Know the Starks to be the herald of woe. Know the Lannisters to pay all debts, even and squared. Know the Baratheons to revel in the fury, and the Tyrells to wring florescence. Know the House of Tully to avow family, duty, and honor above all else, and the House of Martell to remain unbowed, unbent, and unbroken. But always count on House Targaryen, the last remnant of the once proud dominion of Valyria, to bring about the reign of fire and blood.
Here’s everything you need to know about House Targaryen before the anticipated Game of Thrones spinoff series, House of the Dragon, makes its premiere on HBO in August.
There are innumerable houses in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, some insignificant and others influential. Perhaps none of them can cast a long shadow against the mark that House Targaryen has left on the history of Westeros.
For more than 300 years after Aegon’s conquest, the kings and queens of House Targaryen ruled over the Seven Kingdoms with an iron fist and a breath of fire. Commanding the fury of their dragons, descendants of the Targaryen dynasty crushed their enemies at an unrelenting pace. Were it not for the infamous Dance of the Dragons — the civil war that brought the house to a ruin of their own making — the Targaryen grip on power would never have slipped.
If we are to chronicle the story of House Targaryen, we will have to go further back in history to the time of Valyria, the crown jewel of civilization that succumbed to a terrible fate.
House Targaryen was one of many powerful houses in Valyria, home to dragons and dragonlords. Targaryens weren’t particularly influential next to the other forty noble families of Valyria, but they had an advantage that no one had accounted for. For many years, Targaryens resided in the Valyrian Freehold, the land mass that comprised the proud kingdom, until Daenys Targaryen saw in a vision the cataclysmic event that would befall Valyria.
Daenys warned his father Aenar, who sold his estates and moved with his family and their five dragons to the Isle of Dragonstone, east of Westeros. 12 years later, Daenys’ vision came to reality, and a catastrophe of unknown proportions and origins laid waste to the kingdom of Valyria, destroying every family and their dragons, leaving only the Targaryens as the last remaining house to retain the Valyrian blood.
Over the long years, four of the five dragons Aenar had brought with himself died, leaving Balerion the Black Dread to be the last of the dragonkind. Fortunately for the Targaryens some of the dragon eggs on Dragonstone hatched and gave birth to two new dragons, Vhagar and Meraxes.
The Targaryens prospered on Dragonstone and grew in strength, ultimately becoming a powerful contender in their own right. Some five generations later, the union of Aerion Targaryen and Valaena Velaryon resulted in three children named Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya, resulting in a significant chapter in the story of House Targaryen.
Aegon Targaryen, Lord of Dragonstone, mystified friends and enemies alike, with many deeming him a solitary creature. He was a respected warrior, and wise enough to leave the matters of governance in the capable hands of his sisters. Aegon’s eyes eventually started to drift eastward, towards the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, with ambitions of unifying it under a single sovereign.
In the year 2 BC, Aegon and his sister-wives launched an all-out assault of Westeros, conquering every great realm and forcing their rulers to bend the knee. Aegon managed to conquer six of the seven kingdoms, with the exception of Dorne. He also destroyed three ancient houses of Westeros: House Gardner, ruler of Reach; House Hoare, ruler of the Iron Islands and Riverlands; and House Durrandon, ruler of the Stormlands. He then gathered the swords of his fallen enemies and used Balerion to forge them into a chair that would become the most coveted seat in Westeros: The Irone Throne.
Aegon built Aegonfort at the mouth of Blackwater Rush. In the years that followed, the town that encircled the fort slowly grew into a city and adopted the name of King’s Landing, a capitol for the unified seven kingdoms and a new center of power for the Targaryen dynasty.
Aegon the Conqueror’s reign was anything but bloodless or peaceful, however, as Dorne continued to remain defiant in the face of subjugation, leading to a series of struggles known as the Dornish Wars. It was in that period that Queen Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes were killed. In the same year, an assassination attempt was made against Aegon’s life, which led to the formation of the Kingsguard, a collective of knights charged with defending the king’s life and serving as the swords and shields of all the monarchs that were yet to come, even after the fall of House Targaryen.
Aegon died in 37 AC, leaving the Iron Throne to his eldest son Aenys. Immediately after his coronation, Aenys faced multiple rebellions and uprisings across the realm. While most of these would be dealt with without too much strain, it would not be the end of Aenys’ misfortunes. The next discontent arrived in the form of religion, or more specifically, the Faith of the Seven.
While Targaryens generally practiced the faith, they never openly adhered to its principles, seeing themselves as being above the laws of gods and men. Apart from that, they continued the practice of incestuous marriages and polygamy, which was considered a grave sin in the eyes of the Seven. Even though the High Septons never declared Aegon’s marriages lawful, the former king was careful not to ruffle any more feathers than strictly necessary.
Things took a downturn when Queen Visenya proposed that his son Maegor, Aenys’ half-brother, marry the king’s newborn daughter Princess Rhaena. The High Septon instead offered his niece’s hand, Lady Ceryse Hightower, as the bride. Realizing his predicament, Aenys tried to appease the septs by agreeing to the bargain, putting an end to the protests.
Maegor remained childless for 16 years, so he decided to take another wife named Alys Harroway. This decision caused another uproar from the Faith of the Seven, which left King Aenys with no choice but to confront Maegor and give him a choice: abandon Alys or suffer exile. Maegor chooses exile and leaves the kingdom for Pentos.
Two years later, when Aenys married his daughter Rhaena to his son Aegon, the Faith organized a military uprising, forcing Aenys to flee King’s Landing and seek refuge in Dragonstone. Residing in their former seat, the king soon became ill and passed away a year later. Visenya knew that it was time to reclaim King’s Landing, which is why he called his son Maegor back.
Maegor managed to take back King’s Landing, but since his claim to the throne was not lawful, he ended up fighting and killing his brother’s son Aegon. He also ordered the construction of the Red Keep, kickstarting his cruel reign over the Seven Kingdoms.
The new king was malicious and wicked and refused to treat anyone with the respect they deserved. When the construction of the Red Keep concluded, Maegor gathered up all the workers and killed them as a safeguard, so that the secret passageways and layout wouldn’t fall into outsider hands. Maegor’s viciousness hardly stopped there. He denounced the claims of Aenys’ surviving son Jaehaerys and married his three infamous black brides; widows of men he had killed throughout his reign, though they didn’t bear him any children.
Despite denouncing Jaehaerys, the young prince continued to win the favor of many influential figures, while Maegor’s grip on power slowly dwindles. Ultimately, the king mysteriously dies in 48 AC while allegedly sitting on the Iron Throne, leading many to speculate that the seat itself denounced Maegor for his cruelty and killed him.
After his death, Jaehaerys is crowned king of the Seven Kingdoms, setting in motion 50 years of prosperity and peace under his wise rule. Whereas Maegor was known as Maegor the Cruel, Jaehaerys became Jaehaerys the Wise, respected and beloved by both his subjects and his liegemen. The great conciliator dies in 101 AC, however, which leads to his son Viserys becoming king.
That is where House of the Dragon picks up the story, with Viserys I Targaryen presiding over a fragile period of peace, while his brother Daemon Targaryen hatches ambitious plans of his own, culminating in the events that set Westeros ablaze and lead dragons to dance their final dance.
