Year 105 AC
Making Rhaenyra his heir is one of the only times Viserys ever stands up against his influential advisors – notably Hand of the King Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), the king’s younger brother. Viserys also confides a secret to Rhaenyra – the reason the Targaryens conquered Westeros in the first place. He explains that the first king, Aegon the Conqueror had a prophetic dream about a cold apocalypse from the north – presumably, the white walkers from the main series. His dream told him that the Seven Kingdoms must be united under a Targaryen ruler to overcome this challenge, meaning their pursuit of power, peace and cooperation is not just an act of ambition but a public service.
In this stop on the timeline, we meet three other important characters – Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). Alicent is the daughter of the Hand and is the same age as Rhaenyra in the show, making them constant companions and natural friends. Meanwhile, Cole is a promising young knight who Rhaenyra chooses to become a member of the elite Kingsguard. While her logic for choosing him is sound, it’s also clear that she is somewhat infatuated with him. Corlys is the Lord of Driftmark, a powerful island trading port near Dragonstone. He is also Rhaenys’ husband, and he sits on the king’s small council as Master of Ships.
Six Months Later
The next episode takes place about six months later, and mostly concerns the pressure put on Viserys to remarry and have more children. He is gradually convinced to do so even though he insists Rhaenyra is his heir no matter what. Otto maneuvers the king and his daughter together, and Viserys decides to marry her. This drives a wedge between him and Rhaenyra, not to mention Rhaenyra and Alicent.
In this episode we also see Rhaenyra and her dragon Syrax face off against Daemon and his dragon Caraxes, fleshing out their intense relationship and Daemon’s penchant for headstrong, rebellious behavior. Corlys approaches Daemon and proposes an alliance against a growing pirate threat, and the two decide to go to war without the king’s express permission.
Three Years Later
Three years later, Viserys and Alicent have one son named Aegon and another on the way. Rhaenyra resents being forced to spend time celebrating with her father, a pregnant Alicent and the other lords of the court. However, she soon realizes that the gathering is also meant to help her choose a suitor for herself. She resents this as well, but settles on Corlys and Rhaenys’ son, Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate), whom she knows is secretly gay. They agree to a political marriage where they can both discretely pursue other love interests. Their alliance also prompts the king to finally send military aid to the Stepstones islands to aid Corlys and Daemon.
Months Later
After defeating the pirates in the Stepstones, Daemon briefly declares himself “King of the Narrow Sea,” but soon returns to King’s Landing and hands over his crown to Viserys, publicly declaring his loyalty to his older brother. Daemon seduces Rhaenyra, hoping to attain power by association with her an incestuous marriage only allowed to Targaryens. However, the king finds out and banishes Daemon back to the Vale where he is technically still married. Rhaenyra seduces Criston Cole in secret. Viserys, sick of the rumors, dismisses Otto HIghtower and names Lyonel Strong his new Hand of the King instead. Before he leaves, Otto warns Alicent that if Rhaenyra becomes queen, she will perceive Alicent’s sons as threats to her authority.
Back in the Vale, Daemon murders his wife, then returns to King’s Landing just in time to attend the formal betrothal of Rhaenyra and Laenor. Criston Cole asks Rhaenyra to set aside her crown and run away with him, but she declines, proposing instead that they carry on their affair in secret. Cole is mortified and confesses the affair to Alicent. He is also approached by Laenor’s lover, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, and he panics and murders Joffrey in the middle of the feast.
Ten Years Later
At this point, the show makes its biggest time skip and several characters are re-cast to look older, with Rhaenyra now played by Emma D’Arcy and Alicent now played by Olivia Cooke. The new setting opens with Rhaenyra giving birth to her third son, whom Laenor names Joffrey. However, all three children actually come from Rhaenyra’s secret lover, Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). Daemon has since married Laenor’s sister Laena (Nanna Blondell), and had two daughters. Alicent and Viserys have now had three sons and a daughter.
The children have all inherited the enmity between their parents to some extent, and it takes shape in everything from games to sword practice – and even in dragon-riding practice. Alicent raises her sons to see Rhaenyra and her sons as threats, and they openly joke about Rhaenyra’s sons being bastards.
Things escalate when Harwin and Lyonel Strong are both assassinated at the hands of the Master of Whisperers, Larys Strong, who claims that he was ordered to do so by Alicent. Meanwhile, Laena dies horribly in childbirth, leaving the largest dragon in Westeros, Vhagar, without a rider. At her funeral, things between the children get even more heated when Alicent’s son Aemond (Leo Ashton) boldly claims Vhagar before Daemon’s daughter has a chance to try. In the confrontation that follows, Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys (Harvey Sadler) slashes Aemond with a dagger, permanently disabling one of his eyes.
The resulting fight gets all the adults involved as well, and an enraged Alicent actually attacks Rhaenyra’s with a dagger. Now that it seems clear that fighting will be inevitable in the future, Rhaenyra protects Laenor by helping him fake his death and escape across the sea. She then marries Daemon to form a stronger Targaryen alliance.
Six Years Later
The story picks up years later when Viserys health is failing badly, yet he still attends court in order to defend Rhaenyra’s claim as his heir and the legitimacy of her sons. He makes one last attempt to reconcile the whole family at a formal dinner, but Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) can’t resist making a joke about his cousins’ bloodline.
Shortly after that, Alicent listens to Viserys talk in his sleep in the moments before his death. He mutters something about Aegon the Conquerer, but she mistakenly believes he is talking about their eldest son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney). Viserys dies moments later, and Alicent tells the small council that with his dying breath, he changed his mind and named Aegon his heir. While no one truly seems to believe this, they seize the opportunity to defy Rhaenyra and put their preferred candidate on the throne.
Otto does his best to consolidate power in King’s Landing, keeping Viserys’ death secret while he makes his arrangements. He executes many people who he believes are loyal to Rhaenyra and imprisons others, including Rhaenys. Finally, he organizes a coronation for Aegon. During the ceremony, Rhaenys manages to sneak into the dragon pit and interrupt the coronation on the back of her dragon, Meleys. She flies off to bring the news to Rhaenyra.
Back on Dragonstone, the shock and stress of this news cause Rhaenyra to go into labor prematurely. Her last child with Daemon is a stillborn daughter. Overwhelmed with grief, she briefly considers conceding to Aegon just to avoid war, but Daemon talks her out of it. The people of Dragonstone hold a coronation for Rhaenyra, and her side prepares to go to war.
Rhaenyra sends her two sons out on dragonback to visit the great lords of Westeros and find out which side they will be loyal to in the upcoming conflict. Jacaerys (Harry Collett) flies to Winterfell in the north while Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) flies to Storm’s End to meet with Lord Baratheon. Unfortunately, Aemond is already there when he arrives, along with Vhagar. With the excitement of the looming war, Aemond is eager to get his revenge on Lucerys for taking his eye. Lucerys flees, but his smaller, younger dragon Arrax can’t outfly Vhagar. Vhagar kills both Lucerys and Arrax, in spite of Aemond apparently ordering her to stop at the last moment. With that, war is all but guaranteed.
Season 2
Season 2 picks up here, with both sides grieving and angry. At the same time, you can see that things are delicate as full-blown war hasn’t quite broken out, and whichever side escalates things from here will be held responsible. Season 2 will have only eight episodes, but the show has already been renewed for Season 3 meaning that more are definitely on the way. House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres on Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.