How is Daemon Targaryen related to Daenerys?

A generation of brand-new Targaryens are set to join known Game of Thrones names in HBO Max’s upcoming House of the Dragon. 

Among their pale ranks is Daemon Targaryen, one of the most important members of the enduring royal family. He’s one of the core characters poised to broaden George R.R. Martin’s fantasy world via House of the Dragon, and rumors are already swirling about the fascinating character. Fans are already looking forward to seeing the character brought to life, courtesy of Matt Smith of Doctor Who fame, but questions continue to swirl around this dashing character. His ties to established members of the Targaryen family run deep, but how, precisely, is this incoming prince related to the eventual Mother of Dragons?

How are Daemon Targaryen and Daenerys related?

The Targaryen family tree is messier than most, thanks to a far-reaching ancestry that is absolutely littered with incest. Thanks to the family’s tendency toward inter-marriage, many Targaryens share closer ties to their family members than a traditional family might.

In simple terms, Daemon Targaryen is a distant uncle of Daenerys. An examination of the Targaryen family tree reveals that Daemon has one of the more complicated marital histories of the Targaryen family. He was married three times in total, and conceived several children over the course of his marriages. He shared a set of twins — Baela and Rhaena — with his second wife, but it was the children he shared with his third wife that link him back to Daenerys.

Daemon and his third wife, Rhaenyra, were related long before they got married. Their family ties go just over a generation back, making Daemon both uncle and husband to his eventual wife. He and his niece-wife had three children together: princes Aegon the Younger and Viserys, both of whom were born in the early 120s AC, and a stillborn princess named Visenya. 

Dany is related to Daemon via his second son, Viserys. Viserys and his wife, Rogare, are still separated from the Mother of Dragons by several generations, however, with a handful of marriages and children separating them. In total, more than five generations of Targaryens separate Daemon and his distant niece. One thing they may share in common, however, is the lurking “Targaryen madness” that eventually turned Dany’s wrath on the people of King’s Landing. 

As they say, “every time a new Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin.” Only time — and HBO Max — will tell which side of the coin landed face up in Daemon’s case.