Sorting Through the Many Little Branches of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s Complex Family Tree
Yes, Rhaenyra is Mommy and Daemon is Daddy!
On House of The Dragon, the newly minted Queen Rhaenyra and her prince consort, Daemon Targaryen are quite the power couple (second only to Rhaenys and Corlys). And between the two of them, they’ve gathered quite the brood of children and dragons.
With House of The Dragon season 2 here, it’s important to brush up on who is whose heir and who is the “illegitimate” child, because as we know, these things have a way of causing scandal and war in the realm.
Do Daemon and Rhaenyra have children in House of The Dragon?
Why, yes, they absolutely do have kids. In fact, this couple had been so long in the making, separated at first by the King, and then by their own respective marriages, that the moment they got together, they got right down to business.
In the series, when we see Daemon and Rhaenyra after their rushed wedding, they already have two sons—Aegon (yes, a third one) and Viserys (the second, named after his grandfather/uncle).
There’s a third child on the way, too. Rhaenyra is pregnant. However, when the news of King Viserys’ death and her step-brother Aegon II being crowned king reaches Rhaenyra, she goes into early labor. After terrible pain, she gives birth to a stillborn girl. In the show, the child is not given a name but according to Fire and Blood, they name their stillborn child Visenya, after their ancestor, Queen Visenya, sister-wife of Aegon The Conqueror.
Daemon and Rhaenyra’s children from other marriages
Rhaenyra was earlier married to her cousin, Ser Laenor Velaryon, with whom she had three children, all sons. They are Jaecaerys Velaryon, Lucerys Velaryon (RIP!), and Joffrey Velaryon.
However, we have it on good authority—season 1 of House of The Dragon and the book—that they are biologically not Laenor’s kids. Laenor is queer and in the show it is revealed that despite trying to do their duty and laying together a couple of times, they are unable to get pregnant. The three boys, it is indicated, are fathered by Ser Harwin Strong.
Daemon, too, was married twice before marrying Rhaenyra. From his first marriage with Lady Rhea of Runestone, he had no children. Of his second marriage to Lady Laena Velaryon, there were two daughters, Lady Baela and Lady Rhaena.
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