WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon season 1, episode 5!Rhaenyra’s marriage and children with Laenor Velaryon in House of the Dragon raise the question of House Targaryen’s royal line potentially ending, but the legends of House Stark already fixed this problem. Before agreeing to the betrothal between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Laenor Velaryon, Lord Corlys questions how the royal succession would work in regard to the last name of Rhaenyra’s heir. While it’s Westerosi tradition for children to take their father’s name, King Viserys offers a different solution that keeps both House Targaryen and Rhaenyra’s direct line on the Iron Throne.
Of course, Lord Corlys should have already known the answer to his question, as King Viserys’ ultimate goal is to maintain House Targaryen’s name on the Iron Throne and adhere to Aegon’s dream. Viserys explains that all of Rhaenyra and Laenor’s children will initially bear the last name Velaryon, but their firstborn child will take the name Targaryen upon ascending the Iron Throne. While Viserys now has male heirs that would theoretically keep House Targaryen's family tree alive, he must specifically make it a priority to keep his family name on the Iron Throne, so Rhaenyra’s heirs will have to eventually take the Targaryen name. This specific issue could have been solved more simply had Viserys married Rhaenyra to Daemon Targaryen, but Viserys’ answer now gives House Targaryen significant power at both King’s Landing and Driftmark without the immediate risk of their family losing the throne.
If Ygritte’s account is correct in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book, then House Stark had already been presented with a similar problem in their succession. Just as Viserys Targaryen's line would continue through the heirs of his daughter Rhaenyra, the only future for the fabled Lord Brandon Stark’s succession was through his daughter. When his daughter was kidnaped and reappeared a year later with a baby, House Stark's supposed ancestor had no choice but to legitimize the baby and give him the Stark name, thus saving the family line from extinction despite the heir not having a Stark father. The legend of Lord Brandon the Daughterless is believed to have occurred before the timeline of House of the Dragon, indicating the succession solution had already been provided long before Rhaenyra and Laenor’s betrothal.
The Legend Of Lord Brandon Stark's Succession Explained
While Jon Snow didn't believe the legend that Ygritte recounted, the story has yet to be entirely disproved. In the legend of Lord Brandon the Daughterless, House Stark was under the threat of extinction when his only child and daughter was kidnaped by Bael the Bard, a notable wilding raider and future King-Beyond-the-Wall. Lord Brandon Stark had supposedly called Bael a coward, with the pre-Game of Thrones wildling taking revenge by infiltrating Winterfell under the guise of a singer. Bael sang throughout the night and was offered a reward by Brandon, with the “singer” requesting only a rare winter rose. The next morning, Lord Stark’s young daughter went missing with a blue rose found on her bed.
Members of Game of Thrones’ Night’s Watch searched for them past the Wall, but returned with nothing. Nearly a year later, Lord Stark’s daughter reappeared in her room holding a baby and revealed that she and Bael never left Winterfell; they had simply been hiding in the crypts. Since Lord Stark had no other heirs, he legitimized the northern Snow bastard and named him his successor, with the boy growing up to become the next Lord of Winterfell. According to the legend, Bael and his son faced one another thirty years later in a fight at the Frozen Ford. Unable to kill his own child, Bael let himself be slain by the new Lord Stark. If this story can be believed in Game of Thrones’ legends, then House Stark was saved by eventually changing the name of the child of Brandon’s daughter.
Do Rhaenyra And Laenor’s Children Ascend The Iron Throne?
The most controversial aspect of Rhaenyra and Laenor’s marriage was the parentage of their children, which ended up bearing no importance as long as they took the last name Velaryon upon birth. Since Laenor was gay, Rhaenyra’s children with him were all actually fathered by her lover Ser Harwin Strong, although Laenor claimed them as his own. Rhaenyra’s three sons Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey may have taken the Velaryon name, but they shared no significant blood with the rulers of Driftmark. In fact, the majority of the realm who had actually seen the boys were immediately aware of their true parentage. None of Laenor and Rhaenyra’s sons shared their silver Valyrian hair or Laenor’s complexion, instead possessing the dark brown hair and white skin of the Strongs. Rhaenyra and Laenor’s children theoretically should have looked like Daemon and Laena’s silver-haired, light-skin daughters, but instead proved in all but name to be Strong bastards. Despite so much concern over their real father and last name in House of the Dragon, such worries were ultimately in vain, as none of the three children would ascend the Iron Throne. Tragically, Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey will all die before the Dance of the Dragons ends.
While Laenor and Rhaenyra’s "Velaryon" sons never took the Targaryen game or ascended the Iron Throne, it was still her blood that succeeded her (and Aegon II Targaryen) as the ruler of Westeros. Following Laenor’s death in House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra marries her uncle Daemon Targaryen, with whom she has two silver-haired sons. Cleverly named Aegon (referred to as “Aegon the Younger”) and Viserys Targaryen, Rhaenyra and Daemon’s sons would both eventually sit on the Iron Throne following the Dance of the Dragons. After Rhaenyra and Aegon the Elder’s deaths in the Targaryen civil war, the only known surviving male Targaryen was Aegon the Younger, whose coronation marked the end of the Dance of the Dragons. However, Rhaenyra and Daemon’s second son Viserys Targaryen would soon miraculously return to King’s Landing, and later sit on the Iron Throne after the deaths of Aegon’s sons.
Viserys' Solution Also Fixes Sansa Stark's Succession After Game Of Thrones
One of the biggest unanswered questions after Game of Thrones involved the future of House Stark. Game of Thrones’ ending saw Bran Stark crowned King of Westeros, Jon Snow exiled to the Night’s Watch and stripped of his titles, Arya Stark sailing west of Westeros, and Sansa Stark being crowned Queen in the newly-independent North. With Jon taking a vow to father no children (not to mention his real last name was Targaryen) and Bran being physically unable to produce heirs, House Stark’s succession seemed to be at an end with Ned Stark’s children. However, Sansa Stark can still have children and carry on the family line through her own heirs by following King Viserys I Targaryen’s solution in House of the Dragon. If Sansa were to marry a northern lord and have children, she could either give them all the Stark name or simply change her firstborn child’s name once they succeed her as Queen.
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