‘House of the Dragon’ Season 1 Timeline, Explained

House of the Dragon brought fans back into the fantasy world of Westeros with all of its political webs and dense worldbuilding intact. It’s no surprise that the first season left some viewers confused – especially as it skipped through the timeline at an inconsistent pace. If you need an explainer or a refresher read on, but fair warning: there are spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 1 ahead.

House of the Dragon is primarily about the civil war known as “The Dance of the Dragons,” but it starts decades before the fighting really broke out. Season 1 in particular had the difficult task of deciding where that conflict began, and then depicting years of building enmity in a concise, action-packed manner. The result is 10 episodes of TV that cover about 20 years’ worth of time, but not in evenly spaced chunks.

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, which is written like a history book, not a novel. It starts with House Targaryen’s exodus to Westeros followed by Aegon Targaryen’s Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. It keeps track of years in terms of BC – “before conquest” – and AC – “after conquest.” House of the Dragon takes place entirely after the year 101 AC.

With that point of reference in mind, the timeline is easier to keep track of. Scroll down for an episode-by-episode timeline of House of the Dragon Season 1.

Episode 1 – 101 AC – 110 AC

The premiere episode starts with a prologue-like segment set in 101 AC. It shows King Jaehaerys presiding over a “great council” where all the high lords of Westeros were invited to weigh in on which of his descendants they wanted to succeed him as king. The show would later explain that this is where it was decided that Viserys would be king and Rhaenys would be passed over, which many took as a precedent that women could not inherit the Iron Throne.

From there, most of the episodes took place in the year 110 AC. This is when Aemma Targaryen died in childbirth and a grieving Viserys decided to name Rhaenyra as his heir.

Episode 2 – 111 AC

There was a jump of just about six months between Episode 1 and Episode 2. It was then that Viserys decided to remarry to Alicent Hightower, which started the rift between her and Rhaenyra. This was also when Corlys Velaryon and Daemon Targaryen began their war on the Stepstones islands.

Episode 3 – 114 AC

About three years passed between Episode 2 and Episode 3. We are introduced to Alicent’s children Aegon, Aemond and Helaena, and we get updates on how the war in the Stepstones has been going.

Episode 4-5 – 114-115 AC

There are only a few months between Episodes 3 and 4, and after that Episode 5 follows immediately.

Episode 6-7 – 124 AC

Episodes 6 and 7 also take place together in the same year, which can add to the confusion in a way because fans may be expecting more time skips. However, these two episodes introduce fans to the new cast members taking over familiar roles after the 10-year time skip. We also meet all three of Rhaenyra’s children, as well as the younger versions of Alicent and Viserys’ children.

Episode 8-10 – 130 AC

Six years passed between Episode 7 and Episode 8 in the last time skip of the series. Here we see how the Hightowers have taken seized power in King’s Landing and how Rhaenyra and Daemon have united as a family on Dragonstone. This is the year Viserys dies and, consequently, the civil war breaks out at last.

Season 2 – 130-131 AC

Finally, fans can be assured that House of the Dragon will not have any more big jumps in the timeline going forward. The war bubbled up slowly, but now that it has started things will happen fast. While fans saw war in Westeros in Game of Thrones, they haven’t yet seen a war with dragons – at least, not on this scale.