HOUSE TARGARYEN
House Targaryen | MapsOfThrones
Noble House · Dragonlords · Valyrian

House Targaryen

Dragon Lords of Old Valyria. Conquerors of the Seven Kingdoms. Masters of the Iron Throne. The blood of the dragon runs through their veins — and with it, the twin flames of greatness and madness.

Author: MapsOfThrones Editorial
Updated: May 2025
Category: Noble Houses · Dragonlords
Region: Dragonstone · Westeros

House Targaryen is a noble house of dragonlords descended from the ancient Valyrian Freehold. They survived the Doom of Valyria in 114 BC by retreating to their island fortress of Dragonstone. In 2 BC, Aegon the Conqueror and his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys launched their conquest of Westeros, forging six of the Seven Kingdoms into one realm with dragon fire. The Targaryens ruled as kings of Westeros for nearly three centuries until the Mad King Aerys II was overthrown in Robert’s Rebellion (283 AC). Their words are Fire and Blood. Their sigil: a three-headed red dragon on a field of black.

~300 Years on the Throne
17+ Dragons at Peak
21 Kings of Westeros
114 BC Valyrian Doom
2 BC Aegon’s Conquest

Origins & Identity

House Targaryen stands apart from every other noble house in Westeros — not merely in power or lineage, but in nature. They are not simply conquerors who happened to have dragons. They are dragonlords, heirs to a Valyrian magical tradition that bound human and dragon through blood, dream, and fire. When the Valyrian Freehold was annihilated in the catastrophic Doom of 114 BC, only the Targaryens survived — already removed to their island redoubt of Dragonstone at the mouth of Blackwater Bay.

For over a century they watched the world fracture. Then, in 2 BC, Aegon Targaryen — riding the dragon Balerion the Black Dread, the largest dragon the world had ever seen — landed on the eastern shore of Westeros with two sister-wives and two more dragons. Six of the Seven Kingdoms fell. Only Dorne resisted through guerrilla warfare and the murder of Queen Rhaenys. Aegon forged the conquered swords of his enemies into the Iron Throne — a seat that cuts its occupants, designed to remind kings that rule is no true comfort.

The Targaryen dynasty that followed was one of the most consequential in the history of the Known World: brilliant builders, terrible destroyers, visionaries and lunatics, often simultaneously. Their practice of incest — wedding brother to sister, generation after generation — preserved the dragonriding gene but at a psychological cost that would eventually doom the line. “The gods flip a coin,” as the saying goes. “Targaryen madness or Targaryen greatness.”

Targaryen Geographic Footprint

Key Locations of House Targaryen — From Valyria to Westeros
Narrow Sea Dragonstone Ancestral Seat King’s Landing Capital / Iron Throne Old Valyria Destroyed · 114 BC Dragonpit Harrenhal Melted by Balerion Summerhall Meereen Daenerys’s Court Path of Conquest LEGEND Primary Seat Political Center Destroyed / Ruined TARGARYEN DOMAIN

House Targaryen — Notable Members

From conquerors and dreamers to madmen and mothers of dragons — the defining Targaryens of Westerosi history.

Aegon I — The Conqueror
First King of the Seven Kingdoms

Rider of Balerion the Black Dread. Unified six kingdoms by conquest and one by treaty. Founded King’s Landing and had the Iron Throne forged from the swords of his enemies. The Targaryen dynasty begins with him.

Explore Aegon I
Daenerys Targaryen
Mother of Dragons · Last Queen

Born in exile on Dragonstone, she hatched three dragons from petrified eggs, freed the cities of Slaver’s Bay, and eventually invaded Westeros. Her conquest was undone by her own fire — and her grief.

Explore Daenerys
Rhaenyra Targaryen
The Half-Year Queen · Heir Apparent

Named her father’s heir before the Dance of Dragons tore the dynasty apart. Rider of Syrax. Her claim against the Hightower faction ignited the bloodiest Targaryen civil war — and cost the family its dragons.

Explore Rhaenyra
Aerys II — The Mad King
Last Targaryen King of the Iron Throne

His paranoia and pyromaniac obsession with wildfire destroyed his court, alienated his greatest allies, and sparked Robert’s Rebellion. Slain by his own Kingsguard — Jaime Lannister — in the throne room.

Explore Aerys II
Viserys I Targaryen
The Old King · Peaceful Ruler

Reigned during the last era of Targaryen peace. His failure to resolve the succession between Rhaenyra and Aegon II after his death planted the seeds for the Dance of Dragons and the doom of dragon-kind.

Explore Viserys I
Jon Snow (Aegon Targaryen)
Secret Heir · Son of Ice and Fire

Born Aegon Targaryen — son of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark — he grew up believing himself a bastard of Winterfell. His legitimate claim made him the rightful king, and the greatest threat to Daenerys’s reign.

Explore Jon Snow
Rhaegar Targaryen
The Last Dragon Prince

Melancholic, brilliant, and catastrophically misunderstood. His secret marriage to Lyanna Stark — and the political fallout it triggered — set in motion the events that ended Targaryen rule forever.

Explore Rhaegar
Balerion the Black Dread
Greatest Dragon in History

Ridden by Aegon the Conqueror. His fire melted the walls of Harrenhal into slag. His skull — massive as a small building — sat in the Red Keep’s catacombs for generations as a reminder of Targaryen supremacy.

Explore Balerion
Aegon III — The Dragonbane
King After the Dance

Witnessed his mother Rhaenyra’s death as a child and grew to despise dragons — even as the last of them died during his reign. Ruled a kingdom broken by civil war, presiding over the slow extinction of his family’s greatest weapon.

Explore Aegon III

The Targaryen World — By Cluster

Political Zones

King’s Landing

The capital city built by Aegon on the Blackwater Rush. Home of the Red Keep, the Iron Throne, and the Dragonpit. The seat of Targaryen power for nearly three centuries.

Dragonstone

The ancestral island fortress. Valyrian-built, dragon-carved, and soaked in magic. First Targaryen stronghold in Westeros and last redoubt of the dynasty in exile.

The Small Council

The ruling administrative body of the Seven Kingdoms, answerable to the Targaryen monarch. Its composition — Hands, Maesters, commanders — reflects who holds true power at court.

The Red Keep

The Targaryen royal palace on Aegon’s High Hill. Contains the Iron Throne room, the Small Council chamber, and the catacombs where dragon skulls are kept.

Geographic Zones

The Crownlands

The territory directly ruled by the Iron Throne, surrounding King’s Landing and Dragonstone. The heartland of Targaryen political authority after Aegon’s Conquest.

Old Valyria

The shattered peninsula of Essos from which House Targaryen sprang. Destroyed in the Doom of 114 BC, it remains a haunted ruin — the source of Valyrian steel and dragon magic.

Blackwater Bay

The strategic body of water separating Dragonstone from the mainland. Scene of the Battle of the Blackwater — the pivotal naval engagement that saved Joffrey’s throne.

Slaver’s Bay / Dragon’s Bay

The Essos region where Daenerys raised her armies, freed enslaved populations, and ruled from Meereen’s Great Pyramid before sailing for Westeros.

Cultural & Lore Zones

The Dragonpit

A vast domed structure on Visenya’s Hill in King’s Landing, built to house the Targaryen dragons. As the dragons grew smaller and less healthy in captivity, the Targaryens’ political power diminished in parallel.

The Dance of Dragons

The catastrophic Targaryen civil war of 129–131 AC. Rhaenyra vs. Aegon II. Dragon vs. dragon. By its end, nearly all Targaryen dragons were dead — and the dynasty never fully recovered.

Valyrian Steel & Magic

Targaryen bloodlines retained a hereditary connection to dragons and to the magical traditions of Old Valyria — including prophetic dreams. Many key Targaryens, including Daenys the Dreamer, used these gifts to escape catastrophe.

Aegon’s Conquest

The military campaign that united the Seven Kingdoms beginning in 2 BC. The Field of Fire — where Aegon’s three dragons killed four thousand men — became the defining moment of Targaryen military supremacy.

House Targaryen — Reference Table

Name Type Era / Period Known For Significance
Dragonstone Stronghold Pre-Conquest onward Targaryen ancestral seat; Valyrian construction High — staging point for all Targaryen power plays
Aegon I (Conqueror) King / Dragonlord 2 BC – 37 AC Unification of Westeros; Iron Throne; King’s Landing Foundational — created the political order of the realm
Balerion the Black Dread Dragon Pre-Doom – 94 AC Largest dragon ever recorded; melted Harrenhal Supreme — symbol of Targaryen dominance
Dance of Dragons Civil War 129–131 AC Dragon extinction; Targaryen dynastic fracture Critical — permanently weakened the dynasty
Aerys II (Mad King) King 262–283 AC Wildfire caches; Robert’s Rebellion; death of Starks High — catalyzed the end of Targaryen rule
Daenerys Targaryen Queen / Dragonlord 284–305 AC Three dragons; liberation of Slaver’s Bay; King’s Landing Pivotal — final act of the Targaryen story
Old Valyria Ruined City-State Destroyed 114 BC Origin of Targaryen bloodline; Doom of Valyria Foundational — source of all dragonlord power
Jon Snow (Aegon VI) Prince / Lord Commander 281–305+ AC True Targaryen heir; Battle for the Dawn; slayer of Daenerys High — final chapter of the main Targaryen line

House Targaryen — Frequently Asked Questions

What is House Targaryen?
House Targaryen is a noble house of dragonlords originally from the Valyrian Freehold who survived its destruction and later conquered Westeros. They ruled the Seven Kingdoms for nearly three centuries from their seat at King’s Landing and their ancestral island fortress of Dragonstone, wielding power through their unique bond with dragons.
What are the words and sigil of House Targaryen?
The words of House Targaryen are “Fire and Blood.” Their sigil is a three-headed red dragon on a black field — the three heads representing Aegon the Conqueror and his two sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, who together launched the conquest of Westeros.
Where is House Targaryen’s seat?
The ancestral seat of House Targaryen is Dragonstone, a fortified island at the entrance to Blackwater Bay. Built using Valyrian stoneworking techniques, it served as their refuge after the Doom of Valyria and the launch point for Aegon’s Conquest. After gaining the Iron Throne, the kings ruled from King’s Landing while Dragonstone became the seat of the heir apparent.
Why did House Targaryen practice incest?
The Targaryens married siblings and close kin to preserve the “purity of the dragonlord bloodline” — specifically, the hereditary magical bond that allowed them to ride and control dragons. This practice carried a dark cost: generations of inbreeding concentrated a hereditary predisposition to mental illness, leading to the famous Targaryen coin that “lands on madness or greatness” with each generation.
What was the Dance of Dragons?
The Dance of Dragons (129–131 AC) was a devastating Targaryen civil war fought between rival claimants to the Iron Throne: Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (the Blacks) and King Aegon II (the Greens). Dragons fought dragons. By the war’s end, nearly all the Targaryen dragons were dead or dying. The conflict permanently broke the dynasty’s military supremacy and accelerated the slow extinction of their greatest weapon.
When did House Targaryen fall from power?
House Targaryen was deposed from the Iron Throne in 283 AC during Robert’s Rebellion. King Aerys II’s tyranny united the great lords in rebellion; Prince Rhaegar fell at the Battle of the Trident, and Aerys was slain in the throne room by Ser Jaime Lannister. The last living ruler of the line, Daenerys Targaryen, died in 305 AC after her conquest of Westeros collapsed into tragedy.
How many dragons did House Targaryen have?
At the height of Targaryen dragon power — during the Dance of Dragons in 129 AC — the family controlled approximately 17 dragons of varying sizes and ages. After the civil war’s carnage, the dragons died out entirely by the reign of Aegon III. Nearly 150 years later, Daenerys Targaryen hatched three new dragons from petrified eggs: Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.

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