After the Doom of Valyria, House Targaryen was the only family left in the world with dragon power, and the originators of House Targaryen, Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya, certainly put that power to use.

The original Targaryens invaded the Seven Kingdoms and forced them to become one under their rule, and after a turbulent few centuries, the Mad King Aerys was deposed. However, Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons sought to conquer Westeros again, and she almost succeeded. But what bad choices led to the Targaryens losing the Iron Throne for good?

Updated August 20th, 2022 by Hilary Elizabeth: House of the Dragon is set to cast the history of House Targaryen in an entirely new light in the eyes of many fans. While Daenerys Targaryen was the last and ultimately failed scion of the entire Targaryen legacy, the beginning of the end of the Targaryen reign largely began with Viserys, Rhaenyra, and Alicent Hightower. Because their actions had such enormous consequences for the Targaryen dynasty, this article has been updated to reflect the broader flaws of the entire Targaryen family and the centuries’ worth of mistakes that led to their total familial collapse.

Daenerys’ Misunderstanding Of Westeros

Daenerys really liked to blame her advisors for the missteps that she made when she was invading Westeros, but to be honest, her lack of interest and understanding of the country that she wanted to conquer crippled her.

For instance, burning the Tarlys was a huge mistake, as the rebellion against the Mad King was essentially caused by Aerys unjustly and brutally murdering a powerful lord and his son, which is exactly how Dany’s actions towards Randyll and Dickon would have been perceived. The fact that she lacked the awareness to understand that really indicated that she wasn’t prepared to rule the Seven Kingdoms.

The Targaryens’ Disregard For Westeros

Although Daenerys might have had an easier time conquering the Seven Kingdoms had she known anything significant about Westeros, she was also following in the footsteps of her ancestors who similarly claimed the entire continent while keeping themselves separate from it.

While they did do a few things to assimilate to Westerosi culture, the Targaryens have always been obsessed with their Valyrian superiority. Given that the Valyrian Freehold was built on the backs of slavery, their Valyrian pride is more than a bit unsettling. However, the biggest problem in the long-term is that they didn’t integrate themselves into the culture of the land they wanted to rule, and many Targaryens acted as if the people of Westeros were beneath them.

Incest

It should come as no surprise that incest was a huge issue for House Targaryen as their reign went on, in more ways than one.

Although in Valyria it wasn’t wildly uncommon, it was considered an abomination in the eyes of the Westerosi, and the fact that so many Targaryens went mad didn’t make the people of Westeros any more confident in them or their gene pool. The lack of genetic diversity also seems to have made it harder for them to reproduce and continue their line.

Consolidation Of Power For Generations

Even putting aside the moral and biological issues with Targaryen incest, what actually significantly contributed to their eventual downfall is that they didn’t want anyone to have power besides them.

They were reluctant to allow other houses to marry into House Targaryen, which allowed other houses like the Starks, Tullys, and Arryns to create large alliances that could actually defeat the Targaryens. And, Daenerys and her desire for absolute power seemed to repeat this mistake.

The Dance Of The Dragons

The Dance of the Dragons will undoubtedly be the major focal point of House of the Dragon, at least for the first few seasons. And, without careening too far into spoiler territory, this internal conflict between different factions of House Targaryen was a catastrophic event for the entire Targaryen dynasty.

The ultimate battle for power between the teams colloquially known as the “greens” and the “blacks” was arguably the biggest crisis in a long line of crises for the Targaryen reign, and although the Mad King was the final death blow for House Targaryen, the Dance was the beginning of the end.

Constant Infighting

While the Dance of the Dragons was one of the most significant conflicts within House Targaryen, it was far from the only one. Truly, the rule of the Targaryens was chaotic from the very start, as soon as Aegon I was gone the infighting over the Iron Throne began.

That constant instability made it difficult for the Targaryens to actually establish a solid foundation for their leadership, and on the rare occasions that a good Targaryen leader presented themselves, there were often rivals waiting in the wings ready to seize power at the first opportunity.

Poor Governance

Although having dragons is cool and gives the dragonlords an astounding amount of power, it unfortunately does not necessarily equate to any talent or aptitude for ruling.

The majority of Targaryen influence was simply driven by the fact that no one could ever outmatch them as long as the dragons were a threat, meaning that they didn’t really have to figure out how to be decent leaders in order to keep their grasp on the throne. And unfortunately, even after the dragons were gone, many Targaryen rulers didn’t go out of their way to figure out how to be decent kings.

The Obsession With Targaryen Exceptionalism

Targaryen exceptionalism is both a literal doctrine that House Targaryen adheres to as well as a mentality that largely crippled them in the grand scheme of things. Although the doctrine rules are specific to permissible incest, the general idea behind it is that the Targaryens are very special people, thus the rules of the real world don’t apply to them.

This perspective obviously had an enormous negative effect on the family as a whole, and many of the Targaryens who contributed to the ultimate downfall of House Targaryen weakened their own family and standing because they were consumed with their own individual importance.

Viserys’ Belief In Targaryen Superiority

The last thing that anyone would ever call Viserys Targaryen is exceptional, however, the Targaryens have been obsessed with their own specialness for generations, and honestly, Viserys’ intense sense of entitlement was the beginning of the final end for House Targaryen.

When the story of Game of Thrones begins, Viserys is way too entitled for his own good. His belief that he was the most important person in the world is what ultimately led to his own death, and the effects of his exultation of House Targaryen likely had greater consequences beyond that as well.

Daenerys Accepting Viserys’ Belief About Targaryen Superiority

To be fair, Daenerys obviously is an extraordinary person. However, she was very driven by her idealized concept of the Targaryen legacy, and it likely led to her downfall.

As the new series House of the Dragon is likely going to explore in-depth, although the Targaryens were very powerful, their judgment was often terrible and their power was almost entirely unearned. They certainly knew how to live up to their house motto of “fire and blood,” but their strength came entirely from their control over dragons, and they conquered Westeros purely because they could. Dany’s belief that she was the chosen one destined to rule the world simply because she was capable of conquering it was a troubling aspect of her mentality.

The Mad King’s Belief In His Absolute Power

Ironically, one of the fatal flaws within Daenerys is one that existed within her father as well, and that is the fundamental misunderstanding of what a king or queen is. Aerys was such a problem for House Targaryen because he believed that the rules didn’t apply to him, that he essentially was the rules, and that he could do whatever he wanted or deemed just.

But, when he broke faith with House Stark and killed Rickard and Brandon, it led to the rebellion that overthrew House Targaryen.

Rhaegar’s Absence

According to those who knew him, Rhaegar had the potential to be a wonderful king. While that’s a little hard to believe given how reckless he was, it’s obvious that if he wasn’t busy creating Jon Snow with Lyanna Stark, he could have possibly done something to stop his father or end Robert’s Rebellion quickly.

But he was out of the game and too consumed with his own desires until it was far too late, and his entire family paid the price for that.

Rhaegar’s Unwillingness To Act Against His Father

Aerys may have been the rightful king, but many people around him knew that he was a huge problem long before the rebellion began, and no one was more keenly aware of that than Rhaegar. Not to mention, Rhaegar was arguably one of the only people in the world who was in a position to do anything about it.

If he had actually intervened and done something to depose his father or even mitigate the damage that Aerys was doing, things may have gone much better for the entire Targaryen family. But he waited too long and other powerful people in Westeros felt forced to act.

Daenerys’ Genocide In King’s Landing

Realistically speaking, as soon as Daenerys burned down King’s Landing, her downfall and the downfall of House Targaryen forever was nearly inevitable.

As Jon Snow ultimately demonstrated, it only takes one person to end Daenerys for good, and after that massacre, she gave thousands if not millions of people all the motive in the world to ensure she could never act on those violent impulses again. She might have won the battle in King’s Landing, but she lost the war.

Creating The Iron Throne In The First Place

Although the Targaryens originally used their massive dragon power to essentially threaten the Seven Kingdoms into submission, the reality of the situation is that they invaded a foreign land of separate countries and forced them all to become one beneath their rule.

The dragons were the only real power they had, so once that power was gone, it was only a matter of time before they lost what they had conquered.

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