Three Things House of the Dragon's Finale Tells Us About What's Coming Next


Also worth noting is the larger context of the Dance of the Dragons in the grand arc of time. One of the most significant moments in the finale is Daemon’s grand vision of the future. That revelation is entirely a show invention but one that helps to finally push him over the edge and to Rhaenyra’s side. Some of the visions are more apparent than others — the White Walkers, a young Daenerys reborn amongst her dragons in fire — while others, like the reappearance of Bloodraven, aka Brynden Rivers (the character played by Max Von Sydow in Thrones, who helps Bran Stark) are less so. Either way, as Daemon tells Rhaenyra, “This war is just the beginning,” and things will continue to get worse before they get better.

Tensions Between Dragon Riders

This is pretty apparent in how Ulf (Tom Bennett) is conducting himself around Dragonstone, but as vocalized by Jace (Harry Collett) throughout the episode, the tensions between the newly crowned Dragonriders and the rest of Rhaenyra’s allies are only going to get more fraught as things go along. The concept of power, who gets to wield it, and what it does to them in the process is one of storytelling’s oldest and richest tropes, and we’ll see it play out here in various forms and fashions.

We’re going to issue a spoiler alert for future seasons here, so skip down if you’d rather not know what’s coming.

Both Ulf and Hugh (Kieran Bew) will eventually betray Rhaenyra and defect to the Greens. Ulf will want more standing than previously promised to him by Rhaenyra and Daemon and takes a deal with the Hightowers accordingly. Hugh will grow enchanted with a prophecy that states a new king will arise when a hammer falls upon a dragon. As the wielder of a hammer, he believes this to be the case — but the prophecy is really about the rise of Robert Baratheon and how he’d eventually kill Price Rhaegar Targaryen at the Battle of the Trident with (you guessed it) a hammer.

As such, the two begin to see that as Tagaryens themselves (bastards or otherwise), their futures and claims to power are just as legitimate to consider as Rhaenrya’s, fulfilling Jace’s concerns about the pair. However, at this point, Hugh’s motivations to turn are pretty far away from his more virtuous persona. As we said, power is a hell of a drug.

Alicent’s Role in What’s to Come

The biggest show creation, outside of Daemon’s vision, is the second meeting this year of Alicent and Rhaenyra. In Fire & Blood, the pair meet when Rhaenyra takes King’s Landing, but writer Sara Hess and the rest of the House of the Dragon writing team decide to speed that meeting up. It’s a savvy call, given Alicent’s headspace in the wake of everything that’s transpired in the weeks since the two met in the Sept.

In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra takes King’s Landing and keeps Alicent captive. But in House of the Dragon, Alicent negotiates for her freedom at the cost of her son, which director Geeta Vasant Patel literalizes by framing Rhaenyra as if trapped behind the rows of scrolls before cutting to Alicent staring out into the ocean alongside the luscious greenery.

What complicates this plan is that Lord Larys (Matthew Needham) and Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) are already out of King’s Landing. In the book, their escape corresponds with Rhaenyra’s arrival at the city, and the proctored deal between the two women never occurs. With this little wrinkle, Rhaenyra will likely believe Alicent has backed out of her deal and punish her accordingly.

It’s another case of the show having its cake and eating it too, finding pockets to dart in and out of between moments of established canon. What’s particularly juicy—and potentially tragic—is what will happen to these two women when Rhaenyra does take King’s Landing. Is their newfound understanding shattered? Regardless of what happens, this excellent sophomore ends by evoking what it’s always done the best: highlighting the depths of the relationship between these two women and how the world and its games have shaped and altered that bond accordingly.



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