Warning: Spoilers ahead for the “House of the Dragon” season three finale.
Daenerys Targaryen is born nearly two centuries after the events of “House of the Dragon,” yet she haunts the narrative almost as much as the characters onscreen.
There are echoes of Daenerys’ self-righteous rise to power — and perhaps, her tragic eleventh-hour downfall — in the story of Rhaenyra Targaryen, who becomes increasingly power-hungry in pursuit of the Iron Throne in the “Game of Thrones” prequel’s bloody war of succession.
“House of the Dragon” showrunner Ryan Condal told Business Insider that was intentional.
“This is the reason that Daenerys is begging for a crown across the Narrow Sea, and the dragons are all dead. Because of this story,” Condal said. “So I think those connections are important to make to remind people that these two periods in history are intimately connected with one another.”
Rhaenyra and Daenerys are both dragon queens with god complexes
Ollie Upton/HBO
In 129 AC (the measure of years used in Westeros, meaning “after conquest”), Rhaenyra Targaryen, the heir to the Iron Throne named by her father, King Viserys, is usurped by her younger half-brother and his mother’s powerful family, the Hightowers.
To retake her father’s throne, Rhaenyra shores up her dragon fleet (sacrificing several innocent people in the process) and becomes convinced that her violent campaign is preordained — that she is the “Prince That Was Promised” who will save the realm from darkness.
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Sound familiar? In 283 AC, House Targaryen is usurped by another powerful family, the Baratheons, and Daenerys Targaryen is sent to live in exile. To retake her father’s throne, Daenerys uses blood magic to hatch three dragons and uses this nuclear threat to conquer cities, build an army, and, in her own words, save the realm from tyrants, “no matter the cost.”
The parallels between Rhaenyra and Daenerys are hard to ignore, as is the cruel irony of Rhaenyra’s descent into tyranny.
In the “House of the Dragon” season two finale, Rhaenyra’s husband and king consort, Daemon Targaryen, has a vision of his family’s future. He sees Daenerys with her three baby dragons, but he doesn’t know who she is. He also sees Rhaenyra sitting on the Iron Throne and seems to erroneously conflate those two images.
Both Rhaenyra and Daemon use his vision to justify the violence and suffering wrought by Rhaenyra’s reign.
“We know that Rhaenyra’s not the chosen one. If there is a chosen one, a ‘Prince That Was Promised’ in the story, it’s 200 years away. It’s Jon Snow, or it’s Daenerys, depending on how you interpret the prophecy,” Condal explained. “But of course, Rhaenyra and Daemon have no way of knowing that.”
Courtesy of HBO
In the “House of the Dragon” season three finale, Rhaenyra kicks her messianic obsession into overdrive. She orders the murder of the High Septon, the head of the Faith in Westeros. Her justification is that she is the blood of Old Valyria, and she answers to higher gods.
Rhaenyra then delivers a speech to the commonfolk gathered outside the Sept, revealing herself to be the prophesied savior of Westeros — or so she believes.
“If your world is to survive, I must light the way,” she declares. “Because I am the shield of the people. I am the Rhaenyra the Chosen.”
The scene mirrors the victory speech that Daenerys delivers in the “Game of Thrones” series finale after she razes King’s Landing with dragonflame, framing herself as the ultimate liberator. Actor Emilia Clarke previously said that she studied videos of Hitler to drive home Daenerys’ transformation into a dictator.
Condal said he was “certainly aware” of the Daenerys parallel while writing and filming Rhaenyra’s climactic, self-aggrandizing monologue.
“Daenerys and Rhaenyra find themselves on parallel tracks,” he said, adding, “I think it’s important that the show has echoes of the original series in it, in some ways, so that they remain connected.”
“House of the Dragon” season three is now streaming on HBO Max.