Game of Thrones: Everything You Might Want to Know About Rhaegar Targaryen

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Even though we've gotten to meet a whole bunch of new characters on Game of Thrones this season, there's one name that keeps popping up who we'll likely never see in the flesh: Rhaegar Targaryen. The famed Targaryen prince might be long dead in both the books and the show, but as we learned during the crazy sixth season finale, he plays a huge role in the Game of Thrones universe. Join us as we explain why.

• He is the eldest son of the Mad King, Aerys II. Prince Rhaegar Targaryen is the son of King Aerys Targaryen and Queen Rhaella Targaryen, making him Daenerys and Viserys's older brother (though Dany was born after his death).
• He is married to a Dornish princess and has two children, who are later murdered by The Mountain. Rhaegar and Princess Elia Martell (Oberyn Martell's sister, FYI) of Dorne have a daughter, Rhaenys, and a son, Aegon. The children are killed, and then Ser Gregor Clegane rapes Elia before stabbing her to death with a sword. Makes sense why Oberyn wanted to kill him so bad, huh?
• He allegedly abducts Lyanna Stark, which ignites the deadly rebellion against the Targaryens. Despite a seemingly happy marriage to Princess Elia, it seems Rhaegar abducts Ned's sister for undisclosed reasons. When the Starks order Rhaegar to release Lyanna, the Mad King has both Ned's father, Rickard, and oldest brother, Brandon, cruelly executed. This prompts Ned and Robert Baratheon (who is betrothed to Lyanna) to team up with several other clans to take down the Targaryens.
• He dies at the end of Robert Baratheon's hammer. Although Rhaegar manages to avoid the initial uprising while living in Dorne, he's eventually summoned to battle. During a fight known as the Battle of the Trident, Rhaegar goes up against Robert, who deals him a fatal blow with his warhammer.
• He has been mentioned in the show many times before. In the first episode of season one, Robert and Ned share an emotionally charged moment in the crypt where Lyanna is buried, where Robert reveals that "he kills [Rhaegar] every night" in his dreams. In season three, Jorah Mormont and Ser Barristan Selmy bicker over how honorable Rhaeger truly was in front of Daenerys, and Barristan brings him up again in season five when he shares some pleasant memories of Rhaegar's love of singing. Petyr Baelish also recounts the events surrounding Rhaegar's kidnapping of Lyanna to Sansa Stark in the same crypt where Robert and Ned were years earlier.
• He's almost definitely Jon Snow's father. By far the most significant point of Rhaegar's role in the current state of Westeros is his assumed parentage of Jon Snow. In the season six finale, Bran travels back in time, once again, to the Tower of Joy, where Lyanna is being held captive. Ned arrives to rescue his dying sister, who reveals she is the mother of Jon Snow and begs Ned to raise the baby as his own. We can assume Jon is a Targaryen, especially because Lyanna says Robert will kill Jon if he discovers the truth. This whole scene also feeds into the myth of the "Prince That Was Promised."