It's time for a dragon deep dive! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at how “House of the Dragon” fits into the larger history of the Targaryens.
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00:00The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at how House of the Dragon fits into the larger
00:10history of the Targaryens.
00:12There will be spoilers for events in both House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones.
00:16The Dragonlords, the highest of the nobility, lived here.
00:22The Doom of Valyria.
00:24Four centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, a Targaryen named Daenys dreamt of
00:28a fiery apocalypse that would destroy Valyria, the capital city of the Valyrian Freehold.
00:34The Freehold of Valyria, as it came to be known, became the most advanced civilization
00:39in the known world.
00:40Ruling over the Freehold were the Lords Freeholder, the most powerful of which were the Dragonlords.
00:45At the time, the Targaryens were not a particularly prominent Dragonlords family, but that was
00:51about to change.
00:52Heeding his daughter Daenys, Lord Aenar Targaryen and his family left Essos behind, settling
00:57in Dragonstone.
00:58Sure enough, 12 years later in 102 BC, a devastating volcanic eruption reduced the mighty Valyrian
01:04civilization to ashes.
01:06The peninsula itself was shattered, becoming what is now the Smoking Sea.
01:11In the aftermath, the Targaryens were left as the last Dragonlord standing, and so began
01:17the Dragonriding clan's rise to even greater power.
01:20For thousands of years, the Valyrians were the best in the world at almost everything.
01:27Aegon's Conquest
01:31For decades, Targaryen eyes remained fixed on events to the east in Essos.
01:36However, Aegon I changed that, his gaze drawn westward.
01:41When he launched his conquest in the year 2 BC, he arrived on Westerosi shores with
01:45only a modest army.
01:47But he had his dragon Beleriand the Black Dread, and his two sisters, who were also
01:52his wives, had their dragons Vhagar and Meraxes.
01:55The quarrelsome kings of Westeros stood little chance against them.
01:59Within just two years, they all fell, with the exception of Dorne.
02:04After his victory, Aegon forged the Iron Throne from the swords of his foes, and established
02:09the city of King's Landing where he and his sisters had first come ashore.
02:13And Aegon ordered the construction of a royal castle on its highest hill, the Red Keep.
02:19The year 1 AC, after the Conquest, marks the beginning of his reign.
02:23Despite the Targaryen's control over fire-breathing dragons, there was no challenging them.
02:28Ironically, the only ones capable of destroying the Targaryens were the Targaryens themselves.
02:34Here's another twist.
02:36Aegon didn't conquer Westeros on a whim of power-hungry ambition.
02:39As revealed in House of the Dragon, a prophetic vision of the end of the world influenced
02:44his decision.
02:45It was a dream, and just as Daenys foresaw the end of Valyria, Aegon foresaw the end
02:50of the world of men.
02:52This vision comes true centuries later with the rise of White Walkers in the Game of Thrones timeline.
03:02From Aegon I to Rhaenyra, the Targaryens continued the Valyrian tradition of incestuous marriage
03:08to keep their bloodline pure.
03:10Aegon I fathered sons with both his sister-wives, the crown passing first to his son with Rhaenys,
03:16Aenys.
03:18However, after Aenys' death, Aegon's son with Visenya Maegor claimed the throne.
03:22Maegor the Cruel proved to be a tyrannous ruler and came into conflict with the Faith
03:27over his multiple wives.
03:29Amid rising discontent, Aenys' son Jaehaerys put forth his own claim to the throne.
03:35Soon after, Maegor was found dead on the Iron Throne, slashed and impaled by the very swords
03:40he sat on.
03:42Wise and just, Jaehaerys reigned for 55 years.
03:45Which brings us to the events of House of the Dragon, where Jaehaerys must choose an
03:49heir from among his grandchildren.
03:51Although Rhaenys was eldest, tradition favoured male succession, and Jaehaerys chose Viserys,
03:57forever branding Rhaenys the queen who never was.
04:00The Prince Viserys Targaryen.
04:03Bucking tradition, Viserys eventually named his daughter Rhaenyra as his heir.
04:08Rhaenyra Targaryen, Princess of Dragonstone, and heir to the Iron Throne.
04:15However, the widowed king remarried to Rhaenyra's childhood friend Alicent Hightower, and in
04:20a royal twist, after his death, their son Aegon II claimed the throne.
04:32The Dance of the Dragons.
04:34With both Aegon II and Rhaenyra crowned and claiming the throne, a brutal war was inevitable.
04:40Taking place in 129 AC, nearly 170 years before the events in Game of Thrones, the
04:46Dance of Dragons led to the near extinction of the world's last dragon lords.
04:58Those loyal to Rhaenyra, nicknamed the Blacks, rallied to her, while the Greens backed Alicent.
05:03One of the catalysts for the royal bloodbath was the murder of Rhaenyra's son Lucerys,
05:08and the murder in revenge of Aegon II's son Jaehaerys.
05:17We won't go into too many details about what followed, as we don't want to spoil the rest
05:22of House of the Dragon, but this bloody civil war almost led to the complete destruction
05:27of the Targaryens and their dragons, and ended the House's golden age.
05:38The Decline of House Targaryen.
05:40As with many dynasties, the history of the Targaryens is one of conquest, power, and
05:46eventual decline.
05:47During the reign of Aegon III, the last dragon died, and their remaining eggs would not hatch.
05:53This had been crucial to the Targaryen grip on power.
05:56Over subsequent decades, Targaryen rulers struggled to squash various rebellions, most
06:01notably those led by the Targaryen bastard Daemon Blackfyre and his descendants.
06:06Adding fuel to the fire was their infamous penchant for intermarriage.
06:10While intended to maintain the purity of their Valyrian blood, it sometimes resulted in offspring
06:15prone to eccentricity and cruelty.
06:18This may help explain why later Targaryen rulers proved to be incompetent and self-destructive,
06:23dragging their once-great house down to ruin.
06:26Which brings us to the Mad King.
06:34Robert's Rebellion.
06:38The Mad King Aerys II was fond of burning his enemies, but his murder of Rickard Stark,
06:44Lord of Winterfell, and his son Brandon sealed the fate of his house.
06:48The Starks had been protesting the apparent abduction of Lyanna Stark by Prince Rhaegar.
07:06In 282 AC, Robert Baratheon, who had been betrothed to Lyanna, rebelled, together with
07:12Lord of the Eyrie Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark, Rickard's son and Brandon's brother.
07:18It was, however, Tywin Lannister's cunning that led to the brutal sack of King's Landing
07:21and the end of the Targaryen reign.
07:24The Targaryen line was almost wiped out, the king stabbed to death by a member of his own
07:29Kingsguard, Ser Jaime Lannister.
07:40Only two of his children, Daenerys and Viserys, survived, smuggled out of Dragonstone before
07:45Robert's brother Stannis captured it.
07:47Robert ascended the throne, and this, of course, leads to the events in Game of Thrones, where
07:52Daenerys outlives her cruel brother and manages to hatch three new dragons.
08:04The Last Targaryen
08:05In the screen adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novels, it's revealed that another Targaryen
08:10survived, Jon Snow, son of Rhaegar and Lyanna.
08:14In Martin's book series, there's also a young man, young Griff, who claims to be the son
08:19of Rhaegar and Elia Martell, yet another Aegon.
08:22It remains to be seen how events will play out in the books, but in Game of Thrones'
08:26controversial final season, Daenerys does conquer Westeros, only to go from savior to
08:32mad queen, unable to avoid her father's fatal flaws.
08:42Her tragic end leaves Jon Snow as the last surviving member of the once-great House Targaryen.
08:53Which Targaryen do you deem the greatest of them all?
08:56Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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