Daenerys Targaryen is the daughter of the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen, and Rhaella Targaryen. She is the sister of Viserys and Rhaegar Targaryen, and the aunt of Jon Snow (Aegon VII Targaryen).

Early Life

Daenerys was born at the height of Robert's Rebellion, a civil war in Westeros that ended the rule of the Targaryen dynasty. Her father was killed during the Sack of King's Landing, as was her brother Rhaegar's wife and children, slain by Ser Gregor Clegane. Rhaegar himself was killed only a few weeks prior, in single combat against Robert Baratheon.

Aerys's pregnant wife Rhaella fled the city to Dragonstone with her son Viserys. There, she gave birth to a daughter she named Daenerys, after a Targaryen princess renowned for her kindness and beauty. Rhaella died soon after her daughter's birth however, and Daenerys and Viserys were forced into exile in the Free Cities across the Narrow Sea.

Marriage to Khal Drogo

Daenerys would accompany her brother for over a decade in the Free Cities, as he tried unsuccessfully to find supporters to help him take back his family's lost kingdom. They would eventually find themselves in the care of Illyrio Mopatis in Pentos, who had helped to arrange a marriage between Daenerys and a Dothraki warlord named Khal Drogo. Viserys hoped that this marriage would allow him to take control of Drogo's 40,000 warriors, using them in a campaign to retake the Iron Throne.

As a wedding gift, Daenerys is given three fossilized dragon eggs; a tribute to her heritage as a Targaryen. She also meets Ser Jorah Mormont, a former knight of Westeros who pledges his services to her.

Daenerys's marriage to Drogo is initially loveless, but she soon impresses him with her heart and determination. Daenerys becomes pregnant, and the two form a strong bond. After a failed assassination attempt on her life, Drogo vows to travel to Westeros and kill her enemies. Before this can happen though, Viserys oversteps his bounds, and is killed by Drogo.

Nevertheless, Daenerys and Drogo's plan to conquer Westeros continues, and Drogo's Dothraki warriors raid in Lhazar to raise funds to hire ships. During one of these raids, Drogo is wounded. The injury begins to fester soon after he is cared for by a woman named Mirri Maz Duur, and Drogo's health rapidly fails.

Daenerys learns that Mirri had done this intentionally, as revenge for the deaths of her people. She further curses Drogo into a vegetative state, and causes Daenerys to have a stillbirth.

Daenerys chooses to spare her husband from this fate by smothering him, and has a funeral pyre constructed for his body, laying her dragon eggs with him. She has Mirri Maz Duur tied to it as well to be burned alive. As the fire rages, Daenerys too walks into the flames.

The next morning, the Dothraki and Ser Jorah awaken to find that Daenerys is unharmed.

Not only has she suffered no injuries, but her three eggs have hatched, giving birth to the first dragons in over 150 years.

Birth of the Dragon Queen

Daenerys Targaryen subsequently takes command of the remnants of Drogo's khalasar, leading them east across the Red Waste. She eventually reaches Qarth, where she falls into the care of the wealthy merchant Xaro Xhoan Daxos.

While she and her people rest at the estate of Xaro, Daenerys discovers that he hopes to marry her, promising to fund her conquest of Westeros in exchange for her hand. While Daenerys considers this offer, she encounters the Warlocks of Qarth, who ask her to visit them at the House of the Undying.

She eventually rejects Xaro's offer, and soon after, her dragons are kidnapped. The warlocks admit they took them, and Daenerys goes to the House of the Undying to retrieve them. There, she sees visions of her lost husband and son, but resists them and is held captive by the warlocks. With the help of her dragons, she escapes, and has Xaro sealed within his own vault to die as punishment for his treachery.

Daenerys leaves Qarth, buying a ship and sailing to Astapor in Slaver's Bay. There she intends to buy an army of Unsullied, slave soldiers who are regarded as some of the most fearsome warriors in Essos.

Despite being disgusted by the slave trade and the horrific treatment the Unsullied underwent during training, Daenerys strikes a bargain to trade one of her dragons for all 8,000 Unsullied for sale. After making the trade, Daenerys turns the slave soldiers on their former masters, taking her dragon back in the process. She also announces to the slaves in the city that they are now free, and may join her cause if they wish. The Unsullied army chooses to remain with Daenerys, as do many of the slaves in Astapor.

With an army to support her, Daenerys travels to Yunkai, where she earns the loyalty of the mercenary company, the Second Sons. Daenerys soon conquers Yunkai as well, and she liberates all of the slaves in the city before departing for Meereen.

With her dragons now the size of horses, and a large army loyal to her, Daenerys confidently lays siege to Meereen. She then instigates a slave revolt within the city, who open the gates for her army. Daenerys decides to stay in Meereen for a time, in order to rule the city and prevent it from falling into chaos, learning that slavers have taken control of both Astapor and Yunkai in her absence.

Ruling Meereen

In Meereen, Daenerys faces new challenges as she struggles to not only rule the city, but also to keep control of her dragons, who are growing larger and more aggressive by the day.

Furthermore, an insurgent faction within the city called the Sons of the Harpy emerges, killing many of Daenerys's supporters, including the Westerosi knight, Ser Barristan Selmy. To keep the peace, Daenerys decides to marry a member of one of the noble families of Meereen, as a means of placating the former slavers who are behind the attacks.

Accompanying her husband-to-be at the re-opening of the Meereenese fighting pits, another concession to her enemies, Daenerys meets and recruits Tyrion Lannister, who had fled Westeros. Tyrion soon becomes one of her most trusted advisers.

Attending more gladiatorial matches at Daznak's Pit, Daenerys is attacked by Sons of the Harpy assassins. Defended by Jorah Mormont and Daario Naharis, she narrowly avoids death, although her attackers have blocked the arena's exits, preventing her escape. As the Sons of the Harpy approach, Daenerys is saved by one of her dragons, and she leaves with it, riding it for the first time.

A New Khalasar

Daenerys rides her dragon, but unable to direct it, eventually finds herself far from Meereen in the Dothraki Sea. Leaving her dragon, she is accosted by a Dothraki khalasar led by Khal Moro. After learning that she is Khal Drogo's widow, Moro takes her to Vaes Dothrak, as tradition demands that Daenerys lives out the rest of her days among the other widows of fallen khals.

Daenerys uses the Khalar vezhven, a gathering of all of the Dothraki Khals, as her means of escape, sneaking into the temple and lighting the structure on fire. She once again emerges unburnt, and takes control of the assembled Dothraki people.

Daenerys returns to Meereen to destroy an attacking fleet assembled by the surviving slave masters of Slaver's Bay, then leads her new Dothraki warriors in a purge of the Sons of the Harpy still in the city.

After she retakes control of Meereen, Daenerys meets with envoys from Westeros: Yara and Theon Greyjoy, who have come to forge an alliance with the Dragon Queen. In exchange for independence for the Iron Islands, Yara offers her fleet of ships, finally giving Daenerys a means to carry her army to Westeros.

Moving quickly to begin her long-awaited conquest, Daenerys names Tyrion as her Hand of the Queen. Across the Narrow Sea, Varys secures allies for her, forging an alliance with House Tyrell and Ellaria Sand of Dorne, both of whom are seeking their own vengeance against House Lannister and the Iron Throne.

The Invasion of Westeros

With a fleet, an army of Unsullied, and a horde of Dothraki warriors behind her, Daenerys is finally prepared to launch her conquest of Westeros.

Sailing from Meereen, she makes landfall on Dragonstone, the ancestral home of House Targaryen. On Dragonstone, Tyrion talks her out of using her dragons to assault King's Landing, as it will result in the deaths of countless civilians, and will prevent her from gaining the loyalty of the people of Westeros.

Instead, Daenerys consents to laying siege to King's Landing using a Dornish army. She instructs Yara Greyjoy to lead her fleet south to retrieve soldiers from Dorne. Meanwhile, Tyrion reveals that he has a way to attack Casterly Rock, the seat of power for House Lannister, using a secret entrance he designed in his youth. Daenerys sends much of her remaining fleet to ferry her Unsullied army in this attack.

While waiting for news on these first battles of the campaign, Daenerys receives visitors from the north: Jon Snow and Ser Davos Seaworth. Jon has come to ask for her aid against an invasion by an undead army, currently marching on The Wall. Daenerys is skeptical of his claims, but allows him to begin mining for dragonglass on the island.

Daenerys learns that both of her military efforts have been unsuccessful. Euron Greyjoy's fleet has ambushed Yara's, capturing both her and Ellaria Sand, and putting an end to Dorne's involvement in the war. In the west, Casterly Rock proved to be bait, intended to lure Daenerys away from defending Highgarden, where an army led by Jaime Lannister has sacked the castle and killed the last remaining member of House Tyrell.

Frustrated by the failings of her advisers, Daenerys takes matters into her own hands, landing her army of Dothraki on the mainland and personally leading an attack on the Lannister army. Riding her dragon, Daenerys's forces massacre the enemy position, and in the aftermath, she captures both Randyll Tarly and his son, Dickon. After both refuse to bend the knee to her, she has them executed, and the surviving Lannister and Tarly bannermen submit to her in fear.

With her position more secure, Daenerys agrees to allow Jon Snow to travel north, in an attempt to return with proof of the White Walker threat. When he becomes trapped by the army of the dead, Daenerys comes to his rescue, taking all three of her dragons, and seeing the undead with her own eyes. In the battle that follows, one of Daenerys's dragons is killed, pierced by a spear thrown by the Night King, the leader of the White Walkers.

The Dragonpit

Having now seen the White Walker threat for herself, Daenerys tells Jon Snow that she will help him to defend against the coming invasion. In return, Jon agrees to bend the knee to her.

Returning to south with her two remaining dragons, Daenerys allows a meeting to be set up between her allies and Cersei Lannister. The two sides come together for talks at the Dragonpit, a ruin in King's Landing where the Targaryen dragons were once held.

Daenerys arrives atop her dragon. Despite initial hostilities, Cersei eventually acquiesces to Daenerys's request for a temporary truce, as she takes her dragons and armies north to fight the White Walkers. Furthermore, Cersei promises to lend her own armies to this fight, although this proves to be a misdirection while Cersei awaits mercenary reinforcements hired from Essos.

Daenerys travels by sea back north, preparing to join Jon Snow in the announcement that the north will be declaring for the Dragon Queen. On the journey, Jon approaches her quarters in the night, and the two make love.