Season 1 of House of the Dragon revealed five distinct characters who will rule on the Iron Throne, later in the series. In House of the Dragon, the battle for the Iron Throne began, as brother and sister split the country to show who is the true heir to King Viserys I Targaryen. Viserys had reigned on the Iron Throne for the previous 30 years until his death sparked a civil war involving his designated heir Rhaenyra Targaryen and his eldest son Aegon II Targaryen. The conflict might be between Rhaenyra and Aegon II, but they will not be the only ones to sit on the Iron Throne.
The iron throne seems to be everybody’s favourite chair. So far we have seen that King Viserys has sat upon the throne (rightfully), however, the first person who was shown sitting on the iron throne, briefly, was King Jahaerys Targaryen. Moreover, amongst the characters who play important roles in the formation of House of the Dragon’s storyline, Daemon Targaryen would be the first one to be shown sitting on the throne, but he wasn’t rightfully doing so, unlike his elder brother, King Viserys I Targaryen.
So apart from Viserys and his firstborn son (who lived for more than a day), Aegon II, who now sits upon the throne and King Viserys himself, who all will sit on the throne in later seasons of House of the Dragon? Well, going by the book, we have identified five such characters, excluding Jahaerys.
Viserys I Targaryen
Of course, we were shown in the opening sequence of the series that Viserys I was named heir after King Jaharys would pass. Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, who was Jahaerys’s closest kin, was not chosen heir as she was a woman.
So, Viserys sits on the iron throne and names his eldest daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen as heir. However during his death, he blabbers about Aegon The Conqueror’s dream, and Alicent Hightower misunderstands him and thinks he wanted their firstborn son, Aegon II to be his heir.
Aegon II Targaryen
We all saw how shortly after Viserys’ death, Otto Hightower and his team conspired to place Aegon II as king. Even though Alicent’s misunderstanding of Viserys’ words was certainly helpful, Otto would have placed Aegon as king either way.
Aegon II did not want to be king until he liked the fact that people were cheering him. Now it appears that he liked the fame and vanity more than actually ruling and ensuring the safety of his consorts. Anyway, later on in the story, he gets badly injured when he tries to ambush Rhaenys Targaryen with his brother Aemond Targaryen. Aegon II gets bedridden after that, and his brother Aemond, who does want to be king sits on the iron throne in Aegon’s stead.
Aemond ‘One-Eye’ Targaryen
Throughout the initial year of the Dance of the Dragons, King Aegon II Targaryen is incapacitated, and his brother Prince Aemond Targaryen governs on the Iron Throne in his place. Since Aemond never becomes King, he remains on the Iron Throne and bears Aegon the Conqueror’s crown as Prince Regent. Given that Aemond stated in House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 9 that he was considerably better suited to the Iron Throne than Aegon, we can guess that Aemond would actively run things in the council.
However, Aemond leaves King’s Landing temporarily as he had to leave for Harrenhal. Taking advantage of this situation, Rhaenyra and Daemon go to King’s Landing and take the iron throne.
Rhaenyra Targaryen
Upon almost three decades of patience, Rhaenyra eventually sits on her father’s throne roughly halfway through the Targaryen civil war. Rhaenyra’s placement on the throne will most presumably happen after House of the Dragon season 2. Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen reigns on the Iron Throne for around half a year before departing King’s Landing due to deadly disturbances in the city and the sad Storming of the Dragonpit. Rhaenyra finds King Aegon has been hiding in Dragonstone throughout her rule in King’s Landing. After Aegon orders his dragon Sunfyre to kill and eat Rhaneyra, as per George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood book.
Aegon ‘The Younger’ Targaryen
In season 1, episode 8 of House of the dragon, Aegon II Targaryen was introduced by Rhaenyra and Daemon, to the dying King Viserys. Nicknamed Aegon The Younger (throwback to Aegon The Conqueror), the ten-year-old boy king inherits the Iron throne in mid-131 AC.
Aegon III’s coronation would probably be the final event of House of the Dragon, so the series will end on the note that The Blacks won the civil war. Does Aegon II try t take back the throne? Well, let’s not spoil Aegon II’s story in Aegon III’s story of inheriting the iron throne. Let’s just say Aegon II ‘isn’t around,’ anymore.
