WARNING! Major SPOILERS for Fire & Blood AND House of the Dragon episode 3!A few subtle moments in House of the Dragon episode 3 doesn’t reveal which character she’ll marry, it does feature her first interaction with the (rumored) father of her children.
Game of Thrones season 1’s conflicts primarily began over the legitimacy of the claim of Joffrey Baratheon, with Jon Arryn and Ned Stark both being killed for their knowledge of Joffrey’s true father. While Cersei Lannister maintained that her three children were fathered by King Robert Baratheon, their true father was her twin brother Jaime Lannister, making each of Robert’s supposed heirs bastards with no legitimate claim to the Iron Throne. Just as Joffrey Baratheon was called a Lannister bastard, Rhaenyra Targaryen’s eldest sons will face similar accusations in House of the Dragon.
One of the biggest gossip-filled conflicts in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood book is the true parentage of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s three sons with her husband Laenor Velaryon. The books all but confirm that Laenor Velaryon was gay, and that their sons were actually fathered by Rhaenyra’s personal sworn shield and rumored lover Harwin Strong. Her sons Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey Velaryon are then often teased by their cousin Aemond Targaryen (the second son of Alicent and Viserys) for being Strongs, with Vaemond Velaryon also appealing to the crown that Rhaenyra’s sons cannot be the true heirs to Driftmark. Considering House of the Dragon episode 3 saw Viserys suggest that Lyonel Strong was going to propose that Rhaenyra marry his son Harwin, and Harwin smiled as Rhaenyra casually walked back into camp with blood on her face, the series is proving their romance was never a “rumor.”
House Of The Dragon Has Already Subtly Confirmed Harwin Strong's Twist
Alongside Harwin Strong’s clear interest in Rhaenyra during House of the Dragon episode 3, the show’s teasers have already confirmed the character’s big twist. The actors who have been cast as Rhaenyra and Laenor’s sons are pale with black hair, sharing features associated with Harwin Strong. While there’s a small biological chance that their sons would simply have features dominated by their mother’s genes over their father’s, the context of the story and the fact that they didn’t inherit any of Rhaenyra’s prominent Targaryen traits prove the rumor true.
In any case, with Fire & Blood setting up the rumors of Harwin Strong being Rhaenyra's sons' real father, their casting isn’t coincidental. The confirmation is even more obvious when they’re standing next to their cousins Baela and Rhaena, the daughters of Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon, who share almost exactly the same genetic material as Rhaenyra and Laenor’s children in theory. Rather, their physical traits are visibly different, and give much to the claims that Rhaenyra’s three eldest sons are Strong bastards in House of the Dragon.
New episodes of House of the Dragon release Sundays on HBO/HBO Max.