This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season One and George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood novel.
Jacaerys Velaryon is thefirstborn son of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryenin HBO’s Game of Throne’s prequel seriesHouse of the Dragon. He is the second-in-line heir to his family throne, but thecircumstances of his bloodlineare threatening not only his claim to the throne, but his very life and the lives of hissiblings, Lucerys and Joffrey.
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With civil war brewing among the houses of Westeros, Jacaerys Velaryon and the truth behind his and his siblings' conception may only add fuel to thegrowing political fire. Here’s everything we currently know about the male heir to the throne of the Targaryens.
Jacaerys Velaryon And His Siblings
Jacaerys Velaryon first appeared alongside his many siblings and half-siblings inepisode 6, helping his infant brother Joffery bond with his dragon by placing its egg in his brother’s cradle while he slept. Thethree brothers bare no resemblance to their father, Laenor Velaryon, but they do resemble, and have a close relationship to,Ser Harwin Strong, leader of the City Watch. Their cousins and siblings – Aegon, Viserys, Rhaena, and Baela Targaryen – all more closely resemble their father’s bloodline withstark-white hairand his darker skin complexion. Jacaerys is not unaware of this, and he confronts his mother about his status as a bastard child afterHarwin assaults Ser Criston Colein public over the accusation and issent away back to Harrenhal. Queen Targaryen only says that he is a Targaryen, and that is all that matters.
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During the funeral procession for Laena Velaryon, Jacaerys comforts Baela and Rhaena while they mourn, he himself saddened that he cannot mourn thedeaths of Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin, who perished in ahouse firethat, unknown to them, wasorchestrated by Lord Larys Strong.
Following a fight withAemond Targaryen, half-brother to Queen Targaryen that ended withJacaerys bleedingfrom a blow to the head andAemond losing an eyeto Lucerys, all the children are brought before King Viserys and their parents and families in the throne room. The accusations of their status as bastard children are laid bare, and arguing among the family ensues, culminating inQueen Alicent Hightowertrying to cut one of the Velaryon sibling’s eyes out to even the damages done to Aemond, only cutting Rhaenyra’s arm before being restrained.
Following the alleged death andfuneral for their legal father Laenor, which left the breaking family even more troubled, Jacaerys and Luke joined their cousins Baela and Rhaena to attend thewedding of Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen.
With thedeath of King Viserysand a breakaway group of the houses, called The Greens, seizing power and appointing Aegon II as king, Jacaerys and his family are on theprecipice of open war, made all but certain whenAemond kills Lucerysin a bout of rage during negotiations between their factions.
Will Jacaerys Claim The Throne?
While growing political tension and his known status as a bastard child to his fellow elites, Jacaerys' chances prior to the season one finale were shaky. With his mother, Queen Rhaenyra, taking her father’s crown and intending to keep her side of the family in power, nowdriven by the death of her younger son, Jacaerys' claim to the throne is now blocked by a wall of warfare, deception, and the stability of the seven kingdoms itself. With his half of the family trying tomaintain his mother’s legitimacyto the throne compared to Alicent’s placement of Aemond to the position, Jacaerys will likely have to wait a long, long time before the opportunity to claim the throne as his own becomes viable – if he lives that long.
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In the George R.R. Martin novelFire & Blood, Jacaerysdoes not liveto see the end of the fighting. His dragon crashes over the waters of an opposing fleet of ships, and he is subsequentlyshot to death by crossbow boltswhile clutching onto nearby ship debris. His body was not recovered, and his death only hardened his mother’s resolve to see this conflict through to the end. Whether Jacerys is destined to meet the same violent and explosive end as his book counterpart, or if something different awaits him, is something fans will have to wait and see for themselves.Season 2of HBO’s House of the Dragon is set to beginfilming in early 2023, so fans of Jacaerys and his family’s plight will have to wait until later that year or early into 2024 to see how history unfolds.
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