House of the Dragon – The Queen Who Ever Was

By: Kelly Kearney

The “Game of Thrones” prequel wrapped its second season with a cliffhanger that left fans asking, “Is that it?” After years of shocking and awe-inspiring finales, the credits rolled on Season 2 before any heads of House Black or Green did. There were no epic dragon battles, the tensions between Aemond and Daemon continued to build and no major characters met their demise. However, the finale sets the stage for a Season 3 battle, offering a glimpse into the future that should excite die-hard Thrones fans and keep us begging for more spin-offs.

Wrestling with the Triarchy

We open in the Free Cities, where Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) negotiates with the Triarchy to break the blockade in the Gullet. Just as Alicent reminded Aegon of the untrustworthy pirates making up the Triarchy, Tyland is challenged by their lack of honor. After repeatedly mispronouncing his name, he manages to gain the support of their armada in exchange for dragon protection and possession of the coveted Stepstones. However, there is one stipulation: Tyland must be accompanied by their Admiral Lohar (Abigail Thorn), but first he must prove himself worthy of the company in a battle of strength.

What seems like an easy request quickly becomes complicated when Lannister comes face to face with the formidable Lohar, who stunningly turns out to be a woman. Knowing the fate of House Green relies on this deal, Lannister agrees to wrestle her in the mud. Any man who can best Lohar is a man she can travel with, and lucky for Lannister, he can fight as well as he can negotiate. After landing a hard punch to the face that knocks Lohar into the mud, she pops back up, bleeding but impressed. Throughout her introduction, Lohar is full of life and robust laughter, making jokes about Tyland’s name—she continues to call him “Tywin,” which easily gets under Lannister’s skin. It’s Lohar’s way of flirting, since not only is she planning on setting sail with Tyland, but she also expects him to give her children by impregnating her wives. When he hears the plural term, he questions how many wives Lohar has, and considering we see the two sail off together in the episode, that number must not have been too intimidating for the virile Lannister.

Aemond is out of Control

Next, we head to King’s Landing, where we check in on Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), who is slowly improving but is not out of the woods yet. He’s conscious enough to ask the Grand Maester (Kurt Egyiawan) for rum to dull his pain, and the kind medic does his best to ease the king’s suffering. Aegon notices this and thanks him for his kindness before being interrupted by Larys (Matthew Needham), who brings news from Dragonstone. He has learned that Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) now has three additional dragons, which, combined with Daemon’s (Matt Smith) forces, means they are outnumbered seven to one.

If that’s not bad enough, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) has burned down a nearby town called Sharp Point, blaming it for the rise of the new dragon riders. Larys, always the pragmatic one looking out for his interests, warns the ailing king that the Prince Regent plans to kill him. Aegon, though bedridden, asserts that he will throw his brother in jail first. There is one problem: with Rhaenyra’s new dragon riders, the only thing keeping King’s Landing from being torched is the threat of Vhagar. Without Aemond and his massive dragon, the city will fall, and Rhaenyra will take the throne. That’s when Larys suggests they run. Over the years, he has been stashing House Strong’s gold, saying that he and the king can live comfortably in Braavos until Aemond, Daemon, and Rhaenyra cancel each other out. Aegon scoffs at the idea; that a king is not going to live among goat herders. Unfortunately, he is running out of options, and Larys, who sympathizes with the king’s disabilities, might be his only trustworthy friend. The two have made a connection, which leaves Aegon open to Strong’s manipulations, but in this instance, Larys is telling the truth. If Rhaenyra, Daemon, and Aemond fight, they will kill each other, and then Aegon the Rebuilder can return. The king likes the sound of that, but then he rattles off a few nicknames, such as “Aegon the Realm’s Delight,” because returning a hero after fleeing as a coward seems appealing while lying in bed, spending most days crying over the loss of his legs, youthful looks, and working genitalia. The threat is too great for a king who can’t even urinate like a man, so he agrees to run with Larys, never considering bringing the queen, their daughter, or his mother along with them.

Meanwhile, Aemond is on a warpath over the news about the new dragon riders. Everyone in House Green is starting to realize they can’t win this fight and are making plans to escape the Red Keep before fire rains down from the sky. The only one not running for the hills is Aemond, who double-locks the passages in and out of King’s Landing after learning that new dragon riders escaped his city for Rhaenyra’s little auditions. Locking the passages makes it more difficult for his family to leave, which fits perfectly into his plan to convince Helaena(Phia Saban) to get on her dragon and help him fight.

Having been a victim of his angry and starving populace, Helena isn’t keen on helping Aemond. Now that the Prince Regent is blocking all of House Black’s food shipments from entering the city, she knows the people are only going to grow hungrier for royal blood. The differences between Helaena and her brother are vast; she has no desire to kill or go to war on the back of Dreamfire– the oldest dragon in Westeros. After losing her child and witnessing Aemond’s actions toward her brother-husband, the king, Helaena is too fragile and angry to join him in this fight. She does not share her brother’s rage at these dragon seeds nor does she care if they are defiling their birthright. Her refusal only angers Aemond further, so he grabs her roughly and tries to force her to the dragon’s lair. Their mother steps in to break up the sibling fight, as there is no love lost between Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and her middle son. As hard as she tries to reach him for his own sake, she will not allow his demands to cost her another child. Aemond storms off in anger but later returns to Helaena’s chambers, again begging her to join him. This time, he is less violent and more fearful and tearful, but her refusal hasn’t changed only this time she backs it up with a response that stuns him into silence. She asks, “Will you burn me as you did Aegon?” Before he can deny it, she cuts him off, saying that she saw it in a vision. Not only that, she has witnessed their future and prophetically cuts the Prince Regent off at the knees, revealing that she has seen Aegon ruling again from a wooden throne while Aemond is “swallowed up in the God’s Eye, never to be seen again.” Knowing that his sister has inexplicable visions, this prediction shakes his confidence. The God’s Eye is the largest lake in the Seven Kingdoms, located just outside Harrenhal, and the body of water he will more than likely meet his uncle over. Instead of focusing on the possibility that if he fights Daemon, he’ll end up lost at sea, he orders Helaena to join him anyway. She has no choice but to agree but makes it clear this won’t change his fate.

The Newbies Cause a Stir

After a brief check-in with Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) who finally finds Sheepstealer after trudging through the harsh lands in search of the feral dragon, we head over to Dragonstone, where Team Black is preparing their new riders for the tasks ahead. Jace (Harry Collett) is filled with resentment toward these newcomers, worrying about his claims to the throne now that commoners have diluted the Targaryen birthright. While both Addam (Clinton Liberty) and Hugh (Kieran Bew) understand and respect the importance of their roles, Ulf (Tom Bennett) lacks the composure the position demands. His crude behavior grates on Prince Jace, who is just looking for a reason to take out his frustrations on these men.

Things only get worse when Ulf brings up Jace’s brown hair and the rumors of his questionable paternity. Ulf, seeing himself as an equal to the bastard son of the queen, laughs as he tosses that truth in the prince’s face. If it weren’t for Hugh, who respectfully steps in to try to apologize for Ulf’s behavior, Jace would’ve fed the boorish nitwit to his dragon, Vermax. And Jace isn’t the only one gritting his teeth over Ulf’s behavior; the queen is also on her last nerve with the new dragon rider, as she has to remind herself he has claimed Silverwing and they need him if they plan to defeat Vhagar. To end a war, one must go to war, and unfortunately, the threat of seven dragons isn’t enough to make House Green back down. With Aemond and Vhagar leading the fight—knowing his ego would never allow for a forfeit—Rhaenyra is back to war planning, worrying about her odds.

Enter her new hand, Corlys (Steve Toussaint), who advises her to strike quickly while Vhagar remains their only threat. He warns that Helaena does have a dragon, but Rhaenyra isn’t convinced that the young queen would ride into battle. Corlys’s job is to point out the threats and guide his queen toward the right choices, and whether or not the Green Queen agrees to ride, the possibility is still a worry. Regardless of their previous issues, Corlys is honest when he tells her he believes she is ready for this fight—the sooner it begins, the easier it will be to take her throne. She agrees to take to the skies while he sails on his refurbished ship, fighting on the seas. The Sea Snake took a beating previously, and now, with a new look, it has been given an honorable new name: The Queen That Never Was. Not only is he setting sail to honor his late wife, Rhaenys (Eve Best), and her allegiance to Rhaenyra, but he also has plans to right the wrongs he believes he should have corrected a long time ago, starting with his first mate and son, Alyn (Abubakar Salim). Corlys has received word from the shipmates that Alyn isn’t exactly an inspirational leader, but any advice from Corlys is a hard pill for the man to swallow. Filled with contempt for the father who cast him and his brother Addam aside to starve and struggle in the streets while Corlys and his other children filled their bellies with sweetmeats and wore the finest clothes, Alyn is not interested in fatherly advice from Corlys. He tells the Queen’s Hand that the only reason he has accepted him is that all of his other heirs have died. Full of years of heartbreaking rage, Alyn slowly comes apart at the seams when he tells Corlys he’s not interested in “the scattered crumbs of your favor.” Alyn will respect Lord Corlys’s orders but will continue on his own, without his father’s help.

Visions of Ice and Fire

The wind in the weirwood whispers “traitor” as Sir Alfred Broome (Jamie Kenna) makes his way to Harrenhal under the queen’s orders. Broome, one of Queen Rhaenyra’s staunchest critics on the council, arrives at House Strong with little support for her claim. When he approaches Daemon, he attempts to persuade the King Consort to make his claim for the throne. Before his late-night visions began clouding his mind, Daemon might have considered the proposal, but now he finds it suspect and questions Ser Alfred with, “I never took you for a turn cloak.” Daemon’s motivations are shifting daily, something Ser Simon Strong (Sir Simon Russell Beale) notices as he witnesses their exchange. Concerned, he sends a raven to Rhaenyra to inform her of the happenings at Harrenhal and who is influencing her husband with treachery.

Staring into an opportunity he’s desired his whole life, Daemon takes his possible betrayal to the weirwood tree, where visions of the future fill his mind—visions that will feel familiar to fans of Game of Thrones. It begins with a three-eyed raven morphing into Targaryen bastard Brynden Rivers (Joshua Ben-Tovim), walking through a battlefield littered with fallen men and dead dragons. The visions are as chaotic as any war, but it’s his demise that shakes Daemon to his core. He sees himself drowning in the dark, murky depths of what we can assume is God’s Eye, a similar fate that Queen Helaena predicted for her brother Aemond. As he swirls to the bottom of a watery grave, his visions flash to icy eyes—the Night King and his White Walkers staring across the lands of Westeros. That terrifying beast leads his mind’s eye to a vision of those three dragon eggs Rhaenyra locked up in a chest, and they are surrounded by fire, heralding their rebirth in the form of his descendant Daenerys Targaryen (Imogen Ruby Little). The visions end with him staring at the Iron Throne, where Rhaenyra sits comfortably, wearing the crown on her head. That’s when he sees Helaena, who whispers, “It’s all a story, and you are but one part of it. You know your part.” This premonition is of the Song of Ice and Fire, the same story Aegon the Conqueror told and Viserys (Paddy Considine) repeated to his daughter when he chose Rhaenyra to unite the realms.

Speaking of the Black Queen, after receiving word from Ser Simon Strong about the happenings at Harrenhal, Rhaenyra hops on her dragon and flies to her husband to find out what’s going on. She brings Addam and Seasmoke along with her, and what she finds is a different Daemon than the one we’ve seen throughout the second season. In the Great Hall, the estranged couple finally comes face to face as a room full of his Riverlands soldiers makes way for their contentious reunion.

Daemon starts with a familiar saying: “Winter is coming, with darkness and doom.” His visions have altered his outlook on this war and his part in the story. Rhaenyra can’t help but notice Daemon sounds like her father with his warnings of what’s to come. When he draws closer to her, he tells her she is the realm’s only hope to unite it, which is why his brother chose her. He then kneels before all his men, proclaiming her the true queen and his Riverland soldiers follow suit. He is meant to serve her, and all his men vow, “Until death or the end of our story.” In Valyrian, Rhaenyra responds with a grateful yet truthful warning: “Leave me again at your peril.” Daemon laughs, recalling how he has failed to leave her, yet something resembling fate keeps bringing them back together. With their reunion comes a cheer from the men as they wave their swords and chant for war. In the crowd’s jubilation, Ser Alfred slips away from the scene to make his escape, knowing his treachery will not be tolerated by the queen, her husband, and the seven dragons now at her command.

Two Queens, One Love, and All-out War

Rhaenyra decides to leave Daemon in the Riverlands to fight for her while she returns to Dragonstone, where she is met by a surprising visitor: Alicent. The queen dowager has left the Red Keep and made her way to Dragonstone for a long and heartfelt conversation about their families’ futures. They go back and forth, pointing fingers and assigning blame, but in the end, Alicent admits she made a mistake by placing Aegon on the throne. She truly believed she was doing what Viserys and later, her sons, wanted, never realizing that these men would never return her loyalty. She was raised to serve the crown, her mistake came from bowing to the wrong one. She chooses to reverse her past mistakes by telling her childhood friend that Aemond is heading to Harrenhal and taking Helaena with him as the crown’s authority. Stopping Aemond is how they can prevent a civil war, so Alicent promises Rhaenyra that once the city is clear of the Prince Regent, she can enter King’s Landing and claim her throne. In return, Alicent asks for safe passage out of the city with her daughter and granddaughter. Both women have lost enough in this battle, and Alicent wants to be freed from the constraints of royalty and war. When Rhaenyra questions whether Aegon will allow her to take the throne, Alicent is unaware that Larys Strong has already reached the ailing king, and the two have fled the city. Alicent promises Rhaenyra that she will speak with Aegon to clear the path for her return to the Iron Throne—he is in no shape to fight her for it. The problem is that this is a world where crowns change hands through violence. Rhaenyra is honest with Alicent, stating, “I must take Aegon’s head, and I have to do it for all to see. You know this.” For Alicent’s freedom, she must sacrifice a son for a son, and after a long pause, she reluctantly agrees. She promises to arrange for Rhaenyra to enter the city in three days. Then, she throws herself “on the mercy of a friend who once loved me.” If this must end in the spilled blood of her son, let it be a sacrifice that ends this battle and earns her the peace she so desperately seeks. The love between these two has always been like a ship trying to navigate stormy seas, and this reunion is no different. The kingdom will see Alicent as a villain, not a mother who sacrificed her son to unite the realms. Her reputation isn’t what worries her; it’s saying goodbye to maybe her first and only love, her best friend, her sister, Rhaenyra, that brings desperation to her next request. She asks the queen to come with her–a dream of running away into obscurity. It is nothing but a dream born of innocence and steeped in nostalgia since she knows as well as Rhaenyra that their fates are already set. “My part is here,” Rhaenyra says. “It was decided for me long ago.”

As Alicent leaves the castle, we see a montage of war preparations from the Lannisters, the Starks, the Hightowers, and the Tullys. In one flash, we see troops marching forward, dragon riders fitted with their battle gear, swords across the realms trembling with excitement, and one Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) locked in a cage, unable to stop what’s coming. A bloody war is on the horizon, even as the two queens who ignited this conflict desire nothing more than a peaceful transition. An icy winter is staring at them from the future, but first they must dance in the flames of fire–dragon against dragon, blood against blood.