the issues of consent, control, and power imbalance even starker, and arguably makes Alicent’s role in the story to come one that’s less about power-seeking and more about survival.

Initially, Alicent wants her own son, Aegon, to marry Rhaenyra, even though there’s a considerable age difference between them. (That they’re also half-siblings is just fine, of course.) When that doesn’t fly with Viserys, she ends up promoting Aegon as heir above Rhaenyra. The women’s conflict deepens when Rhaenyra’s former crush, Criston Cole, becomes loyal to the Hightowers and ultimately becomes Alicent’s personal sworn shield. Alicent’s color is green, which makes her supporters “the greens” opposed to Rhaenyra’s “blacks.”

Alicent is a tricky figure; she alternately tries to make peace with Rhaenyra and avoid conflict while strategizing ways to put Aegon on the throne. Rumors abound that she poisoned her own husband, the king, in order to hasten his demise and crown Aegon while Rhaenyra’s back was effectively turned. 

Like most of our other players, the pursuit of the throne doesn’t end well for her or many of her progeny. But she does pull off her original goal: She survives to see her son become ruler of Westeros. Through succeeding generations, the Hightowers remain wealthy and powerful; following the conquest of Dorne, they become loyal to House Tyrell. (If the name is familiar, Margaery Tyrell’s mother is a Hightower.)

It’s easy to see why there was so much resistance to Alicent’s son Aegon becoming king: He’s like a smarmier, hornier Prince Joffrey. In earlier show appearances, Aegon comes off like a typical whiny teen, entitled, oblivious to the political intrigues around him, masturbating out a window of the Red Keep. But we know from Fire and Blood that, like everyone else in Westeros, he eventually wises up and becomes brutal and vengeful in his quest for the throne.

We don’t know all that much about Helaena’s personality, but her role in the Dance of Dragons will be pivotal. She’s the second of Alicent’s four children, rides the silver dragon Dreamfyre, and, unfortunately, she is destined to marry her skeevy older brother Aegon. As the eventual queen, Helaena is popular in King’s Landing and beloved by the people of Westeros. She will become fiercely protective of her own three children, but the events that play out during the civil war will not bode well for either her or her progeny.

When we first meet Aemond on HotD, he’s the weakling of the Targaryen clan, bullied especially by older brother Aegon, with Rhaenyra’s sons joining in. He’s the only one of the Targaryen kids who hasn’t managed to bond with a dragon, which makes him a source of ridicule among the others. But while he may be afraid, he’s not a coward, and a pivotal moment in his childhood forms the basis of an epic lifelong rivalry between Aemond and the three Velaryon brothers, especially the middle brother, Lucerys. Aemond eventually rides the biggest, most fearsome dragon of all, Vhagar — but this victory, like most in Westeros, has a price.