You’ve probably seen the meme. The one where a confused person is staring at a wall of red yarn and polaroids trying to figure out how everyone in Westeros is related without accidentally rooting for incest. It's a mess. Honestly, trying to keep a game of thrones family chart straight in your head is like trying to do taxes while a dragon breathes fire down your neck. Between the secret adoptions, the "keep it in the family" Targaryen traditions, and the fact that half the characters are named Aegon, it’s no wonder we all need a cheat sheet.
Most people think they have the basics down. Ned is the dad, Jon is the bastard, and the Lannisters are just... wealthy and blonde. But if you actually look at the lineage, the real story is way weirder. It’s a web of broken promises and very specific genetic traits that literally determined who lived and who got executed in a town square.
The Stark Truth About the North
The Starks are supposed to be the "simple" ones. They have a castle, they have snow, and they have a very clear line of succession. Or so we thought. At the start of the saga, you have Rickard Stark, who was the Lord of Winterfell. He had four kids: Brandon, Eddard (Ned), Lyanna, and Benjen.
Brandon was the heir, but he got strangled by the Mad King. Lyanna was the "kidnapped" sister, though we later found out she actually went willingly. Benjen went to the Wall to freeze his toes off. That left Ned, the second son who never expected to lead, to marry Catelyn Tully. Catelyn was actually supposed to marry Brandon first. Awkward.
Together, Ned and Cat had five "trueborn" kids: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. Then there was Jon Snow. For years, the world—and a very bitter Catelyn—believed Jon was Ned’s mistake with some random tavern girl named Wylla. But the game of thrones family chart took a massive turn when we realized Jon wasn't Ned’s son at all. He was his nephew.
Jon is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. This makes him the "Song of Ice and Fire" personified. It also means Arya and Sansa are his cousins, not his sisters. If you want to get really technical, it means Jon has a better claim to the throne than his "aunt" Daenerys, which made their season eight romance about ten times more uncomfortable.
📖 Related: Howie Mandel Cupcake Picture: What Really Happened With That Viral Post
Golden Hair and Silver Tongues: The Lannister Loop
If the Starks are a straight line with one massive hidden knot, the Lannisters are a circle. Tywin Lannister was the patriarch. He was obsessed with the family legacy, which is ironic considering his children did everything possible to destroy it. Tywin married his first cousin, Joanna. This wasn't super unusual for high-born families in Westeros, but it set a precedent.
They had three kids: the twins, Cersei and Jaime, and then Tyrion.
Cersei married Robert Baratheon to seal a political alliance. On paper, her kids—Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen—were Baratheons. In reality? They were 100% Lannister. Jaime was the father of all three. This is the "seed is strong" revelation that got Jon Arryn and Ned Stark killed.
Basically, the Baratheon line on the throne was a total lie. While the official game of thrones family chart in the Red Keep showed the kids as Robert’s heirs, their DNA said otherwise. Robert actually had plenty of kids, just none with his wife. Gendry is the most famous of Robert’s bastards, the only one who really survived the Great Purge, making him the last true Baratheon by blood, even if he started out as a blacksmith’s apprentice.
The Dragon Queen’s Complicated Roots
The Targaryens are where things get truly dizzying. If you’ve watched House of the Dragon, you know this family has been intermarrying for centuries to "keep the blood pure." By the time we get to Daenerys, the tree has been pruned heavily.
👉 See also: Austin & Ally Maddie Ziegler Episode: What Really Happened in Homework & Hidden Talents
Her father was Aerys II, the Mad King. He was married to his sister, Rhaella. They had three children who survived infancy:
- Rhaegar: The eldest, who died at the Trident. He was married to Elia Martell (having two kids, Rhaenys and Aegon, who were killed) but secretly annulled that to marry Lyanna Stark (fathering Jon Snow).
- Viserys: The "Beggar King" who got a molten gold crown. He had no heirs.
- Daenerys: The Mother of Dragons.
The connection between House of the Dragon and the main series is a long bridge of about 200 years. King Viserys I (the one with the leprosy played by Paddy Considine) is Daenerys’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. That's seven "greats" if you're counting. The civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons thinned the family tree so much that by the time Robert’s Rebellion happened, there were only a handful of silver-haired royals left.
Why Does the Chart Even Matter?
It’s not just for trivia. In Westeros, your name is your resume. If you’re a bastard, you’re "Snow" or "Rivers" or "Stone," and you have no rights. If you can prove you’re a Stark, you have the loyalty of the entire North. The complexity of the game of thrones family chart is the engine of the plot.
Think about the Boltons. Roose Bolton had a trueborn heir, but once he legitimized his bastard son Ramsay, the entire power dynamic of the North shifted. Ramsay went from being a "nothing" to being the Warden of the North, purely because of a piece of paper that changed his spot on the family tree.
Then there’s the Tyrells. Mace Tyrell was the "Lord Oaf," but his mother, Olenna (the Queen of Thorns), was the real architect. They tried to graft themselves onto the royal tree by marrying Margaery to... well, everyone. She was married to Renly Baratheon, then Joffrey, then Tommen. She was the ultimate social climber of the Seven Kingdoms.
✨ Don't miss: Kiss My Eyes and Lay Me to Sleep: The Dark Folklore of a Viral Lullaby
Actionable Insights for Fans
If you're trying to master the lineages for a rewatch or just to win an argument at a bar, keep these "cheats" in mind:
- Look at the hair. This is George R.R. Martin’s favorite trope. Baratheons always have black hair. Lannisters always have gold. Targaryens always have silver-white. If a kid doesn't match the "official" father, something's up.
- The "Snow" Rule. Bastards take the surname of the region they were raised in, not where they were born. This is why Jon is a Snow even though he was born in Dorne (where he should have been a Sand).
- The Aegon Problem. There are at least five prominent Aegons in the history. If you're confused, look at the epithet. Aegon the Conqueror (the first), Aegon the Unworthy (the bad one), or Aegon/Jon Snow (the secret one).
- Maternal Lines. In the books, the maternal side matters more than the show lets on. The "Stark" blood actually comes from a long line of Blackwoods and Royces too, which supposedly gives them their "warg" abilities.
Don't let the charts intimidate you. Most of the people in Westeros were just as confused as we are, which is exactly why they kept fighting over who got to sit on that uncomfortable chair made of melted swords. If you want to dive deeper, start by mapping out the "Great Houses" first—Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, and Targaryen—and ignore the minor houses like the Mormonts or the Tarlys until you’ve got the heavy hitters down.
The most important thing to remember is that in this world, a family tree is either a ladder or a noose. It just depends on whose name is at the top.
Next Steps for Your Research
Check out the official Fire & Blood lineage maps if you want to see the Targaryen mess in full detail. You can also re-examine the Season 1 "Seed is Strong" scenes now that you know exactly which branches of the Lannister and Baratheon trees were being faked. If you really want to be an expert, look into the "Blackfyre Rebellions"—it’s basically a massive family feud over which Targaryen bastard had the right to rule, and it explains a lot of the lingering tensions in the books that the show skipped over.