House of the Dragon showcases one of the most devastating conflicts in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy universe: the Dance of the Dragons. Based on his book Fire & Blood, the HBO series tells the story of a brutal civil war that tears the Targaryen family apart, ravages the Seven Kingdoms, and ultimately leads to the near-extinction of dragons. While the television adaptation is unfolding over multiple seasons, readers already know the tragic fates awaiting many of its characters.
From rival monarchs Rhaenyra and Aegon Targaryen to fan-favorites like Daemon Targaryen, Alicent Hightower, Aemond Targaryen, and Corlys Velaryon, the Dance leaves almost no one untouched. Some characters die in spectacular — and violent — dragon battles, others are betrayed by supposed allies, and several meet quieter ends long after the war has concluded. Even those who survive the conflict live through unimaginable personal loss, proving that victory in the Dance of the Dragons always comes at a terrible cost.
As with much of Westerosi history, not every death is recorded with complete certainty. Fire & Blood presents the Dance as a historical chronicle compiled from competing eyewitnesses and historians who weren’t alive during the war, meaning several events are surrounded by contradictory accounts, political bias, and lingering mysteries. In some cases, readers are left to decide which version of events they believe.
Below, we’ve broken down how every major House of the Dragon character dies — or, for those who outlive the war, how their stories ultimately end in Martin’s canon. We also included passages from Fire & Blood.
Warning: Major spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon, Fire & Blood, and the wider history of Westeros.
- Rhaenyra Targaryen
- Aegon Targaryen
- Daemon & Aemond Targaryen
- Alicent Hightower
- Corlys Velaryon
- Helaena Targaryen
- Daeron Targaryen
- Criston Cole
- Larys Strong
- Baela & Rhaena Targaryen
- Addam of Hull (Velaryon)
- Alyn Velaryon
- Joffrey Velaryon
- Aegon III & Viserys II
Rhaenyra Targaryen
Rhaenyra’s downfall comes after she loses King’s Landing and retreats to Dragonstone, expecting sanctuary. Instead, she discovers the island has been seized by Aegon’s supporters. Betrayed and captured, she is brought before her half-brother, who orders her execution. Rhaenyra is fed to Sunfyre, Aegon’s wounded dragon, while her young son Aegon (who’s barely 10 years old in the book, and even younger in the tv show) watches helplessly.
“[...] Sunfyre [...] sniffed at Her Grace, then bathed her in a blast of flame [...]. Rhaenyra Targaryen had time to raise her head toward the sky and shriek out one last curse upon her half-brother before Sunfyre’s jaws closed round her, tearing off her arm and shoulder.”
Her death effectively ends the Black faction’s claim, although her son, the future Aegon III, ultimately inherits the Iron Throne after Aegon II’s own death.
Aegon Targaryen
Although Aegon II outlives Rhaenyra and technically wins the civil war, his victory comes at enormous personal cost. He suffers horrific burns, broken bones, and permanent injuries during the conflict, and ends up losing all of his children, his siblings, and his dragon Sunfyre. He plans to continue the cycle of vengeance by executing Aegon the Younger. Before he can do so, members of his own court poison him.
“A cold wind was blowing. As the litter set off, the king closed the curtains against the chill. Inside, as always, was a flagon of sweet Arbor red, Aegon’s favorite wine. The king availed himself of a small cup as the litter crossed the yard. Ser Gyles Belgrave threw back the curtains, and found the king dead upon his cushions. ‘There was blood upon his lips,’ the knight said. ‘Elsewise he might have been sleeping.’”
His death allows Rhaenyra’s son to ascend the throne as Aegon III, ending the Dance of the Dragons once and for all.
Daemon & Aemond Targaryen
Daemon and Aemond Targaryen meet their ends in the legendary Battle Above the Gods Eye, regarded by fans as one of the most spectacular dragon duels in Fire & Blood. Riding Caraxes, Daemon confronts his nephew Aemond and the immense she-dragon Vhagar.
As the dragons become locked together, Daemon performs a seemingly impossible leap between them and thrusts the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister through Aemond's blind eye. Fatally wounded, Aemond remains strapped to Vhagar as both dragons plunge into the lake below.
“And it was then, the tales tell us, that Prince Daemon Targaryen swung a leg over his saddle and leapt from one dragon to the other. In his hand was Dark Sister, the sword of Queen Visenya. As Aemond One-Eye looked up in terror, fumbling with the chains that bound him to his saddle, Daemon ripped off his nephew’s helm and drove the sword down into his blind eye, so hard the point came out the back of the young prince’s throat.”
Aemond’s remains are discovered many years later still attached to Vhagar, at the bottom of the Gods Eye Lake, while Daemon’s body is never found. His “disappearance” fuels legends that he somehow survived (and ran away with his maybe-daughter, maybe-lover Nettles).
“When she was found some years later, after the end of the Dance of the Dragons, Prince Aemond’s armored bones remained chained to her saddle, with Dark Sister thrust hilt-deep through his eye socket. [...] Neither man nor dragon could have survived such an impact, the fisherfolk who saw it said. Nor did they. [...] That Prince Daemon died as well we cannot doubt.”
Alicent Hightower
After Aegon II’s death and Aegon III’s accession, Alicent becomes a political prisoner confined to the Red Keep. Once among the most powerful women in Westeros, she spends her final years isolated, watching all her children die during the war she helped unleash. She gradually declines both physically and mentally, haunted by memories of the Dance.
“One death may have been a mercy. [...] She had outlived all of her children and spent the last year of her life confined to her apartments [...]. One day she ripped all her clothing into pieces. By the end of the year she had taken to talking to herself, and had come to have a deep aversion to the color green.”
Alicent ultimately dies during a winter sickness. Her death quietly marks the passing of the central architect of the Green faction and one of the conflict’s defining figures.
Corlys Velaryon
Lord Corlys Velaryon, the legendary Sea Snake, survives the Dance despite imprisonment, political betrayals, and the deaths of nearly all his immediate heirs. After helping negotiate peace, he serves as Hand of the King under Aegon III, using his experience to stabilize the shattered realm.
Unlike many leading figures of the conflict, Corlys dies peacefully in old age. His remarkable life includes nine legendary voyages, which helped him accumulate immense wealth, and decades of influence over Iron Throne politics. He is remembered as one of the greatest sailors, statesmen, and naval commanders in the history of the Seven Kingdoms.
“The realm suffered a terrible blow on the sixth day of the third moon of 132 AC, when Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, collapsed whilst ascending the serpentine steps in the Red Keep of King’s Landing. By the time Grand Maester Munkun came rushing to his aid, the Sea Snake was dead. Seventy-nine years of age, he had served four kings and a queen, sailed to the ends of the earth, raised House Velaryon to unprecedented levels of wealth and power, married a princess who might have been a queen, fathered dragonriders, built towns and fleets, proved his valor in times of war and his wisdom in times of peace. The Seven Kingdoms would never see his like again. With his passing, a great hole was torn in the tattered fabric of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Helaena Targaryen
Helaena is deeply traumatized by the murder of her son Jaehaerys, committed by the rat-catchers Blood and Cheese on Daemon Targaryen’s command. Once cheerful and gentle, Helaena becomes withdrawn, grief-stricken, and unable to recover from the loss of her child. Months later, she falls from a window in Maegor’s Holdfast to her death.
“Helaena Targaryen, sister, wife, and queen to King Aegon II and mother of his children, threw herself from her window in Maegor’s Holdfast to die impaled upon the iron spikes that lined the dry moat below. She was but one-and-twenty.”
The exact circumstances are left deliberately ambiguous by Martin. Some believe she died by suicide, while others suspect murder or political assassination.
“All the same, the rumor of Queen Helaena’s ‘murder’ was soon on the lips of half King’s Landing. That it was so quickly believed shows how utterly the city had turned against their once-beloved queen. Rhaenyra was hated; Helaena had been loved.”
Since Helaena was a beloved queen, her death enrages the people of King’s Landing, who largely blame Rhaenyra’s supporters. It all fuels the eventual Storming of the Dragonpit and Rhaenyra’s downfall.
Daeron Targaryen
Known as Daeron the Daring, the youngest son of Viserys I and Alicent Hightower becomes one of the Greens’ most capable military commanders. Riding Tessarion, the Blue Queen, Daeron distinguishes himself during the Reach campaign and helps secure several important victories. During the Second Battle of Tumbleton, however, Daeron disappears amid confusion.
His exact fate is never conclusively established. Various accounts claim he was crushed beneath a collapsing pavilion, killed by enemy soldiers, or slain during the fighting. His uncertain death adds another mystery to the already chaotic final stages of the Dance.
Criston Cole
Criston Cole, remembered as the Kingmaker for his role in placing Aegon on the throne, meets his end at the Butcher's Ball, where the Green army is surrounded by Rivermen and Rodrick Dustin’s Winter Wolves.
Offering single combat to settle the battle, Criston is refused. Instead, opposing commanders order archers to kill him from a distance. He dies under a storm of arrows.
“Three arrows flew across the field, striking Cole in belly, neck, and breast. ‘I’ll have no songs about how brave you died, Kingmaker,’ declared Longleaf. ‘There’s tens o’ thousands dead on your account.’ He was speaking to a corpse.”
Larys Strong
Larys Strong dies after the end of the Dance of the Dragons, when the supporters of Aegon III take control of the realm following the death of Aegon II. Larys is arrested and accused of treason for his involvement in Aegon’s poisoning. Although his true role remains uncertain, Lord Cregan Stark, Hand of the King to Aegon III, sentences him to death. With Larys’ death, House Strong died as well.
“Next (and last) to die was Lord Larys Strong. When asked if he wished to take the black, he said, ‘No, my lord. I’ll be going to a warmer hell, if it please you… but I do have one last request. When I am dead, hack off my clubfoot with that great sword of yours. I have dragged it with me all through life, let me be free of it in death at least.’ This boon Lord Stark granted him. Thus perished the last Strong, and a proud and ancient house came to its end.”
Baela & Rhaena Targaryen
Baela proves one of the bravest dragonriders of the Dance. During the war’s closing stages, she attacks Aegon II on Moondancer. Although her dragon is far smaller than the injured Sunfyre, Baela presses the attack. Moondancer is killed, and Baela suffers multiple broken bones and severe burns but survives. She later marries Alyn Velaryon and remains an influential member of the royal family during Aegon III's reign.
Rhaena spends much of the Dance away from the front lines, safeguarding younger members of House Targaryen. She eventually bonds with Morning, the last dragon to hatch in Westeros. Although she never achieves the fame of other dragonriders, she survives the devastating civil war and helps preserve the Targaryen bloodline. She later marries into House Hightower and lives quietly compared with many of her relatives.
As of today, we do not yet know the fate of these Targaryen twins.
Addam of Hull (Velaryon)
Initially viewed with suspicion because of his birth, Addam proves one of the most honorable figures of the Dance. Bonded with Seasmoke, he remains loyal to Rhaenyra even after she wrongly accuses him of treason. Escaping arrest, he joins the Black forces and fights heroically at the Second Battle of Tumbleton. During the battle, he confronts Vermithor, helping bring down one of the largest dragons alive. Both rider and dragon receive mortal wounds. Addam dies shortly afterward, and he is remembered for his courage, sacrifice, and steadfast loyalty despite unjust treatment.
“On his tomb is engraved a single word: LOYAL. Its ornate letters are supported by carvings of a seahorse and a mouse.”
Alyn Velaryon
Alyn of Hull, later legitimized as a Velaryon and known as Oakenfist, survives the Dance and becomes one of the greatest admirals in Westerosi history. Although overshadowed by his brother Addam during the war, he earns lasting fame through daring naval campaigns and ambitious voyages across the known world, just like his father, Corlys Velaryon.
He marries Baela Targaryen and remains an important political figure during the reign of Aegon III. He sets out on his sixth voyage in 171 AC and is presumed dead after he disappears, leaving Baela pregnant with their second child.
Joffrey Velaryon
Joffrey, the youngest of Rhaenyra’s sons with Laenor Velaryon, dies during the uprising known as the Storming of the Dragonpit. Desperate to aid his mother’s cause, he attempts to fly Syrax after learning chaos has erupted in King’s Landing.
Because Syrax has never accepted him as a rider, the dragon throws Joffrey off her back. The boy falls to the streets below, suffering fatal injuries. His death devastates Rhaenyra emotionally, and symbolically marks the collapse of her control over the capital during the final stages of her reign.
“Joffrey never reached the Hill of Rhaenys. Once in the air, Syrax twisted beneath him, fighting to be free of this unfamiliar rider. And from below, stones and spears and arrows flew at him from the hands of the Shepherd’s blood-soaked lambs, maddening the dragon even further. Two hundred feet above Flea Bottom, Prince Joffrey slid from the dragon’s back and plunged to the earth. [...] ‘Mother, forgive me,’ Joffrey supposedly said with his last breath… though men still argue whether he was speaking of his mother, the queen, or praying to the Mother Above.”
Aegon III & Viserys II
Aegon III, first son of Rhaenyra and Daemon, survives the Dance of the Dragons but carries its scars for the rest of his life. As a child, he is forced to witness the execution of his mother, who is devoured by Sunfyre. The trauma leaves him withdrawn and melancholic, earning him the nickname “Aegon the Unhappy.”
Crowned king after Aegon II’s death, he spends his reign restoring a kingdom devastated by civil war. During his rule, the last surviving dragons die out, further cementing his association with the end of the Targaryen dragons. Because of this, he is also remembered as “the Dragonbane.”
After ruling for more than 25 years, Aegon dies unexpectedly at the age of 36 from consumption, though some contemporaries speculate that he may have been poisoned. He is succeeded by his eldest son, Daeron I Targaryen, later known as “the Young Dragon.”
Aegon III’s brother and youngest son of Rhaenyra and Daemon, Viserys ascended the Iron Throne as Viserys II. Before becoming king, he had served for 15 years as Hand of the King to Aegon III’s sons, Daeron I and Baelor I. He ruled as king for only a year before dying suddenly. Many believe he was poisoned by his own son and heir, Aegon IV the Unworthy.
“Viserys II had within him the capacity to be a new Conciliator, for no king had ever been shrewder or more capable. Tragically, a sudden illness carried him away in 172 AC.”
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