Our list of the best quotes from HBO TV series created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal. House Of The Dragon is set three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones and chronicles the rise and the downfall of the Targaryens, who are the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria, and the events leading up to the Targaryen civil war, known as the “Dance of the Dragons”.
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1. The Heirs of the Dragon
'If the world of men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen. Strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark.' - King Viserys Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: As the first century of the Targaryen dynasty came to a close, the health of the Old King, Jaehaerys, was failing. In those days, House Targaryen stood at the height of its strength with ten adult dragons under its yoke. No power in the world could stand against it. King Jaehaerys reigned over nearly sixty years of peace and prosperity, but tragedy had claimed both his sons, leaving his succession in doubt. So, in the year 101 The Old King called a Great Council to choose an heir.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Fourteen succession claims were heard, but only two were truly considered. Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, the King’s eldest descendant, and her younger cousin, Prince Viserys Targaryen, The King’s eldest male descendant.
'The gods have yet to make a man who lacks the patience for absolute power.' - Otto Hightower (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Rhaenys, a woman, would not inherit the Iron Throne. The lords instead chose Viserys, my father. Jaehaerys called the Great Council to prevent a war being fought over his succession. For he knew the cold truth. The only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself.
Ser Harrold Westerling: [to young Rhaenyra, referring to Syrax] Every time that golden beast brings you back unspoiled it saves my head from a spike.
'Jaehaerys called the Great Council to prevent a war being fought over his succession. For he knew the cold truth. The only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen Click To Tweet
Aemma Arryn: You will lie in this bed soon enough, Rhaenyra. This discomfort is how we serve the realm.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I’d rather serve as a knight and ride to battle and glory.
Aemma Arryn: We have royal wombs, you and I. The child bed is our battlefield. We must learn to face it with a stiff lip. Now take a bath. You stink of dragon.
'I want to fly with you on dragon back, see the great wonders across the Narrow Sea, and eat only cake.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
King Viserys Targaryen: Rhaenyra, you’re late. The King’s cupbearer must not be late. Leaves people wanting for cups.
King Viserys Targaryen: There’s a boy in the Queen’s belly. I know it. And my heir will soon put all of this damnable hand-wringing to rest himself.
'The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion. They're a power man should never have trifled with. One that brought Valyria its doom. If we don't mind our own histories, it will do the same to us.' - King Viserys Targaryen Click To Tweet
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: [in High Valyrian, finds Daemon sitting on the Iron Throne] What do you think you’re doing, Uncle?
Prince Daemon Targaryen: [in High Valyrian] Sitting. This could well be my chair one day.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: [in High Valyrian] Not if you’re executed for treason.
2. The Rogue Prince'To elude a storm, you can either sail into it, or around it. But you must never await its coming.' - Lord Corlys Velaryon (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Lord Corlys Velaryon: What reason does the Crabfeeder have to fear us? The King’s own brother has been allowed to seize Dragonstone and fortify it with an army of his gold cloaks. Daemon has squatted there for over half a year without even a protest from The Crown.
Ser Otto Hightower: I’ll caution you, Lord Corlys, a seat at the King’s table does not make you his equal.
'You are the King. But I do not envy you.' - Otto Hightower (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: You have dragonriders, Father. Send us.
King Viserys Targaryen: It isn’t that simple, Rhaenyra.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: It would be a show of force.
Lord Corlys Velaryon: At least the Princess has a plan.
'You sit upon the highest seat in the realm, Your Grace. Proud men don't like having to look up.' - Lord Lyonel Strong (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Do any of these knights have combat experience? Beyond capturing poachers.
Ser Harrold Westerling: Ser Criston Cole. Son of the steward of the Lord of Blackhaven.
'Our worth is not given. It must be made.' - Lord Corlys Velaryon (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I choose Ser Criston Cole.
Ser Otto Hightower: Let’s not be too hasty, Princess. There’s no doubt Ser Criston is a fine warrior, but houses such as Crakehall and Mallister are important allies of The Crown. Seagard, for instance, is the realm’s prime defense against reavers from the Iron Islands.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Those men are tourney knights. My father should be defended by a man who’s known real combat. Should he not?
Ser Otto Hightower: Of course, Princess.
'Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.' - Princess Rhaenys Velaryon (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
King Viserys Targaryen: [referring to Rhaenyra] I wish she would approach me.
Young Alicent Hightower: What if you went to her?
King Viserys Targaryen: There are times when I would rather face the Black Dread himself than mine own daughter of fifteen.
Young Alicent Hightower: I think she would open herself to you if invited. You do have such an easy way about you, Your Grace.
3. Second of His Name
'The road ahead is uncertain, but the end is clear.' - Otto Hightower (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Velaryon Knight: [just before Caraxes steps on him] Here, my Prince Save me!
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Come out and face me, Drahar! Come out, Drahar! Where are you? I’m going to feed you to your own crabs!
'I may be the Princess of Dragonstone, but I am toothless.' - Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Lord Hobert Hightower: [referring to young Aegon] Two years-old and already our boy has a kingly presence.
Ser Otto Hightower: He may yet, brother, but this morning he insisted on eating porridge with his hands.
Lord Hobert Hightower: It is Aegon’s second name day. His infancy’s behind him. It only remains for Viserys to name him heir to the throne.
Ser Otto Hightower: I wouldn’t be so sure.
Lord Hobert Hightower: He’s the King’s firstborn son.
Ser Otto Hightower: I don’t know that His Grace sees it so clearly.
Lord Hobert Hightower: Then it lies with you to make him see it, Lord Hand.
'What is the power of a dragon next to the power of prophecy.' - King Viserys Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Tyland Lannister: The matter of the Step stones is regrettably urgent.
King Viserys Targaryen: It’s been three years. It can wait another three days.
King Viserys Targaryen: Can someone tell me where in the Seven Hells Rhaenyra might be?
'I am forever doomed to anger one person in the pleasing of another.' - King Viserys Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
King Viserys Targaryen: You are my daughter, the Princess. And you have duties.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: As I am ceaselessly reminded.
King Viserys Targaryen: I’m sorry?
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: As I am ceaselessly reminded.
King Viserys Targaryen: You wouldn’t need to be reminded if you ever attended to them.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: No one’s here for me.
4. King of the Narrow Sea'Hard lessons are not welcomed but suffered.' - Mysaria (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: And tell me, Lord Dondarrion, did you think my great-grandmother as beautiful as they say?
Beric Dondarrion: This was half a century ago, Princess.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Yes, it was.
Lord Boremund Baratheon: That was unseemly, Princess.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: The man is older than my father. It’s unseemly for him to put himself forward as a contender for my hand.
Lord Boremund Baratheon: Next!
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: And now a child.
'For men marriage might be a political arrangement. For women it is like to be a death sentence.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Willem Blackwood: My Princess, ours is a bond that has long endured, since Lucas Blackwood, the grandsire of my grandsire, aided the Dragon in his war of conquest…
Jerrel Bracken: Aye, the Blackwoods truly turned the tide on that one.
Willem Blackwood: Coursed with the blood of the First Men, our history is deeply rooted in this land, which your house has made its home. If chosen as your match, Princess, your days shall be easy, and nights safe under my protection.
Jerrel Bracken: “Protection”? The Princess has a dragon, you dumb c***.
Lord Boremund Baratheon: Bracken!
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I could learn to like that one.
'This is a tragic world. You cannot live your life in fear, or you will foresake the best parts of it.' - Prince Daemon Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Criston Cole: Princess, we’re due in Bitter bridge in three days time.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I would happily row myself back to King’s Landing if it brought an end to this ridiculous pageant.
Young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: How do you think he will take it?
Ser Criston Cole: Do you speak of how you rejected every suitor His Grace put before you, or how you abruptly ended the tour with two months remaining?
'The truth does not matter. Only perception.' - King Viserys Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Daemon Targaryen: [referring to Crabfeeders hammer] Add it to the chair.
King Viserys Targaryen: You wear a crown. Do you also call yourself “King”?
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Once we smashed the Triarchy, they named me “King of the Narrow Sea”. But I know that there is only one true king, Your Grace. My crown and the Step stones are yours.
5. We Light the Way
'When one is never invited to speak, one learns instead to observe.' - Larys Strong (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Lady Rhea Royce: [to Daemon] Husband. What brings you to the Vale? Or have you at last come to consummate our marriage? The Vale’s sheep might be willing, even if I’m not. Our sheep are prettier, after all. Or perhaps your brother has at last had his fill of your company. Cast you aside in favor of a little girl. What will you do now? Will you strike the child down? Or…
[Daemon startles her horse which throws her off, crushing her neck]
Lady Rhea Royce: [to Daemon as he’s walking away] I knew you couldn’t finish. Craven!
'Many that are tested, only wish to have been spared it.' - Lord Lyonel Strong (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Young Alicent Hightower: I do not wish to see you go.
Ser Otto Hightower: Such is the King’s decision.
Young Alicent Hightower: A decision I most bitterly regret.
Ser Otto Hightower: And yet, you made it possible. You chose Rhaenyra.
Young Alicent Hightower: She swore her innocence, and I believe her.
Ser Otto Hightower: You wanted to believe her, as did her father.
Young Alicent Hightower: Your informant was wrong. An honest mistake, perhaps, but I did not foresee this!
Ser Otto Hightower: You should have.
Young Alicent Hightower: If you had not been so relentless in advancing Aegon as heir!
'Is it not better to live in peace than to have songs sung after you are dead?' Lord Lyonel Strong (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Otto Hightower: Listen to me, daughter. The King will die. It may be months or years, but he’ll not live to be an old man. And if Rhaenyra succeeds him, war will follow, do you understand? The realm will not accept her. And to secure her claim, she’ll have to put your children to the sword. She’ll have no choice. You know it. You’re no fool, and yet you choose not to see it. The time is coming, Alicent. Either you prepare Aegon to rule, or you cleave to Rhaenyra, and pray for her mercy.
6. The Princess and the Queen
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: [after she’s given birth, referring to Alicent] She wants to see him.
Ser Laenor Velaryon: Now? I’m coming with you.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I should hope so.
Ser Laenor Velaryon: Let me take him.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: No, she’ll get no such satisfaction from me.
'You do not desert your post when the storm lashes.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Laenor Velaryon: Was it terribly painful?
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Oh, gods.
Ser Laenor Velaryon: I took a lance through the shoulder once.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: My deepest sympathies.
Ser Laenor Velaryon: I am glad I am not a woman.
'How sweetly the fox speaks when it's been cornered by the hounds.' - Queen Alicent Hightower (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
King Viserys Targaryen: Well done, my girl. I do hope the labor was easy.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I think I called the midwife a c***.
King Viserys Targaryen: Oh.
Queen Alicent Hightower: [referring to baby Joffrey] Do keep trying, Ser Laenor. Soon or late, you may get one who looks like you.
'Love is a downfall. Best to make your way through life unencumbered, if you ask me.' - Larys Strong (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: You don’t think to consult me before you name my child?
Ser Laenor Velaryon: He’s our child, is he not?
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Only one of us is bleeding.
Ser Laenor Velaryon: I deserve some say in the affairs of my own family.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: You haven’t seemed so interested in our affairs of late.
7. Driftmark
'What is this brief mortal life, if not the pursuit of legacy?' - Lord Corlys Velaryon (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Vaemond Velaryon: [in High Valyrian, at Laena’s funeral] Salt courses through Velaryon blood. Our runs thick. Ours runs true. And ours must never thin.
Princess Helaena Targaryen: Hand turns loom. Spool of green, spool of black. Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread.
'No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal.' - Prince Daemon Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Aegon Targaryen: [referring to Helaena] We have nothing in common.
Prince Aemond Targaryen: She’s our sister.
Prince Aegon Targaryen: You marry her then.
Prince Aemond Targaryen: I would perform my duty, if mother had only betrothed us.
Prince Aegon Targaryen: If only.
Prince Aemond Targaryen: It would strengthen the family. Keep our Valyrian blood pure.
Prince Aegon Targaryen: She’s an idiot.
Prince Aemond Targaryen: She’s your future queen.
Prince Aegon Targaryen: We actually do have one thing in common. We both fancy creatures with very long legs.
'History does not remember blood. It remembers names.' - Lord Corlys Velaryon (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Criston Cole: Lyonel Strong’s son’s been staring at you since the moment we arrived, Your Grace. Unabashedly.
Queen Alicent Hightower: It is only a look of pride, Ser Criston. Larys is the new Lord of Harrenhal.
'Fire is a prison. The sea offers an escape.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Lucerys ‘Luke’ Velaryon: If I’m the Lord of Driftmark, it means everyone’s dead.
King Viserys Targaryen: You should return with us to King’s Landing. It’s time that you came home.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Pentos is my home, and that of my children.
King Viserys Targaryen: Daemon, I know we’ve had our differences, but let them pass with the years. There’s a place for you in my court if that’s something you should need.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: I need nothing.
King Viserys Targaryen: Brother.
'A tyrant rules only through terror. If the King isn't feared, he is powerless.' - Prince Daemon Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: [referring to Laena and Daemon] She wanted to come home, and he denied her.
Lord Corlys Velaryon: Daemon did what he thought best.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Daemon only ever does what is best for Daemon.
8. The Lord of the Tides'My own face is no longer a handsome one, if indeed it ever was. But tonight, I wish you to see me as I am. Not just a king, but your father. Your brother. Your husband, and your grand sire.' - King Viserys Targaryen Click To Tweet
Ser Vaemond Velaryon: [as Corlys is seriously wounded] My brother cares only for the history books. But what of the Velaryon line? Is it to be snuffed out, supplanted by the pups of House Strong? Driftmark is mine by alrights. And while I should like your support, I do not need it. The winds have shifted. The crown has good reason to take my side.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: My cousin the King would have your tongue for this.
Ser Vaemond Velaryon: But it’s not a king who sits the Iron Throne these days, good-sister. It’s a queen.
'You told me it was our duty to hold the realm united against a common foe. By naming me heir, you divided the realm. I thought I wanted it. But the burden is a heavy one. It's too heavy.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I don’t expect you to learn High Valyrian in a day, Jace.
Prince Jacaerys ‘Jace’ Velaryon: A king should honor the traditions of his forbears.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Well, unless you’re planning to depose your own mother, you have plenty of time to study.
'It is ill luck to look upon the face of death.' - Maester Orwyle, 'The Stranger has visited me more times than I can count, Grand Maester. I assure you, he cares little whether my eyes are open or closed.' - Rhaenys Targaryen Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: He means to call into question Luke’s legitimacy. And by extension Jace, and by extension my own claim to the throne.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Vaemond cares only about Driftmark and the Velaryon line. Not about our politics.
'My father and I are mere stewards of the King's will and wisdom.' - Queen Alicent Hightower, 'And how exactly is that wisdom expressed? In blinks and wheezes? I'd be surprised if he could remember his own name' - Daemon Targaryen Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Rhaenys has flown to court. Surely, she cannot be planning to back him.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: No. Whatever disagreements we may have had, she’s not cruel, or stupid enough to do that.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Disagreements? She believes we had her son killed so that we might marry.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Yes. And yet, she’s taken Baela to ward.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Yes. It is Laena’s memory she honors. She has no love for us.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Has the vipers venom spread so far?
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Those vipers rule in my father’s name. And my father… What choice do I have?
Prince Daemon Targaryen: To King’s Landing then.
9. The Green Council
'There is no power but what the people allow you to take.' - Mysaria (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Queen Alicent Hightower: I saw him last night before he… He told me he wished for Aegon to be king. It is the truth. Uttered with his own lips. His last words to me and I was the only one to hear it. And now he’s dead.
'This is seizure! It is theft! It is treason!' - Lord Lyman Beesbury (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Tyland Lannister: What is it that could not have waited an hour? Was Dorne invaded?
Ser Otto Hightower: The King is dead.
'It is our fate, I think, to crave always what is given to another. If one possesses a thing, the other will take it away.' - Princess Helaena Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Ser Otto Hightower: We grieve for Viserys the Peaceful, our sovereign, our friend. But he has left us a gift. With his last breath, he impressed upon the Queen his final wish, that his son, Aegon should succeed him as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.
'We do not rule, but we may guide the men that do. Gently, away from violence, and sure destruction, and instead toward peace.' - Queen Alicent Hightower (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Queen Alicent Hightower: Am I to understand that members of the small council have been planning secretly to install my son without me?
Lord Jasper ‘Ironrod’ Wylde: My Queen, there was no need to sully you with darkling schemes.
'You toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?' - Princess Rhaenys Targaryen Click To Tweet
Lord Lyman Beesbury: I will not have this. To hear that you are plotting to replace the King’s chosen heir with an imposter!
Ser Tyland Lannister: His firstborn son is hardly an imposter.
Lord Lyman Beesbury: Hundreds of lords and landed knights swore fealty to the Princess.
Ser Tyland Lannister: That was some twenty years ago. Most of them now dead.
10.The Black Queen'We don't choose our destiny. It chooses us.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Lucerys ‘Luke’ Velaryon: I can’t be Lord of the Tides. Grandsire was the greatest sailor who ever lived. I get green sick before the ship even leaves the harbor. I’ll just ruin everything! I don’t want Driftmark. It should’ve passed on to Ser Vaemond.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: We don’t choose our destiny, Luke. It chooses us.
'I do not wish to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Lucerys ‘Luke’ Velaryon: Grandsire let you choose whether you’d be his heir. You told us so.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: And do you want to know the truth of it? I was frightened. I was four-and-ten. Same as you are now. I wasn’t ready to be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. But it was my duty. And, in time, I came to understand I had to earn my inheritance.
'Dreams didn't make us kings. Dragons did.' - Prince Daemon Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Lucerys ‘Luke’ Velaryon: I’m not like you.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: In what way, sweet boy?
Prince Lucerys ‘Luke’ Velaryon: I’m not so perfect.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I am anything but. My father looked after me, and helped to prepare me for my duties. Your mother will do the same for you.
'Hope is the fool's ally.' - Lord Corlys Velaryon (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Viserys is dead. I grieve this loss with you, Rhaenyra. My cousin, your father, possessed a kind heart. There is more. Aegon has been crowned as his successor.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: They crowned him?
'Taking caution does not mean standing fast. I wish to know who my allies are before I send them to war.' - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House Of The Dragon) Click To Tweet
Prince Daemon Targaryen: Viserys has been slain.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Alicent demanded you declare for Aegon.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: She did. I refused her.
Prince Daemon Targaryen: And yet you are alive.
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