If you’ve ever tried to explain the Game of Thrones universe to a friend, you know how quickly things get confusing. Is House of the Dragon a prequel? How far back does the timeline actually go? When did all this stuff with the Targaryens happen compared to what we saw with Jon Snow? It’s enough to make you want to crack open George R.R. Martin’s world bible and start drawing your own timeline on a whiteboard.
The beauty of the Game of Thrones universe is that it spans centuries of meticulously crafted history, and HBO is currently in the process of bringing different eras of that history to the screen. Between House of the Dragon’s look at the Targaryen civil war, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms focusing on the life of a legendary knight, and the original Game of Thrones series showing us the kingdom’s modern era, we’re getting a genuinely epic tapestry of storytelling. But understanding how all these pieces fit together requires some context. Let’s walk through the complete timeline of Westeros and see how everything connects into one cohesive narrative.
The Age of Heroes: The Foundation of Everything
Before we get into specific dates that matter for the shows currently airing, we need to understand the mythological foundation of Westeros. The Age of Heroes is when Westeros was supposedly populated by the first men, the children of the forest, and giants. This is where the legendary founding figures come from — Brandon the Builder, who supposedly built Winterfell with the help of magic; the Lannisters and their connection to house Casterly Rock; and all the ancient houses that would eventually rule the Seven Kingdoms.
The thing about the Age of Heroes is that it’s part history, part legend, and part mythology. Nobody actually knows how true any of it is. Some events might have happened ten thousand years ago, or eight thousand, or maybe some of it’s just really good storytelling that survived through the ages. George R.R. Martin intentionally keeps this vague because in a medieval-style world without reliable historical records, how would anyone actually know? The Andal Invasion, which brought the Andals into Westeros and pushed out the first men, happened somewhere in this misty past, but the exact timing is lost to history. What matters is that these founding moments created the kingdoms that would eventually be united by the Targaryen dragons.
The Targaryen Era: From Conquest to Collapse
Now we’re getting into the territory that House of the Dragon is currently exploring, and this is where the timeline becomes concrete enough to matter. About three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, Aegon the Conqueror united the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros by using his three dragons and his family’s military might to topple the rulers of seven separate kingdoms. This wasn’t a quick conquest — it took years of battle, but the dragons made a difference that conventional armies simply couldn’t overcome. Aegon became the first king of the unified Seven Kingdoms, and the Targaryen dynasty began what would become the longest-lasting rule in Westeros history.
For the next two hundred years or so, the Targaryens ruled relatively well, though not without drama. There were civil wars between different Targaryen claimants, like the rebellion of Harrenhal and various succession disputes. Kings came and went, some were great, some were terrible, and the house maintained its power largely through dragon fire and the loyalty of noble houses. The Targaryen dynasty made sure to keep their bloodline relatively pure through intermarriage, which is a major plot point in understanding why they were so different from everyone else in Westeros.
Then came the Red Keep, King’s Landing, the great castles and monuments that defined the power of the throne. The Targaryens built a civilization that seemed permanent, unshakeable, powered by dragons and magic. But nothing lasts forever in this world, and the cracks were already forming.
The Targaryen Civil War: House of the Dragon’s Story
This is where House of the Dragon picks up the narrative, roughly two centuries before Game of Thrones takes place. The civil war that tears the Targaryen dynasty apart — the Dance of the Dragons — is a catastrophic conflict that pits Targaryen against Targaryen, dragon against dragon, and ultimately ensures that the family will never recover its full power.
The war starts with a succession dispute after King Viserys I dies. His designated heir is his daughter Rhaenyra, but his son Aegon II also has a claim, and various factions rally behind each candidate. What follows is absolutely brutal: dragons are used in combat for the first time in centuries, entire armies are destroyed in single battles, and the great houses of Westeros bleed out supporting one side or the other. Families like House Stark, House Baratheon, and House Lannister have to choose sides, and those choices create enmities that last for generations.
The Dance of the Dragons is important because it’s not just a story about a monarchy tearing itself apart. It’s the beginning of the end for Targaryen dominance. They still rule after the war ends, but they’re weakened. Dragons die in the fighting and there aren’t enough resources to breed new ones successfully. The great houses have tasted the power that comes from playing kingmaker, and they won’t forget it. The seeds of the eventual Targaryen collapse are planted right here.
The Rebellion and Robert’s Rise: The Bridge to Game of Thrones
Fast forward about one hundred seventy years. We’re now in the era roughly fifteen to twenty years before Game of Thrones begins, and this is where the real immediate history of the kingdom is established. The last Targaryen king, Aerys II, has become increasingly unhinged. He’s paranoid, he makes terrible decisions, and he’s sitting on a throne with several powerful, restless noble houses below him.
The breaking point comes when Rhaegar Targaryen, the king’s eldest son, apparently runs away with Lyanna Stark, the betrothed of Robert Baratheon. Whether it was an elopement, a kidnapping, or something more complicated is a mystery that echoes throughout the entire series. What matters is that Robert Baratheon takes offense and rebels. He’s supported by house Stark, the Lannisters, and others who are either loyal to him or have their own grievances against the crown. The rebellion becomes a full-scale civil war.
It ends with the Targaryen dynasty completely destroyed. The Mad King dies, Rhaegar dies, the great houses of the kingdom are left weakened and wary of each other, and Robert Baratheon becomes king. But Robert’s rebellion doesn’t really unite the kingdom — it just tilts the power balance. The Stark family, the Lannister family, and the Baratheon dynasty are now the major forces in Westeros. They’re allies at the moment, but they’re not necessarily friends, and power in Westeros is a zero-sum game.
The Lull Before the Storm: Robert’s Reign
Robert rules for about fifteen years before the events of Game of Thrones begin. These are relatively peaceful years compared to what comes before and after, but “peaceful” in the Game of Thrones universe is a relative term. The realm is stable enough, the crops are growing, there’s no open civil war, but underneath the surface, things are brewing.
Robert himself is a brilliant warrior but a poor king. He’s not interested in the day-to-day work of ruling, preferring to hunt and drink and spend money he doesn’t have. His kingdom is going into debt. His wife, Cersei Lannister, is secretly having incestuous children with her own brother, Jaime. The Lannisters are basically running the kingdom’s finances and using their position to accumulate more power. In the north, the Stark family is honorable but increasingly out of step with how the game of thrones is actually played. In the south, various minor houses are forming alliances and watching for opportunity.
And beyond the Wall, in the far north, something is stirring. The wildlings are getting more aggressive, and there are rumors of something worse — something in the true north, something cold and ancient that people have mostly stopped believing in. These rumors will become increasingly important as the story progresses.
The Beginning of Game of Thrones: Where It All Falls Apart
When Game of Thrones begins, roughly 298 years after Aegon’s Conquest, the kingdom is on the edge of a cliff. Robert Baratheon calls Ned Stark to King’s Landing to serve as his Hand, and the two of them are going to spend time together trying to unravel the mysteries of Robert’s past and the current political situation. But the audience knows something they don’t: the Lannisters have been playing a long game, the north has secrets, and chaos is about to erupt.
The series spans roughly seven years of in-world time, during which the kingdom goes from political tension to open civil war, then to existential threat from beyond the Wall. The War of the Five Kings, named for the various claimants to the throne who emerge after Robert’s death, tears the realm apart. Thousands die. Great houses are nearly eliminated. The delicate balance of power that Robert maintained is shattered.
What makes this particularly interesting when you look at it in the context of the complete timeline is that you can see how all the pieces set up by House of the Dragon and the centuries of Targaryen rule lead directly to this moment. The old families have old grievances. Dragons gave way to gold, magic gave way to political scheming, and honor gave way to pragmatism. The Targaryen dynasty is truly gone, but its legacy of warfare and succession disputes haunts everyone.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and the Broader Picture
The upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms series, based on George R.R. Martin’s novellas, will take us back to an earlier era — roughly one hundred years before Robert’s Rebellion. This is the story of Ser Duncan the Tall and Prince Aegon, living in a time when the Targaryen dynasty was still firmly in control, still had multiple dragons, and seemed unassailable. It’s an interesting departure from the epic scope of the other series, focusing more on the personal story of a hedge knight and his connections to the throne.
What makes A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms valuable to the overall timeline is that it shows us what the Targaryen dynasty looked like at the height of its relative stability. Before the Dance of the Dragons, before the civil wars, before the internal collapse. It’s a look at a more magical Westeros, a more dragon-filled kingdom, and a reminder that the world is changing in subtle ways that nobody quite notices until it’s too late.
Conclusion: A Universe Defined by Cycles
Looking at the complete timeline of Westeros from the Age of Heroes all the way through Game of Thrones, what becomes clear is that this is a world defined by cycles. Mighty houses rise, commit the sins that ensure their fall, and are replaced by the next generation of ambitious people. Dragons come and go. Magic fades and returns. The wheel of power keeps turning, and even though the people sitting on the throne change, the patterns remain the same.
What HBO is doing by staggering these series across different eras of the timeline is giving us the chance to see that pattern play out. We can watch the Targaryens at their peak in House of the Dragon, see them collapse through civil war and madness, watch someone else take the throne, and then follow that new regime’s descent into chaos. It’s not a simple story of good and evil — it’s a complex, multi-generational exploration of power, ambition, and the price of sitting on the Iron Throne.
The timeline of Westeros isn’t just a bunch of dates and battles. It’s the story of a world constantly trying to find balance, constantly failing to find it, and constantly starting over. And we’re lucky enough to be watching it all unfold across multiple series, each one adding another layer to our understanding of how we got here and where we might be going next. Whether you’re a casual viewer or a devoted fan with spreadsheets tracking every house and every claim, there’s something deeply satisfying about seeing how all the pieces fit together into one massive, interconnected story.
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