Warning: This article contains SPOILERS. House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2, “Queen’s Landing,” sees Rhaenyra Targaryen achieve her ultimate goal. After having left King’s Landing for Dragonstone at the end of the show’s first season, and having the throne usurped by her younger half-brother, Aegon Targaryen, losing three of her children, and fighting a war that is still ongoing, she has finally taken her place on the Iron Throne.
Even after making it to the Red Keep’s throne room, getting to sit on the chair made of swords wasn’t easy, and one final price had to be paid: the death of Otto Hightower, marking the first time Rhaenyra has directly killed someone (though it took a couple of attempts). Her ascent to the Iron Throne is more tearful than it is triumphant, marked not only by the actions preceding it but by the many tragedies that befell her along the way, but make it she does, and with it she makes Game of Thrones history.
Rhaenyra Targaryen Just Became Westeros’ First-Ever Ruling Queen On The Iron Throne
Westeros has had several Targaryen rulers in the 130 years or so since Aegon’s Conquest, with six different men on the Iron Throne before this point as king (and that’s not including things like Aemond ruling as Prince Regent), but Rhaenyra is the first woman to be the ruling monarch on the Iron Throne. There are, of course, several notable women, including queens, who have helped to shape things, not least her idol, Visenya Targaryen, the sister-wife of King Aegon I and a fierce warrior, but none of them have held this position before.
That is exactly why it has been so difficult for Rhaenyra to reach this point: many in Westeros do not believe a woman should rule, even if they were named heir by the previous king. Indeed, though Rhaenyra now rules from the Iron Throne, history will not actually recognize her reign, instead scrubbing her name from the line of the Targaryen dynasty. And it’s also one reason why there will not be another queen – Targaryen or otherwise – for over a century, until Game of Thrones Season 6.
Set around 170 years after House of the Dragon Season 3’s timeline, the final episode of Game of Thrones‘ sixth season, titled “The Winds of Winter,” sees Cersei Lannister blow up the Sept of Baelor, killing several of her political rivals. Shortly after this, King Tommen I Baratheon kills himself, and so Cersei simply decides to take the Iron Throne for herself, with no one challenging her. That is, until Daenerys Targaryen finally arrives, but while she also takes King’s Landing by force, she, unlike Rhaenyra, never actually gets to sit on the Iron Throne.
How Will Rhaenyra’s Reign Compare To Westeros’ Other Queens?
Major Book Spoilers Ahead
It took almost everything from Rhaenyra, but she finally has the Iron Throne. The trouble is, even for all it cost, the harder part will be keeping it. Even ignoring that a large part of King’s Landing, and Westeros as a whole, do not want her to be queen, there’s also the fact that it’s an extremely difficult land to rule, especially when it’s currently being destroyed by a war that is, in part, being fought in your name.
In Fire & Blood, though the people of King’s Landing initially welcome Rhaenyra’s rule, things do turn against her. The Greens took most of the gold from the city, meaning the crown has no money, and so taxes are raised. This leads to the increased struggles of the smallfolk, and eventually, people rise up in protest. There are riots, and Rhaenyra is forced to flee King’s Landing after only six months on the Iron Throne, never to return.
Still, that is at least more successful than Daenerys. In contrast to Rhaenyra, she took King’s Landing with dragonfire, laying waste to opposing armies and smallfolk alike. Though she was styled as queen and had won the crown, she never even got to sit on the Iron Throne, as her actions led to Jon Snow killing her before her reign could properly begin.
Does that, somehow, make Cersei Lannister the most successful of Westeros’ queens? Her situation was very different, given she had no one in King’s Landing opposing her, and Game of Thrones sadly didn’t really focus much on the effects of her rule on the city, but in terms of holding on to the Iron Throne, she did so longer than either of the Targaryen queens. However, given that she is ultimately killed by a rival claimant, it seems that all of Westeros’ queens were doomed in some way, and it’ll be interesting to see how House of the Dragon adapts Rhaenyra’s reign as Season 3 progresses.
New episodes of House of the Dragon Season 3 release on Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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