Warning: Contains SPOILERS for
But there she was betrayed and brought before her injured and delirious brother King Aegon II. So how did Rhaenyra Targaryen die? Well, Aegon had his dragon Sunfyre burn Rhaenyra alive before he ate her. (Sunfyre was one of only two dragons left from many who fought in the war).
Rhaenyra and the queen get in a scuffle, where Alicent is trying to attack Rhaenyra but the princess is pushing the queen away by her arm and shoulder. The king yells for Alicent to stop, and even Otto Hightower tells his daughter to release the blade. She does, but not before slicing Rhaenyra's arm.
It's the famous cat's paw dagger, made of Valyrian steel and centuries old. Just like Alicent stabbing Rhaenyra with it was an indirect declaration of her intent to fight once Viserys passed away, it was indirectly responsible for the fight for the Iron Throne that began after King Robert passed away.
According to Fire & Blood (the source material for House of the Dragon by George R. R. Martin), Rhaenyra's half-brother Aegon II has her killed and eaten by his dragon.
Joffrey Baratheon spoils Rhaenyra Targaryen's fate on Game of Thrones. As Joffrey tells us, eventually, Rhaenyra's half-brother Aegon Targaryen will feed her to his dragon Sunfyre. She dies as her son, Aegon III, watches. That's the bullet point version.
Which dragon kills Rhaenyra? Rhaenyra Targaryen is killed by her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen when he cruelly feeds her to his dragon Sunfyre.
Once she reached Dragonstone, Rhaenyra was betrayed by Ser Alfred Broome, whose men slew the remainder of her Queensguard. Her half-brother Aegon II then had her fed to his own dragon, Sunfyre, at Dragonstone.
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 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.
It was abundantly clear in the season finale that Daemon truly values Rhaenyra as the queen, and it doesn't appear to be for his own gain. All of his actions indicate that he looks to her as his leader even before she's taken power and has every intention to get her to her rightful throne.
With no one left to help her, Aegon II demanded his dragon Sunfyre to kill and then consume his older sister right in front of the eyes of her last remaining child and future king, Aegon The Younger.
One tale has it that Daemon Targaryen paid Ser Qarl to kill Laenor in order to eliminate Rhaenyra's husband, the better for Daemon to replace him. And it is true that Rhaenyra and Daemon married not long afterwards. But one thing isn't in doubt: Laenor dies.
With both Rhaenyra and Aegon gone, there's one clear person to inherit the throne: Rhaenyra's son Aegon, known as “Aegon the younger” in the books (her older sons had all died by this point).
Aegon II sentenced Rhaenyra to death by dragon. In front of all the assembled courtiers, he fed his older half-sister to Sunfyre, who breathed fire on her before devouring her remains. That was the end of Rhaenyra's life, but as fans may get to see on the show, not the end of the war.
But the death of Rhaenyra's son Lucerys at the hands of Aegon's brother Aemond—mistake or not—enraged Rhaenyra and kicked off a civil war that will play out over several seasons.
Not understanding this, Daemon grabs her by the neck and tells her that Viserys was a man who was a slave to his prophecies. We know this to be true since he believed himself to be a Dreamer and thought that his son would sit on the Iron Throne.
Since Daemon's body was never recovered from the Gods Eye, singers say that he lived to spend the rest of his days in secret with Nettles. Daemon never achieved his ambition to sit on the Iron Throne, though his sons Aegon III and Viserys II eventually did.
It was clear that Leana and Laenor had a close relationship, and she likely would not appreciate her uncle choosing this moment to make a statement while her brother grieves. Daemon laughs at this moment because Vaemond is choosing this moment to guilt Rhaenyra for having children with Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr).
In the end, Aegon fed his half sister to his dragon, and it is said that Sunfyre only reacted to Rhaenyra after her breast was pricked by Alfred's dagger, with the smell of her blood rousing the dragon.
Sunfyre, the most beautiful dragon in Westeros, will be debuting early in House of The Dragon Season 2. The first season of House of the Dragon has left fans wanting more, and the show had been renewed for a second chapter even before the season finale aired.
Fatally attacked, Arrax fell into the sea, with Luce meeting the same fate. Their bodies were only found three days later, serving as a feast for crabs and seabirds. It is the news of her son's death that determines the desire for revenge and extermination of the Hightowers for Rhaenyra.
After a quick and cordial exchange between the half-sister and the half-brother, Rhaenyra was forcefully separated from her son, and placed in front of Sunfyre, who burned her with dragonflame and then devoured her.
Officially, Daemon did. Daemon's God's Eye aerial duel with Aemond took place “on the twenty-second day of the fifth moon” of 130 AC. Rhaenyra was fed to Sunfyre “on the twenty-second day of the tenth month” of that same year. So she would have outlived Daemon by exactly five months.
It's largely suspected that there was some sort of romantic falling out, either Criston made advances towards Rhaenyra which she rejected (or he felt bitter because she married Laenor) or Rhaenyra made a romantic advance on Criston which he rejected.