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| “ | The dragon answers to no one. | „ |
| ~ Viserys Targaryen |
| “ | Babies or no, theirs was the same cursed blood that flowed within the Mad King's veins. They were 'dragon-spawn', and couldn't be allowed to survive. What would they grow to be, loyal subjects?...Was it a crime to put an end to a family of lunatics born of incest? | „ |
| ~ Robert Baratheon |
| “ | Fire and Blood | „ |
| ~ House Targaryen's words. |
House Targaryen of King's Landing, also formerly known as House Targaryen of Dragonstone, are major characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its television adaptations Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
They are a noble dragonlord family founded in Essos and they originated from the ancient Valyrian Freehold. They once ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros for generations until Robert's Rebellion/the War of the Usurper, where the Targaryens were overthrown by a combined alliance of some of the rebelling Great Houses of Westeros.
The sigil of House Targaryen is a red three-headed dragon, breathing red flames on a black background. The house words are "Fire and Blood". The Targaryen dynasty in Westeros is known for having caused bloody wars and catastrophic events caused by political instability, infighting, or by the mental instability of some of members of the royal family, resulting in a cycle of chaos and abuse of dragons, both of which took countless lives. House Baratheon and House Blackfyre are the closest relatives of the Targaryens.
Biography[]
Many centuries ago, the Targaryens were a small and minor family of dragonlords that lived in the Valyrian Freehold, until they became the only remaining family of dragonlords, after the Doom of Valyria occurred, where nearly all of the dragonlord families were killed along with their dragons. The Targaryens owe their survival to the fact they had left the Valyrian Peninsula twelve years before the Doom, as their ancestor Aenar Targaryen had heeded the prophetic visions of his daughter Daenys Targaryen, known as the Dreamer, who had forseen visions of the Doom.
Aenar sold all his estates in the Valyrian Peninsula and moved his wives, children, other relatives, slaves, wealth, and five dragons to the small island of Dragonstone, located in Blackwater Bay east of the Westerosi continent. It is possible or likely that some of the Targaryens visited their native continent, Essos, during the Century of Blood, witnessing the aftermarth and chaotic legacy left by the fallen empire. It is more likely that they went to the Nine Free Cities, the daughters of Valyria, multiple times, as most inhabitants were Valyrians or people of Valyrian descent.
After living peacefully for more than a century on Dragonstone, Aegon the Conqueror saw an opportunity to use his dragons to conquer most of the Westerosi continent and establish a new dynasty after uniting the Seven Kingdoms, as he had no interest in conquering the east. Along with his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys and his childhood friend and rumored bastard half-brother Orys Baratheon, Aegon began the first of the Wars of Conquest in 2 BC.
During Aegon's Conquest, the Targaryens established and built the Aegonfort at the Blackwater Rush, where a town sprung up and in the future would develop in size and become known as King's Landing. At the time, Oldtown was the most important city of Westeros, the seat of the High Septon of the Faith of the Seven, and a part of the mighty Kingdom of the Reach. Even after the Targaryen dynasty, Oldtown remains the largest and most beautiful and artistic city of Westeros to this day.
Thanks to the aid of their dragons - Balerion the Black Dread, Vhagar, and Meraxes - Aegon and his sisters conquered/defeated six of the Seven Kingdoms; the Kingdom of the North, ruled by Torrhen Stark, the Kingdom of Mountain and Vale, ruled by Ronnel Arryn and his mother Queen Regent Sharra Arryn, the Kingdom of the Isles and the Rivers (the Iron Islands and Riverlands), ruled by the tyrannical Harren Hoare, the Kingdom of the Rock ( the Westerlands), ruled by Loren I Lannister, the Kingdom of the Reach, ruled by King Mern IX Gardener, and the Kingdom of the Stormlands, ruled by King Argilac the Arrogant of House Durrandon. Following these conquests, Aegon intended to march on Oldtown but the city peacefully submitted on the orders of the High Septon, who had allegedly seen a vision from the Crone, a godly aspect of the God of the Seven, that Oldtown would burn if they resisted Aegon. In the Starry Sept, the High Septon anointed and crowned the conqueror as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.
The only Great House that resisted was Dorne, which would remain independent for many years until the reign of King Daeron I Targaryen, who managed to conquer Dorne, which then would be short-lived, though Dorne would permanently join in the realm through a marriage pact 40 years later. The northern lands of the Gift also remained independent and under the rule of the Night's Watch. The unnamed further northlands beyond the Wall were also never conquered by the Targaryens and the Free Folk remained independent, as well as the unexplored frozen lands in the furthermost north, known as the Land of Always Winter.
The Aegonfort was eventually torn down and replaced by the Red Keep, which became the royal seat of the Targaryens for the duration of their dynasty, and which housed the Iron Throne. They made a tradition of letting their heir inherit the throne under the title, Prince of Dragonstone, although this was not always the case, such as when Maegor the Cruel's widow, Queen Rhaena Targaryen, ruled Dragonstone, for example. The Targaryens would also eventually build Summerhall, a pleasure castle located in the Stormlands in the Dornish Marches, which was been given to several younger heirs of the family over time, with the title Prince of Summerhall.
For nearly three hundred years, House Targaryen ruled under the title of the Kings of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, the Lords of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protectors of the Realm. They were also one of the Great Houses, as overlords of the Crownlands, which were formed by split territories between the old kingdoms. The dynasty and its realm were ruled by a total of seventeen male monarchs.
The Targaryen dynasty ended with the death of Aerys II Targaryen, infamously known as the Mad King, during Robert's Rebellion, in which the Targaryens were overthrown and replaced by House Baratheon. Ser Willem Darry left Westeros with the two surviving children of Aerys II, Prince Viserys and Princess Daenerys, and they fled into exile in Essos. Ser Willem died from an illness, Viserys and Daenerys were left impoverished and they never had a permanent residence, having to travel across the Free Cities.
One huge factor of House Targaryen's downfall was the creation of the Dragonpit, a huge, cavernous building atop the Hill of Rhaenys in the capital, which was used to house the dragons, who were chained, fed, and defended by guards when not used. This was unlike the way of the dragonlords of Old Valyria, who let hundreds of dragons roam freely throughout the Freehold and the Essosi continent. The rulers and sorcerers of Valyria had greater knowledge and control over the dragons, which is why humans in Essos could live normally with the creatures flying in the sky and hunting for prey. Wild dragons also lived in the Valyrian peninsula, now destroyed islands of the infamous Smoking Sea. Dragons were not meant to stay caged, and when they were given enough freedom and well-fed, they would grow endlessly and keep becoming massive. While the Dragonpit was huge and full of space, it still restricted the growth of the Targaryen dragons, who grew in captivity, which likely led to fewer clutches of eggs being laid. Each generation of dragons turned out smaller than the previous one, as well as weaker and deformed, until the last dragon was a misshapen and stunted thing, no larger than a dog.
Historically, Daemon I Blackfyre is known as the second biggest threat to the Targaryen dynasty, surpassed only by Lord Robert Baratheon, who overthrew the Targaryens.
Targaryen Madness[]
| “ | Half the Targaryens went mad, didn't they?... What's the saying? "Every time a Targaryen is born the gods flip a coin." | „ |
| ~ Cersei Lannister using the Targaryen's inbreeding as an example while discussing Joffrey's behavior. |
Some Targaryens were affected by the so-called "Targaryen madness", given to the extremely deranged and insane members of the house, which was caused by traditional inbreeding with their close relatives, especially siblings, to keep the bloodline pure.
Historical Mad Targaryens[]
- King Baelor the Blessed was the first Targaryen to suffer the Targaryen madness. He was overzealously obsessed with religion and purity, to the point that he starved himself into an early grave because he believed that food is of this world, and the material world is sinful. However, even with his madness, Baelor himself was neither a corrupt king nor a tyrant, making him by far the most pious of all the Targaryen kings. According to history, he starved himself to death, by the prolonged fasting to cleanse himself of lust, but some believe he was poisoned by his Hand and uncle, Viserys.
- Prince Rhaegel, the older brother of King Maekar I, was meek, mad, and sickly. He was strongly delusional and was known to take off his clothes at random times and dance naked through the halls of the Red Keep. However, he was described as kind and gentle. Rhaegel died whilst choking on a lamprey pie.
- Prince Aerion Brightflame, son of King Maekar and nephew of the also-mad Prince Rhaegel. Aerion killed himself by drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon, instead he died screaming, as he was burned by the unstable substance. A year later, after the death of his father, Aerion's infant son Prince Maegor was passed over by a Great Council in favor of Maekar's youngest son Aegon, partially out of fear that Maegor had inherited his father's madness.
- King Aerys II the Mad King, son of Jaehaerys II and great-nephew of Aerion, is arguably the most infamous monarch in the Targaryen dynasty overall. In his youth, Aerys was strong, charismatic and ambitious with the desire to become the greatest king in history, though he was also benevolent, until he slowly turned into a perverted, paranoid, and sadistic tyrant, due to both jealousy of his Hand Lord Tywin Lannister and trauma from his wife Rhaella's multiple miscarriages, with Aerys fearing the loss of heirs. He had violent visual and auditory hallucinations, as well as a near-permanent feeling of persecution and jealousy, which drove him to execute anyone who slighted him out of fear that they were conspiring against him. He eventually attempted to blow up King's Landing with jars of wildfire, believing he would rise from the ashes as a dragon. The plot never came to fruition as he was betrayed and murdered by his own Kingsguard, Ser Jaime Lannister, who would earn an infamous epithet Kinglsayer. The death of Aerys II during Robert's Rebellion is what marked the end of the Targaryen Dynasty, which lasted for nearly three hundred years since Aegon's Conquest.
Current Mad Targaryens[]
Both in Novels & TV Series[]
- Prince Viserys Targaryen, the Beggar King and second son of Aerys II, suffered from childhood trauma and grew into a broken and bitter person in denial. As a young boy, he was originally warm and caring to his sister, Daenerys, but the difficult circumstances of their exile would cause Viserys to become resentful and abusive, as he would mistreat Daenerys. He even developed delusions of greatness. Ever since he was forced to sell his mother's crown, all the joy that Viserys had in him was entirely gone, leaving only rage and hate. Because of this, he would have frequent, violent outbursts of jealously and anger towards Daenerys and would throw various fits if he didn't get what he wants. Ultimately, this sealed his fate as when Viserys threatened to kill Khal Drogo and Daenerys' unborn son Rahego, this led to him being crowned with molten gold.
TV Series Only[]
- Queen Daenerys "Stormborn" Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt and the Breaker of Chains, as well as the youngest child of Aerys II, who had been longing to take back the Seven Kingdoms and restore her family's dynasty ever since she was exiled with her older brother, Viserys. Although she had abolished slavery in Essos and sought to become a well-intentioned ruler for Westeros, she could not escape from her father's legacy in the TV show. In the beginning, she was gentle, ambitious, brave and compassionate towards the weak and innocent. But after suffering several losses, which includes the deaths of those she cared about, Daenerys grew unstable until she snapped and laid waste to King's Landing with Drogon alongside her ground forces after the city surrendered to her, killing thousands of innocent people and reducing King's Landing to a burning ruin, just like what her father swore to do (which was symbolically represented by Drogon's dragonfire igniting Aerys' caches of wildfire throughout the city). Delivering her victory speech to her forces, Daenerys declared she "liberated" the dead people of King's Landing from the tyrant, Cersei, and will "liberate" the entire world. Though her lover and nephew Jon Snow (born Aegon Targaryen) pleaded with her to opt for mercy over destruction, Daenerys felt her actions are necessary to build her vision of a better world. To stop her destruction, Jon reluctantly assassinated Daenerys with a dagger to the heart. In the TV series Daenerys Targaryen is the last known trueborn Targaryen to succumb to the "Targaryen Madness" and her death marks the legal extinction of House Targaryen, but the bloodline continues through Jon Snow, the son of Daenerys' brother Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark.
Possible Mad Targaryens[]
- Queen Helaena Targaryen, younger sister and wife of King Aegon II, was not born mad; she started off as a pleasant and happy woman, who was beloved by the smallfolk. But following the murder of her eldest son Jaehaerys at the hands of Blood and Cheese, Helaena became clinically depressed and descended into madness. After Rhaenyra had retaken King's Landing from Aegon II, Helaena committed suicide by flinging herself from the Red Keep, and was impaled on iron spikes that lined the moat of Maegor's Holdfast.
- Prince Aemond One-Eye, younger brother of Aegon II, was known for being bold and hot-tempered, and held a strong vendetta against his own nephews, most notably Lucerys for the latter's slashing of his left eye in their childhood. Later committed kinslaying by murdering Luke in an act of vengeance. During the Dance of the Dragons, having developed a bitter hatred for House Strong, due to the rumor that his half-sister Rhaenyra had eloped with Ser Harwin Strong (which led to the belief that his nephews are "Strongs" themselves), Aemond murdered anyone who has blood ties to House Strong before terrorizing the Riverlands by burning any villages and settlements that support Rhaenyra. In House of the Dragon, he has a bitter jealousy of his brother King Aegon, as even though the latter proved to be an ineffective and incompetent ruler he nevertheless ascended the throne simply because of his status as the eldest son of King Viserys I. This led Aemond to believe that he himself is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, making him unhinged, erratic and volatile. At Rook's Rest, with his envy growing into hatred, Aemond intentionally has his dragon Vhagar attack both Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre. He became more unstable when he began seeking to murder his brother to usurp the Iron Throne. Aemond's volatile nature worsened when he laid waste to the town of Sharp Point out of pure rage simply because his dragon Vhagar is no longer unchallenged.
Theories[]
Out of all the Targaryen kings who ruled during the Targaryen Dynasty, Aerys II is the only one who could be considered truly insane as several Targaryen princes and bastards had committed mad acts not out of pure madness but for one reason to another. It also includes acts that have stems from desperation or arrogance. As the blood of Old Valyria (or the so-called Blood of the Dragon) possesses magic power, it may create an instability in a Targaryen's personality but it can also be due to the fact that House Targaryen have forgotten how to control their magic ever since it faded from the world, alongside the dragons.
Madness in House Blackfyre[]
| “ | All the same, his descendants continued to threaten the Targaryens until half a century later, when Barristan the Bold slew Maelys the Monstrous on the Stepstones, extinguishing Daemon's line. | „ |
| ~ Varys, referring to the Blackfyre rebellions after Daemon Blackfyre's death. |
Members from the infamous Targaryen cadet branch House Blackfyre founded by Daemon Blackfyre, a bastard of Aegon IV Targaryen, was possibly affected by Targaryen madness, emphasized by the fact that they rebelled five times to seize the Iron Throne for themselves, despite each attempt being more humiliating than the last. Maelys Blackfyre, widely known as "Maelys the Monstrous", who is the last Blackfyre pretender, was described as an extremely unpleasant savage who murdered his own cousin for control of the Golden Company.
Quotes[]
George R. R. Martin[]
| “ | No, no Targaryens are immune to fire. The thing with Dany and the dragons, that was just a one-time magical event, very special and unique. The Targaryens can tolerate a bit more heat than most ordinary people, they like really hot baths and things like that, but that doesn't mean they're totally immune to fire, no. Dragons, on the other hand, are pretty much immune to fire. | „ |
| ~ George R. R. Martin about the TV show's fanbase's misconception about Targaryens and Daenerys being fireproof. |
A Song of Ice and Fire[]
| “ | A man had only to look at them to know that they were not like other men; their eyes, their hair, their very bearing, all proclaimed their differences. And they flew dragons | „ |
| ~ Archmaester Gyldayn describing Targaryens in Westeros. |
| “ | Other great houses might choose to bury their dead in the dark earth or sink them in the cold green sea, but the Targaryens were the blood of the dragon, and their ends were writ in flame. | „ |
| ~ Thoughts of Duncan the Tall. |
| “ | Ours is the house of the dragon. The fire is in our blood. | „ |
| ~ Viserys Targaryen to Daenerys Targaryen. |
| “ | I will kill every Targaryen I can get my hands on, until they are as dead as their dragons, and then I will piss on their graves. | „ |
| ~ Robert I Baratheon to Eddard Stark. |
| “ | The dragon kings had wed brother to sister, but they were the blood of old Valyria where such practices had been common, and like their dragons the Targaryens answered to neither gods nor men. | „ |
| ~ Thoughts of Catelyn Stark |
| “ | This talk of a stone dragon... madness, I tell you, sheer madness. Did we learn nothing from Aerion Brightfire, from the nine mages, from the alchemists? Did we learn nothing from Summerhall? No good has ever come from these dreams of dragons, I told Axell as much. | „ |
| ~ Alester Florent to Davos Seaworth, about attempts to bring dragons back through sorcery, like the Targaryens tried before. |
| “ | Selyse: Lord husband, you have more men than Aegon did three hundred years ago. All you lack are dragons. Stannis: Nine mages crossed the sea to hatch Aegon the Third's cache of eggs. Baelor the Blessed prayed over his for half a year. Aegon the Fourth built dragons of wood and iron. Aerion Brightflame drank wildfire to transform himself. The mages failed, King Baelor's prayers went unanswered, the wooden dragons burned, and Prince Aerion died screaming. Selyse: None of these was the chosen of R'hllor. No red comet blazed across the heavens to herald their coming. None wielded Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes. And none of them paid the price. Lady Melisandre will tell you, my lord. Only death can pay for life. |
„ |
| ~ Selyse Florent and Stannis Baratheon, about Targaryens, reviving dragons, and the prophecy of Azor Ahai. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- It is a mystery on why the Targaryens chose to come to the small island of Dragonstone in Blackwater Bay, rather than stay in Essos after leaving the Valyrian peninsula, as it would've been more convenient for them to stay in the regions of the Free Cities in western Essos, which were culturally connected to them instead of Westeros. The cities of Lys and Volantis, who are the closest descendants of Dragonlords, in particular seemed more fitting for the old culture and tastes of the Targaryens, before they fully became assimilated in Andal culture.
- The original old seat and native lands of House Targaryen in the Valyrian peninsula in Essos is completely unknown. If their original seat was in Valyria or within the southern regions of the motherland peninsula, those lands were presumably destroyed by the Doom or left infested post-Doom.
- In Westeros, the Targaryens used to hold 3 seats: Dragonstone, the Red Keep/King's Landing (originally the Aegonfort), and their pleasure summer castle of Summerhall, with all the seats' respective lands. Throughout their dynasty, the Targaryens never split into multiple branches. Not even during the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryens ever assumed the names "House Targaryen of King's Landing (for the Greens) and House Targaryen of Dragonstone (for the Blacks), as they both claimed to be the sole valid branch.
- Unlike the Targaryens, House Baratheon created 2 new branches after they seized power over all the Targaryens' lands and assuming ownership of their holdings, forming House Baratheon of King's Landing and House Baratheon of Dragonstone, ruling the seats of the deposed family. It was never said which house or houses were granted the lands of Summerhall, or if they belong to the Baratheons.
- In the current timeline in the books, House Targaryen's seats are Meereen and its Great Pyramid in Slaver's Bay and allegedly Storm's End in the Stormlands. The former is ruled by Daenerys Targaryen, the legally acknowledged Queen of Meereen, who is currently missing following her disappearance in the Dothraki Sea. Storm's End is presumably ruled by Prince Aegon Targaryen, the self-styled King Aegon VI. According to Haldon Halfmaester, Storm's End has recently been taken by the Golden Company, though this is not fully confirmed, as readers only knows that Jon Connington was planning to conquer the impregnable castle through deception and presumably pretend with the Golden Company to be Stannis Baratheon's hired mercenaries.
- If Storm's End has truly fallen, then House Targaryen (or Blackfyre, depending on theories) now holds the Baratheons' ancestral seat, while Dragonstone and the Red Keep are held by the usurped Baratheon branch of King's Landing (although there are theories denying Dragonstone's fall to Tommen I Baratheon's forces). If this whole situation is true, then currently the real House Baratheon has fully lost its place in the south, as Stannis's forces are currently in the North and they hold control over the Wall, with the Nightfort being Stannis's current seat.
- Even though House Targaryen was filled with madness and the disgrace it brought, this does not mean that all Targaryens were ruled as mentally unstable, as seen with how Daenerys Targaryen is still mostly stable while her own brother Viserys is highly disturbed. However, Daenerys can be ruthless towards people with a bad reputation, but only if they provoke her anger, especially during her frustrating rule as Queen of Meereen. Daenerys late older brother Rhaegar was considered a great man by all who knew him, though his supposed abduction of Lyanna Stark, can be considered a scandalous action which brought the downfall of his family. Maester Aemon became a wise and revered advisor to the Night's Watch for many decades, until everyone forgot his true identity as a Targaryen. The cunning and manipulating Targaryen bastard known as Brynden Rivers, or Bloodraven (three-eyed crow or three-eyed raven), disappeared shortly after bringing Aemon to the Wall and then became the Three-eyed Crow (Three-eyed Raven in the show).
- Daenerys is not thought to be insane, though her merciless treatment of slave masters in Meereen might be a hint that she would eventually succumb to the "Targaryen madness". Even so, her actions were ultimately against a group who were mistreating others (seeing this as an echo of how she herself was mistreated), and she thought she was helping to secure freedom for the slaves of the region. She tried her best to learn how to be an effective ruler, yet she was failing at every step, due to her quick temper and lust for the manipulating and dangerous Daario.
- However, Ser Barristan Selmy notes that the Mad King also genuinely believed his actions were just, even though many others knew he was a madman, which compels Daenerys to become more merciful.
- She also became known by several countries in Essos as 'the Mad King's Daughter', due to her destroying the economy of most of Slaver's Bay and allegedly trying to replace an ancient culture with her own. The latter popular belief is a lie, however, as in the books (unlike her television counterpart) Daenerys isn't trying to change Ghiscari culture and that slavery is only outlawed in Meereen and its lands, while Yunkai was left completely isolated by Daenerys. In fact, Daenerys conformed to Ghiscari culture in most ways in the novels, but her previous actions and campaign didn't win her much support from the population of Slaver's Bay.
- She shares some similarities with her father in his youth. In his youth, Aerys was ambitious, charismatic and gentle, but was often vulnerable to manipulation and schemes, which soon led to his imprisonment during the Defiance of Duskendale. Because of this incident, Aerys became paranoid, fearful and ruthless. Both Aerys and Daenerys "Targaryen madness" were triggered by psychological trauma.
- Daenerys's actions after she supposedly succumbed into "Targaryen madness" during the The Bells episode received notable backlash against the writers from both fans and critics alike. Many fans feel that her character had not been developed to the massive turn that happened in the final 2 episodes of Season 8. Furthermore, although "Targaryen madness" is a possible explanation for her abrupt turn, many view it negatively because it reduces her character to her lineage, turning her into a tragic hero destined to be evil despite her previous choices and her effort be a fair and good ruler. In other words, all her efforts to save and free the innocents, to help the common folk, and her struggle to develop and balance herself to use her powers were pointless and doomed to failure from the beginning because of her bloodline.
- In the version of the TV series Game of Thrones, House Targaryen revived the previously extinct House Baratheon, as one of Daenerys Targaryen's final acts included legitimizing Gendry and making him Lord of Storm's End. Gendry Baratheon's status remained official and legal under Bran I Stark's reign.
