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House of the Dragon · A Viewer's Companion

One family. Two crowns. Here's who's related to whom — and why it started a war.

Almost everyone in this show is a Targaryen, married to one, or descended from one — and they recycle the same six names. This chart untangles it: red borders are Team Black (Rhaenyra's side), green borders are Team Green (Alicent's side), and each portrait keeps the features you actually recognize on screen — silver hair vs. auburn vs. brown, the beards, the eyepatch, the crowns.

Team Black — backs Queen Rhaenyra Team Green — backs King Aegon II Neutral / died before the war marriage parent → child secret real father his bastard sons — legitimized in S3 the “dragonseeds” — Tumbleton’s turncloaks Addam of Hull Corlys’s bastard son Clinton Liberty rides Seasmoke Alyn of Hull Corlys’s named heir (S3) Abubakar Salim sailor — no dragon Ulf White dragonseed · turncloak Tom Bennett rides Silverwing Hugh Hammer dragonseed · the smith Kieran Bew rides Vermithor rides a dragon ♛ wore the crown † dead — through Season 3
his grandchildren her father m. m. m. m. m. — his 2nd wife m. — her 1st m. — her 2nd, his 3rd only surviving child raised as “Velaryons” their real father with Daemon with Daemon their children ♛ Jaehaerys I “The Old King” dies in episode 1 ruled 55 years Otto Hightower † Hand of the King Rhys Ifans beheaded in S3 Corlys “Sea Snake” · Velaryon Steve Toussaint richest man alive Rhaenys † “Queen Who Never Was” Eve Best † with Meleys — Rook’s Rest Daemon “The Rogue Prince” Matt Smith rides Caraxes Aemma Arryn † Viserys' first queen Sian Brooke Rhaenyra's mother ♛ Viserys I † his death starts the war Paddy Considine named Rhaenyra heir Alicent Queen · Hightower Olivia Cooke Rhaenyra's old friend Laena † Velaryon daughter Nanna Blondell rode Vhagar Laenor faked his death · fled east John Macmillan gave up Seasmoke ♛ Rhaenyra the named heir Emma D'Arcy rides Syrax Harwin Strong † “Breakbones” Ryan Corr † in the Harrenhal fire ♛ Aegon II crowned by the Greens Tom Glynn-Carney rides Sunfyre Helaena † queen · the dreamer Phia Saban rode Dreamfyre · † S3 Aemond “One-Eye” Ewan Mitchell claimed Vhagar Daeron youngest Green son Benjamin Evan Ainsworth rides Tessarion Baela betrothed to Jace † Bethany Antonia rides Moondancer Rhaena Baela’s twin Phoebe Campbell rides Sheepstealer Jacaerys † “Jace” · Rhaenyra's heir Harry Collett † with Vermax — the Gullet Lucerys † “Luke” · heir to Driftmark Elliot Grihault † with Arrax — Storm’s End Joffrey youngest “Velaryon” boy a child rides Tyraxes Aegon “the Younger” a child Daemon's elder son Viserys named for the old king a baby Daemon's younger son Jaehaerys † Aegon II's little heir a child † Blood & Cheese Jaehaera Aegon II's daughter a child twin of Jaehaerys Maelor Aegon II's youngest a baby born in season 2 his bastard sons — legitimized in S3 the “dragonseeds” — Tumbleton’s turncloaks Addam of Hull Corlys’s bastard son Clinton Liberty rides Seasmoke Alyn of Hull Corlys’s named heir (S3) Abubakar Salim sailor — no dragon Ulf White dragonseed · turncloak Tom Bennett rides Silverwing Hugh Hammer dragonseed · the smith Kieran Bew rides Vermithor
Hover over any portrait to enlarge it; a small gold dragon on the circle marks a dragonrider. How to read it: gold lines are marriages, grey lines run from a marriage down to its children, and the dashed red line marks the show's worst-kept secret — Harwin Strong fathered Rhaenyra's three eldest boys, who are officially Laenor's. The portraits keep each character's tell-tale look: Targaryen silver hair, Alicent's auburn, the Strong boys' giveaway brown curls, Corlys' white locs, Aemond's eyepatch. Daemon appears all over the tree because he married twice into it: first Laena Velaryon, then his own niece Rhaenyra. Covers the family through the end of Season 3.

Why the tree matters: the whole war lives inside it

Every alliance, murder, and dragon battle in the show traces back to four facts on this chart.

The precedent

The realm passed over a woman once already

Before the show begins, old King Jaehaerys let the lords choose his heir. They picked Viserys over Rhaenys — his male grandchild over the female one with the better claim. That vote taught Westeros a lesson: no woman sits the Iron Throne. Rhaenys carries that snub for the whole series, and it's the exact argument later used against Rhaenyra.

The oath

Viserys chose his daughter anyway

After Aemma died, Viserys named Rhaenyra his heir and made every lord swear to her. Then he married Alicent and had sons — and by the realm's own precedent, a son should come first. Viserys never changed his mind; half the court simply assumed he would. When he dies, the Greens crown Aegon II within days, Rhaenyra crowns herself on Dragonstone, and the Dance of the Dragons begins.

The secret

The “Strong boys” problem

Rhaenyra's three eldest sons are legally Laenor Velaryon's — but everyone can see they look like Harwin Strong (dashed red line, and the only brown curls in a sea of silver hair). Saying it aloud is treason. The rumor is the Greens' best weapon: if the boys are bastards, Rhaenyra's whole line of succession is built on a lie.

The loops

Why the tree folds in on itself

Targaryens marry inside the family to keep the dragonriding bloodline pure — it's tradition, not scandal, to them. That's why Daemon weds his niece Rhaenyra, and Aegon II weds his own sister Helaena. It's also why one man can be your uncle, stepfather, and father-in-law at once, and why you keep losing track.

The name decoder

Valyrians recycle names to honor ancestors — which is very noble of them and very hard on viewers. Keep these apart:

Rhaenys · Rhaenyra · Rhaena · Rhea

Four different women. Rhaenys = the passed-over queen (Eve Best). Rhaenyra = the heroine. Rhaena = Daemon & Laena's daughter — dragonless until she claimed Sheepstealer in Season 3. Rhea Royce = Daemon's unlucky first wife, back in season 1.

Aegon vs. Aegon vs. “Aegon”

Aegon II = Alicent's son, the Green king. Aegon the Younger = Rhaenyra & Daemon's boy. And Aegon the Conqueror = the long-dead ancestor whose secret prophecy (“The Song of Ice and Fire”) Viserys whispers about — the line Alicent fatally misunderstands on his deathbed.

Two kings named Jaehaerys… sort of

Jaehaerys the Old King dies in the first episode. Little Jaehaerys is Aegon II & Helaena's son — the boy at the center of Season 2's brutal opening.

Two Viseryses

King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) — and years later Rhaenyra names her youngest baby Viserys after him. Same name, opposite ends of the tree.

Laena vs. Laenor

Sister and brother, Corlys & Rhaenys' children. Laena (she) married Daemon and rode the giant dragon Vhagar. Laenor (he) was Rhaenyra's first husband — on paper, father of her boys.

Daemon vs. Aemond vs. Daeron

Nearly anagrams, all dangerous. Daemon = Matt Smith, Team Black. Aemond = the eyepatch prince, Team Green. Daeron = Alicent's fourth child, off in Oldtown and barely seen.

Two Daerons — one real

Season 3’s trick: the “Daeron” handed to Rhaenyra as a hostage was a decoy. The real Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) rides Tessarion for the Greens.

Two Joffreys

Joffrey Velaryon = Rhaenyra's third son. Joffrey Lonmouth = Laenor's knight and lover, killed by Criston Cole at the season 1 wedding feast.

Vhagar changed riders

The oldest, largest living dragon: ridden by Laena until her death — then a young Aemond stole the claim at her funeral, lost an eye for it, and handed the Greens the biggest weapon in the war.

Not family — but always in the room

Ser Criston Cole as seen in the show, played by Fabien Frankel

Ser Criston Cole

Fabien Frankel

Kingsguard knight, once Rhaenyra's lover, now her bitterest enemy — the “Kingmaker” who crowns Aegon II — until a Blackwood arrow finds him in Season 3. †

Mysaria as seen in the show, played by Sonoya Mizuno

Mysaria — “The White Worm”

Sonoya Mizuno

Spymaster of the capital's underworld; Daemon's former paramour, later Rhaenyra's ally.

Larys Strong as seen in the show, played by Matthew Needham

Larys Strong — “Clubfoot”

Matthew Needham

Harwin's younger brother. Master of whisperers who removes obstacles for the Greens — including his own family.

Gayle Rankin

Alys Rivers

Gayle Rankin

The witch of Harrenhal — a bastard of House Strong, a seer of strange visions, and Aemond’s uncanny companion.

Rhea Royce as seen in the show, played by Rachel Redford

Rhea Royce

Rachel Redford

Daemon's first, loathed wife in the Vale — “my bronze bitch,” briefly seen and conveniently dead.

A note on the portraits: these are the characters as they appear on screen, stills from the Game of Thrones wiki, cropped and served from this site so they load without an internet round-trip to anyone else. Only Maelor, who is never shown, keeps his stylized illustration — and those illustrations still sit behind every photo as a fallback. Chart reflects the story through the end of Season 3.