Rhaenyra’s dark turn draws inevitable Daenerys comparisons, but the showrunner sees a crucial difference. House of the Dragon co-creator Ryan Condal and star Emma D’Arcy broke down what separates the two Targaryen queens’ descents into darkness. House of the Dragon boss on parallels and differences between Rhaenyra and DaenerysHouse of the Dragon co-creator Ryan Condal addressed the parallels between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daenerys Targaryen in a Variety press conference. “Daenerys only got to the Iron Throne at the very end, after she had destroyed the city,” Condal noted. D’Arcy added that exploring Rhaenyra’s “empathetic machine and how that gets damaged” felt more compelling than focusing solely on authoritarianism.