The highly anticipated prequel to Game of Thrones was riddled with controversy much before it came out; however, when it did make it to our screens, the reception was mostly positive. The fantasy drama created by author George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal is based on the former’s book Fire and Blood and brings to life the story of the Targaryens about 170 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. House of the Dragon begins with a flashback from the year 101 AC, when King Jaehaerys Targaryen was meant to choose an heir for the Iron Throne. As one can imagine, the council chose a man, Viserys, and not Rhaenys, his older cousin. Fast forward many years, and while Viserys sits on the throne, he hopes for a son from his pregnant wife, Aemma. Viserys has been blessed with a fierce daughter, Rhaenyra, but as it goes, she can’t sit on the throne, so he is desperate for a son. Unfortunately for him, when he’s asked to choose between child and mother due to a complication in the birthing process, he ends up choosing the child, and this leads to both mother and child dying. Devastated by the death of his love and his presumed heir, Viserys names Rhaenyra heir to the throne.
Spoiler Alert
Why does King Viserys choose Rhaenyra?
It’s not as simple as it seems: Daemon, Viserys’ younger brother, is meant to be his successor, but his wicked ways don’t endear him to the council. Additionally, Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, wishes to create a poisonous rift between the family for his own benefit and tells him about how Daemon insulted Viserys’ son, the true heir. This is what angers the guy, and he ends up choosing Rhaenyra. It’s all about the male ego, nothing else really. Viserys also tells Rhaenyra about Aegon the Conqueror’s dream, one that we Game of Thrones watchers are uber-familiar with at this point. According to this dream that burdens Viserys, his ancestor had a vision that a supernatural power would destroy the world of men, and they would only survive if a Targaryen sat on the throne (we all know how that turned out, whoops). While at this point it seems just alright for this change of heart on Viserys’ part, it becomes quite a complicated situation for Rhaenyra soon to come.
As it goes, high lords who have daughters have only one goal: to get them married off for the best alliance, and who is better than the king of Westeros himself? Otto Hightower sends his young daughter, Rhaenyra’s best friend, Alicent, to assuage the king’s pain. While completely opposed to it, Alicent has no choice but to follow her father’s wishes and attempt to become the next queen of the seven kingdoms. Remember Rhaenys? Viserys’ cousin? She’s still around, and her husband is struggling with the loss of his ships at the stepstones. The Triarchy is led by Prince Craghas Drahas, also known as the “Crabfeeder” because he likes to feed his enemies to the crabs. Corlys wants the king to take action against the Triarchy, so his ships are looked after, but the king doesn’t want to feud for such small reasons (eeks). Rhaenyra obviously doesn’t agree with this plan, and the misogynistic council essentially throws her out to go find a new boy toy, or a member of the king’s guard. She chooses Ser Criston Cole (you know where this one’s going).
In the meantime, it seems an Iron Throne isn’t the best place to be seated because Viserys gets ill from a cut from the throne. Soon, we will learn that his condition is only worsening. On the other hand, Daemon plans on marrying a second wife and steals the dragon egg that was meant for Visery’s second child as an act of rebellion to show that he’s coming for the throne. As usual, Viserys sends some men to retrieve the egg. Oooh la la, more fighting, yay. But Rhaenyra makes a surprise entry and gets Daemon to return the egg without shedding any blood. On the other hand, to keep the throne in the bloodline, Corlys plans on marrying off his 12-year-old daughter to the king (stop it). Despite the council agreeing with this plan, terrifyingly, the Hightowers’ plan works, and Alicent goes from best friend to stepmother to Rhaenyra (ouch).
3 years into the future, the stepstones are a war zone as Corlys and Daemon have teamed up to defeat the Crabfeeder. On the other hand, Alicent and Viserys celebrate the second birthday of their son, Aegon the 2nd. Okay, at this point, since he’s got a son, we can imagine Viserys plans on giving the throne to his son, of course, so he decides to marry Rhaenyra off. A search begins, and we get the names of many of the big houses in the Game of Thrones franchise, including the Lannisters. Otto is still dissatisfied, even though his daughter is now married to the king, so he suggests the king marry Rhaenyra to Aegon, making sure his bloodline gets to be on the throne (sheesh). However, sensible Lyonel Strong, Master of Laws, suggests the king marry his daughter to Corlys’ son Laenor.
More male ego comes into play when the king sends some help to Daemon and Corlys upon Vaemond, Corlys’ younger brother’s petition to the king. Daemon then kills the Crabfeeder in single combat (not sure why this took three years, but okay). While we were thinking that the king wants Aegon on the throne next, Rhaenyra feared the same, but Viserys assured her he had no such plans. Two months later, Rhaenyra is still single, and Daemon is named the new king of the narrow seas.
Now stuff gets especially steamy when Daemon and Rhaenyra act on their urges to get intimate, but in a brothel (scandy). Uncle leaves Rhaenyra halfway, embarrassed and wanting, so she ends up going for her boy toy, Ser Criston Cole. Otto’s like a “Little Finger” and has his little birdies everywhere, informing Viserys of where Daemon and Rhaenyra were found. Psychopath Daemon then asks his brother for his daughter’s hand, and a disgusted Viserys banishes him to the Vale, where his wife resides. Daemon doesn’t care for his wife anymore as she bores him and immediately ends up killing her upon arrival (told you, psychopath). On the other hand, the king took all these years to realize that the man who got his young daughter to marry him was in fact a selfish jerk. He strips Otto of his title as the Hand of the King.
But hey, at least Rhaenyra gets a marriage of convenience because Laenor is into men and she herself has Criston. However, this excitement is short-lived when, before the wedding, Criston accidentally tells Alicent of his relations with Rhaenyra, which angers her. She blames Rhaenyra’s actions for her father’s loss, and finally, animosity is born. No, we knew these two couldn’t get along, but this was the final straw for Alicent, who wanted to be pleasant. Already stressed, Criston gets confronted by Laenor’s lover—maybe a treaty to help them both survive the marriage—but it angers Criston, and he ends up killing the poor guy, leaving Laenor alone and Rhaenyra furious. The wedding takes place anyway, and Rhaenyra and Laenor hope to have a happy relationship. Criston thinks he’s Romeo and tries to kill himself, but Alicent stops him, creating an alliance. Oh, if you were wondering, the King is somehow still alive, but everyone learns of his sickness during the wedding, which is family only.
Who fathers Rhaenyra’s children?
10 years into the future, Rhaenyra has 3 children, all with black hair because they’re fathered by Harwin Strong, Lyonel’s eldest son (woot). I mean, the resemblance is uncanny, and the Targaryeans are meant to have silver hair, so there’s nothing they can do to really hide it. Yet the king keeps his promise and wants his daughter to rule the seven kingdoms. I suppose he’s one of the good ones in this messed-up universe. Daemon is married to Laenor’s sister Laena (cute), and they have two children and a third incoming (huh, even their timing is similar). Finally, it seems Daemon might have something to live for.
The Strongs, i.e., Lyonel and his elder son, head to their home in Harrenhal after Harwin and Criston get into a fight (obviously the dude called him out for fathering Rhaenyra’s children out of spite or jealousy, whatever it is that guy’s fight about). Poor Strongs don’t know that they have a mole within; Harwin’s younger brother, Larys, only cares for power and has an odd relationship with the Queen. They have the Strongs killed, so her father can be reinstated as the hand of the king yet again (disgusting).
History repeats itself as Daemon gets asked to choose between his wife and baby, but Laena doesn’t have time for all of this petty talk; she instructs her dragon Vhagar to kill her (a suicide aided by a dragon, new). However, with Laena’s death, I suppose Daemon and Rhaenyra can finally find each other. But things are far from okay. Aemond, Alicent’s younger son, takes command of Vhagar, the largest dragon alive and the oldest of them too. Aemond calls out Rhaenyra’s children, “Strongs,” and then ends up getting pierced in the eye by Jace, one of Rhaenyra’s kids. Alicent then wants an eye for an eye, but the King strictly forbids anyone from calling Rhaenyra’s children names. Finally, Daemon and Rhaenyra end up marrying after faking Laenor’s death so he can go off and live his life with his lover while they worry about the throne. His parents, though, are devastated to believe both of their children have died in quick succession. Daemon and Rhaenyra get married in the traditional way, hoping to stop the Hightowers from taking over the throne.
Six years later, Viserys is basically on his deathbed, but for Rhaenyra, he’s willing to come to council for Daemon’s petition. Vaemond wants to be named Corlys’ heir because the man is deeply wounded from battle, but Corlys has chosen Rhaenyra and Laenor’s son as his successor. Vaemond insults Rhaenyra’s bloodline yet again in court, and Daemon doesn’t hesitate to behead him in that moment. The uncle and niece only now realize how sick Viserys really is, meaning the Hightowers are managing everything.
Why Does Alicent Want to Fight Rhaenyra?
Later, Viserys mistakes Alicent for Rhaenyra and tells her about Aegon’s dream, which makes her believe her son is the one who is going to protect the seven kingdoms. What’s funny is that Aegon simply wants to have fun; he’s even betrothed to his own sister, Helaena, who is different from the others. Viserys dies that night, and Alicent and Otto immediately name Aegon his successor. She claims that’s what the king wished for before he died, but Ser Harrold, the lord commander of the king’s guard, stays loyal to his king and refuses to kill Rhaenyra. Rhaenys is the one who decides she must show her support to the lady Rhaenyra and ends up escaping after Alicent locks her up until she shows support for Aegon II. Rhaenys refuses, of course, and quickly finds Rhaenyra on the dragon’s back.
Rhaenyra is pregnant with a child with Daemon, but she goes into premature labor after hearing the news that the baby is dying. What’s ironic is that she had told her mother she’d rather be on the battlefield in armor than on the birthing bed but look at how many kids she has now. Daemon prepares for battle and gets as many houses to join them and as many dragons as possible. It is a game of dragons. Ser Eric brings Rhaenyra her father’s crown, pledging his allegiance.
Rhaenyra has always been against violence, so she tries to find the best way to take the throne without bloodshed. She sends her sons to different houses in order to get them to side with her (very democratic). One of the kids is even sent to Winterfell for the Starks, but when Lucerys arrives at Storm’s End, he’s hit with a surprise. Aemond’s already there and has made a deal with Borros Baratheon (yeah, same Baratheons) to marry his daughter in return for his loyalty. Opening old wounds, Aemond demands Lucery’s eye; however, Borros condones his violence in his jurisdiction. This doesn’t stop Aemond, though, because he follows Luke on the dragon’s back, hoping to threaten him. However, in fear, Luke’s dragon Arrax ends up angering Vhagar, who then splits the smaller dragon in two with a single bite, presumably killing Rhaenyra’s son (no, am I the only one hoping he survived?) House of the Dragon is a fantasy show, after all.
In House of the Dragon‘s ending, when Rhaenyra learns of the death of her son, it’s like she finally comes alive. This is when she decides that she will hold back no longer and begins the “dance of the dragons” against the Hightowers. A fiery storm is about to hit, and two strong women are at the heart of it.
