Thanks to everything that happens on House of the Dragon taking place hundreds of years before Game of Thrones, the entire show is basically one giant spoiler. Meaning, we know exactly what’s going to happen on HotD—including how Rhaenyra Targaryen eventually dies. The bad news: Now that we’re approaching the season 1 finale, it does seem like this could happen at…basically any time. The even worse news: She doesn’t exactly die of old age in her bed. Like, her death is so shocking that someone legit gouges out their eyes while watching it go down.
It goes without saying that everything you’re about to read is a SPOILER, so buckle up. But honestly, if you watched Game of Thrones, you’ve been spoiled anyway ’cause…
Joffrey (the First One) Fully Revealed How Rhaenyra Dies
The moment happens in season 3, episode 4, “And Now His Watch Is Ended,” when Joffrey Lannister is chilling with Margaery Tyrell and giddily explains, “Rhaenyra Targaryen was murdered by her brother, or rather, his dragon. It ate her while her son watched. What’s left of her is buried in the crypts right down there.”
Like, okay, Joffrey, calm down!
Meanwhile, Shireen (Stannis Baratheon’s daughter who he later burned at the stake) also does some more general spoiling during Game of Thrones season 5, episode 9, “The Dance of the Dragons.” As she puts it, “It’s the story of the fight between Rhaenyra Targaryen and her half-brother Aegon for control of the Seven Kingdoms. Both of them thought they belonged on the Iron Throne. When people started declaring for one of them or the other, their fight divided the kingdoms in two. Brothers fought brothers. Dragons fought dragons. By the time it was over, thousands were dead. And it was a disaster for the Targaryens as well. They never truly recovered.”
So, What *Specifically* Happens to Rhaenyra?
According to Fire & Blood (the source material for House of the Dragon by George R. R. Martin), Rhaenyra’s half-brother Aegon II has her killed and eaten by his dragon. Classic sibling behavior!
TL;DR: Rhaenyra and her 🙃 uncle-husband 🙃 Prince Daemon fight for her place on the Iron Throne once King Viserys dies, which we’re about to see unfold now that, in the show, Viserys has officially passed away. That’s a problem because Queen Alicent desperately wants her eldest son Aegon II to be king, even though he sucks. This leads us to the ~Dance of the Dragons~, a long and very bloody fight for the Iron Throne that we’re currently seeing play out on House of the Dragon.
The good news for those of us who are Team Rhaenyra? She eventually does take the throne. For, like, a minute. Unfortunately, there’s a huge amount of unrest and rioting in King’s Landing once she gets there—which peaks when Princess Helaena (the 🙃 sister-wife 🙃 of Aegon II who’s beloved by “small folk”) takes her own life.
Rhaenyra ends up having to flee King’s Landing, and upon making it back to Dragonstone, she realizes (1) she’s been betrayed, (2) all her loyal followers are dead, and (3) Aegon II is already there. Not great, and apparently her first words to him are, “Dear brother. I had hoped that you were dead.”
Things only get worse when Aegon straight-up has his dragon Sunfyre kill and eat Rhaenyra—in front of her last remaining child Prince Aegon the Younger. To quote Fire & Blood:
“Sunfyre, it is said, did not seem at first to take any interest in the offering, until Broome pricked the queen’s breast with his dagger. The smell of blood roused the dragon, who sniffed at Her Grace, then bathed her in a blast of flame, so suddenly that Ser Alfred’s cloak caught fire as he leapt away. Rhaenyra Targaryen had time to raise her head toward the sky and shriek out one last curse upon her half-brother before Sunfyre’s jaws closed round her, tearing off her arm and shoulder.”
In case that’s not enough gory detail for you, Sunfyre apparently “devoured the queen in six bites,” leaving only her “left leg below the shin.” A scene so horrifying that one of Rhaenyra’s ladies-in-waiting fully gouged out her own eyes at the sight of it, while Prince Aegon the Younger was so stunned that he was “unable to move.”
And…that’s it. But fun fact: Prince Aegon later, and super ironically, ends up inheriting the throne, which is a story for another time…maybe season 2? TBD, lol.
'Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones'
