How Do Fans Theorize Alyssa Targaryen'S Motives?

Lots of people mix up names in Westeros (I do it all the time when I'm flipping through my scribbled family tree), and when someone says 'Alyssa Targaryen' they usually mean 'Alysanne Targaryen'. Alysanne was the beloved queen who married King Jaehaerys I — she sailed, advised, and reshaped court life centuries before Rhaenyra ever drew breath. So, in plain terms: she isn’t Rhaenyra’s sister or cousin, she’s a much earlier member of the dynasty, a distant ancestor figure rather than an immediate relative. If you want the nerdy genealogy: Rhaenyra is the daughter of King Viserys I, who comes many generations down the Targaryen line after Jaehaerys and Alysanne. The exact number of generations between Alysanne and Rhaenyra varies depending on which branch you trace, but it’s enough generations to call Alysanne an ancestor rather than a close relative. I like to pull out the family tree from 'Fire & Blood' or consult the charts in 'The World of Ice & Fire' to see the names lined up — it makes the gaps feel a little less abstract. If you actually meant some other Alyssa (there are minor characters and fan-made variations), the relationship could be different, but the safest bet is: Alysanne = long-ago queen, Rhaenyra = later claimant to the throne, and Alysanne is an ancestor in the broader Targaryen lineage. Whenever I trace this stuff I end up bookmarking pages and sticking Post-its on my copies of 'House of the Dragon' lore — it’s oddly comforting.

This question made me dig through my mental library of Targaryen names because 'Alyssa' isn’t one of the big, obvious figures in the mainstream histories. What I found most often is confusion between similarly named characters — the big one is 'Alysanne' Targaryen (the sister-queen of Jaehaerys I) and various minor women with similar names in the extended family trees. In the core texts, there isn’t a prominent, unambiguous entry simply labeled 'Alyssa Targaryen' with a widely quoted death year, so whenever I see that name I pause and check the family tree or the chapter notes in 'Fire & Blood' to see who the writer actually meant. If you’re trying to pin a date down, my go-to method is to pull up the Targaryen family tree in the back of 'Fire & Blood' or to cross-reference the character on community encyclopedias like A Wiki of Ice and Fire and Westeros.org — they usually list birth and death years and cite the passages. Often the issue is a transcription or memory slip: readers conflate 'Alysanne' with 'Alyssa' or mix in Velaryon/Blackwood branches. I’ve done that myself a dozen times while skimming timelines late at night. So short of knowing exactly which branch or century you mean, I can’t give a single definitive year. If you tell me whether this Alyssa is a queen, a princess, or a minor noble (or the approximate era — like the Dance of the Dragons era vs. the age of Jaehaerys I), I’ll track the most likely person down and give you the exact death year with the source I used.

I'm the sort of reader who loves the messy, human stuff in George R. R. Martin's histories, and when I first ran into the name 'Alyssa' in discussions I paused — the book actually centers on Alysanne Targaryen, and a lot of fans casually shorten or misspell her name. In 'Fire & Blood' she appears as the sister-wife and queen-consort to King Jaehaerys I, a partnership that’s more partnership than shadow-queen. What I love about her portrayal is how she comes across as both warm and politically sharp: she isn’t just a background figure, she helps shape policies, tours the realm alongside the king, and pushes for reforms that touch everyday folk, especially women and children. Reading the chapters about Jaehaerys and Alysanne felt like listening to family stories told at different tables — some chroniclers praise her as compassionate and practical, others gossip about court intrigues. Martin leans into that unreliable-historian vibe, so you get several versions of the same events: tender moments, fierce debates, and the odd rumor. For fans who like the human details, Alysanne’s character is a goldmine — she’s credited with gentle reforms and with being a calming, steady influence on a long and consequential reign. If you’re digging into her, keep an eye out for the anecdotes that show more than policy: her travels, her interactions with smallfolk, and the kind of courtly influence that changes law and custom over time.

There's a fair chance you're hitting a name mix-up — that happens all the time in the Targaryen family tree, which reads like a lace of repeating names and tragic footnotes. When people ask about 'what happened to Alyssa Targaryen during the Dance', the first thing I do is check whether they actually mean Alysanne (the queen-consort to Jaehaerys I) or one of the many minor Targaryens who barely get a line in 'Fire & Blood'. In the canonical accounts of the Dance of the Dragons, there isn't a major player named Alyssa who plays a key role in the war itself; the big names are Rhaenyra, Aegon II, Helaena, Daemon, and the Velaryons. So if you’re reading fanfic or a community thread, that 'Alyssa' could be a fan-created character or a confusion with another similarly named Targaryen. If you want hard sources, I’d pull up 'Fire & Blood' first and flip to the Dance sections, then cross-reference the family trees at the back. The important thing to remember is that the Dance devoured a whole generation: many Targaryens and dragons died, houses shifted, and the dynasty was scarred for decades. If you can tell me where you saw Alyssa’s name — a blog, a fanfic, or a stray wiki — I can help pin down whether she’s canonical, a misremembered Alysanne, or a creative new addition. I love tracing these little name-snakes through the lore; it’s like detective work with dragons, and I’m happy to keep digging with you.

I'm kinda the person who brings up obscure Targaryen trivia at parties, so here's the short-ish scoop I usually give: if you're asking about Alysanne Targaryen (often written or misremembered as 'Alyssa'), then yes—she is depicted as a dragonrider in George R.R. Martin's histories. Her flights are described in 'Fire & Blood' where she accompanies King Jaehaerys I on the backs of dragons and takes part in sovereign duties from the sky. Those scenes are a big part of what paints her as adventurous and progressive for her era. If your question is about another character spelled 'Alyssa' (there are several similar names in the family trees and Velaryons and lesser branches), things get murkier: many minor Alyssas never get dragonback scenes in the canonical histories. I usually tell people to check the family trees and the index in 'Fire & Blood' because Martin scatters brief mentions and some women are named without being riders. One tip from me as a longtime reader: when in doubt, search the passage in 'Fire & Blood' and then compare to the Family Trees appendices or the widely-used fandom wiki. That way you can tell which Aly(s) name refers to the dragon-riding queen and which are just footnotes in the long, messy Targaryen lineage.

Gah, this is one of those little lore questions that turns into a rabbit hole fast. As far as I can tell from flipping through 'Fire & Blood' and the companion histories, there isn't a clear, canonical record that names a specific burial place for someone called Alyssa Targaryen. George R.R. Martin can be maddeningly thorough about kings and major queens, but a lot of minor or similarly named figures fall into the fog—so my first reaction is that the character you mean might be obscure, misspelled, or a fan-created figure rather than a well-documented historical person in the printed books. If you’re trying to place a Targaryen corpse in-world, the usual resting places to consider are the family crypts beneath the Red Keep in King's Landing (where many Targaryen kings and queens are traditionally interred), Dragonstone (for those with strong ties to the island), or sometimes private burial sites on a lordly island or keep. There are also cases where bodies are lost at sea, burned by dragonfire, or not recorded in surviving chronicles, which is why a name can vanish from the record. My practical tip: check the family trees and indexes in 'The World of Ice & Fire' and 'Fire & Blood', and search the appendix of the books for variant spellings—'Alysanne', 'Alyssane', or even Velaryon connections could be what you actually mean. I love these little mysteries; if you can tell me where you first saw the name (a forum, fanfic, or a wiki), I’ll happily dig deeper with you.

Okay, let me nerd out for a second — if you meant Alysanne Targaryen (often misspelled as 'Alyssa'), she’s one of my favorite medieval-queen-type figures GRRM writes about. In 'Fire & Blood' she’s primarily featured in the chapter that covers the long, joint reign of Jaehaerys and Alysanne — often titled something like 'The Reign of Jaehaerys and Alysanne' in the table of contents. That chapter is where you get her most sustained presence: her journeys across the realm, reforms, and the dynamic between her and the king are discussed there. Beyond that main chapter, she’s also referenced in family histories and later sections that look back on Jaehaerys’s line. So you’ll see shorter mentions scattered in genealogical notes and in chapters that revisit the consequences of the Jaehaerys-Alysanne era. If you have a digital copy, searching for 'Alysanne' (and trying 'Alyssa' just in case of misspellings) will pull up both the big chapter and the smaller side references. I usually flip to the TOC and then skim the Jaehaerys-era section if I want the whole arc of her role at once.

This one made me go digging through memory and wikis — and honestly, it's a little fuzzy because there isn't a well-documented, widely-cited set of canonical lines attributed to someone named Alyssa Targaryen in George R.R. Martin's main texts or the HBO adaptations. If you meant a different Targaryen (like Alysanne or Daenerys), then there are plenty of memorable quotes; but for an 'Alyssa' specifically, most of what people refer to tends to be fan-created or appears in minor, non-quoted mentions in appendices and histories. I usually start by checking sources like 'Fire & Blood' or 'The World of Ice and Fire' histories and then cross-reference with fan wikis or episode scripts from 'House of the Dragon' when names get murky. If 'Alyssa' is a character from a fanfic, roleplay, or a lesser-known tie-in, the best route is to point me to the exact source (a chapter, a fan post, or the episode timestamp) and I can pull quotes directly. Meanwhile, if you just want Targaryen-flavored lines people love, I can list verified quotes from better-documented Targaryens — for example, Daenerys’ dark, famous line about taking what’s hers: "I will take what is mine with fire and blood," and the clipped command 'Dracarys' which has become iconic. If you want, tell me where you saw 'Alyssa' (fanfiction, a wiki, a game mod, or a passage), and I'll track down exact, attributable quotes. Otherwise I can compile a list of notable Targaryen quotes that capture the same vibe.