Editor’s note, June 17, 2024: This story was first published in 2016 and was updated after the season seven finale of Game of Thrones. Click here To read how the Targaryen family tree relates to HBO’s prequel series House of the Dragon, and catch up on its second season here. Also, Marion is no longer active on DeviantART, but you can Follow her on InstagramWhere he shared excerpts from the tree.
inside game of thrones‘ In the season seven finale, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen finally consummate their lingering passion — though the season six finale’s confirmation of the “R + L = J” equation surrounding Jon’s paternity makes their love an aunt and nephew affair.
The finale also reveals that Jon Snow’s real name is Aegon Targaryen – a twist that may confuse readers of the books. game of thrones Based on this, since it is also the name of John’s long-dead half-brother. At least we know this half brother exist In the show’s universe, that’s because Oberyn Martell famously fought the Mountain Partly to avenge his death and the death of his sister. Although it is unclear whether his name was Aegon.
Confused? It’s understandable. To know why Lyanna Stark wanted to name her son Aegon with her dying breath, you might need a refresher course on the mighty Targaryen dynasty — the family that has ruled all of Westeros for three centuries. And if you’re having trouble remembering what part of the original Aegon, Jon’s name played in the litany of names, you’re in luck: An enterprising fan artist has drawn the entire House Targaryen family tree, and the results are instructive and gorgeous.
DeviantArtist user Maryon B.’s work is one Excellent receptionOn the complicated, once-mighty dynasty of the Targaryens that doubles as a handy reminder of where Jon Snow fits into it all (clickhereFor the full size version):
Marion is a 28-year-old French freelance artist and video game developer currently living in Helsinki. He is also a die-hardgame of thronesfan, which may explain why he portrays the entire lineage of House Targaryen (a house of Daenerys, Mother of Dragons) from George RR Martin.A song of ice and fireseries of novels — though, he says in his description of the project DeviantArt“I don’t even like House Targaryen why did I do this?[?]”
“I actually started the tree because all the descriptions (and fan representations) of them looked the same—beautiful, silver-haired and purple-eyed,” he told Vox via email after drawing the first tree in 2016, “and seeing them as elf-clones made me disappointed.”
Marion’s frustration is understandable. The Targaryens are much more than pretty blondes with big pets, and their complex dynasty has huge implications for the present and future of Westeros.
The name “Aegon” invokes the men who united all of Westeros — until Jon Snow’s father inadvertently helped tear the kingdom apart.
asgame of thronesAs fans have heard time and time again, the powerful Targaryen family unified the Seven Kingdoms. Thanks mainly to this the first Aegon Targaryen, also known as Aegon the Conqueror. Several other Egons followed — including the wise and kind Egon V, better known to fans as “Dim” from the Martins. Dunk and egg prequel novellas.
But although Dim stabilized the country and reigned through a harsh winter, his reign was over Not exactly a career high point. And unfortunately for Westeros, Aegon V’s grandson was the “Mad King,” Aerys II, better known as Daenerys’ dead father.
Aerys’ son, Rhaegar Targaryen — Daenerys’ brother, crown prince and heir to the throne, who we now know as Jon Snow’s father — fell in love with Lyanna Stark, Ned Stark’s sister, even though he was already married to Elia Martel. A further complication: Lyanna was already engaged to Robert Baratheon.
game of thrones Season seven revealed important new context to this backstory: we now know that Rhaegar secretly annulled his marriage to Elia so that he could marry Lyanna Stark before her death and the birth of their son. But Robert believed (or wanted to believe) that Rhaegar had kidnapped and raped Lyanna — and the resulting conflict turned into a terrible end to the peace between the family, as the mad king burned Lyanna’s father Rikard Stark alive while her brother Brandon watched. . This led to a rebellion known as Robert’s Rebellion, in which the Baratheons joined to fight House Stark and eventually overthrow the Targaryens.
It was during Robert’s Rebellion that Robert defeated Rhaegar in battle. After Rhaegar’s death, Robert’s fearsome henchman Gregor Clegane murdered Rhaegar’s wife — or, as we now know, his ex-wife — Elia Martell and Rhaegar’s two young children, Aegon and Rhaenys. The season seven finale revealed that shortly thereafter, Lyanna told Ned Stark that her child, Rhaegar’s last remaining son, was also named Aegon.
Will Jon Snow live up to the reputation of Aegon the Conqueror and Aegon V? We can only hope so given all the violence and conflict leading up to his birth.
If you think this part of the Targaryen legacy is confusing, wait until you see the entire lineage
The complete Targaryen family tree contains over 100 characters and spans 16 generations of fully fictional history.
Here’s a look at just one character from this sprawling tapestry: Rhaenys Targaryen II. Known in the annals of Westeros as “the queen that never was,” Rhaenys was a dragon rider whose claim to the throne was passed in favor of her brother. She married Corlys Velarion and died fighting a dragonback at the age of 52:
Rhaenys’ great-grandmother was Alyssa Velarion, who joined the Targaryen dynasty by marrying the politically astute Annys Eye, who took the throne amid great turmoil. They had six children before Annis was killed and Alyssa was held hostage by her husband’s half-brother Maegor. (And things get from therereallycomplex.)
Further down the family tree, there is House Blackfyre, an illegitimate house sanctioned by the lust-ridden King Aegon Targaryen IV, generally considered the worst king of all time. He decided to legitimize all the bastard children born to himMany mistresses— announced from his deathbed — prompted a five-generation war for the throne known as the Blackfire Rebellion.
Marion says she’s into Martin A Song of Ice and Fire Novels and related writing during the long hiatus between seasons two and threegame of thrones. He started the Targaryen family tree project more or less by accident after drawing the characters Baelor Breakspear and Maeka.The story of Dunk and EggMartin’s collection of novels related to the above collectionA Song of Ice and Firethe world. Naturally, the project spiraled:
[I]Got me interested in their ancestors, so I worked from there. At first I never thought I’d do the whole bunch, but when I realized I was already halfway through making Mayaker’s Descendants I gave in: “While I’m at it, might as well…”
Marion says the project turned out to be “a very challenging artistic exercise, continuing to come up with facial variations while maintaining the same ‘silver hair-purple eye’ features and some genetic similarities.”
“I had to find inspiration and study some real people’s faces so I’ve learned a lot since I started.”
After all, a look at the entire family tree reveals how often and how strategically the Targaryens secured the future of their line by marrying into other powerful families like the Martells, Baratheons, and Velaryons, just like many figures in real-world history. have done And when Marion finishes, she says that she’ll actually be a fan of the Targaryens since she started:
“[I]n In the end it made me appreciate House Targaryen a lot more now that I share a personal story with each of them, and I would recommend it to anyone I like.game of thronesBe curious about them because they have so many stories to tell.”
You can see these and many more quotes from the Targaryen family tree, as well as othersgame of thronesPortrait, onMarion’s Deviantart page. hestated That he hopes to eventually produce a print version of the complete family tree, but in the meantime he’s done some more complicated workgame of thronesprojects, incl a set of Major Arcana Tarot cards.
