Rhaenyra was the Realm's delight.
Rhaenyra Targaryen, the First Woman to Claim the Iron Throne
Because while Cersei became the first official female queen of the Seven Kingdoms, she was not the first woman to sit in Aegon the Conqueror's royal chair as Westeros' ruler. That title belongs to the Half-Year Queen, Rhaenyra Targaryen.
Daemon shows his genuine care and attention to Rhaenyra several times before the two marry. This doesn't take away from the many destructive and inappropriate parts of their relationship, but the books imply that Daemon does love Rhaenyra.
Though Rhaenyra has sympathetic motives, having been declared her father's heir, her treatment of the dragonseeds and Velaryons, along with her tyranny means she is regarded as a villain.
Unlike the King's relationship with his other three children with Alicent, Rhaenyra was clearly his favorite child, consistently defending her and remaining adamant that she was his successor.
We last saw her find out the truth in "We Light the Way" that Rhaenyra lost her virginity to Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
Shani Smethurst's role of Baela Targaryen is the daughter of Daemon (Matt Smith) and Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blodell). According to her sister, Baela is Daemon's favorite. She is a dragonrider like her parents, an egg hatching for her when she was a baby as part of the Targaryen custom.
Daemon couldn't perform with Rhaenyra after she took control of the situation. “It's the idea that Daemon is using Rhaenyra as a way to get at her father,” showrunner Miguel Sapochnik said.
While the Targaryen uncle and niece began their marriage after a decade-long infatuation, marriages with others, and the births of several children, Rhaenyra and Daemon appeared to be one of the few House of the Dragon couples united both out of love and politics.
During her short reign, the taxes were raised every day to fill up the treasury, while she grew fat due to her gluttony during her reign. In the end, the people of King's Landing turned on her and named her “King Maegor with teats”.
Rhaenyra will have two marriages (and two lovers) in House of the Dragon, with six children (technically three by each husband, the suspicion that the first three are by another man is a source of much violence and discord in Westeros).
By the time we reach episode six — which occurs more than 10 years later in the show's timeline — Harwin was revealed to be Rhaenyra's primary lover and the father to her three children.
In the books, during her reportedly unfulfilling marriage to Laenor, Rhaenyra is rumored to have taken Ser Harwin Strong as a long-term lover. Given that she's married, their relationship is certainly forbidden, but it reportedly lasts for several years.
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.
Because Rhaenyra's mom Aemma is the love of King Viserys' life. In a way, he's responsible, because he was so dogged about wanting a male heir, and there were several failed pregnancies, and he feels greatly responsible for pushing her to have a child so many times.
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.
While this is a revelation in and of itself, this sequence also highlights the truth of Daemon and Rhaenyra - he is an abuser and she is his victim, albeit perhaps one who does not see herself as a victim.
After the beginning of Daemon and Rhaenyra's marriage played offscreen, viewers were able to return to the story to see the pair after they'd established their life together.
Why do Targaryens keep marrying each other? In short, to keep the blood of the dragon as pure as possible.
In "King of the Narrow Sea", Rhaenyra seduced Ser Criston after she herself was denied by her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith). She and her paramour spent the night together, and she was warm towards Ser Criston afterward.
Daemon stumbles back to the Red Keep and is brought before the king, who confronts him with the White Worm's intel. Daemon, pointedly, doesn't deny that he and Rhaenyra had sex.
As he tells Rhaenyra: marrying her is the only way out of the dishonorable hell he has created for himself. She wants the status quo to carry on while he can't stand to be her common whore while she's married to another man. That is simply just too many dishonorable things stacked on top of one another.
Later, in episode seven, Daemon tells Rhaenyra that he and Laena were "happy enough" in their marriage. In that regard, there was far more love between Daemon and Laena than there ever was between him and Rhea, even if it wasn't entirely romantic.
Despite Rhaenyra and Daemon's excitement over having another child, their daughter will tragically never take a breath of air. Upon hearing the news of King Viserys' death and Aegon seizing the Iron Throne and being crowned King, Rhaenyra goes into dangerously premature labor.
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.