Rhaenys Targaryen (daughter of Rhaegar)

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen was the daughter of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Princess Elia Martell.
==Biography==
===Background===
Rhaenys Targaryen was the daughter of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Princess Elia Martell. She had a younger full-brother, Aegon, and a younger paternal half-brother, who was also named Aegon but was raised as Jon Snow. For mysterious reasons, Rhaegar allegedly abducted Jon's mother, Lyanna Stark, sparking a rebellion that ultimately deposed House Targaryen as the ruling house of Westeros. Rhaegar was killed by Robert Baratheon, who was Lyanna's betrothed, at the Battle of the Trident. Soon afterwards, Rhaenys and Aegon were brutally murdered along with their mother by Ser Gregor Clegane during the Sack of King's Landing.
===Game of Thrones: Season 3===
Thoros of Myr comments how he witnessed Gregor Clegane presenting the bodies of Aegon and Rhaenys before the Iron Throne.
===Game of Thrones: Season 4===
Rhaenys is mentioned many times, along with her mother and brother, by her maternal uncle Oberyn Martell, who makes it quite clear that he wants justice for their deaths. He gets his chance to confront Ser Gregor when Tyrion demands a trial by combat to prove he is innocent of Joffrey's death. Oberyn volunteers to be Tyrion's champion after learning that Ser Gregor will be fighting for the crown.
During the duel, Oberyn repeatedly reminds the Mountain of the murder of Elia and her children. Once the Mountain gains the upper hand, he effectively confirms the long-standing rumor of arguably his most infamous war crime while killing Oberyn.
===Game of Thrones: Season 8===
The deaths of Rhaenys, her mother and brother are finally avenged by the Hound, as he kills the Mountain, along with himself.
==Family==
===Paternal===
===Maternal===
==In the books==
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Rhaenys is the daughter of Prince Rhaegar and Elia Martell. She died in the Sack of King's Landing. Varys talks about her with the imprisoned Eddard Stark as an example of how the innocent suffer in times of uprising. She was three- or four-years-old when she died, and took after her mother in appearance with the classic Dornish features of black hair, dark eyes, and olive skin (much to the distaste of her paternal grandfather, who often made snide racist remarks about Rhaenys and her mother).
Rhaenys had a small black kitten she named "Balerion", after the mighty dragon of Aegon the Conqueror. Varys sadly comments about it, "Rhaenys liked to pretend he was the true Balerion, the Black Dread of old, but I imagine the Lannisters taught her the difference between a kitten and a dragon quick enough, the day they broke down her door." No one knows what happened to the cat after she died: it is implied that it survived the downfall of the Targaryens and lived out the next fifteen years in the Red Keep during the reign of Robert Baratheon. When Arya is ordered by Syrio Forel to chase cats around the Red Keep to train her in agility (which occurs in the TV series in "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things") one of the cats she encounters is an incredibly old black cat with a chewed ear, who is mean to the entire Baratheon household, as well as the Lannisters. Once, when Tywin was visiting the Red Keep for a feast, the black cat jumped onto the table and snatched a roast quail right out of Tywin's fingers. According to Cersei, that cat attacks ravens at the rookery, and once clawed Joffrey's hand. This may very well be Rhaenys's cat Balerion, angered at the new residents of the castle who are responsible for the death of his original owner. George R.R. Martin was asked whether the aforementioned cat is Rhaenys's; he answered evasively "Could be".So Spake Martin, November 14, 1999
After King's Landing was seized by the Lannister forces, Rhaenys was found by Ser Amory Lorch hiding under the bed of her father, Rhaegar. While Gregor killed her mother and brother, Lorch killed Rhaenys by stabbing her about fifty times. When Robert arrived in the capital her body was presented at his feet, and it looked nearly hacked to pieces. Even Tywin considered that deed overly brutal (not the murder itself, but the manner in which it was done). He asked Lorch why killing a two- or three-year-old girl required so many thrusts, and Lorch answered that she kicked him and would not stop screaming. Years later, while discussing the foul event with Tyrion, Tywin disdainfully comments that if Lorch had half the brain a turnip has, he would have calmed Rhaenys with a few sweet words and used a soft silk pillow to smother her.
The TV series simplified events so that Gregor Clegane killed both of Elia's children, without the involvement of Amory Lorch.
==Appearances==
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==References==
===Notes===
==External links==
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Category:Crownlanders
Category:Individuals from Game of Thrones: Conquest & Rebellion: An Animated History of the Seven Kingdoms
Category:Individuals from Histories & Lore
Category:Individuals mentioned in Game of Thrones
Rhaenys Targaryen
Category:Princesses
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uk:Рейніс Тарґеріен (дочка Рейґара)