House Targaryen is at the center of HBO ’s highly-lauded Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon . The adaptation of George RR Martin ’s Fire & Blood novel is set around 200 years before the events of Thrones , when the Targaryens had united the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros under one ruler. All that is at risk in season two as the Greens, led by Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith ), and the Blacks, led by Alicent Hightower and her son Aegon II Targaryen ( Olivia Cooke and Tom Glynn-Carney), initiate a bloody civil war.
Succession is central to the story as Rhaenyra and her half-brother Aegon fight over their claim to the Iron Throne. To make it more confusing Targaryens have a habit of sharing names with their ancestors and keeping marriages within the family. So, before Daenerys and Rhaenyra, who was there? Welcome to the messiest family in Westeros.
.. In A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series that Thrones is based on, author George RR Martin explains that, similar to Before Christ and Anno Domini, dates in Westeros are described as “Before Conquest” (BC) or “After Conquest” (AC).
The conquest in question occurred when Aegon I, Daenerys’s ancestor, conquered the whole of Westeros with his dragons, uniting all seven kingdoms under one ruler. Aegon I Targaryen died in 37 AC, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Aenys I Targaryen. The Targaryens held themselves above the laws of common men and were wont to practice incestuous marriage .
