A timeline of ‘House of the Dragon’ events depicts the characters’ ages

George R.R. Martin cocreated HBO’s “House of the Dragon” TV series, a new “Game of Thrones” prequel drama based on the book “Fire and Blood.”

Martin’s “Fire and Blood” is a fictional historical narrative of House Targaryen, the dynasty who ruled Westeros when Aegon the Conqueror and his dragon-riding family erected the Iron Throne as a new seat of power.

In Martin’s stories, Westeros historians used the day of Aegon’s coronation to reset the calendar years, with events marked either B.C. (Before Conquest) or A.C. (After Conquest) (After Conquest).

The TV program alters the original timeline of the novel slightly, which affects the ages of the characters and the chain of events that leads to an unstable period of Targaryen reign.

We break down the familial dynamics and how the characters age throughout the show in the timeline below. As season one of “House of the Dragon” moves forward in time, we’ll be updating this article with fresh events every week.

Please keep in mind that events marked with an asterisk (*) have been estimated based on context clues in the episode.

*97 A.D. — Rhaenyra Targaryen is born to the future Queen Aemma.

Milly Alcock in the role of Rhaenyra in “House of the Dragon.”

HBO

Rhaenyra’s birth year in Martin’s books is 97 A.D., and we’re very confident “House of the Dragon” used this year to establish her as 14 years old at the start of the episode.

Rhaenyra was Aemma and Viserys’ sole surviving child. Her mother continued to try to have children, but each succeeding pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage or stillbirth.

101 A.D. — Old King Jaehaerys convenes the Great Council to determine who will succeed to the Iron Throne.

The Great Council was presided over by King Jaehaerys.

HBO / Ollie Upton

We hear Princess Rhaenyra (voiced in this sequence by performer Emma D’Arcy) narrate the events leading up to her direct family’s control over Westeros in the cold open of “House of the Dragon.”

She adds that King Jaehaerys had governed for 60 years, supervising the realm’s peace, but his own two oldest trueborn sons, Aemon and Baelon, had perished tragically in the previous decade. As a result, he had no direct heirs.

Viserys and Rhaenys, King Jaehaerys’ grandchildren, were the two most notable prospects to succeed him on the Iron Throne.

“Jaheherys convened the Great Council to avert a battle over his succession, for he recognized the cold truth: the only thing that could take down the House of the Dragon was itself,” Rhaenyra’s voiceover remarked.

The council voted, and Viserys (the son of Baelon, the younger son of Jaehaerys) was chosen as heir to the kingdom.

*101 A.D. — Aemma gives birth to a stillborn child shortly after Viserys is named heir to the Iron Throne.

In HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” Paddy Considine and Sian Brooke co-star as King Viserys and Queen Aemma.

HBO/Ollie Upton

During the scene in which her husband Viserys is chosen as successor to the Iron Throne, it is unclear which child Aemma is pregnant with. But we do know that when the show jumps ahead about a decade, she claims she has had five miscarriages in the last ten years.

Jaehaerys dies in 103 A.D., and his grandson Viserys succeeds him as King.

King Viserys is crowned and takes his place on the Iron Throne.

HBO / Ollie Upton

In “Fire and Blood,” King Jaehaerys dies in 103 A.D., only two years after convening the council to choose an heir.

The same year, King Viserys is crowned and ascends to the Iron Throne. Given that his only kid is a 5-year-old girl, the pressure is on him to generate a new heir.

*112 A.C. – Queen Aemma dies in childbirth, and her infant son Baelon dies the same day.

Aemma Targaryen in the pilot for “House of the Dragon.”

HBO

Following the “House of the Dragon” pilot’s opening sequence, the show informs us that we have advanced in time to nine years after King Viserys’ coronation.

This suggests that both Aemma’s death and Viserys’ ceremonial confirmation of Rhaenyra as his named heir occur around 112 A.D.

Milly Alcock and Emily Carey (who play young Rhaenyra and Alicent, respectively) told Insider that both of their characters are 14 years old in the first episode of “House of the Dragon,” which corresponds to them both being born in the late first century A.D.

*113 A.D. – King Viserys opted to remarry six months after Aemma’s death.

On HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” Paddy Considine plays King Viserys Targaryen.

HBO

King Viserys picked Alicent as his second bride when she was about 14 or 15 years old.

The Small Council had been pressuring Viserys to marry his young second cousin, Princess Rhaenys, daughter of Lord Corlys Velaryon. Laena Velaryon was a 12-year-old girl who hadn’t yet reached puberty.

Viserys determined that his daughter’s best friend — and the young girl who had been keeping him company in his sadness following his wife’s death — was a better match.

116 A.D. — Three years after Viserys revealed his intention to marry Alicent, the couple is now married with a second child on the way.

Season one, episode three of “House of the Dragon.”

HBO

In episode three, King Viserys states that Prince Daemon has been gone three years since he left King’s Landing and joined forces with Lord Corlys to battle in the Stepstones. Alicent is currently around 18 years old, while Rhaenyra is 17 years old (and soon-to-be 18 herself).

In this episode, Alicent’s firstborn child, Aegon II, becomes two years old, and it appears that Alicent will give birth to her second child any day now. That means Viserys got her pregnant fairly soon after their marriage three years ago.

*117 A.D. – Viserys dismisses Otto as King’s Hand, and Rhaenyra agrees to marry Ser Laenor.

On “House of the Dragon,” Rhys Ifans plays Otto Hightower.

HBO / Ollie Upton

We see Rhaenyra striving to find a husband several months after the events of episode four. By the end of episode five, she’s married to Laenor, and Otto has been replaced as the Hand by Lyonel Strong.

*127 A.C. — Rhaenyra gives birth to her third son ten years later, and Harwin and Lyonel Strong are murdered. Laena Velaryon also passes away.

In “House of the Dragon,” Rhaenyra, Laenor, and baby Joffrey.

HBO

In episode six, we see the birth of Joffrey with Alicent questioning the baby’s parentage ten years in the future.

Meanwhile, Laena Velaryon had been married to Daemon and had two daughters with him (Baela and Rhaena). However, Laena died when her third childbirth proved deadly, and she chose to be burned alive by her dragon Vhagar.

*127 A.C. — The Targaryens and Velaryons gather for Laena’s funeral a few weeks later.

In “House of the Dragon,” Rhaenyra, Jace, and Luke.

HBO

We watch the Velaryon burial in Driftmark in episode seven, where Laenor subsequently fakes his death.

Rhaenyra and Daemon marry now that both of their Velaryon husbands are presumed dead.

*133 A.D. — Rhaenyra and Daemon return to King’s Landing six years after Laenor’s supposed death.

In episode eight, Daemon is just after killing Vaemond.

HBO / Ollie Upton

According to showrunner Ryan Condal in the HBO “after the episode” section, this time jump was intended to place all of Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Daemon’s offspring between the ages of 17 and 21, which is considered the start of maturity in Westeros.

So, by episode eight, it has been around 21 years since Queen Aemma’s death in the pilot episode. That puts Alicent and Rhaenyra around 35 years old, and Daemon in his late 40s.

This chronology will be updated with the next step ahead in time in next week’s “House of the Dragon” episode, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Read our dissection of the greatest 14 details you might have missed in the premiere for more on the new series.