Quick answer: Rhaegar Targaryen was about 25 years older than his sister Daenerys — he was born in 259 AC, she was born in 284 AC, and he died at the Trident months before her birth. They never met, never shared a room, and yet he shaped her entire life. See them side by side on the family tree.
The Timeline, Laid Out
| Event | Year (AC) | Rhaegar’s Age | Daenerys’s Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhaegar born at Summerhall | 259 | 0 | — |
| Rhaegar marries Elia Martell | ~280 | ~21 | — |
| Viserys (middle sibling) born | 276 | 17 | — |
| Harrenhal tourney — crowns Lyanna | 281 | 22 | — |
| Runs off with Lyanna; Rebellion begins | 282 | 23 | — |
| Rhaegar killed at the Trident | 283 | 24 | Not yet born |
| Daenerys born on Dragonstone | 284 | Dead | 0 |
Notice the gap where the middle brother sits: Viserys, born 276 AC, is seventeen years younger than Rhaegar and eight years older than Daenerys. Three siblings, spread across a quarter-century, and the eldest was dead before the youngest drew breath.
Wait — How Were They Even Siblings?
Fair question, because 25 years is a suspiciously wide spread. The answer is simple and bleak: Aerys II and Rhaella had a long, miserable, mostly estranged marriage punctuated by miscarriages, stillbirths, and infants who didn’t live. Rhaegar was the healthy firstborn; Viserys arrived seventeen years later; Daenerys was conceived late — during the rebellion itself — after one of Aerys’s increasingly rare visits to his wife’s bed.
Daenerys was born nine months after Rhaegar’s death, on Dragonstone, in the middle of the worst storm in living memory — hence “Daenerys Stormborn.” Her mother Rhaella died in childbirth. Her first home was lost within days. Her inheritance was a wooden chest, a smuggler named Willem Darry, and a brother — Viserys — who would grow up to sell her to a Dothraki warlord.
So no, she never met Rhaegar. She grew up on stories of him instead: the perfect prince, the lost heir, everything Viserys claimed the family used to be. Barristan Selmy eventually gave her the more complicated truth. Both were right.
The Beautiful, Tragic Irony
Here’s the part that gets us every time. Rhaegar spent his final years obsessed with prophecy — “the dragon must have three heads” — certain his children would save the world. He died never knowing that:
- His third child was on the way (Jon, by Lyanna — the boy who’d actually face the darkness).
- The sibling he’d never meet would hatch the first dragons in 150 years.
- And his little sister Daenerys would name one of those dragons Rhaegal — for the brother who was gone before she existed.
Twenty-five years apart. Never met. Still family in the only way this family knows how: completely, catastrophically intertwined. Watch it play out on the full Targaryen family tree.
FAQ
How much older was Rhaegar than Daenerys?
About 25 years. Rhaegar was born 259 AC; Daenerys 284 AC.
Did Rhaegar and Daenerys ever meet?
No. Rhaegar was killed at the Trident in 283 AC, months before Daenerys was born on Dragonstone in 284 AC.
How old was Rhaegar when he died?
24. Born 259 AC, killed 283 AC at the ruby ford by Robert Baratheon.
Is Daenerys named after anyone?
Her dragon Rhaegal is named for Rhaegar — and Viserion for Viserys, the brother who sold her. (The third, Drogon, for her husband. Dany’s naming scheme was 100% family tree.)
Who was older, Jon Snow or Daenerys?
Jon — by roughly a year. He was born around 283 AC, she in 284 AC, which makes her the younger aunt. More on that particular headache: How Is Jon Snow Related to Daenerys?