How Are Daenerys And Rhaenyra Targaryen Related?

When it comes to both House Of The Dragon and Game Of Thrones, one of the most legendary houses around for many fans has to be House Targaryen. With such a deep history across Westeros, the Targaryen family is 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 to Game Of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen rose to prominence, much in the same way that Rhaenyra Targaryen would in House 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.

How Old Is Rhaenyra Targaryen In House Of The Dragon?

Rhaenyra Targaryen is one of the most interesting and complex characters in House 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”:

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 of House 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 of House Of Dragon in her early to mid-thirties with some estimates putting her at thirty-five and others at thirty-three. The actress portraying Raeynyra at the end of the first season is Emma D’Arcy who was thirty at the time.

How Old Is Daenerys Targaryen In 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 that Game Of Thrones would ever see. Amassing an enormous army that was rounded out by three massive dragons, Daenerys Targaryen wielded a force that the most powerful men in Game Of Thrones could 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”:

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 time Game Of Thrones begins. 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 was poised to become the unopposed Queen of Westeros if 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.

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 between House Of The Dragon and Game Of Thrones may have had a feeling that would be the case as House Of The Dragon is set roughly two hundred years before Game 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 Madness is 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 for House 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 the Game Of Thrones story. Given how much Rhaenyra is poised to go through over the course of House 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 Dragons are bitter and brutal, and fans are yet to see the true horrors to come in House Of The Dragon.

House Of The Dragon is available to stream now on MAX.

House of the Dragon

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.

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