Ranking House of the Dragon Characters from Worst to Best 

If Game of Thrones taught us anything, it’s that the characters we hate the most tend to outlive everyone else.

The dance of dragons is officially upon us. 

The third season of HBO’s acclaimed show, House of the Dragon, is back. Episode one dropped on Sunday and, in true Westeros fashion, opened with a grueling battle culminating in tragedy. Because of course it did.

With shifting alliances and characters consistently making poor life choices, I decided it was time to rank all of them — well, the ones that actually count. The franchise has so many characters running around Westeros that it’s easy to lose track of who’s who, so this list focuses on the major players from the first two seasons. 

Full disclaimer: this list is purely for entertainment and reflects my personal ranking. If you don’t like it, feel free to make your own in the comments. Thank you!

Also, if Game of Thrones taught us anything, it’s that the characters we hate the most tend to outlive everyone else. So, it looks like the people near the top of this list might outlive the rest. I already know how some of them die thanks to a Wiki deep-dive into the books, but I’m holding out hope the show takes a different road for a few of them.

Here we go. Starting with the character I love to hate. 

20. Alicent Hightower

I think it’ll be a unanimous decision to crown Alicent as the most hated character in the series. She’s probably the only one that fans of both sides hate. 

Raised from childhood to be a pious, agreeable, and dutiful tool for her father’s ambitions, Alicent was childhood friends with Rhaenyra right up until she married King Viserys. And she only got worse with age.

She’s the cause of the entire war—because she misheard a dying king’s last words and got tripped up by the Targaryens’ famously confusing naming system. Alicent’s entire arc is hating on Rhaenyra for being wild and free and doing all the things she wished she could (even though she ended up still doing them). 

19. Criston Cole (aka Crispin Donuts)

Pardon my French, but he’s the pettiest side piece in the history of side pieces. Fucking Crispin Donut. Sir-She-Took-My-Honor-And-Decided-She-Wasn’t-Doing-That-Again. 

After Rhaenyra rejects him (because why in God’s name would she abandon her birthright as Queen to run off and become a fishwife with you?), he becomes a bitter, petty asshat. From there, he joins forces with Alicent and becomes her enforcer/lover, driven by wounded pride and resentment towards the woman who didn’t choose him. 

18. Otto Hightower

If greed and ambition were a person, it’d be this man. Otto is a master puppeteer and the architect behind the Hightowers’ slow climb to power. 

Patient, calculating, and endlessly political, he spent years positioning his daughter and grandchildren for the throne long before Viserys ever died.

If Alicent lit the match that started the Targaryen civil war, Otto was the one who handed it to her. 

17. Larys Strong

House of the Dragon’s version of Littlefinger, but with a foot fetish. Larys is the disabled, soft-spoken master of whisperers who operates almost entirely in the shadows. He’s responsible for some of the show’s darkest, most unsettling moments—including arranging the deaths of his own father and brother to clear his path to power.

16. Aemond Targaryen

Alicent’s second son, or “discount Daemon”, as some people on X call him. Aemond was bullied for most of his childhood for being dragonless, then lost an eye after claiming Vhagar, the largest living dragon, for himself. Worth it, apparently. 

He’s sharp, ruthless, and deeply bitter, but underneath all that, Aemond is just a man terrified of ever feeling powerless again. And he’ll go to great lengths to make sure that never happens. 

15. Aegon II Targaryen

The eldest son of Alicent and Viserys, thrust onto the Iron Throne largely because of his mother and grandfather’s machinations rather than any ambition of his own. 

Aegon is insecure, impulsive, and resentful of his more capable younger brother, Aemond. He spends much of his reign struggling to be taken seriously as king. He’s not very smart, which makes it very easy for those around him to manipulate him. 

14. Rhaena Targaryen 

We never paid much attention to Rhaena before now. All we really knew was that she was the only one in her generation without a dragon and was betrothed to Luke. She ranks this high solely because of her stupidity. 

Rhaena spent most of season two on the sidelines of the conflict and was insecure about her lack of a dragon and her lack of relevance. That is, until she decided to claim a wild dragon and wreak havoc in a battle she had no business being in. 

Not every Targaryen deserves a dragon, and not every dragon wants a rider.

#JusticeForSheepstealer. All he wanted to do was eat barbecued sheep and live wild and free. 

13. Alys Rivers 

Part-time witch, part-time therapist for Daemon. We meet Alys in season two, where she’s helping Daemon along on his spirit quest. She shows him the vision of the Song of Ice and Fire and finally gives him something to believe in. 

We’re not entirely sure of her true intentions yet, but I’ll say she does remind me of Melisandre the Red Witch from GOT. Alys could be playing a long game of her own, or simply surviving by attaching herself to whoever holds power. 

12. Mysaria

Once Daemon’s spy, lover, and informant from his Flea Bottom days. Mysaria built her own network of informants across King’s Landing and has spent the series navigating her way from the margins of power into genuine political relevance.  

She uses information as her only real weapon in a world that gives her none. Mysaria has come a long way since season one, from working in a brothel to having Rhaenyra’s ear. 

11. Hugh Hammer

A blacksmith with Valyrian blood who becomes one of the dragonseeds recruited to claim a dragon for Rhaenyra’s side during the war.  Despite having no prior connection to dragons or claim to nobility, Hugh succeeds in claiming Vermithor in one of the best scenes in season two.  

His storyline represents the desperate, last-resort measures both sides take once the war escalates.

10. Addam of Hull

Younger brother to Alyn and bastard son of Corlys Velaryon, Addam’s status changes when he claims Seasmoke as his dragon (or rather Seasmoke claims him). His rise from common shipworker to dragonrider is one of the more compelling underdog arcs introduced in the back half of the war.

9. Alyn of Hull

Addam’s brother, a skilled sailor in Corlys’s fleet who saves Corlys’s life at sea and earns himself a notable place in House Velaryon’s story. 

Alyn resents his father for abandoning them and rejects any connection to his Velaryon roots (which includes shaving his silver hair). He does his best to earn his place in life on his own terms, not as an afterthought from a father who only wants him now that his real heirs are dead. 

8. Baela Targaryen

Baela is Daemon and Laena’s eldest daughter, Rhaena’s sister, and one of the characters with a lot of potential. She’s also a skilled dragonrider, having bonded with Moondancer from a young age. 

Fierce, independent, and fiercely loyal to Rhaenyra, Baela represents one of the show’s more capable young women navigating a war designed by men twice her age.

I hope she’s given more material this season. 

7. Jacaerys “Jace” Velaryon

Rhaenyra’s eldest son and heir, Jace, spends much of the series fighting off whispers about his true parentage while trying to prove himself a capable future ruler. As the war begins, he takes on increasing responsibility, recruiting allies and dragonriders for his mother’s cause. 

Jace would have made a genuinely good King. He embodied a lot of that Targaryen fire and was great at rallying allies to the throne.

6. Daemon Targaryen

Daemon has done some genuinely unspeakable things, and yes, he’s deeply, uncomfortably obsessed with his niece. But I can’t deny he’s one of the most compelling characters on the show. 

He’s equal parts volatile, brilliant warrior, and walking liability. It’s far better to have Daemon on your side than against you. His love for Rhaenyra is genuine, but his ego, impulsiveness, and thirst for power have caused chaos across two entire reigns. He’s simultaneously the show’s most magnetic character and its most exhausting one. 

5. Helaena Targaryen

Helaena is Aegon II’s wife and younger sister. She’s gifted with unsettling prophetic visions that seem to foretell tragedy before it happens. Helaena is gentle, withdrawn, and clearly suffering under the weight of both her gift and her family’s politics. She’s one of the show’s most quietly devastating characters.

4. Corlys “The Sea Snake” Velaryon

Corlys is Westeros’s wealthiest and most accomplished seafarer. He built House Velaryon’s fortune and fleet through decades of exploration and conquest before tying his family’s fate to the Targaryens through marriage.

While he might be a shitty father, Corlys is also a man who’s willing to change and make amends for his mistakes. His practicality and range make him one of Rhaenyra’s most crucial allies. 

3. King Viserys Targaryen

Viserys was well-meaning, but his actions (or sometimes his inaction) ultimately led to the show’s conflict. His mistakes and refusal to confront the growing friction between Alicent and Rhaenyra directly set the war in motion. 

He was a good man at heart. But good men rarely make good kings, especially in Westeros. Viserys’s tragedy was that his desperate desire to keep everyone happy ensured almost no one ended up happy at all.

2. Rhaenys Targaryen

Rhaenys was Corlys’s wife and Rhaenyra’s aunt by marriage. She was famously known as “the Queen Who Never Was” after being passed over for the throne in favor of Viserys despite having a stronger claim.

“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.” 

— Rhaenys Targaryen to Rhaenyra Targaryen

Sharp and composed, Rhaenys knew the true cost of war and tried to choose peace whenever she could. But that didn’t stop her from backing Rhaenyra and giving her life for the cause. She remains one of the show’s most respected figures, and her final scene was epic. 

1. Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen

Rhaenyra is Viserys’s chosen heir and the only named successor to the Iron Throne. She spends decades fighting to be taken seriously in a role no woman has held before. Her claim, legitimate and publicly declared by her own father, is challenged the moment he dies, forcing her into a war she never wanted but refuses to lose.

It’s hard not to root for Rhaenyra and feel robbed on her behalf. Unlike Alicent’s children, Rhaenyra was actually groomed for the throne and had what it took to rule the kingdom. 

Born with the heart of a King to rule, but trapped inside a woman’s body, with everyone taking you for granted. 

— Rhaenyra Targaryen

Rhaenyra would have loved Daenerys, who showed every man in her path that she was the breaker of chains. She’d have made her dragon barbecue anyone who dared doubt her. 

All Rhaenyra ever did was try to reclaim the birthright that had been stolen from her by greedy and power-hungry people.