All the Key Connections Between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daenerys Targaryen

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Spoilers ahead for episode 1 of House of the Dragon. If you haven’t watched the full episode, turn back now.

The story of House of the Dragon follows the battle for succession in the Targaryen family: Who will succeed King Viserys I (Paddy Considine)? Will it be his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock, then Emma D’Arcy)? His younger brother, Prince Daemon (Matt Smith)? Or does his cousin, Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), a.k.a. the “Queen who never was” have a claim?

As the succession drama begins to unspool—and will surely be the main plot of the first season of House of the Dragon—there have been numerous references to the Targaryen dynasty years in the future: Namely, to Daenerys Targaryen, who, at the start of the Game of Thrones series, is living in exile with her brother, hoping to one day retake the Iron Throne.

A quick history refresher: After the events of House of the Dragon, and before the events of Game of Thrones, Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark, and Jon Arryn lead a rebellion against King Aerys II Targaryen. Aerys, a.k.a. the “Mad King,” is killed by Jamie Lannister, and his two surviving children, Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) flee Westeros and live in the Free Cities. Then Daenerys marries Khal Drogo, gets three dragons, forms an army, etc.—we don’t need to recap all eight seasons and 73 episodes, you can go rewatch Game of Thrones.

Eagle-eyed viewers of episode one will have noticed some key connections between Princess Rhaenyra and her distant relative Daenerys. Here, all the key references to Daenerys Targaryen in House of the Dragon:

1. They both ride dragons.

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Both Rhaenyra and Daenerys are skilled dragonriders, and understand the power that this gives them. As Rhaenyra says to her father near the end of episode one, “Everyone says Targaryens are closer to gods than to men. But they say that because of our dragons. Without them, we’re just like everybody else.”

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Daenerys was also acutely aware of the power of her dragons, and said a line very similar to this in episode three, season three, when she tells Missandei: “All men must die. But we are not men.”

2. Their claims to the throne are doubted.

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Though Rhaenyra is her father Viserys’s eldest child, and during episode one of House of the Dragon, his only child, her claim to the throne is met with hesitation over the fact she is a woman. Similarly, Daenerys’s claim to the throne—as the only surviving child of Westeros’s last Targaryen ruler, King Aerys II—is in doubt throughout the series.

They both face questions over whether or not Westeros will accept them as queen. “She’s met with very similar challenges that Daenerys is also brought with, in not being viable in her claim to the throne and having other people constantly be like, ‘You’re not legitimate,'” Alcock, who plays young Rhaenyra, told TVLine.

3. Both Rhaenyra and Daenerys speak High Valyrian.

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The Targaryens are from the Old Freehold Valyria, on the continent of Essos, where they lived until the Doom, a cataclysmic event. High Valyrian is the language of the region, which Targaryens still speak. In season three, Daenerys proclaims, “I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria. Valyrian is my mother tongue.”

When Rhaenyra first shares a scene with her uncle, Prince Daemon, they speak to each other in High Valyrian. The language is used in the show for these two Targaryens to communicate with each other without anyone else understanding, whereas Daenerys uses it to communicate with her dragons.

“There was a lot more dialogue than I was expecting, which I was very pleased by,” linguist David J. Peterson, a colanger—i.e. inventor of fictional languages—said in the “Bald Move” podcast of working on the Valyrian language in House of the Dragon. “And a lot of very well written dialogue, which I was also pleased by. It really challenged me as a translator.”

Peterson also shared, “There is one character who, as he is speaking these lines of English, he speaks in a very different way from the other people he is talking to. Not necessarily less formal, but perhaps more flippant. I really wanted to be able to capture that in the Valyrian.”

Though he couldn’t name a character or share spoilers, this is most likely referring to Prince Daemon. Peterson continued, “I know how to do it in English but how do I do it in Valyrian. So that was a challenge. And I expect it to be an ongoing one. So I’ll keep at it.”

4. “Dracarys!”

Throughout Game of Thrones, Daenerys says “Dracarys” to her dragons to command them to breath fire on command. Rhaenyra, too, uses this command during the funeral of her mother, Aemma, and her baby brother. She says the phrase to her dragon, who then lights up the funeral pyre.

5. The “song of ice and fire” prophecy.

The biggest moment of episode one occurs when Viserys tells Rhaenyra he will be naming her his heir. During that scene, he shares with her a prophecy that has been secretly been passed down between Targaryen rulers.

The full text of the prophecy that Viserys tells Rhaenyra:

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“There’s something else I need to tell you, and it might be difficult for you to understand,” Viserys says. “But you must hear it. Our histories—they tell us Aegon looked across the Blackwater from Dragonstone, saw a rich land ripe for the capture. But ambition alone is not what drove him to conquest. It was a dream.” (The Aegon that Viserys refers to here is Aegon the Conquerer, the founder of the Targaryen dynasty who united the Seven Kingdoms and was the first ruler of Westeros on the Iron Throne.)

Viserys continues, “And just as Daenys foresaw the end of Valeyria, Aegon foresaw the end of the world of men. ‘Tis to begin with a terrible winter, gusting out of the distant north. Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those winds. And whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living. When this great winter comes, Rhaeynera, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne— a king, or queen, strong enough to unite the realm against the cold, and the dark.”

Viserys finishes his speech, “Aegon called his dream ‘a song of ice and fire.’ This secret has been passed from king to heir since Aegon’s time. And now you must promise to carry it, and protect it. Promise me this, Rhaenyra. Promise me. “

How is Aegon’s prophecy related to Game of Thrones?

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This prophecy from Aegon is passed down from Targaryen to Targaryen until it sort of reaches Daenerys—though she never knew her father, so he could not tell her the prophecy.

In A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Series, Daenerys sees this prophecy in a vision, where a Targaryen says “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” In A Feast for Crows, Aemon Targaryen (a maester at Castle Black) says that Daenerys the heir that was promised, thinking that the prophecy was mistranslated. Aemon says, “Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it.”

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Yet, the “prince that was promised” can also refer to Jon Snow, who the show revealed to be Aegon Targaryen—the child of Rhaegar Targaryen, the eldest son of Aerys II, and Lyanna Stark, Ned Stark’s sister. However, Martin has said his final two books will differ significantly from the show.

The prophecy Viserys shares with his daughter references numerous events in Game of Thrones—including the entire plot surrounding the White Walkers, who seek to invade Westeros and destroy the “world of men.”

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