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This post contains spoilers from House of the Dragon‘s Season 1 finale. Proceed accordingly.
I spy, with my sapphire eye, a world of hurt coming for the Hightowers in House of the Dragon Season 2.
The HBO series’ Season 1 finale on Sunday ended with Princess Queen Rhaenyra receiving the news that her second-born son, Lucerys “Luke” Velaryon, had been killed by a dragon ridden by Alicent’s son, Aemond Targaryen. Though earlier in the episode Rhaenyra had counseled patience when trying to figure out when and how to go to war with the Hightowers, the finale’s final moments showed a grieving Rhaenyra who clearly wants to avenge her son. (Read a full recap, hear about the big scene that was cut from the season and then hear what the showrunners are vowing never to do again.)
“Somehow, I think this moves the goal posts of suffering,” series star Emma D’Arcy, who plays Rhaenyra, says in the “Inside S1 E10” featurette available on HBO Max. “Once you’ve lost both your parents and you’ve lost a lover, you think you know grief. And I think what’s so awful is that losing Luke tells her she knows nothing about grief, and it changes her outlook on the world going forward.”
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Executive producer and co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik points out that Luke’s dragon, Arrax, never had any real hope of fighting the much larger Vhagar, piloted by Aemond (who earlier in the episode revealed that he’s now wearing a sapphire in the socket previously inhabited by the eyeball Luke gouged out years before). The smaller dragon’s only recourse was to fly faster and escape. And that’s what seemed like had happened… until Vhagar went rogue and made a snack out of the smaller beast and his rider.
Aemond cried, “No!” as it happened and looked bereft after; Sapochnik says that’s when you’re seeing “the last vestiges of the little boy that’s left in Aemond.”
He adds: “Maybe he was trying to scare Luke, but I don’t think ultimately he intended to kill him. But now he’s done it, and he has to decide whether or not he’s going to own it in his travel back to King’s Landing. Because obviously, if usurping the throne and their crowning Aegon in the dragon pit wasn’t the start of the war, killing one of the queen’s sons is.”
What did you think of the finale? Hit the comments with your thoughts!
Ugh… what a violent way to go! I look forward to seeing that one-eyed prince’s death… payback is a b***h!
It was another one of those scenes that barely had any dialogue but you knew what Aemond was feeling and all the emotions running over him. It was a great performance. He’s a hidden gem of the show.
He realized he just turned what for the most part had been a nonviolent political dispute into a true war.
Yes, the wash of realization across his face. It was always headed to war, but there was no turning back at that point, and you could see him come to that conclusion, from a scared little boy who just wanted to tease his nephew, to the horror, to figuring out what he had cause to acceptance. Just some great non-verbal acting.
I wouldn’t say always. Rhaenyra made it pretty clear that if she didn’t have a reasonable amount of support she was willing drop the issue for the sake of peace and just take Allicent’s offer. It’s obviously a moot point now but there was clearly some flexibility with both sides before this incident.
In a world where her and Alicent could sit down and decide things, sure, it might have happened. Heck before dying King garbles stuff Alicent was ready to let Rhaenyra be queen. But in a world with the men going behind their backs it’d never happen. Daemon and Hightower would never let it happen. They were going to incite a war. They were already planning it. It just needed something to set it off.
Fair point
C’mon, what did he think was going to happen? Unlike some others I’m certain he had the intent to kill Luke. He may have had some shock that he actually did it this way (by dragon), but killing Luke was his intention from the moment Luke declined to gauge out his own eye. I’d be glad if they kill off Aimond; cannot stand the character (nothing to root for in him) and not the best actor unfortunately.
Did Daemon’s visit to the other dragon earlier in the episode have anything to do with Vahgar going rogue on Aemond? Daemon is so flawed and devious (but knows dragon spells!) I wouldn’t put it past him to put things in motion to start a war even if it meant sacrificing Luke … I know it’s a stretch but I guess I still don’t understand the purpose of that creepy Daemon singing to the dragon scene.