Rhaenyra is the Queen. She reigned in the first two episodes of House of the Dragon and will reign in Westeros. She is strong, brave, determined, and wants to challenge unfair established gender roles. But she is also a woman who felt her father's rejection from a young age and grew up knowing that he didn’t consider her enough. However, Rhaenyra overcame all that and became a woman worthy to sit on the Iron Throne. It's time to take a deep dive into Rhaenyra's character and explain why she should be the Queen of Westeros.

House of the Dragon is an American fantasy drama television series directed by Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel, Miguel Sapochnik, and Greg Yaitanes. The script has been written by Ryan Condal, George R. R. Martin, and Miguel Sapochnik and produced by HBO. It premiered on August 21, 2022. The first season consists of ten episodes and stars Eve Best, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Rhys Ifans, and Matt Smith.

Based on the novel by George R. R. Martin titled Fire and Blood, the story of House of the Dragon takes place two hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, at the height of the Targaryen house and with the presence of seventeen dragons. It tells the story of the origin of this house and the development of an intra-family conflict known as the “Dance of the Dragons.” It derives from the division of royalty into two sides due to the choice of the heir to the Iron Throne between Rhaenyra Targaryen, daughter of King Viserys Targaryen, played by Emma D'Arcy (Milly Alcock plays young Rhaenyra) and Daemon Targaryen, brother of King Viserys Targaryen, played by Matt Smith.

Sweet and Comfortable Childhood

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Although House of the Dragon doesn’t show it, Rhaenyra had a happy childhood. She was raised by two loving parents, lived in a safe place, and had dragons. She couldn't dream of anything else. And although for everyone else, her father was the King, for her, he was the only dad. Viserys (Paddy Considine) wanted a son as his heir, but that didn't bother her initially. As a child, Rhaenyra didn't care about the Iron Throne; she only cared about having adventures, just as she should. But that soon changed.

As Rhaenyra grew older, she realized that her father didn’t take her seriously beyond being a princess who would one day marry and give his grandchildren. As we see in House of the Dragon, Viserys gave Rhaenyra enough freedom to forge her character the way she wanted, that's why he allowed her to fly alone on a dragon, for example, but the reality is that he only did because Viserys kept seeing her as a rebellious girl and not as a capable woman.

Viserys hoped that Rhaenyra would stop being so rebellious over time, and he didn’t consider her opinions or wishes. Viserys thought it was a phase, and one day when Rhaenyra was older, she would understand her obligations and marry. Viserys didn’t see her. But the truth is that in House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra she’s already a woman, and her rebelliousness is not due to a phase but to her way of being and thinking.

Rhaenyra's Fight in House of the Dragon

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HBO

Growing up with the knowledge that for her father, she is not enough, and he doesn’t consider her worth anything other than marrying, made Rhaenyra aware of how the world in which she lives is controlled by men who don’t want to lose his privileges. So she wanted to change that and vindicate herself.

Rhaenyra wanted to prove to herself that she was more than enough, no matter what the rest of the world thought, but she also wanted her father to realize her worth. Rhaenyra wanted her father to see her.

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Rhaenyra doesn’t care who her father will choose as successor to the Iron Throne, as she is not interested in power. So, as she hints to Alicent (Emily Carey) in the first episode of House of the Dragon, she doesn't care if her mother gives birth to a boy. Rhaenyra just wants Viserys to value her and for him to know that, female or not, she is perfectly capable of running Westeros.

In fact, her lack of lust for power is one of the reasons Rhaenyra should be the Queen. Who has power always wants more, but Rhaenyra doesn’t let power blind her, and she only wants to improve life in Westeros and end injustices, just like Daenerys did in Game of Thrones.

Then Rhaenyra's mother dies, and the injustice of her death makes Rhaenyra realize that no matter how much she proves her worth to her father, he will never see her. Viserys is so hell-bent on having a son that he killed her mother, the woman he claimed to love, for it. He will never see her as an option. There will always be someone before her, her brother, her uncle, literally anyone but her.

This alienates her from Viserys almost completely, Rhaenyra barely speaks to him because she hates her father for what he did to her mother, and she hates why he did it. Rhaenyra can't help but wonder why Viserys can't see her and why he finds the possibility of her being the Queen so horrible that he would rather kill his love before it happens.

They'll Never Let a Woman Sit on the Iron Throne

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What Rhaenyra never thought would happen, happens: Viserys names her his heir. Deep down, Rhaenyra knows he's doing it because Daemon (Matt Smith) betrayed him, but Rhaenyra hopes this is her chance to prove to Viserys that he should have chosen her in the first place.

With that hope, she dares to skip protocol and speak her opinion in the Council's debate. She knows that her father is wrong. The solution to their problems is not to go to war as his advisers suggest, but it is also not to do nothing as Viserys suggests. They must show Westeros’ strength.

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However, her idea is scorned, and Rhaenyra is not hurt that the councilors patronize her. She is hurt that her father does. Her idea was the best because it showed strength without coming to an armed conflict that no one is interested in -- which is proof, once again, that Rhaenyra is the right one to occupy the Iron Throne -- and everyone in that room knows. Still, no one is willing to do anything about it because she is a woman.

Viserys' new contempt reminds Rhaenyra that, as she tells Alicent, her father didn’t choose her but rather discarded her uncle Daemon, which is not the same thing. But Rhaenyra doesn’t give up. Knowing that Daemon stole the dragon egg she chose for her deceased brother and the recent memory that her father doesn’t consider her worthy makes Rhaenyra do something reckless but effective and walks into the dragon's mouth.

Rhaenyra is the Dragon Rider

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HBO

In that encounter, Rhaenyra proves again why she is the only one worthy to sit on the Iron Throne. While Hightower and Daemon were ready to measure her swords, Rhaenyra arrives like what she is, a Queen, to speak with Daemon. Deep down, she and Daemon have a lot in common. For different reasons, they both feel that Viserys never valued them as they deserve and always wanted Viserys to see in them something more than he wanted to see. All they both ever wanted was for Viserys to see them.

Daemon knows this side of Rhaenyra that she so rarely allows herself to show, and Rhaenyra sees through Daemon's bravado. After all, she recognizes the silent cry in her eyes because her own eyes are a reflection of his. Just a desperate cry for Viserys to realize they're there.

So Daemon returns the dragon egg to Rhaenyra without arguing. He only took that egg to get her brother's attention and hurt him, but in the process, he was hurting Rhaenyra. He knows that that egg is important to her, and Viserys does enough damage to both of them that they start hurting each other. The Iron Throne may stand between them, but right now, it's just two wounded family members looking out for each other.

Although Viserys was scared by Rhaenyra's sudden exit, she saw something in his eyes that she had never seen before: pride. So Rhaenyra wonders if this is the turning point, and her father has finally realized there is more in her than just wearing a ring on her finger and a baby in her womb.

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With that hope, Rhaenyra begins to draw sides with Viserys, but as soon as she tries to discuss her ideas, he shuts down. Then Rhaenyra realizes that no matter what she does, no matter how smart she is, the good ideas she has, or the times she proves that she is the ideal candidate to sit on the Iron Throne and that she earned it, her father will never consider her worthy of it. Her father will never see her, no one does, except, ironically, Daemon.

Her father keeps discarding Daemon, not choosing her. So it’s easy for Rhaenyra to deduce that, no matter how much her father has promised her, if Viserys has a son in his new marriage, he will again leave her aside and name him his heir. But Rhaenyra, always holding out hope, thinks she has time. Her father will marry again, but his wife is still a kid, and as she gives birth to a male heir, Rhaenyra will make her father and the rest of his Court see that she is the one. But again, nothing goes as Rhaenyra expects.

In House of the Dragon, You Win or You Die

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HBO

If Rhaenyra has a weakness, it's that she doesn't know how to play the "Game of Thrones." Cersei Lannister once said that in the "Game of Thrones," you win, or you die, and never a character on a show said anything more accurate than this. Rhaenyra understands the responsibility of sitting on the Iron Throne, so she understands that her father must marry again. But she doesn't know the power plays behind the Throne.

That’s why Rhaenyra didn’t see the betrayal coming from her father and the one she considered her best friend, Alicent. She had no idea that something was happening between them. She didn’t even suspect that her friend, the only one supporting her in mourning for her mother, was planning to become her stepmother and stab her in the back.

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In reality, Alicent is being coerced by her father into doing so since if she had a choice, she would never marry Viserys. Alicent sees him as a father figure, nothing more. But Rhaenyra is unaware of this, and, in her eyes, Alicent betrayed her. And her father too, since he decided to marry her best friend, knowing it would hurt her.

Rhaenyra, due to her innocence, is not yet aware of the lengths someone like Hightower and all of his ilk would go to for a taste of power. Or how power can corrupt a man like her father. But she will learn. The shock of Alicent and Viserys’ betrayal will reverberate in her and make Rhaenyra learn to play the "Game of Thrones," a game where she can trust no one.

Although it’s a lonely game, learning how to play it too well is even more dangerous than loneliness. Rhaenyra could lose herself to the power and the web of machinations to achieve it that are a direct consequence of being close to the Iron Throne. However, Rhaenyra's heart is too full of kindness, and she is too intelligent to be corrupted by the "Game of Thrones."

She’s stronger than that, and it’s time for a Targaryen woman to rule over Westeros and prove that she is more capable than all of her predecessors. Rhaenyra is the one. She has brains, a good heart, kindness, intelligence, compassion, justice, cunning, and bravery. Westeros cannot have a better Queen than her. Plus, that would be the ideal way for House of the Dragon to make it up to fans for Daenerys' horrible ending in Game of Thrones.

In any case, only time and House of the Dragon can reveal if this prediction will come to pass. What is certain is that Rhaenyra always desires Viserys to see her, and he never wanted to, but now he will see her. For the Old Gods and the New, he will see her.