She has been called "the face" of the television adaptation House of the Dragon,[1] and is portrayed by Australian actress Milly Alcock as a teenager and primarily by English actor Emma D'Arcy as an adult.

Her claim was challenged by her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen and ultimately usurped, leading to a war of succession for control of the Iron Throne known as the Dance of the Dragons.

[2][3] Born 97 years after Aegon's conquest, Rhaenyra was the only living child of King Viserys I Targaryen and his first wife, Queen Aemma Arryn, after the death of her infant brothers.

[4][5] Following the death of her mother and brother Baelon during childbirth, Viserys is left without a son, and names Rhaenyra as his heir to the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms and the Princess of Dragonstone.

[11] After some early Green victories during which she loses her oldest son and heir Jacaerys, Rhaenyra successfully takes over the capital of King's Landing, expelling Aegon II, but her reign is short-lived.

Her half-year rule sees her imposing harsh taxes, due to the treasury being secretly emptied by the Green's supporters, as well as her growing paranoia after the death of her husband Daemon, and summary executions of perceived traitors, triggering a violent riot in the capital.

Mobs of starved and frustrated capital citizens storm the dragonpit, killing most of the Blacks' dragons alongside her son Joffrey, forcing her to escape back to Dragonstone.

[13] House Targaryen, continuing through Rhaenyra's direct family line, reigns for the next 150 years, until it is overthrown by Robert Baratheon, leading to the events in A Game of Thrones.

[14] The Dance of the Dragons and its real-life basis, The Anarchy, are both civil wars fought between two factions claiming their legitimate right to the throne, with both campaigns starting and ending in similar manners.

Though initially seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the death of Lucerys by his uncle Aemond leads to a war of succession, as Rhaenyra is crowned queen by her faction – the Blacks.

After Criston Cole orders Arryk Cargyll to kill Rhaenyra by disguising himself as his twin Erryk, Mysaria alerts the queensguard which results in the death of both brothers as the latter tries to fend off the former.

Rhaenyra then appoints Mysaria as her advisor, sends her step-daughter Rhaena Targaryen to The Vale with dragon eggs and her youngest three sons to protect them, and tries to unsuccessfully reason with Alicent by sneaking into King's Landing.

Rhaenyra then laments about how Vermithor and Silverwing lack riders, two dragons who are large enough to face the Greens' Vhagar, after which her son Jace suggests searching other noble houses for Targaryen descendants.

Distraught, Rhaenyra confides in Mysaria, who had previously convinced her to send boats of food to the starving people of King's Landing to garner support, and the two share a kiss.

[30][31] ComicBook.com called her "layered", "richly human", and "fierce" and In 2022 named her the best female TV character of the year with writer Nicole Drum stating, "over the course of the season, fans saw Rhaenrya deal with love, betrayal, intrigue, politics, heartbreak, and loss and it's a range of experiences that D'Arcy brought to life with sometimes gut-wrenching authenticity.

From birth until the walk, the entire sequence was a single take, however, D'Arcy never wavered or broke character while still convincingly portraying Rhaenyra's misery and proving to be a tough opponent in the game.

"[35] In October 2022, Google created an Easter Egg animation of a Negroni Sbagliato after D'Arcy referred to it as their favourite drink in a viral interview with Olivia Cooke for HBO Max.

As their face scrunches up to try and hold tears at bay, I couldn’t help but think that this is perhaps the best performance in anything related to “A Song of Ice and Fire” since the early seasons of “Game of Thrones.”[37] The episode The Red Sowing was specifically singled out, with James Hunt of ScreenRant and Kayleigh Dray of The A.V.