At the time of her father's death, Rhaenyra was on Dragonstone awaiting the birth of her sixth child. The greens in King's Landing ensured that the news of the Viserys's death did not reach her until her own supporters in the Red Keep were dead or imprisoned and Aegon II's coronation had already occurred.
Upon her arrival, Princess Rhaenyra learns that not only her father is dead, but that the throne has been stolen from her. Rhaenyra, in her own ascension ceremony, becomes queen of the Seven Kingdoms and maintains her claim to the Iron Throne, despite still being on Dragonstone.
In House of the Dragon's season 1 finale, Rhaenyra learns about the tragic death of her beloved son Lucerys Velaryon, after having sent the young boy to deliver a message to Lord Borros Baratheon.
“They're really seeing each other for the first time since they were children — probably since the first time Rhaenyra found out that Alicent was marrying her dad,” Cooke added. “It's unification in grief, and recognizing each other's inner child in this loss.”
The Death of King Viserys Leads to All-Out Targaryen Civil War. Rhaenyra was in Dragonstone, away from court, when her father, Viserys Targaryen, died, an event that has finally happened on House of the Dragon. Meanwhile, Queen Alicent was in King's Landing.
According to the accounts of Septon Eustace, prior to her turning sixteen, Rhaenyra lost her virginity to her uncle, Prince Daemon, after he seduced her.
Rhaenyra and Daemon both know Laenor is alive, and faked his death.
Spoiler alert for the books. In George R.R. Martin's fictitious history of the Targaryen family, we learn that Rhaenyra does eventually have children with her uncle Daemon: two boys named Viserys II and Aegon III, both of whom eventually become king.
“When the babe at last came forth, she proved indeed a monster: a stillborn girl, twisted and malformed, with a hole in her chest where her heart should have been and a stubby, scaled tail. The dead girl had been named Visenya. “
In George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, we are told of the incident where Rhaenyra Targaryen's husband Laenor Velaryon dies while attending a fair in Spicetown, on the island of Driftmark. We learn he was “stabbed to death” by a knight in his father's service, his paramour Ser Qarl Quarry.
Joffrey (the First One) Fully Revealed How Rhaenyra Dies
The moment happens in season 3, episode 4, “And Now His Watch Is Ended,” when Joffrey Lannister is chilling with Margaery Tyrell and giddily explains, “Rhaenyra Targaryen was murdered by her brother, or rather, his dragon. It ate her while her son watched.
The shock of the loss of her father, combined with the Greens' ruthless betrayal sends her into early labor. Without modern medicine, a baby born so early had very little chance of survival in the best of circumstances - and in these terrible conditions the baby, a girl named Visenya, is stillborn.
Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finally had sex on House of the Dragon. After teasing their deep connection for weeks, making out in a brothel, and flirting their way through King's Landing, uncle and niece at long last did the dirty.
Jacaerys, Rhaenyra's eldest son, and his two younger brothers have spent their short lives surrounded by whispers that their real father was Ser Harwin Strong. It's an open secret that these “strong” boys aren't the sons of Laenor Velaryon.
'” D'Arcy further underliner how it was ultimately Rhaenyra taking control over her own bodily autonomy: “The advice Rhaenyra is receiving is to have patience, in the hope of preventing the child being stillborn or preventing harm to the child. And she ignores the advice, seeking instead to get this body out of her.
One of the first times we see Rhaenyra as truly angry throughout the entirety of Season 1 is during the traumatic miscarriage of her daughter Visenya.
In the book, Visenya was described as being born with dragon-like defects, including scales, a tail, and a twisted body. Rhaenyra's baby did end up having scale-like defects and a malformed body in House of the Dragon, which aligns with the occasional reports of Targaryen women bearing dragon-like stillborn children.
In 196 AC, the year of their marriage, she painstakingly produced a set of twins, Aegon and Aella. Another set, Visenya and Valarr, came in 197 AC. After her troubled deliveries, it was said Rhaenyra had nearly beaten a serving girl to death for having claimed the princess would die in labour.
Rhaenyra's sons are bastards. They're the illegitimate children of Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). The issue of the children's legitimacy is an open secret at court, with people turning a blind eye because the king does.
So, who is the real father of Rhaenyra's children? In the show and in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood novel, it is heavily implied that Ser Harwin Strong, a knight and the captain of the City's Watch, is the true father of Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey.
In the books, the baby was a girl and Rhaenyra named her Visenya. This is the second time we are seeing a baby birthed by a Targaryen woman having dragon features. Viewers of Game of Thrones will remember that Daenerys Targaryen's miscarried baby Rhaego was said to have dragon wings.
Laenor also happens to be black, adding further mystery to the children's appearance. House of the Dragon quickly explains the anomaly, revealing the boys were the result of Rhaenyra's affair with Ser Harwin Strong.
Daemon is really angry because Rhaenyra is being passive. In his mind she wants to make peace with the greens when they possibly killed or poisoned Viserys (we see him checking for poison in ep 8 and he accuses Alicent of killing Viserys in ep 10) and they usurped the throne. Something that he very much wants.
Rhaenyra tells Daemon that she wants to marry him, that she can't face Alicent and the Greens alone. Daemon bluntly says Laenor would have to be dead for them to be married. It then seems that Daemon and Rhaenyra recruit Laenor's low-born lover Ser Qarl Correy to do the nefarious deed.
In fact, the show makes that abundantly clear in episode 3 when Otto (the Hand of the King) suggests that Rhaenyra marry her half-brother Prince Aegon. Sure, King Viserys was shocked at the idea—but only because of their age difference, not because they were related, which, uh, wow!