One of the most dramatic episodes of House of the Dragon to date aired on Sunday night, including a dragon scenario that arguably surpassed the devastating conclusion of Season 1. Similar to the incident in which little Lucerys met his tragic end, his death was once again brought by Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his terrifying dragon, Vhagar.
Like with Aemond and Lucerys, the dragon combat scene from tonight is a famous one from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood. But the show’s representation differs somewhat from the novel. That being said, I find the variation to be really appealing. We’ll discuss it shortly.
Aegon Tried to Stop Aemond & Cole, but failed…
This turned out to be very disastrous episode for King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), who finds out that Aemond and Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel) had been leading the war operations without him at a gathering of his Small Council. He tries to give them the command to abstain from attacking the castle Rook’s Rest out of outrage. His goal is to obtain Harrenhal. The ruler of Harrenhal, his Master of Whisperers, Ser Larys Strong, informs him that the castle is “more crippled than I am” and will only confuse Daemon (Matt Smith). Aemond informs his elder brother that the siege on Rook’s Rest cannot be called off at this point. Cole is getting ready to strike.
To make sure that no one else in the room can understand them, Aemond speaks with his brother in Valyrian. His brother’s stuttering response at the conclusion indicates that he is not as proficient as he is, despite his obvious fluency. Aemond laughs at his sibling. Aemond was preparing the battle while he was busy pretending to be king, assigning lickspittle lackeys to the Kingsguard and so on.
Aegon, infuriated, goes to his mother for help. He yells, “They won’t listen to me!” His mother says mockingly, “What could he possibly have to say that they should listen to?” She says, “Do you think wearing the crown imbues you with wisdom suddenly?” Her comments hurt more than those of his brother.
Read the full recap and review of the House of the Dragon here!!
