What happens to Alicent's children in House of the Dragon?

By the end of season 1, the children of these two characters will create two factions in a civil war, the "Greens" and the "Blacks", and this will be the main war of House of the Dragon, the Dance of the Dragons.

Alicent Hightower

In House of the Dragon, the character has a morally gray nature — she can be both good and evil at once — and her portrayal in the series created a clearer picture than her descriptions in George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood.

In six episodes, we practically witnessed the villain origin story of Alicent. Starting as the best friend of Princess Rhaenyra, and becoming the naive young wife of the king. Until ten years later, she's a cruel and petty stepmother who forces her stepdaughter to climb a massive staircase right after giving birth to a child.

Since the series focuses on the Targaryens, it's biased toward them, and thus portrays Alicent as a villain. However, the series did a good job showing the audience Queen Alicent's motivation, giving fans a chance to feel sympathy for the future matriarch of the Greens.

This week's episode showed that the seed Otto Hightower planted in Alicent's mind has grown, leaving the queen completely convinced that Rhaenyra will kill her children to become queen.

And while this assumption might be true, Rhaenyra still hasn't shown any malicious intent toward her half-siblings. Alicent and her husband Viserys had four children together — learn more about them below:

Aegon Targaryen

Aegon is Alicent's firstborn, first appearing in episode 3 of House of the Dragon as a baby.

And now he's appeared again, this time as a teenager portrayed by Ty Tennant. As the firstborn son of King Viserys, his very existence challenges Rhaenyra's inheritance of the Iron Throne.

House of the Dragon appears to be following the character's transition as described in the book: initially he was apathetic to the crown, as it was his sister's right, until his mother, Alicent, and grandfather, Otto, change his mindset to make him believe his family is in danger if Rhaenyra becomes queen.

So when Aegon's father dies, the Green Council quickly crowns Aegon as King, which causes Rhaenyra to react with hatred, crowning herself queen at Dragonstone.

The Dance of the Dragons began diplomatically, with each great house simply supporting one side. It only became a bloodbath when Rhaenyra's second son, Lucerys, was killed while delivering a plea for peace.

During the war, Aegon entered numerous battles against other dragon riders, all to ensure he remained King of the Seven Kingdoms.

The most notable of these battles was his duel against Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, daughter of Daemon, and her dragon Meleys, who fought alongside dragons Aemond, Sunfyre, and Vhagar.

Despite winning the battle, Aegon suffered great losses and was unable to walk for the rest of his life.

Thus, his reign was divided into two parts: the early days of war before Rhaenyra took King's Landing by force, and the restoration of his reign after Rhaenyra's death.

However, Aegon II's second reign lasts only six months, as the throne is soon usurped by his nephew, Aegon III. And King Aegon II dies after his own men poison him.

Helaena Targaryen

Helaena is one of the characters who meets a tragic end, comparable to the Red Wedding in GoT.

She is a dragon rider, and her mount is Dreamfyre. In Fire & Blood, she is described as a pleasant and cheerful woman who dreams of being a mother.

Following tradition, she marries her brother, Aegon, and becomes queen, like her mother Alicent. The couple has three children together: twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, and their younger son, Maelor.

But after Aemond kills Lucerys, Prince Daemon decides to retaliate by sending assassins to kill one of Aegon's children.

In one of the towers of the Red Keep, assassins Blood and Cheese find Queen Helaena and her children, and force her to choose which child must die — Jaehaerys or Maelor.

Helaena is torn by the cruel choice, and Blood threatens to rape her daughter if she delays too long. In the end, the queen chooses to sacrifice her youngest son, Maelor, thinking he won't remember anything.

But the cruel assassins kill Jaehaerys instead. Helaena goes mad with grief and guilt, knowing her son Maelor learned that his mother wanted him dead. Thus, in 130 AC, Helaena commits suicide by jumping from Maegor's Fortress.

Aemond Targaryen

Like his older siblings, Aemond is a dragon rider, and he mounts the fearsome Vhagar.

After his aunt Laena's death, Aemond decides to claim Vhagar for himself due to his family's constant mocking. But when Joffrey discovers that Aemond plans to ride Vhagar, he spreads the word to his older siblings, and they all get into a bloody fight that leaves Aemond losing one of his eyes.

This incident increased the hatred Aemond felt toward Rhaenyra and her children. And perhaps because of this, he is the first to kill in the Dance of the Dragons, assassinating Lucerys and his dragon, Arrax, in an aerial battle during a storm.

His actions create terrible repercussions, and Aemond becomes a relentless warrior, much like his uncle Daemon Targaryen.

After Aegon II is wounded in battle against Rhaenys, Aemond takes the position of heir to the throne, being named Prince Regent. He comments that the crown suits him better than his brother.

Aemond is one of the main fighters in the war, spending almost all his time trying to kill his uncle Daemon, who is the main threat to the Blacks.

But in 130 AC, Aemond and Daemon battle in a dragon duel, which became known as the Battle of the God's Eye. It ends with Daemon killing his nephew, stabbing him with Dark Sister where his lost eye should have been.

Daeron Targaryen

Alicent's youngest child, Daeron was born the same year as Rhaenyra's firstborn son, Jacaerys Velaryon.

He is a dragon rider and mounts Tessarion. Episode 6 of House of the Dragon showed all of his older siblings, but he appears to have been entirely cut from the show.

Being the same age as Jacaerys, his father, King Viserys, has the two share the same wet nurse, hoping they will become like brothers.

But this does nothing — Daeron holds the same hostility toward the Blacks and his half-sister Rhaenyra as his relatives.

In the Battle of the Honeywine, Daeron fights boldly and helps his uncle Ormund Hightower win the fight. As a reward for his efforts, he is named a knight with the Valyrian sword Vigilance, earning the title Daeron the Daring.

In the fight between Aemond and Daemon, Aemond prevents his brother Daeron from fighting with him, wanting all the glory for himself.

Daeron then stays with Ormund's army and becomes their dragon raider, destroying all territories that refuse to submit to the Greens.

His death is relatively unknown — the only detail that survived in the story is that he died sometime during the Second Battle of Tumbleton.