Both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon feature characters who participate in incestuous relationships for a variety of different reasons. The most infamous families where incest is predominantly practiced are the Targaryens and Lannisters, the latter of which is more taboo in the context of Game of Thrones‘ world. On the contrary, the Targaryens’ incestuous relationships represent a higher standard in a royal family that suffers from possible extinction. In both cases, among others in Game of Thrones, the presence of incest draws uncomfortable and morally confusing emotions within viewers.
Updated on August 30, 2024, by Katie Doll: Incest is a controversial, but common topic in the A Song of Ice and Fire universe. It’s often used as a plot device to propel the stakes of ruining a family’s legacy or expand on an ancient house’s normalized traditions. But as much incest as there is in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, those shows only touched the surface of what’s in George R. R. Martin’s books.
The Targaryens Married Each Other for Purity
Notable Incestuous Targaryen Relationships
How They’re Related
Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen
Uncle and niece
Aegon II and Helaena Targaryen
Brother and sister
Viserys I Targaryen and Aemma Arryn
First cousins
Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)
Aunt and nephew
The Targaryen family practices incest more than any other house in both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. The seeds were planted in Game of Thrones’ final two seasons when Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow became romantically involved. The revelation that they were aunt and nephew wasn’t a moral concern for Daenerys, but rather that there would be a possibility she wouldn’t have a claim to the Iron Throne. Given that the Targaryens were nearly extinct by the events of Game of Thrones, non-Targaryens openly expressed their revulsion for their incestuous culture, citing it as a practice that should stay in the past and not be revisited.
Incest has always been widely condemned by the Faith of the Seven, the most dominant religion in Westeros. But nearly 200 years ago, incest wasn’t as taboo in Westeros. This is due to the Targaryens’ ruling power, which not only normalized incest but commended it as a sign of ethnic superiority. The Targaryens were the last Valyrian dragonlords in the world. Dragons were the source of their power, and without them, Targaryens were just like the Starks, Lannisters or Martells, which couldn’t stand.
To secure the dragonriding ability of the Valyrians so that it would continue for generations, the Targaryens wed each other. This could either be uncles to nieces, like Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, or siblings, like Aegon II and Helaena. To allow incestuous marriages between Targaryens, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen created the Doctrine of Exceptionalism with the Faith of the Seven. The doctrine exempted Targaryens from the Faith’s disapproval of incest because they were closer to gods than men, and Valyrian traditions were different from Andal beliefs.
Targaryens rarely wed outside their own house because they believed their blood would be “tainted” by other families’ blood. The exception to this was the Velaryons, who were also of Valyrian heritage but didn’t ride dragons. There came a time when Targaryens stopped marrying each other for political and superstitious reasons. After the Dance of the Dragons, the dragons began dying off and the Targaryens initiated more wars that caused the bloodline to weaken. They eventually began wedding Martells to bring Dorne into the Seven Kingdoms and married other houses for political gain. Aegon V believed that the Targaryens’ culture of inbreeding was dangerous, which supported the widespread belief that generations of heavy incest created “Targaryen madness.”
Cersei and Jaime Lannister Were Bonded by Toxic Love
Notable Incestuous Lannister Relationships
How They’re Related
Jaime and Cersei Lannister
Twins
Tywin Lannister and Joanna Lannister
First cousins
Incest was a more disapproving practice during the events of Game of Thrones, which takes place nearly 200 years after House of the Dragon. Whereas incest is more accepted in House of the Dragon by its viewers due to pure acceptance of the Targaryens’ strange lifestyle, it didn’t sit well with Game of Thrones fans, just as it was intended. Looking at the series from a wider lens, Jaime and Cersei’s incestuous relationship was the catalyst for almost every event in Game of Thrones. The twins were caught having sexual relations with Bran Stark, who was pushed out of the window by Jaime in an attempt to keep the relationship a secret. The assassination attempt failed, which caused a domino effect of more deaths and conflicts between families.
The nature of Jaime and Cersei’s relationship is rarely written as charming forbidden love. The twins are constantly at the risk of destroying their own house by being together — a matter that greatly concerns their father, Tywin. The Lannister reputation is that of being fierce, strong and superior to other houses. An incestuous relationship would tarnish all the work Tywin did to get his blood on the Iron Throne. The most extreme consequence of their relationship is their oldest son, Joffrey, who is an unapologetic murderer entertained by the torture of his subjects. There comes a time when even Cersei believes that Joffrey is the price she has to pay for romantically loving Jaime as if she’s being cursed by the gods.
The Nature of Incest Beyond the Wall
Notable Incestuous Free Folk Relationships
How They’re Related
Craster and his wives (including Gilly)
Father and daughters
Incest isn’t just limited to the Targaryens and Lannisters. In Season 2 of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow and other members of Castle Black meet a member of the Free Folk named Craster. Although he opens his home to scouting parties, it comes at the cost of tolerating Craster having sex with his daughters. Just like Jaime and Cersei, Craster’s tradition of marrying his daughters when they come of age is embellished as unsavory.
Craster is an abusive, foul character who presents himself as the king of his own home and his daughters are his playthings. He’s simplified as a disgusting man who takes pleasure in being the only man in his home, seeing how he responds to men of the Night’s Watch even just looking at his daughters. There are plenty of unmarried Free Folk he could marry, but the purpose of Craster is to make him one of the vilest characters possible through his practice of incest.
The Scale of Acceptability for Incest in the Books
“Incestuous Stark marriages demonstrate that the Faith of the Seven and the Old Gods only characterize incest as relationships between parents and children, and brothers and sisters.”
In general, A Song of Ice and Fire‘s definition of incest is relaxed. Marriages between cousins are not only acceptable but widely practiced, and avunculate marriages (uncle/aunt with niece/nephew relationships) are less common but not entirely objected to. A more recent example of tolerable incest is Tywin Lannister and his former wife Joanna Lannister, who were both first cousins. Their blood relation is specified in the books, whereas in the show it’s left out, possibly to increase the taboo nature of Cersei and Jaime’s relationship within the family.
Another prominent house that is strongly opposed to incest in the show is House Stark, except for Jon Snow’s relationship with his aunt Daenerys Targaryen. Despite being a Northern house that thrives on individualistic values separated from Southern cultures, the Starks share similar ideals that incest is wrong. But over a century ago, there were two recorded instances of avunculate marriages within the Stark family: Serena Stark with her half-uncle Edric, and Sansa Stark with her half-uncle Jonnel Stark. More recently, Game of Thrones‘ Sansa Stark was betrothed to her cousin Robin Arryn, and it was never regarded as unacceptable. Incestuous Stark marriages demonstrate that the Faith of the Seven and the Old Gods only characterize incest as relationships between parents and children, and brothers and sisters.
Game of Thrones Is a Fantastical View of Bizarre History
“The presence of incest in these shows provides interesting implications for cultural clashes between houses and repercussions of ethnic supremacy.”
Both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are fictitious interpretations of real-life historical dynasties that reigned hundreds to thousands of years ago. The Ptolemaic dynasty regularly married siblings as a way to preserve the purity of royal bloodlines, as did the House of Habsburg with cousins, uncles and nieces. The consequences of generations of inbreeding aren’t as extreme in Game of Thrones (i.e. no physical deformities appear to be present in Targaryens), but there do seem to be psychological effects, like Targaryen madness and Joffrey’s erratic personality. The presence of incest in these shows provides interesting implications for cultural clashes between houses and the repercussions of ethnic supremacy. But it also creates off-screen discourse about the acceptance of immoral practices on television.
Despite their blood relations, viewers actively ship Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen, accepting that incest is par for the course of a show solely focused on Targaryens. The act of shipping them has led to fascinating conversations about blurring the line between real-life morals and fictional morals. For some, romanticizing incest is crossing the line too far. For others, it means Martin’s world is so engrossing that they can’t help but absorb themselves into it, drawing a clear distinction between Game of Thrones‘ values and their own. At the end of the day, incest in House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones will always be a disturbing factor in these stories, but that’s fitting for the messed-up world of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Games of Thrones Seasons 1-8 and House of the Dragon Seasons 1-2 are available to stream on Max.
