Analysis of the House of the Dragon opening credits
all of them seen so far - and the way they depict Targaryen bloodlines (with variations as the credits change with episodes and new information is added), with screenshots and desctiptions, as much as possible.
aka another extremely nerdy HotD post.
In general, cogs with sigils represent individuals, and when they fill with blood, it means the person is dead. When blood falls from a higher part of a building, it signifies a new generation.
We open with a sigil representing old Valyria, the homeland of the Targaryens.
I've seen other analyses of that insist that this sigil is Aegon the Conqueror. However, that doesn't make sense, because the blood falls down, which always seems to represent a new generation. So I think this is either his father Aerion, or an ancestor from Valyria.
And right after this, things get interesting, as these credits may be hinting to the answer of the a case of disputed paternity brought up in The World of Ice and Fire and Fire & Blood. (No, not one that has anything to do with the plot of HotD.)
There are 4 bloodlines here. Two of them get sigils. The other two don't, which would mean that they either don't have children, or are irrelevant to the family tree.
The two sigils are Queen Rhaenys (mother of Aenys I, the one from which the relevant Targaryen bloodline flows) and presumably Queen Visenya (mother of Maegor, whom we don't see, because he left no living children and his line ends there).
Since the 2 sigils don't connect to each other with blood (as they would if they had a child together), these are Rhaenys and Visenya, not Rhaenys and Aegon. The other 2 bloodlines, which don't get sigils, are probably Aegon the Conqueror and their half-brother Orys Baratheon.
Orys doesn't get a sigil because his bloodline becomes the Baratheon dynasty, and Aegon... It seems that the credits support the theory that he was sterile and not the father of either Aenys or Maegor. Or he may be Maegor's but not Aenys', since we don't see Maegor's sigil, or whether the line from Aegon flows to him. It was rumored Visenya conceived him with dark magic, whether with Aegon's or not (the theory of Maegor as a sort of male clone of Visenya also exists!). It was certainly rumored Aenys' father was a lover of Rhaenys (whether it was infidenlity, or it was with Aegon's blessing, in order to continue the bloodline and produce an heir to the throne).
In any case, the bloodline seems to further flow just from Queen Rhaenys, apparently confirming that the entire Targaryen royal dynasty minus Maegor comes from her only. Her cog fills with blood, meaning her death, and the bloodline flows further.
It falls down to a lower level to signify the next generation, and then flows to the cog signifying King Aenys I. His sigil is his crown.
His bloodline connects to another from the side, since he marries outside the family, to Alyssa Velaryon.
Aenys and Alyssa had 6 children, but we only focus here on the two most relevant to the Targaryen dynasty - King Jaehaerys I (finally someone actually seen on HotD, though in just one scene) and his sister-wife Queen Alysanne, who had 13 children, 9 of whom survived infancy.
Jaehaerys' sigil is his crown, later worn by Viserys I and Rhaenyra.
Four of these children are most relevant to the HotD characters, but here we see the 2 who were the parents of Viserys I and Daemon: Prince Baelon and Princess Alyssa, siblings and married couple, as seen with their bloodlines connecting in both ways.
The other 2 relevant children - Aemon, elder brother to Baelon and the father of Rhaenys "the Queen Who Never Was"; "and Daella, Aemma Arryn's mother - are not represented here.
The bloodline from Baelon and Alyssa flows down and branches out into two - for brothers Viserys and Daemon.
In the background, we see a structure representing House Velaryon. The blue sigil on it is presumably Corlys. It's hard to see this clearly, but I think Rhaenys is on the ground, and the blue sigil to the right is Laena (?).
Back to the Targaryen line: this is Viserys I and his first wife Aemma Arryn. Her cog fills with blood because she dies in episode 1.
To the side, we see Otto Hightower - I love that he seems to be literally on top of a high tower and I think his sigil is a tower - and below Alicent (her sigil is a 7-pointed star of the Faith of the Seven).
In the first couple of episodes, this is all we see. After she marries Viserys, his line connects to hers. Her children and grandchildren get represented in 1x09 and 1x10, so I'll get back to them later.
The blood from Viserys and Aemma flows to their child, Rhaenyra - whose sigil is the necklace Daemon gave her in 1x01, when she was 14.
In the first 5 episodes, hers the last sigil we see in the credits.
From 1x06, the credits expand to show the new generation, but, I guess due to the length, only some kids get represented in 1x06-1x08 and others in 1x09-1x10.
1x06 finally shows Daemon, whose sigil is his dragon-shaped helmet.
His sigil connects with Laena Velaryon's, and from there, bloodlines flow to their 2 daughers, Baela and Rhaena - whose sigils are dragon eggs.
Episodes 1x06-1x08 also show Rhaenyra's three eldest sons.
However, Rhaenyra's bloodline goes under the structure representing House Velaryon and then falls further, but we don't see the father represented with a sigil... as if he's hidden by the House Velaryon. (Laenor is not represented anywhere with a sigil.)
Three bloodlines branch out into Rhaenyra's 3 eldest sons, Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey Velaryon.
The credits change again in episodes 1x09-1x10.
Instead of Daemon's and Laena's daughters and Rhaenyra's 3 eldest sons, we get Alicent's entire bloodline, and the credits end with Daemon and Rhaenyra's 2 young sons, Aegon and Viserys.
Alicent's bloodline is one of the most straightforward parts of the credits, and contains confirmations about the existence of certain characters in the show.
We don't see Otto on the top of the tower anymore, but Alicent is more clearly seen, with her sigil, the seven-pointed star of the Faith.
Her bloodline connects with Viserys', and four bloodlines branch out from them.
One of them is a bit removed and placed higher from the other three - it is Daeron (represented by a cup, as a cupbearer presumably), who (according to both GRRM and Ryan Condal) was in Oldtown,, being raised by his Hightower relatives (I like the fact that characters seem higher to the top of the tower the more associated with the Hightowers they are.)
On the ground, Alicent's and Viserys' 3 elder children: Aemond (represented with a sapphire), Aegon (a naked woman) and Helaena a a spider).
Aegon and Helaena's bloodlines connect and branch out into their 3 children...
...twins Jaehaerys & Jaehaera and infant Maelor. This is the first confirmation that their youngest son Maelor exists in the show (as he's not in the family tree on the HBO website).
Spoiler: Twins' sigils are a six-finger hand, so maybe they both have this defect on HotD (in the book it is only Jaehaerys).
Finally, the opening credits for episodes 1x09 and 1x10 end with Rhaenyra's and Daemon's two young sons, Aegon and Viserys.
ETA: Thank you @mhysamoon for pointing this out (you really have an eagle eye) - Harwin Strong's sigil does actually appear in the titles:
Laenor doesn't actually appear in the opening because he didn't sire offspring.
butā¦Jace, Luke and Joffrey's real father is there. Partially hidden gushing blood towards Rhaenyra's blood that gives rise to her 3 Velaryon children, because legally they are from Laenor This is the sigil of Ser Harwin Strong, Commander of the City Watch, represented as a knight with a golden cloak
in episode 7, both Laena Velaryon's symbol and this one fill with blood signaling their deaths in the previous episode.
