‘The House of the Dragon’: the strongest moments of the end of the first season, explained

SPOILER attention!

* We talked about several relevant events of 1×10 of “The House of the Dragon”. If you haven’t seen the episode, don’t read on!

The latest episode of ‘House of the Dragon’ has officially arrived on HBO Max and, how could it be otherwise in the universe of George RR Martin, It brought us a painful death that gives rise to the beginning of an already inevitable conflict that will take place for the next three seasons.

The tenth, and last, chapter of ‘The Dragon’s House’ shows us the point of view of the black side, unlike the previous one, in which we saw the actions experienced by the greens in King’s Landing. It all begins with the arrival of Rhaenys (Eve Best) on Dragonstone, bringing important and devastating news to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith): the death of Viserys (Paddy Considine) and the taking of the Iron Throne from the Hightowers, whom they crowned Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) as King of Westeros. The princess, and legitimate heir, undergoes an abortion out of disgust, in a heartbreaking scene in which alone she gives birth to a lifeless child, totally destroyed by the situation she is experiencing. In an interview with Deadline, Ryan Condal, creator and showrunner of the series, assured that there are many similarities this season and compared this abortion to what we saw in the first chapter with Viserys’ wife: “One thing was to connect the horrible birth that goes terribly wrong in the pilot, with another horrible birth that goes terribly wrong in the finale. I’m mother and daughter. Hard.”

Rhaenyra loses her baby but, unlike her mother, she does not lose her life. The princess knows that there is no turning back and that she must fulfill the duty her father has entrusted to her: to unite the kingdom and defend it from the prophecy that ensures that a greater evil, the great white threat, hangs over Westeros. Rhaenyra is crowned rightful queen on Dragonstone and begins plotting to reclaim the Iron Throne. One of her first decisions is to send her younger son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) to Storm’s End, where she must speak to the Baratheons to ask for their support. However, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) arrived before him, and this is where the Dance of the Dragons will begin. We see on the screen the first battle between dragons, Aemond chases Lucerys, both mounted on their beasts of fire, although we must keep in mind that that of Prince Targaryen is much larger than that of the youngest of the Velaryons, who will play against Arrax, this little Lucerys dragon.

At first, it appears that Aemond just wanted to intimidate Lucerys, but the situation gets out of control when both dragons go into battle on their own and the great Vhagar attacks Arrax, splitting him in half and killing his knight as well. As Condal recently explained, we have to assume that dragons have a mind of their own and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) already warned us in “Game of Thrones” when she told us that these are not slaves. “When a wild animal is threatened, it sometimes responds. If you go back to the pilot, Viserys warns us that the idea that we control dragons is an illusion. He tells Rhaenyra. He says they are a power he can never use.” we should have played. And, in fact, the dragons make their own decisions in this chapter, causing death that will eventually trigger the civil conflict that already seemed inevitable.

A point of no return

The end of the chapter shows us Daemon approaching Rhaenyra to inform her of the death of her son Lucerys, causing the reaction of the black queen, who closes the season with a look at the camera and “the war reflected in his eyes”, as specified in the script written by Condal. The creator assured in an interview with Weekly entertainment which is the death of the son of Rhaenyra “another important point of no return”. This loss will cause the rightful heiress to trigger the conflict that has been approaching for several episodes, giving birth to the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons.

“That was always the plan to end the season because, after the internal debate that Rhaenyra goes through during the episode, everything changes the moment she learns of the betrayal in Storm’s End and the death of her son,” Condal assured. This season finale shows us that there is no going back and that the war will begin soon, arousing the fury of Rhaenyra, who from now on will defend her interests, with fire and blood, in the purest Targaryen style. “This series is populated by deeply complex human characters who are capable of good and bad deeds, mistakes and moments of heroism and monstrosity. They will do things that will frustrate audiences, but they are real people and characters, not archetypes.” Ryan County explained. We will have to wait for the second season and see how the conflict that we all expect, and which has already been anticipated in the last chapter, develops and develops: the dreaded and long-awaited Dance with the Dragons.