This post contains major spoilers for House of the Dragon‘s season three finale. If you want to avoid them for now you can instead check out our coverage of episode seven.
Rhaenyra Targaryen spent House of the Dragon‘s second season trying to avoid bloodshed. Her refusal to rain fire and blood on the Realm was so obvious that Ormund Hightower, who mocked her concern as a woman’s weakness, counted on her temperance as part of his plan. In season three’s finale, even Ulf laughed about how Daemon wouldn’t use his dragon against Tumbleton because the Queen had him on a short leash.
He wasn’t wrong. She instructed her husband to “not make a monster” out of her while attacking the city. That doesn’t sound anything like Daenerys Targaryen, Rhaenyra’s descendent who showed her enemies no mercy and claimed the Iron Throne by burning King’s Landing to the ground.
And yet, despite the differences in their actions, it’s clear House of the Dragon is drawing a clear link between Rhaenyra and Daenerys. They were both good women whose quest for power made them mad queens with a savior complex.
House of the Dragon‘s season three finale had multiple references to “The Bells,” Game of Thrones‘ penultimate episode where Daenerys turned King’s Landing into a smoldering ruin. In the prequel, Helaena saw a pale horse, the same kind of harbinger of death and doom that Arya saw. Just like King’s Landing nearly 170 years later, we also experienced the horror of a smoldering city through the eyes of a queen’s loyal follower who looked on in disbelief at the destruction the war had wrought. Alyn even acted as a stand-in for Grey Worm, two noble warriors committing atrocities on behalf of their Queen.
Unlike Daenerys and the capital, Tumbleton’s destruction was not directly Rhaenyra’s fault. It’s certainly not what she wanted. Daemon was (for him) judicious in his use of Caraxes. Once the Red Worm blasted open the city’s gates, the King Consort proceeded on foot. It was Ulf the traitor acting on behalf of the Greens who brought fire and blood to the market town.
Regardless of who was responsible, the devastation was the same. Each Queens’ attack brought the same carnage to the very people they wanted to save. Innocent people burned and suffered in wars that both Rhaenyra and Daenerys waged so they could sit upon the Iron Throne. And each got to that spot after slowly succumbing to what many in the Realm call Targaryen madness.
Were the dragonlords of old Valyria who conquered Westeros really more susceptible to going mad than others? Did a “taint” run in their blood like some said? Did inbreeding cause some Targaryens to do unspeakable acts? Or were they simply as susceptible as anyone who lived a lavish lifestyle without consequence, pursued the throne, or both, to losing themselves to the trapping of power? Daenerys’ didn’t seem mad when she was liberating slaves in in Essos. It wasn’t until she faced multiple failures, setbacks, and personal loss in Westeros that she snapped. The Khaleesi who liberated Slaver’s Bay was not the woman who burned innocent people after King’s Landing had fallen.
Neither was the Rhaenyra who risked her life to meet with Alicent in King’s Landing on the small chance she could avoid war the woman who declared herself The Prince That Was Promised in House of the Dragon‘s season three finale. And that, far more than the similarities of an atrocity of dragonflame, is where Rhaenyra and Daenerys’ stories mirror one another on HBO. Once Daenerys claimed the Iron Throne she announced her plans to “break the wheel” across the entire world. She would free everyone everywhere, whether they wanted her to or not. Then she would rule them.
That declaration pushed Jon Snow to kill her. When he first went to speak with Tyrion after King’s Landing fell, Jon made excuses for why she’d done something so horrible. But Tyrion told Jon what he already knew. “She believes her destiny is to build a better world for everyone,” and she would do so by spreading fire and blood to all of it.
Rhaenyra also believed she was destined to save everyone. She shared the biggest, most important secret in the world during an emotional, desperate frenzy where she claimed the gods had surely chosen her to rule. It was Daenerys’ own declaration in another form. Standing on the steps of Baelor’s Sept after she had the High Septon killed, Rhaenyra, compared herself to the most famous kings of Westeros in a stilted, wild speech about mythical monsters, prophesy, and divine purpose. It had to sound like madness personified to anyone who head it.
The gods summoned my ancestor, Aegon the Conqueror…. to the Seven Kingdoms to unite a fractured Realm beneath one banner of black and red. They named him Protector of the World of Men. His duty, to shield it… from an ancient and sinister darkness that looms in the far North… beyond the Wall, beyond the lands of winter. And only the might of dragons can stand against it. The Conqueror passed this sacred charge to his chosen descendants, to the Old King, Jaehaerys, then to my father, then to me. The Hightower line cannot fulfill this prophecy. If your world is to survive… I must light the way. Because I am the Shield of the People. I am Rhaenyra the Chosen.
“I am Rhaenyra the Chosen.”
We know Rhaenyra is partly right. An ancient and sinister darkness looms beyond the Wall. But we know she is not the prophesied Prince. Even if she were, how could anyone else at her absurd, chaotic, deadly coronation believe anything she said? Any ruler declaring themselves the literal chosen savior of the gods would sound as mad as any Targaryen who ever wielded power in Westeros. That was how Daenerys sounded to Jon Snow when she justified her plans for world domination. She told him, while King’s Landing still burned, only the two of them know what is “good.”
In her quest for power, her entire reason for living, Daenerys lost herself. She wasn’t born mad. Khaleesi turned her grief, frustration, sadness, loss, and desperation into anger. That led her to develop a god-like savior complex. And when you believe you and you alone know what’s good for everyone, you can justify any actions as right. It’s how you justify burning down a city you want to rule and had already won.
But while Rhaenyra didn’t want to look like a monster and her sins were not one of fire and blood, her descent came about for the same reasons as Daenerys’ own. Just as her descendent will do, Rhaenyra turned her own grief, frustration, and desperation into anger. That manifested into the same god-like savior complex that is no different from “madness.” And maybe that’s why so many Targaryens seemed to follow a similar path. When you become obsessed with power and believe you are owed it, you can go mad trying to prove to everyone you’re right.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow Mikey on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.