House Velaryon is one of the key players in House of the Dragon. They are one of the wealthiest houses and have the greatest armada in Westeros. They have the legendary Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) as their lord, though the situation might get a bit dodgy when it comes to who might be his heir. Still, they are an illustrious Valyrian house during the era of the Dance of the Dragons. But by the time of Game of Thrones, the Velaryons are but a shadow of what they once were. The house’s name is barely spoken in the series, and some members briefly show up in the A Song of Ice and Fire books, but in subordinate positions — not nearly as influential and important as they once were. What happened to “the old, the true, and the brave?”
The Dance of the Dragons Starts the Decline of House Velaryon
The Dance of the Dragons is actually the starting point of House Velaryon’s decline. For more than a century, House Velaryon held control of the Narrow Sea even in the face of foreign threats such as the Triarchy, but the civil war forces them to direct most of their efforts to the blockade on the Gullet. The Battle of the Gullet causes great damage to the Velaryon fleet, as well as the plundering of Driftmark. This is the beginning of House Velaryon’s decline, although it would take some decades for it to fully be realized.
Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell
Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.
🐺Stark
🦁Lannister
🐉Targaryen
🦌Baratheon
🌹Tyrell
01
Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.
02
What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?
03
Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.
04
How do you deal with your enemies? A house’s method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.
05
What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.
06
You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.
07
Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.
08
The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.
The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…
Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don’t. That’s very much up to you.
Winterfell · The North
🐺 House Stark
Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.
You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn’t bend when things get difficult.
The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.
Casterly Rock · The Westerlands
🦁 House Lannister
You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.
You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
The lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.
Dragonstone · The Iron Throne
🐉 House Targaryen
You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.
You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.
Storm’s End · The Stormlands
🦌 House Baratheon
You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.
Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what’s behind it.
You value strength and straight dealing. You’d rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.
Highgarden · The Reach
🌹 House Tyrell
You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn’t quite reach the eyes.
Growing strong is your house’s motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
The Tyrells fed King’s Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.
In Fire & Blood, after Corlys dies, it’s Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), legitimized as Alyn Velaryon, who inherits Driftmark and becomes the head of House Velaryon. Alyn proves to be a great commander and manages to continue House Velaryon’s supremacy in the waters, but he was never a sharp political player. With the Velaryon fleet based mostly on Driftmark and the Gullet, other houses started building their own naval power until eventually the Velaryon fleet was no longer the biggest proverbial fish in the sea. Couple that with the lost riches after the sacking of Driftmark, and the house was in clear decline.
House Velaryon Lost Their Naval Dominance After the Dance
Eventually, other naval powers emerged on the other side of Westeros. House Greyjoy has always been powerful but never reliable; they attacked and led invasions into the Westerlands and the Reach. Consequently, House Lannister developed their own way of protecting themselves by building an armada based in Lannisport. For example, after the War of the Five Kings , they are the most powerful navy in Westeros. For the same reasons, but further to the south, House Redwyne also begin to build their naval forces. Located on the island of the Arbor, they have always been prone to seafaring and grew to the point of surpassing House Hightower’s naval prowess.
Even so, House Velaryon still held some influence, with many Velaryons holding the position of Master of Ships in the Small Council. By the time of King Aerys II(David Rintoul), for example, Lord Lucerys Velaryon plays this role in his council but is also one of the Mad King’s advisors who preys on his decline for his own benefit. Robert’s Rebellion drastically shifts the power balance, with House Baratheon now becoming the major naval power in Westeros.
Because House Velaryon are also a Valyrian house, they have always been allied to House Targaryen. The house itself is sworn to the Prince of Dragonstone, and when Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) becomes king, he appoints his brother, Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), as the new prince. Stannis then starts his own branch, House Baratheon of Dragonstone, to whom House Velaryon is currently sworn.
By the Time of ‘Game of Thrones,’ House Velaryon Is Only a Minor Player
Abubakar Salim in House of the Dragon Season 3Image via HBO
In the Game of Thrones books, House Velaryon continues to be sworn to Dragonstone, so they join Stannis Baratheon’s forces in the War of the Five Kings. Lord Monford Velaryon is even present at the Battle of Blackwater Bay, but dies as his ship sinks. His six-year-old son, Monterys, then succeeds him as Lord of Driftmark. When Stannis calls his banners to go to the Wall, House Velaryon sends a host, and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) even notices Velaryon banners among the ones of House Baratheon when Stannis defeats Mace Rayder’s (Ciarán Hinds) wildlings beyond the Wall.
In the Battle of Blackwater Bay, Lord Monford’s bastard half-brother, Aurane Waters, is captured and forced to bend the knee to King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). He later becomes Master of Ships and even starts working on expanding the Lannister armada in King’s Landing. He even briefly antagonizes Lord Mace Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths). Still, when Aurane hears of Cersei Lannister’s (Lena Headey) imprisonment by the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) and the Faith of the Seven, he flees his post, his whereabouts currently unknown.
