House of the Dragon Reveals Surprising New Children With Claims to the Iron Throne

Throughout the first season of HBO's House of the Dragon, the drama surrounding the Iron Throne has revolved around Rhaenyra and Alicent. Viserys named Rhaenyra his successor, but that was before he married Alicent and the two had a son, Aegon. Alicent, along with many in the Realm, believe Aegon should sit upon the Iron Throne when Viserys dies, while Rhaenyra is the King's chosen heir. In the eighth episode of House of the Dragon, "The Lord of the Tides," a couple of new characters were introduced that complicate the issue of succession just a little bit.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the latest episode of House of the Dragon! Continue reading at your own risk...

Part of the the issue people have with Rhaenyra taking the Iron Throne, in addition to her being the first-ever Queen of Westeros, is that no one believes her children are legitimate. They all take after the late Harwen Strong, rather than Laenor Velaryon, the man who is supposed to be their father. The problem of legitimacy in Rhaenyra's line has now been solved, however, as she and Daemon have children of their own.

Rhaenyra and Daemon married one another at the end of last week's episode of House of the Dragon, following the death of Laena Velaryon and the fake death of her brother, Laenor. Any children Rhaenyra and Daemon have together would be seen as legitimate, provided they look like Targaryens. This week's episode revealed that those children already exist.

In the six years since the last episode, Rhaenrya and Daemon have had two children together: Aegon and Viserys. The name Aegon is obviously a major family name, though it is also a bit of a shot at Alicent's family, as that is the name of her oldest son. Viserys is clearly in honor of Rhaenyra's father. When the King is introduced to his new grandsons during the episode, he tells Rhaenyra that Viserys is a name "fit for a king."

There will be no reason to question the legitimacy of Rhaenyra and Daemon's sons, but they won't be instantly fast-tracked to the next spot in line for the Iron Throne. Doing so would likely come with the admission that Rhaenyra's older sons have less of a claim, so there is still a long way to go before Aegon and Viserys have a big role in determining the throne.

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