Alicent Hightower was right about one thing in last week’s penultimate episode of House of the Dragon Season 1: It may be up to the women of Westeros to guide the men toward peace, because these dudes are straight-up unhinged. As are, we learned during tonight’s finale, their not-quite-so-loyal dragons.
Last week’s episode centered on the action at King’s Landing in the wake of Viserys’ death. (By the way, let’s give it up one more time for our stringy-haired king—it’s still miraculous he lived so long considering the many, many boils, lesions, and missing tendons on the dude’s body.)
In case you forgot, Team Green wasted zero time anointing Aegon, a literal rapist and child-fighting enthusiast (perhaps that episode’s second-most disgusting revelation, after the discovery of Larys Strong’s foot fetish) as king. Tonight, meanwhile, brought us to Team Black’s role in this so-called Dance of the Dragon, which is now fully underway following a series of marital spats, dragon chases, and, yes, a couple untimely deaths.
So, let’s get to recapping the madness—let’s dance.
We arrive in Dragonstone, where Luke is throwing a hissy fit to his mother about how he doesn’t want to inherit Driftmark, because why would he want to command the most powerful fleet of ships in the world when he doesn’t even like being at sea? The kid honestly raises some great points, but Rhaenyra patiently tells him, “We don’t choose our destiny, Luke, it chooses us”—the wise, calm guidance of a woman who so naively believes her entire future is sunny and bright.
As if on cue, Princess Rhaenys arrives to dump all the bad news on Rhaenyra: your dad is dead, Aegon has taken your crown, and the Greens are coming to kill you and your children. Daemon immediately long-jumps to his own conclusion—“That whore of a queen murdered my brother and stole his throne”—while the shock of it all sends Rhaenyra into a way-too-early labor (remember, she’s pregnant… again.).
And then House of the Dragon shows us what might be the ugliest and most heart-wrenching birthing scene to ever be shown on television. If you thought Aemma’s fatal delivery from Episode 1 was tough to watch, that’s nothing compared to this. And, just like that Aemma scene was intercut with Viserys’ silly-in-comparison tournament games, Rhaenyra’s is shown interspersed with Daemon “gone to madness, gone to plot his war,” as he takes it upon himself to begin conspiring against the Greens and to flex his muscles (like a big boy!) by threatening a pair of King’s Guard knights with murder by dragonfire.
But back to Rhaenyra, who, after much bleeding and screaming (seriously, I’m getting queasy just thinking about this again), delivers a baby who is very much dead already. All of this has seemingly, somehow happened before the sun has even gone down, so there’s an impromptu funeral on a cliffside, which is interrupted by the arrival of either Arryk or Erryk.
(I honestly could not tell you which—why George R.R. Martin decided to give these identical twins the same name is a goddamn mystery to me. But it’s the one who helped Rhaenys escape during last week’s episode after he very intelligently deduced that Aegon would make a terrible king.)
The good twin swears his loyalty to Rhaenyra and presents her with Viserys’ golden crown, which Daemon gingerly places atop his wife’s head before bowing down to her, prompting everyone else to do the same. Everyone, that is, except Rhaenys, who very notably stands in the back and doesn’t budge. Hmmmm.
Later, everyone’s standing around the Painted Table and we get our first, but definitely not last, indication that Rhaenyra and Daemon are going to have a tough time co-ruling together. As much as he says he’s on board with his wife being the one in charge, he’s obviously more hot-headed than she is. After doing a bunch of dragon math, he reminds her that they have more dragons than Team Green—not to mention, the knowledge of some unclaimed dragons and dragon eggs—and proposes that they storm King’s Landing because “we could have every Green head mounted on spikes before the fucking moon turns.”
Before Rhaenyra can properly lecture him about embarrassing her in front of all these people!, they get word that one Otto Hightower has arrived. And so, in another sunset meeting on the Dragonstone bridge, which recalls the big Daemon showdown from Episode 2, Otto shows up with a proposal from Team Green: Acknowledge Aegon as king and you can keep Dragonstone, but also only your “trueborn” (aka, non-bastard, non-Strong) sons will get to be in your line of succession.
Daemon minces no words while delivering another one of his absolute zingers: “I would rather feed my sons to the dragons than have them carry shields and cups for your drunken cunt of a king.” Rhaenyra is only slightly more diplomatic, ripping Otto’s Hand of the King pin from his chest and calling him a “fucking traitor.” Otto tries to convince her that his daughter/pawn Alicent still wants to be pals, so take the deal and no one will die (which we all know isn’t true, because he’s really the one who wants all of Team Black murdered, like, yesterday).
Daemon has another all-time zinger on deck: Alicent “can have her answer now, stuffed in her father’s mouth, along with his withered cock.” This scene is basically the Bring It On equivalent of the Clovers cheer team confronting Torrance and Missy outside their gym in Compton. Daemon is Jenelope, ready to throw fists, and Rhaenyra is Isis, reigning in her pitbull of a husband and telling Otto she’ll think about it.
Rhaenyra’s level-headedness is shocking considering what she’s been through—remember, this woman just learned that her dad died, got betrayed by a shit-ton of people she grew up with, AND lost a baby, all in one day!—and makes a surprisingly strong case for her being a great ruler. Viserys may have been a coward who couldn’t even kill a deer effectively, but he at least passed on some sage fatherly wisdom, which Rhaenyra relays to her pouty husband: “When dragons flew to war, everything burned.”
She thus has no desire to “rule over a kingdom of ash and bone,” so this whole mad-rush to declare war is foolish, and plus, her “oath reaches beyond our personal ambitions.” She’s referring, of course, to The Song of Ice and Fire—aka the story of Aegon the Conqueror's dream about the coming war against the darkness in the North—which has been passed down, telephone game-style, to every Targaryen ruler.
Daemon, however, has never heard of such a thing, much less believes in it—something Rhaenyra learns the hard way when he grabs her by the throat and scolds her, “Dreams didn’t make us kings, dragons did.” This scene may be one of the most pivotal of the season, not only hinting at this couple’s clearly messy and mistrustful marriage, but previewing essential debates over the precedence of dreams versus dragons in House Targaryen.
Speaking of marital problems, Rhaenys and Corlys—surprise, he’s alive!—quarrel over him abandoning her and going off to sea to play Battleship right after both of their two children died. Continuing her streak of being this episode’s deliverer of bad news, she also tells him that Daemon has killed his little brother—but even so, they should probably back Rhaenyra because she’s the only one in this godforsaken place who’s showing any “restraint.”
(And, hey, that’s something Rhaenys knows a thing or two about, considering it was only a couple days ago when she had the chance to burn all of Team Green alive and avoid any war or bloodshed, but instead showed some restraint by fleeing on her dragon.)
Corlys appears swayed, because the next thing we know, he’s bowing down to Rhaenyra and telling her she has the full support of House Velaryon and its fleet—which, by the way, own the Stepstones and control the Narrow Seas. All of this seems a little too good to be true, and I can’t help but wonder whether he and Rhaenys are planning to double-cross Team Black, but we’ll have to wait until Season 2 to find out.
Rhaenyra, too, seems surprised, but is happy for some at least some goddamn support, and the mood picks up as everyone starts mapping out the game plan: They’ll block off the shipping lanes to King’s Landing, lay siege to the Red Keep, and force Team Green’s surrender. LFG!!
Only thing is, they need some more allies on deck, so Jace volunteers himself and his not-so-eager little brother Luke to ride separately to Houses Stark and Baratheon (hey, Game of Thrones fans, we know those names!) and secure their support. Rhaenyra agrees, but makes them swear on some old book that they won’t pick any fights. Seriously, boys, no brawling—how hard can that be?!
Meanwhile, absent father/stepfather Daemon ventures into a dark cave and starts singing to a dragon. (By the way, lovely voice, Matt Smith.) Apologies to any book readers who might know better, but I have no idea which dragon this is in George R.R. Martin’s lore; suffice it to say, it’s one of the rider-less ones whom Daemon is now seemingly trying to claim for Team Black. So, good luck with that, Daemon.
But before we can find out how that ends, we’re back to our poor young Prince Luke, who arrives at Storm’s End ready to confront Lord Borros Baratheon. Unfortunately, he’s met instead by a most unwelcome sight: prince of chaos himself, Aemond. He’s scowling, he’s eyepatched, and he’s clearly hungry for a fight.
Borros makes the understatement of the century—“the House of the Dragon does not seem to know who rules it”—and tells Luke that Aemond has already offered to marry one of his daughters in exchange for House Baratheon’s loyalty to Team Green. Luke, meanwhile, came empty-handed (seriously, dude, not even a bottle of cheap wine?), so he’s shooed away—but not before Aemond demands one of Luke’s eyes, “as payment for mine.” Borros is all, “Take it outside, boys,” and OH, DO THEY EVER.
And so we take to the dark and stormy sky, where it’s Aemond and Vhagar versus Luke and Arrax. Vhagar absolutely dwarfs Arrax, who looks like a toy lizard next to this absolute dinosaur, and we get our first thrilling, but terrifying preview of dragon-on-dragon warfare. And while we’ve been led to believe that dragons are loyal to their riders, it appears that’s not always the case—these beasts have minds of their own and aren’t just predictable pets, which we learn when Vhagar chomps Arrax in one big bite, killing both the smaller dragon and its rider (R.I.P. Luke).
This is, apparently, what happens when reckless kids are sent off to do their parents’ bidding; the consequences are real and they are ugly. Aemond, though he legitimately didn’t mean to, has just ignited a war.
We don’t see Rhaenyra’s face when Daemon breaks the news of Luke’s death to her. But we do get her reaction a few seconds later when she turns around, stares dead into the camera, and delivers an unspoken message: It. Is On.
And thus Season 1 of House of the Dragon comes to an end, paving the way for what will surely be a most brutal war.
