Jacaerys, Rhaenyra's eldest son, and his two younger brothers have spent their short lives surrounded by whispers that their real father was Ser Harwin Strong.
Rhaenyra Targaryen, cheered as the Realm's Delight when she was young, and later called the Half-Year Queen, was the first-born child of King Viserys I Targaryen. Rhaenyra was King Viserys I's only living child by his first wife, Queen Aemma of House Arryn.
Although Rhaenyra's mother's death initially made her fear the notion of bearing heirs, adult Rhaenyra Targaryen now has five sons in House of the Dragon – three healthy boys with Laenor Velaryon (fathered by Harwin Strong) and two silver-haired boys with her husband Daemon Targaryen.
Jacaerys Velaryon Is Rhaenyra's Firstborn Son and Heir
Firstborn son of Rhaenyra and her first husband Laenor Velaryon, Jacaerys was affectionately known to his family as Jace.
In 117 AC, Rhaenyra gave birth to her third son, whom Laenor named Joffrey, in honor of Ser Joffrey Lonmouth.
It is quickly confirmed that Alicent is right, however. Rhaenyra's sons are bastards. They're the illegitimate children of Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). The issue of the children's legitimacy is an open secret at court, with people turning a blind eye because the king does.
Jacaerys, Rhaenyra's eldest son, and his two younger brothers have spent their short lives surrounded by whispers that their real father was Ser Harwin Strong.
Daemon and Rhaenyra share two children together: Aegon III and Viserys II.
When finally did give birth to the baby, it is said that the child had a hole where her heart should have been, a tail, and scales for skin—a monster, as her mother had cursed her to be. Upon her death, Rhaenyra swore yet another vow.
The episode doesn't really beat around the bush when revealing that Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) is the father of Rhaenyra's children. He's there soon after baby Joffrey is born so he can meet him, and later on in the episode Jacaerys (Leo Hart) even asks his mom if Harwin is his real dad.
According to the accounts of Septon Eustace, prior to her turning sixteen, Rhaenyra lost her virginity to her uncle, Prince Daemon, after he seduced her.
Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) finally had sex on House of the Dragon. After teasing their deep connection for weeks, making out in a brothel, and flirting their way through King's Landing, uncle and niece at long last did the dirty.
In the books, they have three: daughter Visenya, who does not survive infancy; and two sons, Aegon III and Viserys II, who will grow up to be next Kings of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men.
In Fire & Blood, the book House of the Dragon is based on, Daemon and Rhaenyra go on to have two boys: Aegon and Viserys. Yup, another Aegon and another Viserys. They also have a daughter, Visenya, but she is sadly a stillborn baby.
Prosthetic designer confirms: the baby was deformed
The dead girl had been named Visenya. “ The baby was clearly among those rare cases in the Targaryen line, where it was described that an unsuccessful birth had produced a stillborn baby with dragon-like features.
Rhaenyra and Daemon's sons Aegon, Viserys, and Visenya Targaryen. Sorry for the spoiler, but we did watch Daemon and Rhaenyra get married in last week's episode, so you probably knew this was coming! We haven't seen them yet in the show, but Daemon and Rhaenyra have three sons together.
5. Why Rhaenyra's Children Have Brown Hair. While the Targaryen family mostly has stark white-blond hair, there's one kin within the bloodline that doesn't fit: Rhaenyra's sons with husband Laenor Velaryon.
While Aegon has bastards of his own in King's Landing, certain details in House of the Dragon season 1 suggest that Aegon's younger brother Aemond “One-Eye” Targaryen is the real father of Helaena's son and daughter.
Robert's kids all sort of look like him, but Rhaegar's children don't look like him, they look like their mother. Robert does have some Targaryen heritage, but blond hair is recessive so we can guess that Robert doesn't have any recessive blond genes and thus all of his kids have dark hair.
As the two dragons struggled in the Battle Above the Gods Eye, Daemon plunged from Caraxes, wielding his sword Dark Sister and stabbing it into Aemond's remaining eye. Both dragons crashed into the Gods Eye, and Vhagar drowned with Aemond's body still chained to the saddle while Caraxes died on the shore.
Rhaenyra's children are bastards, and Vaemond finally let everyone know in Episode 8, as loudly as he possibly could. For that, he lost his head, though Daemon let him keep his tongue.
In the book, Visenya was described as being born with dragon-like defects, including scales, a tail, and a twisted body. Rhaenyra's baby did end up having scale-like defects and a malformed body in House of the Dragon, which aligns with the occasional reports of Targaryen women bearing dragon-like stillborn children.
Lady Laena (Nanna Blondell) struggled for days with her labor, and with no hope for her or her baby, she made her way to her dragon Vhagar and commanded him to burn her alive. Though Rhaenyra has had five successful labors, she now suffers greatly and does so alone throughout her sixth.
Even Laenor, Rhaenyra's husband, hints that he knows the princes are not biologically his children in Episode 6. Despite the seeming acceptance of the children's true parents, whispers in the Red Keep intensify following Harwin's fight with Criston, the latter of whom teased the former about his secret fatherhood.