After the Doom of Valyria, House Targaryen was the only family left in the world with dragon power, and the originators of House Targaryen, Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya, certainly put that power to use.
The original Targaryens invaded the Seven Kingdoms and forced them to become one under their rule, and after a turbulent few centuries, the Mad King Aerys was deposed. However, Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons sought to conquer Westeros again, and she almost succeeded. But what bad choices led to the Targaryens losing the Iron Throne for good?
10 Daenerys' Misunderstanding Of Westeros
Daenerys really liked to blame her advisors for the missteps that she made when she was invading Westeros, but to be honest, her lack of interest and understanding of the country that she wanted to conquer crippled her.
For instance, burning the Tarlys was a huge mistake, as the rebellion against the Mad King was essentially caused by Aerys unjustly and brutally murdering a powerful lord and his son, which is exactly how Dany's actions towards Randyll and Dickon would have been perceived.
9 Incest
It should come as no surprise that incest was a huge issue for House Targaryen as their reign went on. Although in Valyria it wasn't wildly uncommon, it was considered an abomination in the eyes of the Westerosi, and the fact that so many Targaryens went mad didn't make the people of Westeros any more confident in them.
Not to mention, the lack of genetic diversity seems to have made it harder for them to reproduce and continue their line.
8 Consolidation Of Power For Generations
Even putting aside the moral and biological issues with Targaryen incest, what actually significantly contributed to their eventual downfall is that they didn't want anyone to have power besides them.
They were reluctant to allow other houses to marry into House Targaryen, which allowed other houses like the Starks, Tullys, and Arryns to create large alliances that could actually defeat the Targaryens. And, Daenerys and her desire for absolute power seemed to repeat this mistake.
7 Viserys' Obsession With Targaryen Exceptionalism
The last thing that anyone would ever call Viserys Targaryen is exceptional, however, the Targaryens have been obsessed with their own specialness for generations, and honestly, Viserys' intense sense of entitlement was the beginning of the final end for House Targaryen.
His belief that he was the most important person in the world is what ultimately led to his own death, and the effects of his exultation of House Targaryen likely had greater consequences beyond that as well.
6 Daenerys Accepting Viserys' Belief About Targaryen Exceptionalism
To be fair, Daenerys obviously is an exceptional person. However, she was very driven by her idealized concept of the Targaryen legacy, and it likely led to her downfall.
For instance, someone like Jon Snow is arguably as extraordinary as Dany is, but he never believed that he was entitled to power or that his judgment trumped all else, likely because he wasn't raised to believe that about himself or House Stark.
5 The Mad King's Belief In His Absolute Power
Ironically, one of the fatal flaws within Daenerys is one that existed within her father as well, and that is the fundamental misunderstanding of what a king or queen is. Aerys was the beginning of the end for House Targaryen because he believed that the rules didn't apply to him, that he essentially was the rules, and that he could do whatever he wanted or deemed just.
But when he broke faith with House Stark and killed Rickard and Brandon, it led to the rebellion that overthrew House Targaryen.
4 Rhaegar's Absence
According to those who knew him, Rhaegar had the potential to be a wonderful king. While that's a little hard to believe given how reckless he was, it's obvious that if he wasn't busy creating Jon Snow with Lyanna Stark, he could have possibly done something to stop his father or end Robert's Rebellion quickly.
But he was out of the game until it was far too late, and his entire family paid the price for that.
3 Rhaegar's Unwillingness To Act Against His Father
Aerys may have been the rightful king, but many people around him knew that he was a huge problem long before the rebellion began, and no one was more keenly aware of that than Rhaegar.
If he had actually intervened and done something to depose his father or even mitigate the damage that Aerys was doing, things may have gone much better for the entire Targaryen family. But he waited too long and other powerful people in Westeros felt forced to act.
2 Daenerys' Genocide In King's Landing
Realistically speaking, as soon as Daenerys burned down King's Landing, her downfall and the downfall of House Targaryen forever was nearly inevitable.
As Jon Snow ultimately demonstrated, it only takes one person to end Daenerys for good, and after that massacre, she gave thousands if not millions of people all the motive in the world to ensure she could never act on those violent impulses again. She might have won the battle in King's Landing, but she lost the war.
1 Creating The Iron Throne In The First Place
Although the Targaryens originally used their massive dragon power to essentially threaten the Seven Kingdoms into submission, the reality of the situation is that they invaded a foreign land of separate countries and forced them all to become one beneath their rule.
The dragons were the only real power they had, so once that power was gone, it was only a matter of time before they lost what they had conquered.
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