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When it comes to bothHouse Of The DragonandGame Of Thrones, one of the most legendary houses around for many fans has to be House Targaryen. With sucha deep history across Westeros, the Targaryen familyis subject to some of the most interesting lore from the series. Whether or not dragons are involved, the Targaryen always manage to remain a force in the kingdom.
Thanks toGame Of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen rose to prominence, much in the same way that Rhaenyra Targaryen would inHouse Of The Dragon. Both women have become fan favorites and for good reason, but many wonder about the connections between the two. While they both come from the same family, many may not know exactly how the two masters of dragons are related.
Targaryen
Titles:
Princess of Dragonstone, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm
97 AC
Series:
House of the Dragon
Rhaenyra Targaryen is one of the most interesting and complex characters inHouse Of the Dragon, so it makes sense that much of the first season would revolve around her.Destined to one day be Queen of Westeros, the history of the land and the complications of her family would make her destiny much more complicated. Fueding with her younger half-brother for the throne in the conflict between the Greens and the Blacks, Rhaenyra is a powerful dragon rider who has yet to show off just how imposing and fearsome she can be when it comes to claiming the Iron Throne. In contrast with her inevitable actions in future seasons, Rhaenyra had this to say in Season 1, Episode 10, “The Black Queen”:
“I do not wish to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone.”
Exactly how old she is depends on when the question is asked as she actually ages quite a bit over the course of the first season ofHouse Of The Dragon. She is quite young at the start, with her age being fourteen to fifteen at the beginning of the show. In the third episode of the first season, Rhaenyra is then mentioned to be seventeen years old, but this isn’t where the time jumps would stop. After a significant time jump of a decade, fans would see Rhaenyra in her late twenties. Rhaenyra ends the first season ofHouse Of Dragonin her early to mid-thirties with some estimates putting her at thirty-five and others at thirty-three.The actress portraying Raeynyraat the end of the first season is Emma D’Arcy who was thirty at the time.
Princess of Dragonstone, Queen of Meereen, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Queen of the Andals and the First Men
281 AC
305 AC
Game Of Thrones
The powerful Targaryen who would seek to reclaim Westeros for her House became an instant hit with fans. Daenerys Targaryen or Daenerys Stormborn, one of the last remaining Targaryens would go from simple beginnings to one of the most dominant forces thatGame Of Throneswould ever see. Amassing an enormous army that wasrounded out by three massive dragons, Daenerys Targaryen wielded a force that the most powerful men inGame Of Thronescould only ever dream of. When it came time for her to claim her throne Daenerys made her thoughts on her role clear in Season 4, Episode 5, “First Of His Name”:
“I will do what queens do. I will rule.”
While Daenerys is actually much younger in the books, some fans might still be surprised to learn that she is intended to be roughly sixteen or seventeen by the timeGame Of Thronesbegins. She would age over the course of the series with her reaching the ripe old age of twenty-four during the show’s final season. This means that at the age of twenty-four, Daenerys waspoised to become the unopposed Queen of Westerosif it wasn’t for the betrayal of Jon Snow in the opening moments of her bleak victory. If Daenerys’ actual age in the series comes as a bit of a surprise, that might be because Emelia Clarke (the actress portraying Daenerys) was thirty-two during the filming of the final season of the show. In a fun coincidence, Emelia Clarke would take up the role of Daenerys when she was twenty-four.
How Are Daenerys And Rhaenyra Targaryen Related?
Rhaenyra and Daenrys have starkly different stories over the course of their lives due to their unique circumstances, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. While some people may believe that the two aren’t so distantly related, they are actually a whole host of generations apart. To be precise,Rhaenyra Targaryen is Daenerys Targaryen’s sixth great-grandmother, easily putting hundreds of years between the two powerful Targaryen women. Those who understand the timeline gap betweenHouse Of The DragonandGame Of Thronesmay have had a feeling that would be the case asHouse Of The Dragonis set roughly two hundred years beforeGame Of Thrones.
The two women manage to be both similar and unique in a variety of ways, but there is one important distinction that the two share.The history of Targaryen Madnessis an interesting thing, with the trait being known as some kind of inherited insanity that stemmed from the history of Targaryen incest. Thanks to how the eventual actions of Rhaenyra will be perceived by some of the fanbase forHouse Of The Dragon(and depending on how the show’s creatives go about showing her mental state), it’s possible that Rhaenyra will be seen as someone on par with Daenerys’ madness.
Daenerys Targaryen had her family’s madness befall her in a now infamous creative decision during the final stages of theGame Of Thronesstory. Given how much Rhaenyra is poised to go through over the course ofHouse Of The Dragon, it won’t be a surprise to see her going to a similar place, albeit with a bit longer and more justified timeframe to do so.Civil wars like the Dance of the Dragonsare bitter and brutal, and fans are yet to see the true horrors to come inHouse Of The Dragon.
House Of The Dragonis available to stream now on MAX.
House of the Dragon is HBO’s prequel series to Game of Thrones. Set hundreds of years earlier, the show follows the inner machinations and rivalries of the Targaryen royal family. The show was created by Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin, and stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, and Olivia Cooke.
