Game of Thrones isn’t a family show, but it is, at times, about family. The bloodlines that connect the franchise’s main characters confer tremendous power, but they also create unique allies and enemies across the Seven Kingdoms. From the endless squabbling of the Lannister siblings to the unshakable resilience of House Stark, the landed gentry of Westeros dominates Game of Thrones. House Targaryen has diminished as the story begins, but their quest to Westeros and subsequent conquest changed the continent.
A Song of Ice and Fire has a history stretching thousands of years before the era that holds the books’ events. Every Noble House ties its lineage to old heroes and ancient myths. Each of the Seven Kingdoms carries a nightmarish path from untamed wilderness to established settlement. House Targaryen made the single most significant stride toward the Westeros fans know.
Where did House Targaryen come from?
House Targaryen hails from the Valyrian Freehold. Though never technically an empire, the Freehold once ruled most of Essos. Valyria began as a shepherding community on the shattered Valyrian peninsula. Early Valyrians discovered dragons while exploring the Fourteen Flames, a massive ring of active volcanoes. Scholars debate the origin of dragons. Some say they originated naturally on the peninsula, others claim they were selectively bred by sorcerers in the area, and others claim they descended from space. The humble shepherds found or developed magic, which allowed them to control the winged beasts. With dragons, Valyria expanded until its unquestioned authority consumed most of the continent and many nearby islands. Like Westeros, Noble Houses ruled the Valyrian Freehold. The forty mightiest bloodlines were known as the dragonlords. House Targaryen stood among the dragonlords for generations.
The dragonlords were extraordinarily powerful, but their might allowed them to imagine they were invincible. They considered religion a convenient tool to pacify their subjects but quietly regarded themselves as gods. They bickered and fought constantly to increase their share of the Freehold. They lived lives of absurd excess, wielding their dragons’ breath to carve statues and keeping exotic beasts as pets. The highest rungs of Valyrian culture were considered among the most beautiful people. Their white hair, fair skin, and purple eyes remain reflected in House Targaryen. The Targaryens also maintain the dragonlords’ fondness for incest, favoring strategic inner-family marriages to keep their bloodlines pure. Though they hold many traditions and traits from their ancestors, the Targaryens were among the weakest dragonlords. How did they grow from a lesser entry in a forty-family race for control to the dominant house in a faraway new land?
Why did House Targaryen leave Valyria?
House Targaryen is known for many things. One of their less discussed gifts is their eye for prophecy. Many Targaryens enjoy prophetic dreams and visions that foretell their future. While these can often be mistaken for or interwoven with their genetic predisposition toward madness, their predictions are often a godsend to the family. Over 120 years before Aegon’s Conquest, Lord Aenar Targaryen sired a daughter named Daenys. When Daenys was young, she experienced a powerful prophetic dream. She saw her home, the seemingly invincible city of Valyria, consumed and erased by an all-consuming fire. She told her father, and the dragonlord heeded her warning without question. Aenar sold everything he owned in Valyria, fleeing to the nearby island Dragonstone with unimaginable wealth, his family, and his dragons. His fellow dragonlords called him a coward, branding him Aenar the Exile. Twelve years later, the Fourteen Flames erupted, sparking the cataclysm known as the Doom of Valyria. Daenys the Dreamer’s prophecy came to pass, and only her family survived. Tyrion Lannister summed up the event well:
The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, its fabled empire vanished in a day, the Lands of the Long Summer scorched and drowned and blighted. An empire built on blood and fire. The Valyrians reaped the seed they had sown.
Thanks to Daenys’ vision, House Targaryen became the only dragonlords to survive the Doom. They quietly built their power, controlling the local seaway and growing dragons in their castle’s hatchery. As the last dragon-riders, their influence became paramount. Daenys married her brother, as was the Targaryen way, and gave birth to a son and daughter. Four generations later, only one of which appeared to feature any new blood, Aegon I Targaryen was born on Dragonstone. His legacy speaks for itself.
The tale of House Targaryen is fascinating for its potential variations. If Daenys had kept her dream to herself or her dad had ignored her prophecy, they would have suffered the fate of every other dragonlord. Instead, they became the last dragon-riders and conquered Westeros. The continent may never have been the same without Aegon the Conqueror. House Targaryen’s gift of prophecy saved the family and shaped Westeros for the rest of time.
Leave a Reply