House of the Dragon Season 1: Ending Explained What It Means For The Events Of The Future
House of the Dragon: After the global success of the Game of Thrones series, the television broadcaster HBO does not miss the lucrative opportunity and created a prequel show based on the storybook “Fire and Blood“. Written by George RR Martin himself, the book tells the story of the Targaryen dynasty in detail and the main events, from the rise to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Aegon the Conqueror to the final fall of the house with Aerys II, father of Daenerys Targaryen. House of the Dragon decides to focus on the events that led to what in Martin’s chronicles is remembered as the “Dance of the Dragons”, a succession of fratricidal wars within the same house that lasted for years and years. Telling the reign of Viserys I up to the civil war for his succession.
As we have already explained to you in our review of the final episode, House of the Dragon ends with one of the most shocking and bloody events ever shown in the ten episodes of the prequel series: Lucerys Velaryon, the second son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and legitimate heir to the throne after the death of his father Viserys I, is badly unsaddled by the dragon Vhagar under the command of Aemond Targaryen while the former is on the back of his Arrax, returning from Storm’s End. Lucerys’ “lesser” dragon, feeling provoked by Vhagar’s mocking fury, spits fire in Aemond’s direction, with the most tragic result that could be expected: Aemond’s giant lizard responds to the fiery provocation by tearing Arrax to shreds and unsaddling Lucerys, who falls into the sea and thus finds his untimely death. What does all this mean and how much weight will it have in the second season? We talk about it in our explanation of the ending of House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon Ending Explained: A Storm Is Approaching
The tenth and final episode of the first season of House of the Dragon opens in Dragonstone, an ancestral stronghold of the Targaryen dynasty and now home to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), her children and her husband Daemon (Matt Smith). In the room of the painted table, the second son Lucerys Velaryon ponders a choice that could change his life: whether or not to accept his destiny of becoming the future Lord of the Driftmark and heir of High Tide. A role that Luke does not seem to accept willingly, but that his mother Rhaenyra urges him to consider. A dialogue is interrupted by the arrival of Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), who after the assault of the last episode on the Dragon Pit in conjunction with the coronation of Aegon II,
Embittered and sad, Rhaenyra soon gives birth to a stillborn daughter (Visenya, the fruit of the union between her and her husband/uncle Daemon), and then accepts the coronation at Dragonstone as the legitimate ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, wearing her father’s crown given to her by a royal guard who fled King’s Landing and is still loyal to his cause.
Queen of Moderation
The inadequate coronation brings a lot of friction within the Dragonstone council; some would like, among the faithful to the Queen, a call to the allies and a quick siege of King’s Landing to defeat once and for all the usurper king and the “green council” led by Queen Widow Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and his father Otto (Rhys Ifans), Hand of the Knight. Her husband Daemon would like to act immediately with the blood and violence of the thirteen dragons on their side, Rhaenyra instead confirms herself in the eyes of the viewer as the queen of moderation: for her, it is better to first make sure of loyal allies than to siege Aegon’s new kingdom. II.
A thesis also endorsed by the revived Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), who returned after some time from an almost fatal expedition to the Stepstones islands; to the new queen of Dragonstone, he announces that the Triarchy has been defeated, the islands are in the hands of the Velaryon fleet, and the Narrow Sea has been conquered. A perfect vantage point to implement a strategy of total blockade of ships to and from King’s Landing. But Rhaenyra’s moderate and non-violent vision is not well received by the husband of her Daemon…
Let The Dance Of The Dragons Begin!
When Rhaenyra explains to her husband that she does not want to declare open war but to keep kingdoms united by keeping faith with the omens prophesied by her father Viserys, Daemon clasps his hand around the neck of his niece/wife, saying these words: “The dreams of Aegon the Conqueror they didn’t make us king, dragons did. ” A real declaration of intent for Daemon Targaryen, who thus reveals his aversion to peace and puts in place a violent demonstration of male power: with his gesture, he made it clear to his wife that women are not made for war and power strategies, prophecies or not in circulation.
Who Is The Dragon That Daemon Sings To In The Valyrian Language?
A test of strength that also seems to be reflected in the following scene starring the same Daemon, who stealthily descends into the slums of Dragonstone and sings what looks like a huge-sized dragon-shaped nursery rhyme in the Valyrian language: the lizard is none other than Vermithor, one of the dragons currently without a master and who has never been ridden by anyone since the death of King Jaehaerys I, the ruler who preceded Viserys and whom we saw in the prologue of the first episode of House of the Dragon. A very powerful scene that heralds bloody battles on the back of a dragon in the second season.
What Does The Torn Page That Otto Gives Rhaneyra Mean?
The strongly patriarchal gaze anticipated by Daemon’s moves also resonates in the words that Otto Hightower spits in front of the legitimate queen in this very last, powerful episode: “The succession has changed since your father had a son.” When the Hand of the King shows up at Dragonstone to coordinate Rhaenyra’s surrender, he hands Viserys’ daughter a torn page from a book, which we have already seen in the very first episodes of the series: it is a page of the book that little Rhaenyra read with her best friend Alicent, now queen widow and mother of Aegon II. The page brings back many memories to Rhaneyra who, in the good name of the affection she still feels for her friend now her rival, decides not to attack the squad led by the Hand of the Knight and chooses, once again, the path of moderation
A road that will prevail over Rhaenyra, who sends her two eldest sons Jacaerys and Lucerys to send messages of loyalty and alliance to the greatest houses of Westeros: the first will head north, from the Arryns of Eagle’s Nest and the Starks of Winterfell, the latter will instead head with his dragon Arrax to Storm’s End, a stronghold of the Baratheons to the south. Prince Aemond Targaryen had rushed to the Baratheons’ court to plead allegiance to his brother Aegon II.
A Look To The Future
After a brief battle in Storm’s End, Lucerys flees astride his dragon Arrax to return to Dragonstone and, as we had already anticipated in the introduction to this in-depth study, it will not end well for Rhaenyra’s second son. A shocking event that, in the very last seconds of the tenth episode, leads the legitimate queen to secretly declare revenge on the faithful of the usurper king. Will it be an open war?
The second season, already announced, should continue to follow the story titled “Fire and Blood” by George RR Martin. The defiant look that Rhaenyra throws into the car staring intently at the viewer in the very last seconds of the episode is emblematic: the death of her son portends the end of diplomacy, the road of moderation, and the beginning of a long civil war that will last three years, known as the “Dance of Dragons”.
