Who Are the Greens and the Blacks on 'House of the Dragon'?

House of the Dragon should theoretically be easier to follow than Game of Thrones was. It’s about two branches of the same family, and there are only two sides you can be on: Green or Black. The early days of GoT followed the War of the Five Kings, so it follows that dealing with just two monarchs should be easy, right?

Wrong, because nothing is ever easy in Westeros. Targaryen naming conventions mean that multiple HOTD characters have the same name, and nearly all of them have at least one “ae” diphthong. The colors also don’t really help, given that the Greens’ chosen shade is so dark it’s almost black, and both sides are still using the Targaryen three-headed dragon symbol.

In the spirit of making things a little easier to follow, keep reading for a complete guide to who’s who on both sides in the Dance of the Dragons.

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The Greens

The Greens, named for the color of the Hightower’s beacon when Oldtown is called to war, support Aegon II Targaryen as king.

Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke)

Alicent is the dowager queen of Westeros, having been married to the late Viserys Targaryen ( Paddy Considine ). She essentially started the war by misinterpreting Viserys’ deathbed recounting of his dream of the Song of Ice and Fire.

Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney)

Aegon, known as Aegon II, is the eldest son of Alicent and Viserys. He becomes King of the Seven Kingdoms in Season 1, although that claim is contested by his half-sister, Rhaenyra (who is the leader of the Blacks). His dragon is Sunfyre.

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Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell)

Aemond is the second son of Alicent and Viserys. He supports his brother, although it’s clear he kind of wishes he were king. His dragon is Vhagar, who was previously ridden by Daemon Targaryen’s second wife, the late Laena Velaryon.

Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel)

Ser Criston began his career working for Viserys and Rhaenyra, but he turned against them after deciding he didn’t like their way of doing business. He is now on Team Green and having an affair with Alicent. Aegon has also named him Hand of the King, in yet another example of Criston failing upwards.

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Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban)

Helaena is the only daughter of Alicent and Viserys. She is married to her brother Aegon, and they have twins named Jaehaerys and Jaehaera (Blood and Cheese murdered Jaehaerys in the Season 2 premiere). In the book, Helaena and Aegon have a third child, son Maelor, but he has not appeared on the show. Her dragon is Dreamfyre.

Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans)

Otto is the father of Alicent and the former Hand of the King for both Viserys and Aegon. Aegon dismissed him after deciding he wasn’t taking decisive enough action following the murder of Jaehaerys, but Otto still supports the Greens.

Larys Strong (Matthew Needham)

Larys, otherwise known as the foot fetish guy, is the younger brother of Ser Harwin Strong (who died in Season 1 but is thought to be the biological father of Rhaenyra’s children with Laenor Velaryon). Aegon recently named Larys his Master of Whisperers.

Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox)

Gwayne is Alicent’s brother and the eldest son of Otto Hightower. In Season 1, he tilted against Daemon in the Heir’s Tournament.

Jason and Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall)

Jason is the head of House Lannister, while his twin, Tyland, serves on the Green Council as Master of Coin. While they previously worked for Viserys, they weren’t on board with the late king’s decision to name Rhaenyra as heir.

Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor)

The late Ser Arryk was a member of Viserys’ Kingsguard before he began working for Aegon. When Aegon was crowned over Rhaenyra, Arryk’s twin brother, Erryk, fled for Dragonstone and swore allegiance to Rhaenyra. However, both brothers died in Episode 2.

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The Blacks

The Blacks, named for one of the traditional colors of House Targaryen, support Rhaenyra Targaryen as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy)

Rhaenyra is the only child of Viserys and his first wife, Aemma Arryn. Viserys always wanted Rhaenyra to be his heir despite the fact that she is a woman, which makes her unfit for the throne in the eyes of many Westerosi. She declared herself Queen of the Seven Kingdoms in Season 1 while her younger half-brother Aegon was crowned in King’s Landing. She has three children with her first husband, Laenor Velaryon, and two with her second husband, Daemon Targaryen. Her dragon is Syrax.

Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith)

Daemon is the younger brother of Viserys and the second husband of Rhaenyra (so yes, he’s also her uncle). He supports his wife’s claim to the throne but also definitely thinks he deserved the crown after Viserys’ death. Daemon and Rhaenyra have two children together who are confusingly named Aegon and Viserys. His dragon is Caraxes.

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Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best)

Rhaenys, known as the Queen Who Never Was, is the first cousin of Viserys. While she had a strong claim to the throne at one point, her grandfather Jaehaerys I named Viserys his heir instead. She doesn’t seem to like Rhaenyra very much, but she also doesn’t want to see her excluded from the throne because of her sex, as she was. Her dragon is Meleys.

Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint)

Corlys, known as the Sea Snake, is the leader of House Velaryon and the husband of Rhaenys. While he thinks his wife has the best claim to the throne, he supports Rhaenyra because her sons are betrothed to his granddaughters, which means they could eventually become queen.

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Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett)

Jacaerys is the eldest son of Rhaenyra. While his legal father is Laenor Velaryon, he is widely believed to be the bastard son of Harwin Strong. His little brother Lucerys died at the end of Season 1 in a dragon battle with Aemond. His dragon is Vermax.

Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia)

Baela is the eldest daughter of Daemon and his late second wife, Laena Velaryon. She is betrothed to her cousin Jacaerys. Her dragon is Moondancer.

Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell)

Rhaena is the youngest daughter of Daemon and Laena. She was betrothed to her cousin Lucerys before his death.

Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale)

Simon is the uncle of Lyonel Strong, who was on Viserys’ Small Council in Season 1. With Lyonel’s sons out of the picture — Harwin is dead, Larys is off spying it up in King’s Landing — Simon is the castellan of Harrenhal. He decides to support the Blacks both because he’s afraid of Daemon’s dragon and because he hates Larys, whom he believes is responsible for the fire that killed Harwin and Lyonel.

Erryk Cargyll (Elliott Tittensor)

Erryk originally worked in the Kingsguard for Viserys, but after the Greens went rogue and crowned Aegon, he fled to Dragonstone to support Rhaenyra. He and his twin brother, Arryk, died in the second episode of Season 2 after battling each other.

Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno)

Mysaria, aka the White Worm, kind of does her own thing, but for now, she’s on Team Black. She helped Daemon find Blood and Cheese for the assassination of Jaehaerys, and she appreciates that Rhaenyra set her free to go back to King’s Landing (which could come in handy later).

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