Dance of the Dragons

The Targaryen war of succession, dramatised in House of the Dragon.

The Dance of the Dragons is the devastating war of succession that began the decline of House Targaryen. It is the subject of House of the Dragon, the prequel series to Game of Thrones, set about a century after the Targaryen conquest and nearly two hundred years before the main series.

Quick Facts

Claimants: Rhaenyra Targaryen (the Blacks) vs Aegon II
Setting: About 200 years before Game of Thrones
Dramatised in: House of the Dragon (2022-)

Lore & Background

Rhaenyra Targaryen is King Viserys's daughter and heir apparent, his only surviving child by his first wife Aemma Arryn. After Viserys's death her stepmother and former friend Alicent Hightower takes the throne for her own son Aegon, Rhaenyra's half-brother, claiming the king changed his successor with his dying breath; Rhaenyra's supporters, the Blacks, crown her instead.

Reader's Guide

The story comes from George R. R. Martin's history Fire & Blood (2018), whose chapters "The Dying of the Dragons" cover the war between Rhaenyra and Aegon II; its aftermath sees Rhaenyra's young son Aegon III take the throne under a regency. House of the Dragon premiered in 2022 and is in its third season.

Alicent's father Otto Hightower had plotted to put Aegon on the Iron Throne, and Aegon II becomes the sixth king of the Seven Kingdoms. Rhaenyra's uncle Daemon Targaryen, Viserys's younger brother, is also her second husband, and her son Jacaerys Velaryon is her heir.