Quick answer: Helaena Targaryen (born 109 AC) was Aegon II’s sister, wife and queen, the rider of the dragon Dreamfyre, and the mother of the children caught up in the Blood and Cheese murders. In the books she is a happy girl who is broken by grief. In House of the Dragon she is also a prophet whose cryptic remarks keep coming true, a gift the show invented. Both versions end in tragedy: she threw herself from a window in Maegor’s Holdfast in 130 AC, aged twenty-one.
The Dreamer in the Green Court
In a family of ambition, Helaena stood apart. The only daughter of King Viserys I and Queen Alicent, she was dreamy and kind, devoted to her small children and to her dragon Dreamfyre, whom she rode from the age of eleven. At thirteen, in 122 AC, she married her brother Aegon II. About a year later she bore twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, and in 127 AC a third child, Maelor.
Fire & Blood does not give her prophetic powers. The show does, and George R. R. Martin has said he is comfortable with the change. The Targaryens’ dream-gift is a family trait that runs from Daenys the Dreamer through Daeron the Drunken, so the idea is in keeping with the family’s history.
Helaena’s Prophecies in the Show
None of these appear in the books. They are the show’s way of making the war’s dread visible a step ahead of events.
| What Helaena says (paraphrased) | What it points to |
|---|---|
| Aemond will have to lose sight in one eye (Season 1, Episode 6) | Aemond claims Vhagar and later loses an eye to Lucerys |
| A reference to a hand turning a loom with green and black spools (Season 1, Laena’s funeral) | The family splitting into Green and Black, with Otto Hightower as the hand |
| A warning about a beast beneath the floorboards (Season 1, Episode 8) | Rhaenys and Meleys bursting through the Dragonpit at Aegon’s coronation |
| A fear of rats rather than dragons (Season 2, Episode 1) | Blood and Cheese, who hunt the family in the Red Keep |
| Aegon will be king again, on a wooden throne (Season 2 finale) | Aegon ruling from a wooden seat after his injury |
| Aemond will be swallowed in the Gods Eye and never seen again (Season 2 finale) | Aemond’s fate in the duel with Daemon over the Gods Eye |
Read down the table and the show’s point lands: the court calls her odd, and events keep grading her correct.
Blood and Cheese
The war’s most infamous murder found her directly. In the books, Daemon hired assassins, later known as Blood and Cheese, to avenge Lucerys. They bound Alicent, killed her bedmaid and took Helaena and her children hostage. They told Helaena to choose which of her sons would die. She offered herself and was refused. After the killers threatened to have her daughter assaulted, she chose Maelor, the youngest. The assassins killed Jaehaerys instead.
The series changes the scene: Helaena tries to bribe them, then names her heir, Jaehaerys, and he is killed while she flees with her daughter.
Her End
When Rhaenyra’s forces took King’s Landing in 130 AC, Helaena was taken captive. Her youngest, Maelor, was killed at Bitterbridge, and his head was sent to Rhaenyra. Roughly half a year into her captivity, several days after the Battle Above the Gods Eye, Helaena jumped from a window in Maegor’s Holdfast and died on the spikes below. George R. R. Martin has said that hearing of Maelor’s death drove her to suicide.
The night she died, Dreamfyre snapped two chains and roared loudly enough to shake the Dragonpit. In the riot that followed, the smallfolk stormed the pit and killed Dreamfyre. For what that riot meant for the war, see who won the Dance of the Dragons. For Helaena’s surviving daughter, see Aegon III, who married Jaehaera.
Helaena Targaryen at a Glance
| Detail | Record |
|---|---|
| Born | 109 AC |
| Parents | Viserys I and Alicent Hightower |
| Husband | Aegon II (her brother), married 122 AC |
| Children | Jaehaerys and Jaehaera (twins), Maelor (127 AC) |
| Dragon | Dreamfyre |
| Died | 130 AC, aged 21, in Maegor’s Holdfast |
FAQ
Was Helaena a dragon dreamer?
In House of the Dragon, yes: her cryptic remarks keep coming true. In Fire & Blood she has no prophetic gift; the show invented it.
What did Helaena’s prophecies mean?
The show uses them to foreshadow events: Aemond losing an eye, the Black Queen’s dragon bursting through the Dragonpit at the coronation, Blood and Cheese in the Red Keep, and later the fates of Aegon and Aemond.
How does Helaena die?
In the books she jumps from a window in Maegor’s Holdfast in 130 AC, aged 21, after hearing that her son Maelor was killed. George R. R. Martin has confirmed it was a suicide.
Who killed Helaena’s son?
Assassins known as Blood and Cheese, hired by Daemon in revenge for Lucerys. In the books they forced her to choose between her sons, she chose Maelor, and they killed Jaehaerys instead.
Was Helaena married to her brother?
Yes. She married Aegon II in 122 AC. Their children were Jaehaerys, Jaehaera and Maelor. Jaehaera later married Aegon III. See the whole knot on the interactive Targaryen family tree.