The Game of Thrones prequel series,House of the Dragon, has finally premiered on HBO Max. The show has revived our memories of GOT with the release of the show’s first episode. The same dirty fight for the throne, bloodshed, and the family feud are back; just the characters are different.
House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the story of Game of Thrones. Despite being nine generations apart, you’re able to still find similarities between the characters of the two series. For instance, Daemon Targaryen, brother of Viserys, resembles the personality of Viserys Targaryen, elder brother of Deanerys. But, one character that caught everyone’s attention in the prequel series is Rhaenyra. Interestingly, most fans will admit that Rhaenyra Targaryen shares similarities with Daenerys.
1. Personality
If you look at Rhaenyra closely, her personality is quite similar to that of Daenerys. They both have grey hair and look similar in height. But, the major similarity between the two is their resistance to fire. As both share Targaryen blood, they cannot be burned by fire. The book mentions Rhaenyra as quite stubborn and quick to anger; the same is true for Daenerys. Daenerys' anger was why she wiped out the city of King’s Landing using her dragon.
2. Love For The Dragons
Daenerys and Rhaenyra might not be good with swords, but they can very well handle dragons. While Daenerys becomes a mother figure to the dragons and gets a hold of them pretty quickly, Rhaenyra has been riding the dragons since she was seven. The two even got several aliases and titles based on the dragons, of which The Dragon Queen is a common one. Throughout the series, Daenerys can be seen riding Drogon, while Rhaenyra can be seen riding Syrax at the start of the series. The death of Syrax put Rhaenyra in deep remorse, just like when Daenerys lost Viserion and Rhaegal.
3. Family And Relations
When the show is a dark one like GOT or House of the Dragon, the characters are destined to have a dark past and evil family members. As seen in the first episode of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra’s mother died while giving birth to her son. As for Daenerys', her mother died shortly after giving birth to her on a stormy night. That’s why Daenerys was given the title ‘Stormborn.’ Coincidently, both Rhaenyra and Daenerys had two brothers who died before them.
The two characters also had their share of family feuds and evil family members. Who doesn’t remember Viserys Targaryen from GOT, the evil elder sibling of Daenerys? He was so desperate for the throne that he forced his sister to marry Khal Drogo. He stated that he would even make his sister get physically abused by all forty thousand of Drogo’s men and their horses to get back the throne. Daemon Targaryen - Rhaenyra’s uncle - shares the same vibes as Viserys. He can be seen slaughtering several people in the first episode. Also, his desperation to get his hands on the throne is quite clear. According to a dwarf named Mushroom, Daemon paid Qurl to kill Rhaenyra’s husband Laenor. He then married Rhaenyra, obviously to get closer to the throne.
4. Meeting An Unfortunate Fate
Dance of the Dragons is the biggest war fought in the history of Targaryen rule. The war was fought between Rhaenyra and her half-brother Aegon II to decide the heir to the Iron Throne. The war ended with mass destruction, killing almost all dragons. After the war ended, Rhaenyra was burned and eaten by Aegon’s dragon, Sunfyre. While everything was happening, her son was forced to watch her execution.
Daenerys also fought a similar war, The Battle of King’s Landing. Unlike Rhaenyra, Daenerys won the war but still couldn’t sit on the Iron Throne. Jon Snow, Daenerys' lover/nephew, stabbed her to death to stop her from causing any further destruction. While taking her last breaths, her dragon Drogon watched her die, similar to Rhaenyra’s son.
