House of the Dragon: The Targaryen family tree explained – House of the Dragon, HBO’s eagerly awaited Game of Thrones prequel, has finally been released. The focus of this George RR Martin adaptation is House Targaryen.
The 10-episode series is set roughly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, when the Targaryens had consolidated the seven Westerosi kingdoms under a single monarch.
The main focus of the new television series is the Targaryens, the House of the Dragon who ruled Westeros for three centuries before the events of Game of Thrones. The upcoming series will be based on “Fire and Blood,” a collection of George R.R. Martin short stories that contain important information about the Targaryen family’s background.
However, as viewers will soon discover, the incestuous royal family comprises many Aegons, Aemonds, and Daemons and is connected by shady family ties. Thanks to one imaginative artist named Maryon, we have a magnificent family tree to help you comprehend what will happen when the show premieres on Sunday night.
In a 2016 interview with Vox, the artist acknowledged that the Targaryens’ lack of individuality bothered him. The upcoming series is set in the middle of the family tree, roughly halfway between Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros and the death of Daenerys Targaryen in the Game of Thrones finale. Now that its primary objective has been achieved, the “Targtree” can help us all prepare for the following series.
Must Read: Do the Velaryons Marry Each Other? Explained
According to time.com, for the sake of clarity, only the pertinent offspring in terms of the line of succession has been mentioned.
Targaryen Family Tree
Daenys “the Dreamer” Targaryen
In a vision, Daenys Targaryen, later known as Daenys the Dreamer, saw that the city of Valyria, where all the Dragonriders had previously lived, would be destroyed in a catastrophic cataclysm. Aenar, her father, took this idea to heart and relocated his entire family to Dragonstone from Valyria. The Targaryens became the final Dragonriders in the world, fulfilling Daenys’ prophecy.
Aegon “The Conqueror” Targaryen
With the aid of his two sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya, Aegon Targaryen brought the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros together.
To maintain the purity of their bloodline, the Targaryens frequently intermarried, yet this practice might have unfavourable effects. The gods toss a coin when a Targaryen is born, as Cersei observes in Game of Thrones. Some develop into monsters, while others make exemplary leaders. For Aegon’s two boys, that was the situation. Although Aenys Targaryen was a good ruler, he was assassinated by his brother Maegor “The Cruel” Targaryen.
Aenys Targaryen
Aenys received a somewhat unlucky name as a legacy. (To be fair, though, it is pronounced “Ennis. But he overcame that and became a compassionate leader before his brother brutally murdered him. He wed Alyssa Velaryon, a member of the lone another Valyrian family to have survived the collapse of that city, despite the Velaryons not being Dragonriders, which is essential. However, the Velaryons quickly became prominent in the Game of Thrones by joining forces with the Targaryens.
Jaehaerys “The Old King” Targaryen
Maegor only held power for six years before dying after being discovered by his council impaled on his own Iron Throne. (Ouch!) Whether he committed suicide or got hurt on the seat that was supposed to prick unworthy kings is debatable.
Jaehaerys, Aenys’ son, then became the new king. Despite the apparent drawbacks of his marriage to his sister, Alyssane, the two were in love. They were both set to wed unrelated suitors but decided to elope instead. Westeros enjoyed its heyday during Jaeherys’ reign. All the things a king does when he is not busy using his dragons to burn people to a crisp include building roads and sewerage facilities. We’ll only discuss the few who were competing for the throne because Jaehaerys and Alyssane had a total of 13 children together.
Aemon Targaryen
The first son of Jaehaerys to live into adulthood was Aemon. He married Jocelyn Baratheon, who was his aunt but not a Targaryen (excellent!). Rhaenys Targaryen, his daughter, was left behind after Aemon passed away before his father. The heir was Baelon, Aemon’s younger brother.
Baelon Targaryen
Viserys and Daemon Targaryen are the sons of Baelon and his sister, who were married. Before his father passed away, Baelon suffered from a “blown belly” (perhaps a ruptured appendix). Jaehaerys currently lacks any obvious heirs to the throne.
Rhaenys “The Queen Who Never Was” Targaryen
Theoretically, Rhaenys (Eve Best) should have been first in line to the throne because she is the child of Jaehaerys’ eldest son, Aemon. However, the lords objected to the thought of a woman ruling over them because Westeros is a misogynistic society. Fearing a rebellion, Jaehaerys convened a council to decide who would take the Iron Throne. The council chose the eldest child of Baelon, Viserys, over Rhaenys, who became known as “the queen who never was.”
Viserys Targaryen
Rhaenyra Targaryen was born after Viserys married his cousin Aemma (Sian Brooke). The couple is unable to have a male heir, which is unfortunate. Aemma loses her life-giving delivery in the first episode of House of the Dragon after Viserys unjustly forces her to have a C-section against her will. Their son also perishes. Viserys eventually decides to designate Rhaenyra as the next in line for the throne because he is left without an apparent heir.
Viserys had remarried Alicent Hightower by the second episode of the series, and the two of them had a son, Aegon II Targaryen. Aegon II threatens Rhaenyra’s rule is threatened only by Aegon II’s existence.
Daemon Targaryen
The Iron Throne is something that Daemon Targaryen, a legendary yet bloodthirsty warrior, secretly desires. The council members of Viserys are concerned that Deamon may take extreme measures to wrest the throne from Viserys or perhaps Rhaenyra. Daemon despises his wife despite having been married off for political reasons. At the commencement of the episode, he appears to have very little chance of unseating Rhaenyra or Aegon II as king.
Corlys “The Sea Snake” Velaryon
Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), often known as the Sea Snake, was a legendary sailor who wed Rhaenys Targaryen in a historically uncommon union. Laenor (Matthew Carver early on, John Macmillan later) and Laena Velaryon (Nova Foueillis-Mosé early on, Savannah Steyn later) are represented by them collectively. Leana is only a kid when Corlys forces Viserys into marrying her, but Viserys decides to wed Alicent Hightower instead. Still, the two Velaryon children will play significant roles in the program’s future as critical friends to various Targaryens.
Alicent Hightower
Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Hand to both King Jaehaerys and King Viserys, is the father of Alicent. At the start of the programme, she is a court lady who primarily keeps Rhaenyra Targaryen company. Otto, though, urges Alicent to support King Viserys following the death of his wife and grow to be a valuable asset to the monarch. Aegon II is born when Viserys eventually develops feelings for Alicent Hightower.
Rhaenyra Targaryen
In the hopes that a male heir would effectively take her place, Viserys had long ignored Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra encounters mistrust from a kingdom that would rather have her half-brother as king than ever be subject to a queen when he finally names Rhaenyra as the next in line for the throne. Even though she doesn’t want to be married, some marriages might be necessary to build up support for her claim to the throne.
Aegon II Targaryen
As lords wonder why the Iron Throne will pass to Rhaenyra when the king finally has a son, Aegon II Targaryen enters the scene just in time to destabilise the kingdom further.
