House of the Dragon Season 3 ended with Rhaenyra Targaryen sitting on the throne she spent three seasons chasing, and looking nothing like the woman who wanted it. She executed Otto Hightower, kept Alicent as a prisoner, and threatened her when she stopped being useful.
The finale leaves her staring at a tapestry Helaena stitched before her death, showing Rhaenyra crowned with blood running down around her. Plenty of women in Westeros had a claim, a title, or simply better judgment than the queen now holding the throne, and none of them got it.
5. Helaena Targaryen Had Every Quality but the Will to Rule
Phia Saban as Helaena Targaryen in House of the Dragon | Credits: HBO
Helaena Targaryen was crowned beside Aegon II and never once behaved like she wanted the title. She was gentle with her children, decent to servants, and a dreamer who saw further than anyone at court, including the end she was walking toward.
That is also the case against her and lands her in fifth spot. Ruling requires wanting something, and Helaena wanted only to be left alone with her bugs and her family. She takes her own life in the finale, and the tapestry she leaves behind is the sharpest judgment of Rhaenyra in the whole season.
4. Jeyne Arryn Kept an Entire Kingdom Out of the Fire
Amanda Collin as Jeyne Arryn in House of the Dragon | Credits: HBO
Every lord in Westeros picked a side and fed their people into the war. But Jeyne Arryn chose not to do that. The Lady of the Eyrie rules the Vale alone, having inherited it as a child, and she spends the Dance doing one thing well. She keeps the Arryn soldiers alive.
She shelters Rhaenyra’s younger sons. She hosts Rhaena, then she is unimpressed when the girl brings a wild dragon to her doorstep. She is not warm, and she is not loyal to anyone but her own people. In a season where rulers torch their own realm, she earned this spot with how well she treated her people.
3. Baela Targaryen Was Told She’d Have Been Queen
Bethany Antonia as Baela Targaryen in House of the Dragon | Credits: HBO
In Season 2, Rhaena tells her sister Baela that she would have been Queen. Baela flew Moondancer, expressing her wish to die a dragonrider’s death in the show. Baela was betrothed to Jacaerys, and Rhaena’s failure to control Sheepstealer at the Gullet gets him killed. What Baela did next makes her true queen material.
She carried Jace’s body home. Then, given every reason to hate her sister, she forgave her instead and told her she could begin again. Rhaenyra spends this season learning to stop forgiving people. Baela, who lost more, did not, and that’s why she makes this list.
2. Alicent Hightower Seems More Reasonable than Rhaenyra
Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon | Credits: HBO
Forget twenty years of scheming and look at what Alicent Hightower actually does in Season 3. She is Rhaenyra’s prisoner, and her father has been executed. Her sons are marked for death. And she still goes to Luthor Largent and asks him to open the gates, so King’s Landing is handed over rather than burned.
She is a woman who wants to stop the body counts. By Season 3, she is the only one thinking about the cost. Plus, she ran the realm’s daily business for years while Viserys was too ill to sit a council. While Alicent no longer wants to play the game, these things make her a far better queen than Rhaenyra’s current regime.
1. Rhaenys Targaryen Is Still the Best Queen Westeros Never Had
Eve Best as Rhaenys Targaryen in House of the Dragon | Credits: HBO
Rhaenys Targaryen had every reason to burn the Green court alive. She had just watched them crown Aegon over Rhaenyra, and she was sitting on Meleys with the whole court in front of her. She flew out through the roof instead and left them breathing.
The Great Council denied her the crown for being a woman. She tells Rhaenyra truths nobody else will, and she dies at Rook’s Rest, refusing to run. She had the restraint and honesty to carry the queen’s job, but she never got the chance.
Which of these five do you think would have held the Iron Throne best? Let us know in the comments below.
House of the Dragon is now available for streaming on HBO Max.
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