House of the Dragon: Targaryen Family Tree Explained! The Dynastic Question As The Focus Of History
Which blonde hair of Westeros will rule the Seven Kingdoms astride a mighty dragon? This is the question at the heart of the HBO series House of the Dragon, a prequel to the successful Game of Thrones show and broadcast on HBO Max starting August 21, 2022. The series – based in part on George RR Martin’s Fire and Blood – is set 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen and follows the events that led to the famous civil war between members of the Targaryen house, which went down in history as the Dance of Dragons.
House of the Dragon: The Dynastic Question As The Focus Of History
In the prologue to the first episode of House of the Dragon, we discover that the succession rules in Westeros are complicated but not entirely inflexible. For example, a king may decide to override a female heir in favor of a man, while another ruler may make the diametrically opposite decision. We learn that Viserys I (Paddy Considine), fifth King of the Seven Kingdoms and member of the Targaryen house, has no male heirs, but only one daughter, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock at the beginning of the series, Emma D’Arcy later). The young princess is educated from an early age to become queen: she participates in political discussions and meetings of the Small Council and becomes a skilled dragon rider.
When Viserys loses her beloved queen and the infant she was carrying on the same day, the council members push for her to officially appoint the heir who will sit on the Iron Throne. The King is torn between designating his brother Daemon (Matt Smith) – a skilled fighter with a stormy and calculating character – and his daughter. However, when Daemon once again demonstrates his cruel disposition, Viserys, worried and disappointed, makes Rhaenyra his future queen. To understand the political intrigues of House of the Dragon it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the intricate family relationships of this important house. The family tree of the Targaryens is complicated but at the same time compact, due to the family’s propensity for incest. Let’s explore the Targaryen family tree which, we warn you, has some significant spoilers inside.
House of the Dragon: The Targaryen Family Tree
The graph that we propose – elaborated by the Attack of the fanboy website – is a representation of the most relevant family relationships to better understand some aspects of the first season of House of the Dragon. Among the characters present in the diagram, the most central to the narrative development of this first cycle of episodes are Rhaenyra, Viserys I, Aemma, Alicent, Daemon, Rhaenys and Corlys. As written above, this genealogical tree is very little particular, due to the tradition of inbreeding of the Targaryens; however, you may have noticed that there are also names of other famous houses of the world created by George RR Martin, including Baratheon and Arryn.
Our exploration begins with Aegon I the Conqueror, the first King of the Seven Kingdoms. Also known for its powerful dragon Belerion, “the black terror”. The ruler married both of his sisters, Visenya and Rhaenys, who bore him two children, the future rulers Aenys and Maegor. The first is unable and weak, the second is cruel and tyrant. When the reign of Maegor fell – whose body was found impaled on the Iron Throne – his nephew, Jaehaerys, remembered as the Conciliator – By his wisdom – and the Old King ascended the throne, because of his long reign. Now an elderly man, Jaehaerys proclaimed his son Aemon as heir to the throne, who married Jocelyn Baratheon, his aunt, with whom he had only one daughter, Rhaenys. Unfortunately, the Prince of Dragonstone never got the chance to reign, dying even before his father and leaving the throne to his younger brother Baelon. The new ruler had all the qualities to lead the people wisely but he died a year after his coronation due to an infection.
The Queen Who Was Not and The Queen Who Could Be: Rhaenys And Rhaenyra
Baeleon’s death creates a real dynastic dilemma: Jaehaerys no longer has direct heirs. Rhaenys was initially nominated as a possible Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, as she was technically first in the line of succession but – the only woman in a sexist male-only environment – she was discarded in favor of her nephew, Viserys I, and went down in history as The Queen who it was not.
At this point in the family tree, we are reunited with the events narrated in the first episode of House of the Dragon. Viserys is the father of Rhaenyra, the first woman designated heir to the Iron Throne, and brother of Daemon, a potential threat to the kingdom.
