How Rhaenyra Targaryen Is Related To Daenerys

Warning! This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, & Game of Thrones.Rhaenyra Targaryen, one of the central characters in House of the Dragon, is related to Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen, as one of her most controversial ancestors. Although Rhaenyra Targaryen will die in House of the Dragon, her legacy lives on in her many descendants, including Daenerys, who was born almost 200 years later. During that time, the Targaryens endure war, tragedy, and peace, but Rhaenyra and Daenerys remain the only two Targaryen ruling queens Westeros has ever had.

Despite the many generations that separate these two women, they have a lot in common, establishing a firm connection between ancestor and descendant. Dragons become extinct shortly after Rhaenyra's reign, but Daenerys brings the mythical creatures back to life. House Of The Dragon even claims that Rhaenyra's dragon, Syrax, is the mother of Daenerys' dragon eggs in Game of Thrones. This isn't technically canon in A Song of Ice and Fire, but it certainly emphasizes the truth that these two powerful women are of the same blood.

Rhaenyra Targaryen Is Daenerys' Fifth Great-Grandmother

Daenerys is related to Rhaenyra because she is her direct descendant from Rhaenyra's marriage with Daemon. In House of the Dragon season 1, episode 7, "Driftmark," Daemon and Rhaenyra marry, and in episode 8, "The Lord of the Tides," Daemon and Rhaenyra have two sons in six years. Their sons are named Aegon and Viserys. At the end of the Dance of Dragons, all of Rhaenyra's sons are presumed dead, except Aegon. He ascends the throne as Aegon III after someone fatally poisons Aegon II.

However, Fire & Blood later reveals that Viserys did not die; he was just kidnapped and sold, eventually returning to King's Landing. Aegon III dies with two sons as his heirs—Daeron I and Baelor I. However, neither king produces offspring, transferring the line of succession to Viserys.

Aegon III does have three daughters—Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena. However, the Game of Thrones prequel establishes that the Dance of Dragons occurred primarily because of male primogeniture, so Westeros passed over Aegon III's daughters to avoid another war. Daenerys comes from Viserys' descendants, making her Rhaenyra's fifth great-granddaughter.

How The Targaryen Line Continues From Rhaenyra's Children To Daenerys

Image via HBO/MovieStillsDB

Viserys has three children: Aegon IV, Naerys, and Aemon. To keep Targaryen tradition, Viserys marries Aegon, his heir, to his sister, Naerys. They have two children: Daeron II and Daenerys. Daeron II has four sons, two of whom become king—Aerys I and Maekar I. When Aerys dies without children, Maekar, Daeron's fourth son, ascends the Iron Throne.

Maekar also has four sons: Daeron, Aerion, Aemon—who later becomes Maester Aemon—and Aegon. Maekar Targaryen and his sons appear in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. By the time Maekar dies, his two eldest sons, Daeron and Aerion, have already passed.

An emergency council gathers to determine the next Targaryen king, initially asking Aemon to be king. However, Aemon rejects them because he has already taken the Black. Therefore, Maekar's fourth son, Aegon V, becomes king of Westeros.

Aegon V's descendants differ in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. Game of Thrones makes Aerys II and Rhaella, his sister-wife, Aegon V's children. However, A Song of Ice and Fire has an extra generation between Aegon V and the Mad King. In the books, Aegon V has several children, none of whom are Aerys or Rhaella.

After Aegon V's eldest son, Duncan, gives up the throne for love, his second son, Jaehaerys, becomes the king upon Aegon V's death. Jaehaerys and his sister Shaera have Aerys and Rhaella, Daenerys' parents. Therefore, A Song of Ice and Fire depicts Rhaenyra as Daenerys' sixth great-grandmother, while she remains Daenerys' fifth great-grandmother in the show's universe. It is fascinating that Game of Thrones changed the Mad King's parentage, but it makes sense, given that they also aged up the present-day characters.

• 

  Game Of Thrones

  

  10/10

  Release Date

  2011 - 2019-00-00

  Showrunner

  David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

  • 

    Jon Snow

  • 

    Isaac Hempstead Wright

    Brandon Bran Stark

  Based on George R. R. Martin's ongoing A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama set in the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos. It follows noble families like the Starks, Lannisters, and Targaryen vying for control of the Iron Throne while a rising threat from the undead looms in the North.

• 

  House of the Dragon

  8/10

  Release Date

  August 21, 2022

  Network

  HBO

  • 

    Prince Daemon Targaryen

  • 

    Fabien Frankel

    Ser Criston Cole

  Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria.

• 

  A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

  Release Date

  January 18, 2026

  Network

  HBO

  • 

    Peter Claffey

    Ser Duncan 'Dunk' the Tall

  • 

    Dexter Sol Ansell

    Egg

  A new prequel entry in the sprawling Game of Thrones franchise, centered on a humble wandering knight and his clever young squire. The pair travel across a Westeros still ruled by a Targaryen dynasty, but far removed from dragonfire and dynastic war.