House Velaryon somehow manages to have one of the most important family trees in House of the Dragon while simultaneously making viewers ask, “Wait, whose child is that again?”
Fair question.
The Velaryons are an ancient Valyrian family closely connected to House Targaryen through marriage, politics and a shared enthusiasm for silver hair. By the time of the Dance of the Dragons, Lord Corlys Velaryon has also turned his house into one of the richest and most powerful dynasties in Westeros.
The problem is that the family tree becomes complicated very quickly. There are official children, biological children, disputed fathers, Targaryen marriages and two extremely important young men called Addam and Alyn.
Here is the Velaryon family tree as it matters to House of the Dragon, followed by an explanation of who everyone actually is.
House Velaryon Family Tree Chart
*In the television series, Corlys is established as the father of
Addam and Alyn. The source material presents their parentage differently.That last branch matters enormously. It also creates the sort of awkward family conversation that even a royal banquet probably cannot fix.
View the House Targaryen Family Tree
Who Are the Velaryons?
House Velaryon comes from Valyria, just like the Targaryens. The Velaryons settled on Driftmark before Aegon’s Conquest and became one of the great maritime powers of Westeros.
Unlike the dragon-riding Targaryens, their traditional strength is the sea.
By the reign of King Viserys I, Corlys Velaryon’s voyages have made the family fabulously wealthy. Their seat is High Tide on Driftmark, while their fleet gives them military and political influence far beyond what their relatively small island territory might suggest.
Corlys is therefore much more than Rhaenyra’s occasionally irritated father-in-law. He commands the naval power that makes the Blacks genuinely dangerous.
The official HBO character material also uses marriage and parentage as central parts of its character guide, which tells you something about this series. You basically need genealogical software to watch television now.
Corlys Velaryon: The Sea Snake
At the centre of the family stands Lord Corlys Velaryon, better known as the Sea Snake.
Corlys is one of the greatest sailors of his age. His legendary voyages dramatically increase the wealth of House Velaryon, allowing him to rival even the Lannisters financially.
He marries Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, granddaughter of King Jaehaerys I.
That marriage ties the Velaryons directly into the royal dynasty.
It also gives Corlys something perhaps even more valuable than money: a legitimate argument that his descendants belong near the Iron Throne.
Corlys and Rhaenys have two children:
- Laena Velaryon
- Laenor Velaryon
Both become deeply connected with the Targaryen succession crisis.
Rhaenys Targaryen: The Queen Who Never Was
Rhaenys is technically a Targaryen rather than a Velaryon by birth, but you cannot really understand House Velaryon without her.
She is the daughter of Prince Aemon Targaryen and therefore a granddaughter of King Jaehaerys I.
Rhaenys has a strong royal bloodline and is considered during the succession disputes surrounding Jaehaerys. Ultimately, the crown passes through the male line to Viserys.
Hence her famous title:
The Queen Who Never Was.
Her marriage to Corlys combines Targaryen royal blood with Velaryon wealth and naval power.
Their children consequently sit right at the intersection between the two houses.
Laena Velaryon and Daemon Targaryen
Laena Velaryon is the daughter of Corlys and Rhaenys.
After an extremely uncomfortable childhood marriage proposal involving King Viserys, she eventually marries Daemon Targaryen.
This is a much more consequential match.
Daemon is Viserys’s younger brother and one of the most experienced Targaryen dragonriders. Laena herself rides Vhagar, the largest living dragon.
They have twin daughters:
Baela Targaryen
Rhaena Targaryen
Despite carrying the Targaryen name, both girls are Velaryons through their mother and granddaughters of Corlys and Rhaenys.
Their position becomes increasingly important after Laena’s death.
Baela Targaryen
Baela is the daughter of Daemon and Laena.
She is therefore:
- Daemon Targaryen’s daughter
- Laena Velaryon’s daughter
- Corlys Velaryon’s granddaughter
- Rhaenys Targaryen’s granddaughter
- Rhaena Targaryen’s twin sister
Baela is also a dragonrider, bonded with Moondancer.
She becomes closely associated with Rhaenyra’s faction during the Dance.
Through Baela, the Velaryon and Targaryen bloodlines remain firmly intertwined even after Laena’s death.
Rhaena Targaryen
Rhaena is Baela’s twin sister and the second daughter of Daemon and Laena.
Like Baela, she belongs biologically to both the Targaryen and Velaryon dynasties.
The television adaptation has given Rhaena a somewhat altered trajectory compared with George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, so it is worth treating the book and television versions separately when following her story.
That distinction becomes increasingly important as House of the Dragon moves further into the Dance.
Laenor Velaryon and Rhaenyra Targaryen
Now we reach the branch responsible for approximately 70 per cent of the meaningful staring during Season 1.
Laenor Velaryon marries Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.
Politically, the marriage is perfect.
Rhaenyra is heir to the Iron Throne. Laenor is the son of Corlys and Rhaenys. Their marriage joins two of the most powerful Valyrian families in Westeros.
There is only one problem.
Rhaenyra’s children do not appear to be biologically Laenor’s.
Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey Velaryon
Rhaenyra has three sons during her marriage to Laenor:
Jacaerys Velaryon
Lucerys Velaryon
Joffrey Velaryon
Officially, they are Laenor’s sons.
Biologically, House of the Dragon makes it abundantly clear that their father is Ser Harwin Strong.
The boys therefore occupy a fascinating position in the family tree.
Legally they are Velaryons.
Through Rhaenyra they are unquestionably Targaryens.
Biologically they are Targaryen and Strong.
This distinction becomes politically explosive because Rhaenyra’s enemies argue that the boys are illegitimate.
Nobody is particularly subtle about it.
Is Jacaerys Velaryon Really a Velaryon?
Legally, yes.
Biologically, no.
Jacaerys is publicly recognised as the son of Laenor Velaryon and Rhaenyra Targaryen. King Viserys repeatedly defends that status.
His biological father, however, is Harwin Strong.
That makes Jacaerys’s identity a political question rather than simply a genealogical one.
In Westeros, legitimacy is partly about blood, but it is also about recognition.
Laenor accepts Jacaerys as his son.
Corlys accepts him as his grandson.
Viserys accepts him as Rhaenyra’s legitimate heir.
For Corlys, the issue is famously less about DNA than legacy. A name survives in the histories even when the biology underneath it is considerably messier.
For once, Corlys might actually understand Westerosi politics better than everyone shouting about hair colour.
Lucerys Velaryon and Driftmark
Lucerys, usually called Luke, is the second son of Rhaenyra.
He is particularly important to House Velaryon because he is intended to inherit Driftmark.
That creates the succession dispute involving Corlys’s brother Vaemond Velaryon.
Vaemond argues that Luke has no Velaryon blood and therefore should not inherit the ancestral seat.
From a purely biological perspective, he has a point.
From a political perspective, saying it publicly in front of King Viserys turns out to be a fairly catastrophic career decision.
Daemon’s response remains one of the show’s more efficient solutions to a succession debate.
Vaemond Velaryon
Vaemond belongs to another branch of House Velaryon and is Corlys’s younger brother in the television adaptation.
His importance comes from the Driftmark succession crisis.
When Corlys appears likely to die, Vaemond challenges Lucerys’s right to inherit Driftmark because he knows Luke is not biologically Laenor’s son.
Vaemond therefore represents the alternative Velaryon claim based explicitly on blood.
His argument exposes the uncomfortable contradiction at the heart of the family.
Everyone knows.
Nobody is supposed to say it.
Vaemond says it.
Briefly.
Addam of Hull
Addam of Hull becomes one of the most important additions to the Velaryon family story.
In House of the Dragon, Addam is presented as the illegitimate son of Corlys Velaryon.
That makes him the half-brother of Laenor and Laena.
His family position looks like this:
Corlys Velaryon → Addam of Hull
Which means:
Laenor Velaryon → half-brother
Laena Velaryon → half-sister
Baela and Rhaena → nieces
That relationship becomes particularly interesting because Addam bonds with Seasmoke, the dragon previously ridden by Laenor.
Apparently even dragons enjoy complicated family symbolism.
Addam’s ability to claim Seasmoke also raises fascinating questions about how dragonriding actually works and how much Valyrian ancestry someone really needs.
Alyn of Hull
Alyn is Addam’s brother and another illegitimate son of Corlys in the HBO adaptation.
Unlike Addam, Alyn does not become a dragonrider.
His importance is much more closely connected with the future of House Velaryon itself.
Without moving too deeply into major future spoilers, Alyn is not a random dockworker who happens to receive suspiciously large amounts of screen time.
He matters.
A lot.
His introduction effectively gives Corlys another potential branch of the Velaryon dynasty at precisely the moment when the legitimate family line is being devastated by war.
Addam and Alyn: Book Versus TV Parentage
This is where viewers who have read Fire & Blood may notice an important difference.
In the television series, Corlys is the father of Addam and Alyn.
In Fire & Blood, the official story identifies them as sons of Laenor Velaryon and a woman named Marilda of Hull.
That claim is questionable.
Laenor’s sexuality makes the official explanation suspicious, and the possibility that Corlys actually fathered the boys exists within the source material.
The television adaptation essentially removes the ambiguity and makes Corlys their father.
It is a sensible dramatic change because it turns Addam and Alyn into a much more personal storyline for the Sea Snake.
Suddenly Corlys is not simply rebuilding House Velaryon politically. He is being confronted with sons he never publicly acknowledged.
That gives the family tree considerably more emotional weight.
Are Addam and Alyn Related to Rhaenyra?
Not directly by blood.
If Corlys is their father, Addam and Alyn are half-brothers of Laenor.
Laenor was Rhaenyra’s husband.
That makes their connection to Rhaenyra primarily dynastic and political rather than a close biological relationship.
They are nevertheless part of the extended family network surrounding Rhaenyra’s claim.
This is Westeros, where the phrase “extended family network” usually means someone will eventually arrive on a dragon.
How Are the Velaryons Related to the Targaryens?
Very closely.
There are several major connections.
Corlys marries Rhaenys Targaryen.
Their daughter Laena marries Daemon Targaryen.
Their son Laenor marries Rhaenyra Targaryen.
Laena and Daemon produce Baela and Rhaena.
Laenor legally fathers Rhaenyra’s first three sons.
The two houses are therefore linked repeatedly across generations.
This matters because House Velaryon is not simply another noble family supporting Rhaenyra.
By the Dance of the Dragons, the Velaryons are effectively part of the wider Targaryen royal dynasty.
Why House Velaryon Supports Rhaenyra
The alliance makes considerably more sense when you look at the family tree.
Corlys and Rhaenys have enormous personal investment in Rhaenyra’s faction.
Rhaenyra was married to their son.
Her children publicly carry the Velaryon name.
Daemon is the widower of their daughter Laena.
Daemon’s daughters are their granddaughters.
Baela and Rhaena are therefore directly tied to the Black faction.
House Velaryon’s wealth, fleet and family connections all point towards Rhaenyra.
There are tensions, certainly. Corlys spends a fair amount of time looking like a man wondering whether marrying into the Targaryen family was perhaps an administrative error.
But abandoning Rhaenyra would also mean abandoning much of his own family’s political future.
Why the Velaryon Family Tree Matters to the Dance of the Dragons
The Dance is usually presented as a Targaryen civil war.
Technically, it is.
In practice, House Velaryon is embedded throughout the conflict.
Their fleet gives Rhaenyra control over vital sea routes.
Their marriages strengthen her legitimacy.
Their dragons increase the military strength of the Blacks.
Their succession problems create internal tensions.
And the appearance of Addam and Alyn introduces another generation capable of carrying the Velaryon name forward.
Corlys is effectively trying to preserve his dynasty while the Targaryens conduct the world’s most expensive family argument around him.
It is difficult not to sympathise.
House Velaryon Family Relationships at a Glance
| Character | Parents | Spouse | Children | Connection to House Velaryon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corlys Velaryon | Velaryon line | Rhaenys Targaryen | Laena, Laenor, Addam*, Alyn* | Lord of House Velaryon |
| Rhaenys Targaryen | Aemon Targaryen and Jocelyn Baratheon | Corlys Velaryon | Laena, Laenor | Lady of House Velaryon |
| Laena Velaryon | Corlys and Rhaenys | Daemon Targaryen | Baela, Rhaena | Daughter of Corlys |
| Laenor Velaryon | Corlys and Rhaenys | Rhaenyra Targaryen | Jace, Luke and Joffrey legally | Son of Corlys |
| Baela Targaryen | Daemon and Laena | None at this stage | None | Granddaughter of Corlys |
| Rhaena Targaryen | Daemon and Laena | None at this stage | None | Granddaughter of Corlys |
| Jacaerys Velaryon | Rhaenyra and Harwin Strong | None | None | Legal grandson of Corlys |
| Lucerys Velaryon | Rhaenyra and Harwin Strong | None | None | Legal grandson of Corlys |
| Joffrey Velaryon | Rhaenyra and Harwin Strong | None | None | Legal grandson of Corlys |
| Addam of Hull | Corlys Velaryon* | None | None | Illegitimate son of Corlys |
| Alyn of Hull | Corlys Velaryon* | None | None | Illegitimate son of Corlys |
*Refers to the television continuity.
Who Can Actually Inherit House Velaryon?
This is one of the more interesting questions hanging over the family.
Originally, Laenor is Corlys’s heir.
After Laenor’s apparent death, Lucerys is expected to inherit Driftmark as Laenor’s son.
Luke’s death changes everything.
The problem is compounded by the fact that Corlys’s acknowledged legitimate descendants are increasingly tied to House Targaryen.
This makes Addam and particularly Alyn extremely significant.
The Hull brothers are initially illegitimate, but legitimacy in Westeros can be changed by royal authority.
And once that happens, the family tree can suddenly look very different.
The Velaryon Family Tree Is Really About Legacy
For me, Corlys is what makes this whole family tree interesting.
He spends much of his life building something enormous.
Money.
Ships.
Political influence.
A famous name.
A dynasty.
Then he watches that dynasty become tangled inside the Targaryen succession crisis.
His son disappears. His daughter dies. His grandchildren become involved in a civil war. The supposedly secure Driftmark succession begins collapsing.
Then Addam and Alyn appear.
They are living reminders that Corlys has spent years obsessing over the public Velaryon dynasty while keeping part of his actual bloodline hidden.
That makes House Velaryon’s story considerably more interesting than simply “the other silver-haired family”.
It is about what a family actually is.
Blood?
Name?
Marriage?
Legitimacy?
Recognition?
Corlys spends most of House of the Dragon insisting that history remembers names rather than blood. The increasingly chaotic Velaryon family tree keeps testing that belief.
And judging by the way things usually go in Westeros, history is unlikely to be gentle about it.
House Velaryon Family Tree FAQ
Is Corlys Velaryon related to Daemon Targaryen?
They are related through marriage. Daemon marries Corlys’s daughter Laena Velaryon, making Daemon his son-in-law.
Is Rhaenyra related to Corlys?
They are connected through several dynastic relationships. Most importantly, Rhaenyra marries Corlys’s son Laenor.
Is Laenor the father of Rhaenyra’s children?
He is their legal and publicly recognised father. Their biological father in House of the Dragon is Harwin Strong.
Who are Corlys Velaryon’s biological children?
In the television continuity, Corlys fathers Laena and Laenor with Rhaenys. He is also revealed to have fathered Addam and Alyn of Hull outside his marriage.
Are Addam and Alyn Velaryons?
They have Velaryon blood through Corlys in the television series. Their status and surname become important as the story develops.
Are Baela and Rhaena Velaryons?
They carry the Targaryen name because their father is Daemon Targaryen, but their mother is Laena Velaryon. They are Corlys and Rhaenys’s biological granddaughters.
Why do the Velaryons have silver hair?
House Velaryon is descended from Old Valyria. The family shares several recognisably Valyrian physical characteristics with the Targaryens, including silver hair.
Who is the heir to Driftmark?
The answer changes during the story. Laenor is originally Corlys’s heir, followed by Lucerys through Laenor’s legal line. The deaths and succession disputes created by the Dance dramatically complicate the future of Driftmark.
