New Now covering A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, from Maekar to Egg
Family Tree Targaryen
Relationship finder

How are any two Targaryens related?

Pick two people. The finder shows every relationship between them, because in this family there is very often more than one.

Choose two people to see how they are related.
Try one

Why the shortest answer is the wrong answer here

Every other relationship calculator for this family returns one result: the closest connection it can find. For an ordinary family tree that is fine. For this one it throws away the interesting half of the answer.

Ask about Daemon and Rhaenyra and a shortest-path tool says uncle and niece and stops. It is also true that they were husband and wife, that their children are therefore both his children and his great-nephews by blood, and that this is the exact arrangement Jon and Daenerys repeat one hundred and seventy years later. The multiplicity is the point.

The pairs people ask about most

About the relationship finder

Why does one pair sometimes have more than one relationship?

Because the Targaryens married their own relatives for three hundred years. Daemon and Rhaenyra are uncle and niece and also husband and wife. Most relationship calculators show only the shortest path, which hides exactly the thing that makes this family confusing.

How is the relationship worked out?

The finder walks up both family lines to every ancestor they share, then measures how many generations each person stands from that ancestor. Two steps up and two down is a first cousin. Two up and one down is an aunt or uncle.

Why does it stop at the closest shared ancestor?

Because tracing further back just restates the same connection. Jon and Daenerys share Aerys II, which makes them nephew and aunt. They also share Aegon V, but reporting that as a second cousinhood on top would be describing one relationship twice.

Does it include disputed parentage?

Yes, using the parentage of record. Jon Snow is treated as Rhaegar and Lyanna’s son and Rhaenyra’s eldest three as Laenor’s, with both disputes flagged on the relevant pages.