Meanwhile, the way the blood/Targaryen bloodline in the credits is running through the streets of Valyria also emphasizes the Targ obsession with being of “the blood of Old Valyria” (remember Daenerys saying that A LOT?). Before the Doom, the Targaryens were actually a minor house amongst the 40 dragonlord families that lived in Valyria. Daenys Targaryen, also known as Daenys the Dreamer, had a prophetic dream that foretold The Doom, and her father, Aenar Targaryen, actually listened to her, relocating his family and their dragons (including Balerion, whose skull we saw in Episode 1) to Westeros — to Dragonstone, to be specific. The Doom happened 12 years later, and 100 years after that, Aegon Targaryen became Aegon the Conquerer, taking over Westeros on Balerion alongside his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, and their dragons, Vhagar and Meraxes. As for the Velaryons, the ancestors of Corlys Velaryon and one of the only Valyrian houses to survive The Doom, they had emigrated to Westeros (to Driftmark) even before the Targaryens. As Corlys explained in Episode 2 of House of the Dragon, while the Velaryons were a noble house, they weren’t dragonlords, leaving them less powerful than the Targaryens, but enabling them to build a formidable navy. Incest upon incest upon incest!
