The ever-changing cast of "House of the Dragon" can be hard to pin down,
so here's a handy guide to all the new Targaryen offspring — blonde and otherwise.
Thanks to a ten year time jump in the sixth episode, entitled "The Princess and the Queen,"
a big chunk of the cast is now all grown up, and they've all got kids of their own.
"Ugh. You are nearly a man grown, how is it that you can be so short-sighted?"
Considering that "House of the Dragon" has already been renewed for a second season and
promises to bring viewers through the entirety of the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the
Dragons, these kids will, with absolute certainty, play enormous roles in the infighting to come.
That said, it can be tough to parse which children belong to whom or how and why they might even be
important. So who are the Targaryen offspring that we need to know about, and why do they matter?
"This is the stuff, Lyonel!"
As the sixth episode kicks off, Rhaenyra is deep in the throes of childbirth with her third
son — whom her husband surprise-christens "Joffrey", after his dead lover — but
the ones who really matter right now are Jacaerys and Lucarys, aka Jace and Luke.
Introduced when they meet their baby brother, there's one thing instantly
noticeable about these two boys: they don't have platinum blonde hair,
while their parents, born of Houses Targaryen and Velaryon, definitely do.
Anyone who remembers Ned Stark muttering "Baratheon, black of hair" in the first
season of "Game of Thrones" probably knows where this storyline is going. Turns out,
considering Laenor, well, doesn't bat for Rhaenyra's team, she outsourced her
childbearing years to Ser Harwin Strong, Captain of the City Watch and a confirmed brunette.
"Do keep trying, Ser Laenor. Sooner or later, you may get one who looks like you."
All that said, Rhaenyra's children are definitely Targaryens. In the episode, Jacaerys works on
training his dragon, Vermax, who's quite young but is already responding well to his commands.
Lucarys is still quite young, but it's mentioned that his traditional Targaryen dragon egg hatched
in his crib as well, so it stands to reason that both brothers will be on dragonback soon enough.
Far away from their cousins in King's Landing, Baela and Rhaena — who seem to
be named for their Targaryen ancestor Baelon as well as Laena's mother
Rhaenys — are stranded with their parents Laena Velaryon and Prince Daemon Targaryen.
Though they lead a seemingly peaceful and bountiful life out in Pentos,
the girls dream of more. In one scene in "The Princess and the
Queen," Rhaena laments not having a dragon egg from birth as her sister Baela does,
while Laena reassures her that she'll go on to be a rider someday.
However, these two young girls are struck by tragedy when their mother Laena, in labor
with their younger brother, encounters complications that can't be overcome.
"I've reached the limit of my art."
Laena opts to burn herself and the burgeoning baby alive with the help of her dragon Vhagar,
leaving her daughters alone with their father Daemon. These two girls may be motherless,
but they have Velaryon and Targaryen blood in their veins, unlike Rhaenyra's children.
The blondest children on the show thus far, Aegon II, Aemond, and Helaena are the issue
of Alicent and her much-older husband, Rhaenyra's father King Viserys. Blessed
with the icy hair of the Targaryen family, their parentage doesn't stand in doubt for a second,
and upon Aegon's birth, there's a bit of a kerfuffle over the line of succession.
Despite previously naming Rhaenyra as his official heir, Aegon's mere
existence places King Viserys in a bind. The Seven Kingdoms may not accept a female ruler,
and with a male heir at long last, it might make more sense to put Aegon on the throne. Viserys
sticks by his daughter, but as he ages, it's clear that his wife has other plans.
"The Princess and the Queen" is the first glimpse we get of Aegon as an older child, and,
honestly? He's kind of a jerk. He bullies his younger brother Aemond
by giving him a pig instead of a dragon and fights dirty during his training,
showing himself to be pretty smug and largely insufferable.
By contrast, Aemond and Helaena have shown themselves to be much quieter.
Helaena seems to like playing with centipedes,
while poor Aemond just wants to follow in his family's massive footsteps.