Complete chart of who should inherit after the death of King Viserys Targaryen

House of the Dragon is a show about succession. King Viserys II Targaryen dies, and there’s a dispute over who should follow him onto the Iron Throne. Is it his first-born daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen, whom he spent his life saying was his heir? Or should it be his son Aegon, Rhaenyra’s younger half-brother, who inherits under the usual rules of medieval succession?

Westeros operates under the rules of male-preference primogeniture, meaning that the eldest male in the family inherits from the father even if he has an older sister. Sons inherit before brothers, so Daemon Targaryen is pushed way down in the line of succession.

But again, Viserys insisted that Rhaenyra was his heir, so things are tricky in the case of House of the Dragon. One fan on Reddit made a chart showing how the succession theoretically should go if the wishes of King Viserys were observed. Check it out:

"Line of succession? by u/cocktoofat in HouseOfTheDragon"

Who should inherit after King Viserys Targaryen dies on House of the Dragon?

Obviously, members of the green faction wouldn’t agree with this; they think Aegon and his line should inherit first, hence the problem we’re having.

Notice that, under this chart, if Rhaenyra were to die, the kingship of the Seven Kingdoms would pass to her eldest son Jace, and not to Aegon. Only after her line is exhausted would things move over to Aegon. And if all of his kids were to die, then it would go to Aegon’s younger brother Aemond. There’s disagreement over whether girls like Helaena would be included in this list.

And finally, Daemon Targaryen would take up the rear, no doubt much to his chagrin. And we can’t forget Viserys cousin Rhaenys, the Queen Who Never Was. Had she been crowned instead of Viserys all those years ago, maybe no one would be in this mess.

But in it they are! We can see them try to muddle through when the second season of House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and Max sometime in 2024.

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