One of the best things about Game of Thrones was that there was always a ton going on under the surface. Take the journey of Daenerys Targaryen, who went from waifish chess piece to would-be conqueror of the Seven Kingdoms. Her story is plenty fascinating on its own, but it’s backed up by centuries of fake history George R.R. Martin dreamed up for his A Song of Ice and Fire series; go back in time and you can plenty of a similarities (and differences) between Daenerys and some of many forebears, who ruled Westeros for a long time before she and her brother Viserys were exiled across the Narrow Sea.
HBO will be exploring that history in House of the Dragon, a new prequel show all about a brutal Targaryen civil war that tore the realm apart over 100 years before the events of the story we know. We’re about to be introduced to a whole new drop of characters, many of them Targaryens. There’s Rhaenyra Targaryen and Aegon II Targaryen, half-siblings who fight for the Iron Throne. There’s the unpredictable Daemon Targaryen, who fights his nephew Aemond Targaryen on dragonback in one of the war’s most exciting episodes. There’s Rhaenys Targaryen, who the smallfolk called the Queen Who Never Was, and so on.
It’s a lot to remember. Thankfully, fans like Redditor MediocreTiana are here to help. They’ve brought us a very cool illustrated Targaryen family tree that takes us from Aegon I Targaryen’s initial conquest of Westeros all the way through Robert’s Rebellion, with the Dance of Dragons taking up a big chunk of the middle. Take a look, and feel free to click to get a most close-up view:
Get to know the new Targaryen characters before HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series arrives
And there are other family trees, like this official one from the German release of Fire & Blood, the Targaryen history book Martin published in 2018:
Game of Thrones was famous for its huge cast, with many fans having trouble keeping track of all the characters even late into its run. When House of the Dragon airs, I have a feeling we’ll be thankful for charts like these.
House of the Dragon will premiere on HBO in 2022.
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