Rhaenyra Targaryen

"Rhaenyra Targaryen was murdered by her brother, or rather, his dragon. It ate her while her son watched. What's left of her is buried in the crypts right down there."

- King Joffrey Baratheon points out what little remains of Rhaenyra in the Great Sept of Baelor.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen is a mentioned character in Game of Thrones. She is long dead by the time of the series and is not expected to appear.

Her name is pronounced "Ray-near-uh".

Background
Rhaenyra was a Princess of the Targaryen dynasty. She was the daughter of King Viserys I, half-sister of King Aegon II, and mother of the future King Aegon III. Aegon III was himself the father of King Daeron I and King Baelor. Viserys, having no sons by his first wife, named Rhaenyra his heir, trained her how to rule and made the Lords of Westeros swear oaths to recognize her as his successor. However, he later remarried and had a son, Aegon. His death sparked a civil war between the half-siblings known as the Dance of Dragons. Based on the island of Dragonstone, Rhaenyra challenged Aegon's coronation, supported by her sons, husband and the few Lords who had taken her side. Although greatly outnumbered, Rhaenyra had a powerful fleet and a large number of dragons at her disposal. Briefly ousting Aegon from King's Landing and crowning herself Rhaenyra I, she managed to take control of the North, the Riverlands and the Vale, but her support gradually eroded and her husband, as well as most of her children and dragons, were killed in battle. She eventually was defeated and Aegon II had his dragon devour her. However, her surviving son wedded Aegon's daughter and succeeded him as Aegon III.

Season 3
Touring the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, King Joffrey Baratheon explains to Margaery Tyrell the fate of Rhaenyra Targaryen. Joffrey points out the crypts where what little is left of her is kept.

Season 5
At her father's army camp in the North, Princess Shireen Baratheon reads a history book about the civil war between Aegon II and Rhaenyra: The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling by Grand Maester Munkun. When her father Stannis and also Davos Seaworth ask about it, she summarizes that the conflict between Rhaenyra and Aegon II split the Seven Kingdoms in half. Shireen also specifies that Aegon was Rhaenyra's half-brother.

Quotes
"The fight between Rhaenyra Targaryen and her half-brother Aegon for control over the Seven Kingdoms. Both of them thought they belonged on the Iron Throne. When people started declaring for one of them or the other, their fight divided the kingdoms in two. Brothers fought brothers, dragons fought dragons. By the time it was over, thousands were dead. And it was a disaster for the Targaryens as well. They never truly recovered."

- Princess Shireen Baratheon

The Dance of the Dragons
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Rhaenyra was the daughter of King Viserys I, and his only child by his first wife, Aemma of House Arryn (who died after giving birth to Rhaenyra). Due to the lack of a male heir, Viserys designated Rhaenyra as his successor. Therefore, Rhaenyra was the only Targaryen woman who laid claim to the Iron Throne in her own right. Since she was raised for much of her life as the designated heir, Rhaenyra became quite pampered and arrogant, but also gained practical governmental experience.

After Rhaenyra's mother died, her father remarried and had several sons by his second wife, Alicent of House Hightower. Even so, Viserys still publicly expected his daughter to succeed him, and when he died, his official will even stated so. However, Rhaenyra's younger half-brother, Aegon, challenged her claim. He stated that the normal inheritance laws of the Andals (which formed the basis of the unified law code in Westeros) called for male-preference primogeniture, meaning that a younger son would rightfully inherit before an older daughter. Rhaenyra had been raised as the heir apparent for years and commanded the loyalty of an inner circle of noble families very close to the crown. In defiance, her half-brother had himself crowned in King's Landing as Aegon II, and rallied to his side those noble Houses who did not enjoy royal favor during the reign of their father.

This began a devastating civil war that tore apart the Seven Kingdoms. The conflict later became known as The Dance of the Dragons, as it was the only war in which both sides had dragonriders. The war lasted for three years, and by the time it came to an end nearly all of the Targaryen dragons had been killed. The conflict also resulted in the death of four of Rhaenyra's five sons, as well as the eldest son of Aegon II.

Aegon II held many advantages in the war, including control of the capital city, the support of the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and the approval of the High Septon. Rhaenyra's faction was based at Dragonstone, and to her advantage she had a larger number of dragons under her control - twelve to Aegon's four - though three of these were "wild" dragons and as-yet untamed, while another three were immature. She also did not have enough Targaryen blood relatives on her side to ride all of them, and a dragon will (typically) only bond with someone possessing the blood of Old Valyria. Thus a search was launched to find any surviving Targaryen bastards - nicknamed the "dragonseeds" - and enlist them in Rhaenyra's cause.

The two factions during the war - one supporting Aegon and the other supporting Rhaenyra - became known as the "Blacks" and the "Greens". These monikers derived from an incident that took place at a tournament some years before the war began: Aegon II's mother Queen Alicent had worn a green dress to the tournament while Rhaenyra wore a black dress. Generally, Rhaenyra was supported by noble families who had enjoyed royal favor during her father's reign and possessed strong ties to the crown, while Aegon II rallied those who had been out of favor. Viserys I had signed charters with many powerful Houses in which they swore to accept Rhaenyra as his heir, but at least some of them broke their word after Viserys died. Rhaenyra sent her eldest son Jacaerys north on his dragon to visit the Eyrie and then Winterfell. At that time, the Vale was ruled by a female heiress who had inherited in her own right due to a lack of male heirs, and given that the entire civil war questioned a woman's right to rule, she and Rhaenrya were natural allies. Moreover, the Arryns had enjoyed royal favor earlier in Viserys I's reign since his first wife - Rhaenyra's own mother - was an Arryn, thus binding the two families by blood. Meanwhile, the hardy and honorable Northerners always kept an oath once given, so the Starks came into the war on Rhaenyra's side in accordance with the original agreements they had made with Viserys. Rhaenyra's second son Lucerys flew on his dragon to Storm's End to gain an alliance with House Baratheon, but Aegon II's brother Aemond flew to Storm's End at the same time to pursue the same goal, riding the older dragon Vhagar. The results were decidedly mixed, and Storm's End subsequently supported Aegon II. The Westerlands also sided with Aegon II because he had appointed Tyland Lannister as his new Master of Coin. The Hightowers were of course staunch supporters of Aegon II, and so apparently was much of the Reach. Dorne had not been incorporated into the realm yet, and as they have often done throughout history, the Iron Islands remained neutral while the mainlanders slaughtered each other.

At some point during the war, Rhaenyra herself was captured by Aegon II's forces and was fed to her half-brother's dragon, while her son was forced to watch. Rhaenyra's supporters continued to fight on in the name of her two surviving sons, however, and eventually triumphed: Through uncertain circumstances, Aegon II died without male heirs, and peace was achieved when Rhaenyra's eldest surviving son was crowned as Aegon III. He was the son who had been forced to watch his mother consumed by a dragon, and he developed a deep hatred and fear of the creatures. So many dragons had died in the war that the Targaryens couldn't maintain a stable breeding population, and the few survivors became inbred and sickly. The last Targaryen dragons - the last dragons in the known world - died during the reign of Aegon III, earning him the sobriquet "Aegon the Dragonbane". Aegon III married Aegon II's surviving daughter to re-unite the factions from the war, though many cadet branches and relatives of House Targaryen had been killed in the war. Aegon III ruled well, and both of his sons (Daeron I and Baelor I) became kings after him, but each died childless. Therefore, the throne later passed to Rhaenyra's youngest son, Viserys II, who had served as Hand of the King under his nephews for many years. Viserys II was the father of Aegon IV and grandfather of Daeron II, and Daeron II was himself the grandfather of Aerion Brightfame, Aegon V "the Unlikely", and Maester Aemon.

Family
Rhaenyra was married twice, and had five sons. Her first husband was Ser Laenor Velaryon, the son of Lord Corlys Velaryon who served as Rhaenyra's Hand of the King during the Dance. She had three sons by him; Jacaerys Velaryon, Lucerys Velaryon, and Joffrey Velaryon. It was widely rumored by her opponents, however, that all three were actually bastards fathered by her lover, Harwin of House Strong. While this accusation was used as a political weapon, it is strongly suggested that there was some truth to it - though the matter is academic given that all three were definitely descended from the royal line through their mother, and it is irrelevant for later history because all three died without issue. Rhaenyra's second husband was actually her own uncle Prince Daemon Targaryen, her father's younger brother. Daemon was a fierce and powerful warrior, and one of the most skilled and dangerous dragon-riders during the Dance. The two sons she bore to Daemon were Aegon and Viserys (who later became the Kings Aegon III and Viserys II). Rhaenyra's only daughter - carried during her final pregnancy - was stillborn. The entire reason that Rhaenyra wasn't in King's Landing when her father died is because she was resting at Dragonstone eight months pregnant. However, when news reached the island that her half-brother had declared himself king in opposition to her, she became so distressed that she went into premature labor and her daughter was stillborn, as well as badly deformed (similar to Daenerys Targaryen's stillborn son Rhaego generations later). Rhaenyra blamed her brother and his supporters for causing the death of her daughter, adding further fuel to her hatred of them. Rhaenyra was also supported by Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, popularly known as "the Queen Who Never Was" due to that fact that she held a claim to the throne after her grandfather Jaehaerys I died, but her claim was ignored and the throne passed to her cousin Viserys I.

Rhaenyra's personal sigil was a variation on the normal Targaryen heraldry, quartered with the moon-and-falcon sigil of House Arryn (for her mother) and the seahorse sigil of House Velaryon (for her first husband, and because the Velaryons were one of her major supporters). Thus, viewed head-on, the top left and lower right quarters contained a normal red Targaryen dragon on black, the Arryn sigil was in the upper right, and the Velaryon sigil was in the lower left. While her faction during the Dance was informally known as "the Blacks", armies loyal to Rhaenyra bore banners displaying her personal heraldry of quartered red dragons.

Legacy
Later histories remember Rhaenyra as pampered and arrogant, because she had been raised most of her life as the heir presumptive. She could be charming to those she liked, but was also quick to anger and never forgot a slight. However, this does not match contemporary accounts of her character – she was referred to as "the Realm's Delight" without irony in her youth – and her actions in the Dance of Dragons itself. By all accounts, she was the patient one, while Aegon II - a full decade younger than her - was still very much an impulsive young man. Rhaenyra actually benefited from years of training and experience at council, skills which Aegon II sorely lacked. When Rhaenyra first learned of the coup against her at King's Landing, she actually decided against making an immediate full scale assault against the capital, realizing she would have to be patient if she was to have any hope of winning back her throne. It is strongly implied that the reason Rhaenyra is remembered as arrogant is specifically because she was a woman who intended to rule in her own right, and she actually behaved no better or worse than a man would have in her position. The problem was that in the patriarchal society of Westeros, it was seen as improper for a woman to issue firm commands to men instead of behaving submissively; i.e. instead of behaving like Catelyn Stark, politely cajoling and urging male lords to do what she wanted, Rhaenyra assertively gave out orders in the manner Tywin Lannister or Brienne of Tarth would - good, sensible orders, but men were frequently offended that she did not behave submissively as a "proper" lady should.

Impact on Royal Succession Law
After the Dance of the Dragons, House Targaryen revised the royal succession laws to follow a modified and extremely strict version of male-preference primogeniture, in which female heirs are put behind all possible male ones. For example, under the succession laws of most Andal nobles in Westeros, a lord's daughter will succeed before the lord's own younger brother, but under the new Targaryen royal succession laws, a lord's younger brother will inherit before the lord's daughter. Before Rhaenyra, the first five generations of Targaryens (Aegon I, his sons Aenys I and Maegor I, Aenys I's son Jaehaerys I, his son, and Viserys I) had simply never produced a firstborn daughter before, so this did not retroactively remove an older female branch from the line of succession.

During her life, Rhaenyra styled herself "Rhaenyra of House Targaryen, First of Her Name", but subsequent histories do not refer to her as "Rhaenyra I". Many felt that because Rhaenyra's own son Aegon III ended up succeeding to the throne, the dynastic claim of her faction was vindicated. However, at this point House Targaryen wanted to enforce the new strict male-preference primogeniture laws, under which the deceased Rhaenyra would never have inherited in the first place. Thus, even her own son could not retroactively consider his mother to have been the rightful ruler during the civil war. If her half-brother was not retroactively established as the lawful heir, Rhaenyra's son would have been crowned under the royal name "Aegon II" not "Aegon III", to reinforce that his uncle had not been the lawful heir. Because he couldn't do this and enforce the new strict male-preference primogeniture laws, her son had to take the name "Aegon III" and officially declare that his mother had only been a rival claimant, not the lawful heir.

It is because of Rhaenyra and the Dance of the Dragons, and the stricter male-preference royal inheritance laws that House Targaryen embraced as a result, that there has never been a ruling Queen on the Iron Throne, at any point in the subsequent 170 years between the Dance and the War of the Five Kings. Any subsequent female monarch of the name "Rhaenyra" would have to be styled "Rhaenyra I", not "Rhaenyra II", though the Targaryens just avoided the issue by never naming one of their daughters "Rhaenyra" again.

Rhaenyra may have formed her own rival Kingsguard, which may have been known as a Queensguard. Daenerys Targaryen later forms her own "Queensguard", but it isn't clear whether this is a term Daenerys made up, or if it is the proper term for the Kingsguard under a female monarch. It is known that just as Targaryen fought Targaryen and dragon fought dragon in the civil war, the Kingsguard was split, with different members joining both sides. Lord Commander Criston Cole of the Kingsguard had chosen to declare Aegon II king, and thereafter became known as "the Kingmaker", but he died during the civil war.

Rhaenyra Targaryen and the Dance of the Dragons are going to be the subject of an upcoming prequel novella by author George R.R. Martin, titled The Princess and the Queen.

Inspiration
The succession dispute and civil war between Rhaenyra and Aegon II is analogous to the Anarchy, a period in England during the early twelfth century. During this time, King Henry I's only surviving heir was his daughter Matilda. Like Rhaenyra, Matilda was quite pampered and arrogant; although she hadn't been raised as the heir apparent her whole life, after Henry I's son died in the White Ship disaster, Matilda was her father's only legitimate child. She was also the widow of the Holy Roman Emperor, one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe, and thus familiar with politics and rulership. Similar to Viserys I, Henry commanded the nobles of the realm to take oaths swearing they would support Matilda as his successor, but after Henry's death this began to crumble: Matilda's claim was challenged by her cousin Stephen of Blois, who was from a junior branch of the royal family but nonetheless usurped the throne by rushing to the capital to be crowned king. In the cases of both Rhaenyra/Aegon II and Matilda/Stephen, the resulting civil war wasn't really concerned with who the lawful heir was under different succession rights, but was truly a struggle between two major factions of nobles which had developed: those who currently enjoyed royal favor (under Rhaenyra and Matilda) and those who had not previously enjoyed royal favor (the supporters of Aegon II and Stephen). In both cases, the rival male claimant is historically considered the lawful ruler (Aegon II and Stephen), but the son of the female claimant (Rhaenyra and Matilda) ended up ruling after the male claimant's son had died (the succession of Aegon III and Henry II Plantagenet).