dragon house season 1 set up the Targaryen Civil War called the Dance of the Dragons. In Season 2, it will be set in motion as the Greens and Blacks engage in an all-out struggle for the Iron Throne. But as we dissect the show’s first season, we can’t help but notice that Queen Targaryen, or rather the very first, idolized Rhaenyra Targaryen serves as a cruel reminder of what’s to come. Real irony indeed!
Rhaenyra Targaryen watches Visenya Targaryen
Rhaenyra’s aborted baby is named Visenya
From the first episode itself, it is hinted that Rhaenyra Targaryen idolizes Visenya. When Viserys and Aemma have a conversation in the bath, Aemma says that Rhaenyra wants a sister and she has already decided on a name: Visenya.
Also, when Rhaenyra Targaryen miscarries her child in the series, we are not told the gender of the baby. But in the books, she was a girl and Rhaenyra had planned to call her Visenya. So it’s clear that she idolizes Visenya Targaryen, the first queen of Westeros and sister-wife of Aegon Targaryen.
The irony of idolizing heir Visenya Targaryen
Queen Alicent Hightower
It’s quite ironic that of all Targaryen royalty, Rhaenyra Targaryen admires Visenya. This is because the queen parallels the character arc of Alicent in the series. Visenya is the one who overthrew Aenys (her nephew) claim to the throne so that her son Maegor, a rapist, could ascend.
Visenya Targaryen was nothing like Alicent. She was a skilled swordsman and a brilliant tactician unlike Queen Alicent Hightower, who is only a pawn in his father’s game. However, Visenya’s mistreatment of her nephew is similar to Alicent mistreating Rhaenyra as her stepmother.
So it’s certainly quite funny and ironic that Rhaenyra Targaryen, the heiress of the Iron Throne, would love someone like Visenya Targaryen who reversed the proper line of succession to make her son king. That’s exactly what Alice did.
The only similarity between Rhaenyra and Visenya Targaryen
Aegon the Conqueror and his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys Targaryen
It is clear why Rhaenyra Targaryen admires Visenya. After all, she’s a smart, sword-wielding badass. In Game of Thrones, Arya Stark also idolizes him because of these traits. And though it is ironic that the heir idolizes the first queen, but there is indeed a similarity between the two. But it’s sad.
Much like Visenya, Rhaenyra Targaryen’s name is also going to be tarnished in the pages of history. She will be seen as the usurper and as such no other female Targaryen will be named after her.
What do you think of this theory? Leave a comment below.
