House of the Dragon Season 1 Events and Schedule Explained

House of the Dragon Season 1 has a much: It set the stage for a Targaryen civil war, tracked the waning glory days of a peacetime king, built in the story of a brief war before getting to the main event, and even tracked the dissolution of several relationships (all while forging new ones). It jumped in time with calculated abandon, with a 10-year jump between episodes 5 and 6. Given all that was packed into the first season, it would be easy to forget details here and there. Remember how important that green dress was to the shifting allegiances? Remember the crab feeder?!

You might be saying, “Oh shit, I really don’t know.” Don’t worry, it makes sense! House of the Dragon‘s time jumps make George RR Martin’s “history” of Westeros from the book Fire & Blood brought to life with equal importance. Knowing that viewers were a few months or even years ahead each week meant that the episodes could only deliver the good. game of Thrones found epic proportions in the map (which often required shortcuts to fully map it); House of the Dragon finds the same scope over time. Moreover, HBO has anticipated this. It has prepared an easy-to-follow recap video that you can watch to remind yourself of the intricacies of the first season before the premiere of the second season (as you can see above).

However, if you need a more precise timeline to know where – and more importantly – When – all this happens, we’ve got a handy guide for you. Since Rhaenyra (now Emma D’Arcy) and her story span several decades of Westeros history, it can be helpful to remember how long all of these players have been circling each other, or even just how much younger her brother/rival Aegon (now played by Tom Glynn-Carney) is than her.

Episode 1, “The Heirs of the Dragon”, cold opening

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

Martin documents the period in his A Song of Ice and Fire texts with a BC/AD equivalent called “AC,” an abbreviation for “After the Conquest.” In 1 AC, Aegon I Targaryen was crowned king after forging his way through Westeros.

House of the Dragon begins in 101 AD, 197 years before the events of game of Thrones‘ first season. There is a big scene in this time period: King Jaehaerys I Targaryen announces that after the death of his son Baelon, his new heir will not be the genealogical choice of his eldest grandchild, Princess Rhaenys, but his eldest grandson.SonPrince Viserys. What we don’t see is Jaehaerys’ death – in 103 AD, according to Fire & Blood – and pass the crown to Viserys.

Later in Episode 1, i.e. in most of “The Heirs of the Dragon”

It’s difficult to say Exactly When House of the Dragon starts, but a title card explains that the show begins nine years after the reign of King Viserys. Do the math, and we’re at about 112 AD.

At this point, Rhaenyra loses her mother (and Viserys his wife and queen), and Viserys declares Rhaenyra his heir – mainly to reject Daemon.

Episode 2, “The Villain Prince”

The series’ first time jump occurs six months, as tensions with Daemon Targaryen—not to mention the factions in the Stepstones—start to escalate. Daemon is holed up in Dragonstone with Mysaria, who he claims (read: lies) is carrying his heir, while he’s gunning for the throne. Rhaenyra sees through him and collects some dragon eggs he has. Also, everyone is trying to marry their daughters off to Viserys, but Otto Hightower ultimately manages to get his daughter (and Rhaenyra’s best friend!) Alicent engaged to him.

Episode 3, “The Second of His Name”

Three years later – around 115 AD – things are getting serious in the Stepstones. Whatever was said about war in Episode 2 has degenerated into real violence when Prince Daemon wipes out the Crabfeeder with the help of Lord Corlys Velaryon. This is also the time when Alicent Hightower is heavily pregnant with her and Viserys’ first child, who we will finally see as a more worthy heir to the throne after the next time jump.

Episode 4, “King of the Strait”

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

The time jump in episode 4 is a little unclear, but we know that Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen has been pushed to find a husband and has spent at least a couple of months since Daemon’s triumph looking for someone worthy of her effort. This is also when Daemon and Rhaenyra have a little fling. This is where the show diverges from Martin’s Fire & Blood Timeline in which Daemon declared himself King of the Narrow Sea around 109 AD.

Episode 5, “We light the way”

House of the Dragon and its source material split further in Episode 5. Most of Daemon’s heroic deeds in Fire & Blood are set around 115 AD, but when we see the troubled guy again, probably around 114 AD in the series, he is already staging the untimely death of his new wife Lady Rhea Royce. We also see Rhaenyra’s wedding to Ser Laenor Velaryon, which was moved forward in time compared to the books. But Condal has arranged everything so that the story is easier to digest for the big jump…

Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen”

Halfway from House of the DragonThe first season makes a time jump of 10 years (confirmed when Laenor says: “And I have faithfully played my role here… for 10 years”) to about 124 AE Fire & Blood

Episode 7, “Driftmark”

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

This episode picks up more or less exactly where the last episode left off, as it is time for Laena Velaryon’s funeral. (She is the daughter of Corlys and Rhaenys and wife and mother of Aemond.) The family! is fighting! Not as bad as they will of course, but after Aemond gets a dragon and loses an eye, the Targaryen family is on edge. Viserys does his best to keep people from fighting, but Alicent and Rhaenyra are still suffering.

Episode 8, “The Lord of the Tides”

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

The calm before the storm, “The Lord of the Tides,” begins six years after “Driftmark,” around 130 AD. Both Rhaenyra and Alicent’s children are grown, and Viserys is almost fully grown—in fact, he dies in this episode. Unfortunately, his death comes just moments after Alicent and Rhaenyra are about to bury the hatchet, and seconds after Alicent misunderstands Viserys’ final words and mistakenly believes he has named Aegon king after all.

Episode 9, “The Green Council”

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

This happens the day after the last episode, so there is Really no time jump. But a lot happens here: The Hightowers, Criston Cole, and the others conspire to put Aegon on the throne before anyone outside the titular rebellious council knows what’s going on. Rhaenys is captured but escapes thanks to the help of a twin in the Kingsguard and refuses to burn Team Green alive with her dragon, but makes her way to Dragonstone to tell Rhaenyra what happened here.

Episode 10, “The Black Queen”

Image: HBO

Once again, House of the Dragon avoids time jumps in favor of an immediate response. Although some time has passed since the events of “The Green Council” compared to the jump between the last episodes, “The Black Queen” picks up more or less directly from Episode 9, with the Green and Black teams each trying to gather support (and capture more dragons) in the Seven Kingdoms.

This leads to Aemond accidentally killing Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys and essentially becoming a mature War, which becomes the main event of the series – and brings us up to speed in Season 2!