House of the Dragon's new dragon eggs explained — Rhaena Targaryen, Dreamfyre, and the future of House Targaryen

House of the Dragon season 3 episode 6, "Faceless Men," is a sprawling affair that moves characters and storylines along all over the map, but one in particular has the potential to reshape the fate of House Targaryen. During this most recent episode, the witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) reveals a shocking secret she's kept hidden at the haunted castle of Harrenhal: a clutch of dragon eggs. They come with some deep lore that harkens back to Aemond Targaryen's (Ewan Mitchell) great-great-aunt, Rhaena Targaryen, who herself was the daughter of Aegon the Conqueror.

If Alys' revelation piqued your interest, you're in the right place. We need to discuss these dragons eggs, and how they may play a role in the war yet to come — as well as Game of Thrones, nearly 200 years later.

Who was Rhaena Targaryen in the history of Westeros?

Rhaena Targaryen was the first grandchild born to Aenys Targaryen, the son of Aegon the Conqeueror and his sister-wife Rhaenys. Her birth was of huge importance to House Targaryen, as she represented the first of a new generation of dragonlords after Aegon's own children, further cementing the dynasty. According to George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, Aegon wept when he held her for the first time.

Rhaena lived a long and tumultuous life. She was married three times: to her brother, Aegon, who was slain by their uncle Maegor the Cruel during his bid for the Iron Throne; to Maegor himself in a shotgun triple wedding ceremony with two other unwilling widows, who became known as the Black Brides; and to a noble of little note named Androw Farman, whose sister Elissa Farman was said to have captured Rhaena's heart. She was the first rider of Dreamfyre, the dragon that would one day be claimed by Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban), and the sister to King Jaehaerys the Conciliator and his sister-wife, Good Queen Alysanne.

With that sort of history, it should come as no surprise that Rhaena is one of the most prominent figures in Fire & Blood, with multiple story arcs that span most of the book, until about a generation or two before the Dance of the Dragons.

How did Rhaena Targaryen die?

Rhaena was known as the Queen in the West, from a long stint of time she spent at Casterly Rock in the Westerlands, and as the Queen in the East, from a period where she ruled Dragonstone following the death of Maegor. She had twin daughters, Rhaella and Aerea, from her marriage to Aegon; Rhaella joined the Faith as a septa, while Aerea stands as one of the most intriguing mysteries from the novel.

After tensions rose between Aerea and Rhaena, the teenage girl tried to claim the dragon Balerion, the Black Dread. It went sideways, with Balerion flying all the way to Old Valyria; a fact that was only discovered when he returned a year later with Aerea, who had been infected by a horrific parasite that killed her that same night, burning her from the inside out. The book never spells out exactly what happened to Aerea and Balerion in Old Valyria, but the descriptions of her death are the stuff of nightmares.

Following Aerea's death, Rhaena went into self-imposed isolation at Harrenhal. By this point she was a widow for the third time, having killed her previous husband Androw after he poisoned multiple people close to her. Rhaena chose Harrenhal for its quiet and change of scenery, and bore witness to the end of the line for House Tower, who held the castle when she moved in. After that, she quietly ruled Harrenhal until her death in 73 AC at the age of 50, keeping it a safe haven for any who sought shelter there. When she finally died, Dreamfyre eventually made her way back to King's Landing to live in the Dragonpit, where she would remain until bonding Helaena Targaryen some years later.

Those are just a few of the many, many details of Rhaena Targaryen's life, which are most relevant to House of the Dragon's latest revelation. For the full story, I'd highly recommend checking out Fire & Blood.

Where did Alys Rivers' dragon eggs come from?

House of the Dragon is adding another page to Rhaena's story. According to Alys, Rhaena's dragon Dreamfyre laid a clutch of eggs at the castle sometime during the 17 years they resided there, before Rhaena herself died of old age. The Dance of the Dragons civil war occurs more than 50 years after Rhaena's death, and all that time, the eggs remained hidden at Harrenhal until they came into the possession of Alys Rivers. (In the show, Alys says the eggs have remained hidden for "these hundred years," which doesn't check out because Rhaena was still a child 100 years before the Dance of the Dragons. So take that with a grain of salt.)

These dragon eggs are different than others we've seen in House of the Dragon, because they are inert, similar to the way Daenerys Targaryen's eggs seemed like stone at first. But just like Dany's, we see the egg in Alys' hand begin to warm from being held, and from a smear of blood left by the witch's hand. Dany's dragons were born from blood magic, sacrificing the witch Mirri Maz Duur and body of her husband Khal Drogo on a pyre to give birth to three young hatchlings. Similarly, it seems that Dreamfyre's eggs react to the stimuli around them. It stands to reason they could be nurtured as well.

Alys' plan for these eggs is to presumably start a new branch of the Targaryen empire with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), since she talks about how his sons will be Targaryen princes just like him. These two do have a romance in the book, with Alys even claiming she carries Aemond's child, so this turn makes total sense for them.

Are Alys Rivers' dragon eggs related to Daenerys from Game of Thrones?

Here's where things get interesting. In Fire & Blood, it's strongly implied that Dany's dragons are descended from Dreamfyre. The story is that Rhaena's lover Elissa Farman stole a clutch of three eggs when the two had a falling out, and brought them with her to Essos. These eggs went missing, and centuries later, turned up as a wedding present to Daenerys Targaryen. It has never been outright confirmed, but it's a strong enough theory that it's widely accepted to be true in the fandom.

House of the Dragon has already changed things significantly. During season 2, the show introduced a clutch of four eggs from Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) dragon Syrax, which were sent to the Vale with her stepdaughter Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell). Later on, those eggs get shipped over to Pentos with Rhaenyra's two youngest sons, Aegon an Viserys. In an interview, director Geeta Vasant Patel confirmed those were in fact Daenerys' dragon eggs. However, roughly a week later, showrunner Ryan Condal walked that comment back, saying it was only "one possible future" that those eggs end up with Daenerys. Even at the time, it felt like a cop out.

Now, it seems we may be toying with other possible futures. By introducing more eggs from Dreamfyre, House of the Dragon is drawing closer to the established lore about Elissa Farman, who stole an earlier clutch from that same dragon and fled with them to Essos. At the very least, that makes these new eggs direct relatives of Daenerys' dragons — provided that we don't see the show pull off something strange like having three of these eggs go missing.

But perhaps more importantly, Dreamfyre's clutch establishes the idea that long-dormant dragon eggs can be brought back to life. The egg grows warm in Aemond's hand when Alys accidentally smears blood on it — and not just any blood, but the lifeblood of the stablehand she just murdered. Only death can pay for life, as Mirri Maz Duur once said. It remains as true here as it does in the day of Daenerys Targaryen.

It'll be interesting to see whether these eggs only serve as a fun Easter egg, or something more substantial. Either way, it's fun to have a reason to dive deeper into Fire & Blood, and the intricate history of Westeros.

New episodes of House of the Dragon premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

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