8. Rhaenys Velaryon & Corlys Velaryon
Let's be clear: in the toxic sludge of Westerosi politics, this is as good as it gets. Rhaenys and Corlys represent the pinnacle of a power couple built on something resembling mutual respect. They are partners in ambition, co-rulers of their house, and they
actually seem to *like* each other. Their relationship isn't perfect—Corlys’s ambition often puts their family in jeopardy, and they face unimaginable grief—but they navigate it as a unit. They argue, they strategize, and they support one another. They are the series' one, fleeting example of a functional partnership, making them the least toxic by a mile.
7. Rhaenyra Targaryen & Laenor Velaryon
This relationship wasn't toxic; it was transactional. Born of pure political necessity, Rhaenyra and Laenor approached their marriage with a rare and surprising honesty. They knew what was expected of them—unite their houses, produce heirs—but they also understood each other's true desires. They struck a deal to 'do their duty' while privately pursuing their own happiness. There's a kindness here that’s absent in almost every other union. While the arrangement itself is a symptom of a deeply repressive society, their supportive, 'you-do-you' pact makes it one of the healthier, if unconventional, relationships on the show.
6. Daemon Targaryen & Laena Velaryon
On paper, this pairing is a powder keg. Two dragon-riding, high-spirited Targaryen-adjacent nobles? It should be chaos. Yet, for a time, it works. Daemon and Laena’s relationship is built on a volatile, but genuine, respect. She understands his restless nature, and he sees her as an equal—a powerful dragonrider who won't be tamed. Their life in Pentos seems almost idyllic, a fantasy of freedom away from the vipers of King’s Landing. The toxicity seeps in only when Daemon's inescapable ties to Westeros and the Iron Throne begin to pull them apart, revealing the fragile foundation of their nomadic paradise.
5. Rhaenyra Targaryen & Criston Cole
Ah, the ultimate 'love scorned' arc. This relationship starts as a fairytale romance before curdling into pure acid. What makes it so toxic is Criston's spectacular inability to handle rejection. He idealizes Rhaenyra, placing her on a pedestal of purity she never asked to occupy. When she rejects his naive plan to run away and live as commoners, choosing her duty instead, his love instantly flips into a vengeful, misogynistic hatred. He spends the rest of his life poisoning the court against her, his bruised ego becoming a primary driver of civil war. It's a textbook case of a man's entitlement turning adoration into a weapon.
4. Alicent Hightower & Viserys Targaryen
This is the slow-burn toxicity of duty and exploitation. Pushed into the King's bedchamber by her own father, a teenage Alicent enters a relationship defined by a massive power imbalance. Viserys isn't overtly cruel to her; in fact, he seems to genuinely care for her in his own bumbling, self-absorbed way. But that’s the problem. He sees a compliant, pretty wife, not the lonely, terrified girl she is. Her life becomes one of sacrifice, her body a vessel for producing male heirs, and her spirit slowly eroded by resentment and the grim piety she adopts as a coping mechanism. It’s a gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless.
3. Rhaenyra Targaryen & Alicent Hightower
The central tragedy of the show isn't a romance, but a friendship. The bond between young Rhaenyra and Alicent is the heart of the story, and its slow, agonizing decay is what fuels the entire Dance of the Dragons. It’s a relationship poisoned by external forces—patriarchal expectations, courtly intrigue, and their fathers' ambitions. What begins as genuine affection devolves into a festering stew of jealousy, misunderstanding, and betrayal. Each woman becomes a symbol of what the other has lost, and their simmering resentment eventually engulfs the entire kingdom in flames. Theirs is the ultimate toxic friendship.
2. Rhaenyra Targaryen & Daemon Targaryen
This is the five-alarm fire of toxic relationships. It’s incestuous, wildly inappropriate, and based on a shared fascination with power and breaking taboos. From his early grooming of a young Rhaenyra to their eventual marriage, their dynamic is a chaotic mix of genuine passion, political calculation, and mutual validation. They are two sides of the same Targaryen coin: volatile, ambitious, and utterly magnetic. They see themselves in each other, for better and (mostly) for worse. Their love is real, but it’s also a destructive force that destabilizes the realm. They are a gloriously messy, co-dependent power couple burning it all down together.
1. Alicent Hightower & Otto Hightower
No romance, no friendship—just pure, unadulterated toxic manipulation. This is the most poisonous relationship in the series because it’s foundational. Otto Hightower doesn't see a daughter; he sees a pawn. From the moment Queen Aemma dies, he strategically deploys Alicent, using her grief, youth, and obedience to advance his own station. He is the architect of her misery, pushing her into the king's arms and molding her into a tool for his family's ambition. Every ounce of Alicent’s eventual bitterness and paranoia can be traced back to her father's cold, calculating moves. He is a puppet master, and his strings have choked the life and happiness out of his own child, setting the stage for war.
