Quick answer: Rhaegar Targaryen was the eldest son of the Mad King Aerys II, heir to the Iron Throne, and — though nobody knew it until it was far too late — the true father of Jon Snow. In the Targaryen family tree, he sits at the single most explosive junction in the entire dynasty: one generation above the story you actually watched.
| Born | 259 AC, at Summerhall (on the day it burned) |
| Died | 283 AC, at the Trident — caved in by Robert Baratheon’s warhammer |
| Parents | King Aerys II & Queen Rhaella (siblings, because of course) |
| Siblings | Viserys and Daenerys — yes, he was Dany’s big brother |
| Married | Elia Martell (officially) · Lyanna Stark (secretly, in the show) |
| Children | Rhaenys, Aegon (with Elia) · Jon Snow — born “Aegon” (with Lyanna) |
Who Was Rhaegar Targaryen?
Ask anyone in Westeros who wasn’t a Baratheon and they’ll tell you the same thing: Rhaegar was the prince. Silver-haired, violet-eyed, sang so beautifully he made grown women weep at tourneys, and — annoyingly — also the best swordsman of his generation once he decided to bother. Ser Barristan Selmy, who knew basically everyone, called him the finest man he’d ever met.
The tragic part? He never wanted any of it. Young Rhaegar was a bookworm who barely touched a sword until the day he read something in an old scroll, walked into the yard, and announced he needed to become a warrior. Whatever he read — almost certainly the prophecy of the prince that was promised — rewired his entire life. He went from scrolls to lances, married for politics, and eventually decided the fate of the world required him to run off with a Stark girl.
Which brings us to the small matter of the war.
Elia Martell: The Wife Westeros Forgot
Let’s give Elia her due, because the story rarely does. Rhaegar married Princess Elia Martell of Dorne around 280 AC — a political match that sealed Dorne’s loyalty to the crown. She was frail, half-Dornish summers of her life spent being underestimated, and she gave him two children: Rhaenys and Aegon. The births nearly killed her; the maesters told Rhaegar she could never bear another.
Keep that detail in your pocket. It matters later, because “the dragon must have three heads” — and Rhaegar believed he needed a third child his wife couldn’t survive giving him.
The Tourney at Harrenhal (281 AC): Where It All Went Wrong
The greatest tourney ever held. Rhaegar won it, of course — unhorsing everyone including Ser Barristan in the final tilt. And then came the moment: instead of crowning his own wife, he rode past Elia and laid the crown of winter roses — blue as frost — in Lyanna Stark’s lap, naming her the Queen of Love and Beauty.
Every lord in the stands went silent. Her betrothed, Robert Baratheon, reportedly laughed it off and seethed about it for the rest of his life. Her brother Brandon had to be physically restrained. And somewhere in the crowd, the seeds of Robert’s Rebellion were officially planted.
One year later, Rhaegar and Lyanna vanished together. Brandon Stark rode to King’s Landing screaming for Rhaegar to come out and die; the Mad King obliged by murdering Brandon and his father. The realm caught fire.
Book vs. Show: How Did Rhaegar and Lyanna Actually End Up Together?
Here’s where we have to split the timeline, because the books and Game of Thrones tell it differently:
- In the show: Rhaegar had his marriage to Elia annulled, married Lyanna in a secret ceremony, and their son — the boy Ned Stark renamed Jon Snow — was born a legitimate Targaryen heir. His birth name: Aegon.
- In the books: No annulment has been confirmed. What we know is that Rhaegar “kidnapped” Lyanna (almost certainly consensual — the woman named her direwolf-adjacent child nothing, but she did name the flowers), hid her in the Tower of Joy in Dorne, and left three Kingsguard to protect her. What the show made explicit, the books still leave smoldering.
Either way, the result is the same: Jon Snow is a Targaryen, and Rhaegar never lived to know it.
The Prophecy Problem
Rhaegar was obsessed with the prince that was promised — the hero destined to wake dragons from stone and face the darkness. For years he thought it was him. Later he decided it was his son Aegon, telling anyone who’d listen that “his is the song of ice and fire” (Daenerys sees this vision of him in the House of the Undying). He spoke of the dragon having three heads — three riders, three children.
He died believing he’d set the pieces in place. And here’s the delicious irony: he was right. The prince who faced the darkness was his hidden son by Lyanna. The man who doomed his dynasty for love may have saved the world by doing it. Prophecy is like that in this universe — it never reads the way you think.
Death at the Trident (283 AC)
The Battle of the Trident was the decisive clash of Robert’s Rebellion, and it came down to single combat: the dragon prince against the storm lord. They met in the ford of the river, on horseback, and Robert Baratheon — seven feet of grief and fury — put a warhammer through Rhaegar’s chest with a blow so hard it shattered the rubies on his armor into the water. Soldiers from both armies stopped fighting to scrabble for them. It’s still called the ruby ford.
Rhaegar’s last word, per Barristan Selmy: a woman’s name. Take a guess which one.
With him died the Targaryen cause. Within the year, King’s Landing was sacked, Elia and her children were murdered by Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch, and the dynasty that had ruled for nearly 300 years was reduced to two children on a boat — Viserys and a newborn Daenerys. Rhaegar never even knew his little sister existed; she was born months after his death. (We did the math on that — see Rhaegar and Daenerys’s age gap.)
Rhaegar’s Place in the Family Tree
Aerys II "the Mad King" ═ Rhaella
│
┌─────────────┼──────────────┐
Rhaegar Viserys Daenerys
│
═ Elia Martell · ═ Lyanna Stark (show: annulment + secret marriage)
│ │
Rhaenys, Aegon Jon Snow (born "Aegon")
(both murdered in
the Sack of KL)Every living (and dead) Targaryen storyline flows through this junction. Explore it branch by branch on the full interactive family tree.
FAQ
Was Rhaegar Targaryen married to Lyanna Stark?
In the show, yes — his marriage to Elia Martell was annulled and he married Lyanna secretly, making Jon Snow legitimate. In the books, no marriage has been confirmed, though almost no readers believe the “kidnapping” was one.
How did Rhaegar Targaryen die?
Robert Baratheon killed him in single combat at the Battle of the Trident in 283 AC, smashing his chest with a warhammer at the ford now called the ruby ford.
Who are Rhaegar Targaryen’s children?
Rhaenys and Aegon, with Elia Martell — both murdered during the Sack of King’s Landing — and Jon Snow (born Aegon Targaryen), with Lyanna Stark.
How is Rhaegar related to Daenerys?
He’s her older brother — about 25 years older. Daenerys was born months after Rhaegar died, so they never met.
Did Rhaegar know about Jon Snow?
He knew Lyanna was pregnant and believed the child was part of the prophecy — but he died at the Trident before Jon was born. He never met his son.
Why did Rhaegar crown Lyanna at Harrenhal?
Officially, love. Underneath, almost certainly prophecy — he believed he needed a third child (“the dragon must have three heads”) and Elia couldn’t bear one safely. In this family, those two explanations are never mutually exclusive.