Women's Lifestyle July 6, 2026 0 Comments

Unraveling the Targaryen Bloodline: Shocking Secrets and Untold Betrayals That Will Blow Your Mind!

Here we go—the third season of House of the Dragon has landed, and if you thought the Targaryen family tree was tangled before, well, hold onto your hats because it’s even more bonkers now . Dragons, dynasties, and drama galore, this HBO prequel whisks us back nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, plopping us smack dab in the middle of the infamous Dance of the Dragons—a brutal civil war that didn’t just spark family feuds; it pretty much wiped out the dragon population. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, this saga offers a front-row seat to the twisted, tangled web of Westeros’s most powerful clan, complete with their signature blonde locks, incestuous marriages, and the recycling of names that could make your head spin faster than a dragon in flight. Confused about who’s who? You’re not alone. If the kaleidoscope of Targaryens needs some untangling, dive into our detailed breakdown of the royal lineage—from King Jaehaerys all the way down to Daenerys and Jon Snow. Spoiler alert: things get messy—and fascinating. LEARN MORE

4 min read

At last, the third season of House of the Dragon is finally here—and the Targaryen family tree is just as confusing as ever.

Set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, the HBO prequel series brings fans into the height of the Targaryen dynasty as the family launched the so-called Dance of teh Dragons, or a bloody civil war of succession that resulted in the decimation of their dragon population. Based off of George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood novel, the drama inspects the twisted familial dynamics at the core of Westeros’s most powerful (and blonde) family—incestuous marriages and recycled names included.

If you need a refresh of who’s who, we’ve illustrated the complicated web of Targaryens below. Scroll ahead to get a more expansive breakdown of the royal history, starting with King Jaehaerys and tracking all the way down to Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow. (Beware, spoilers are ahead.)

Courtesy of HBO; Art by Emily Park

King Jaehaerys I

King Jaehaerys I, also known as the Old King, was the fourth Targaryen to ascend the Iron Throne, following King Aegon I, King Aenys I, and King Maegor I.

Jaehaerys married his younger sister, Queen Alysanne, who became known as Good Queen Alysanne. Together, they had 13 children in total.

Jaehaerys’s reign lasted 55 years, marking the longest ever reign for a monarch of the Seven Kingdoms. He ended up outliving both his wife and heirs, thus setting up a contested line of succession.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen

still from house of the dragon showing rhaenys standing

Courtesy of HBO

Princess Rhaenys played by Eve Best.

Rhaenys, or the Queen Who Never Was, was the only child of Aemon, King Jaehaerys’s heir. She seemed to be the natural successor to the Iron Throne following the passing of Jaehaerys’s sons, but the Great Council voted to instead pass the throne to her male cousin, Viserys.

Rhaenys married Lord Corlys Velaryon. They had two children: Laena and Laenor Velaryon.

King Viserys I

still from house of the dragon showing viserys wearing crown

Courtesy of HBO

King Viserys played by Paddy Considine.

Viserys succeeded his grandfather, King Jaehaerys I, on the Iron Throne. He married his cousin, Queen Aemma, and they had one daughter, Princess Rhaenyra.

When Aemma died after Viserys ordered that she undergo a C-section against her will, the line of succession was thrown into chaos. With no son to pass the crown to, Viserys removed his younger brother, Daemon, as his heir and instead named Rhaenyra as his successor.

Viserys later remarried Alicent Hightower, who gives birth to his first-born son, Aegon II. Viserys and Alicent also had three other children: Aemond, Helaena, and Daeron.

Viserys’s death laid the foundation for the Dance of the Dragons. During his lifetime, he steadfastly upheld Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne. But after he passed, Alicent mistakenly claimed that Viserys had changed his mind on his deathbed, leading his eldest son, Aegon II, to claim the crown as his.

Rhaenyra Targaryen

still of rhaenyra from house of the dragon

Courtesy of HBO

Rhaenyra played by Emma D’Arcy.

Rhaenyra is the eldest child of King Viserys. After the death of her mother, Viserys named Rhaenyra as his heir, but the birth of his first-born son just a few years later created disputes over her right to the crown.

Eventually, the Targaryen civil war culminates with Rhaenyra battling for the Iron Throne against her younger brother.

Rhaenyra first married Laenor Velaryon and they had three children: Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey. Later, she married Viserys’s younger brother/her uncle, Prince Daemon, and they had three more kids: Viserys II, Visenya, and Aegon III.

Prince Daemon Targaryen

Courtesy of HBO

Daemon played by Matt Smith.

As the younger brother of King Viserys, Daemon was the presumed heir to the throne until Viserys revoked his right and named Rhaenyra his successor.

Daemon married three times. His first marriage was to Lady Rhea Royce, followed by Laena Velaryon, with whom he had two children, Rhaena and Baela. He later married his niece, Princess Rhaenyra, and they had three additional children together.

Aegon II Targaryen

Person with long white hair and ornate chain necklace in dimly lit room

Warner Bros.

Aegon II played by Tom Glynn-Carney.

Aegon was the first-born son of King Viserys and his wife, Alicent Hightower. His presumed ascent to the Iron Throne is challenged by his older sister, Rhaenyra, who was originally designated as Viserys’s heir.

Aegon married his sister, Helaena, and together they had three kids: twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, and son Maelor.

The Illegitimate Targaryens

Warner Bros.

Ulf played by Tom Bennett.

Season 2 saw Team Black recruit more dragonriders by inviting alleged Targaryen bastards to seat unclaimed dragons. One of these dragonseeds is Ulf, who claimed to be the bastard son of Prince Baelon. If true, that would mean that Ulf is the half-brother of King Viserys and Prince Daemon. Ulf ultimately entered the fray with his claim of the dragon Silverwing.

Person with long blond hair standing by a lake, cloudy day.

Warner Bros.

Hugh Hammer played by Kieran Bew.

Another Targaryen bastard who became a dragonrider is Hugh Hammer, a blacksmith who ends up riding the dragon Vermithor. Although the show hasn’t confirmed Hugh’s parentage, fans believe that his mother was Saera Targaryen, the rebellious and disowned daughter of King Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne.

Two men in medieval-style clothing facing each other intensely on a ship deck.

Warner Bros.

Addam and Alyn played by Clinton Liberty and Abubakar Salim.

Seafaring brothers Alyn and Addam of Hull aren’t technically Targaryen bastards, but they still have Valyrian blood. Their father is Corlys Velaryon, who had an extramarital affair with a woman at the shipyards of Driftmark. On the show, Alyn became a dragonrider for Team Black after he lays claim to Seasmoke, the dragon that formerly belonged to his late half-brother, Laenor.

How are the House of the Dragon characters related to Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow?

emilia clarke and kit harrington as daenerys and jon snow

Courtesy of HBO

Daenerys Targaryen played by Emilia Clarke and Jon Snow played by Kit Harington.

House of the Dragon begins 172 years before Princess Daenerys Targaryen’s birth. Memorably, Daenerys had a short-lived but fiery romance with Jon Snow, who, as the Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones revealed, turned out to be the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, a.k.a. Daenerys’s older brother, making them the latest aunt-nephew couple to join their ancestry’s long tradition of incestuous relationships.

But, how are they both connected to their House of the Dragon predecessors?

Technically, Rhaenyra is Daenerys’s sixth great grandmother and Jon’s seventh great grandmother. That also makes Daenerys and Jon the direct descendants of Daemon, Rhaenyra’s uncle/second husband.