Warning: This post contains spoilers from the season 2 finale of Dragon House.
The end of a season in A Song of Ice and Fire universe comes with certain expectations. The Game of Thrones raised the bar with a debut that culminated in the execution of its apparent hero, Ned Stark; the secession of the North; the death of Khal Drogo; and the birth of Daenerys’ dragons. In subsequent seasons, the final episode or two have consistently delivered battles, bloodshed, and shocking reversals of fortune. Dragon House continued this tradition at the end of Season 1 which began shortly after the death of King Viserys, when Aegon II ascended the contested Iron Throne, the Green and Black factions rallied their respective allies, and Aemond’s dragon, Vhagar, killed Rhaenyra’s son. , Lucerys and Lucerys. ‘dragon Arrax.
Sunday’s Season 2 finale was different. There wasn’t a big CGI-heavy battle sequence; combat fans had to make do this season with the Battle of Rook’s Rest. There weren’t even any deaths of important characters. I had predicted that we would see Aemond, now regent of the Greens, cross swords with his older doppelganger, Daemon. (Never listen to my hunches. I haven’t even read the books!) But I’m glad to be wrong. Because as talky as it was, this finale delivered some of the best plot twists, character beats, and new faces the series has given us so far.
Any Thrones fan who enjoyed the relationship between Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth should be excited about the new dynamic duo of Tyland Lannister and Admiral Lohar, a fearsome commander of the Triarchy who is played by an actress, Abigail Thorn, but who uses masculine pronouns and has a bunch of wives. First, we see the Lannister golden boy struggling through the mud to get into Lohar’s good graces. “Have you ever eaten the flesh of your enemies?” the admiral demands. Lord Tyland is relieved to discover that he is only joking. But Lohar means it when he announces, “I want to have children with you.” “You…you want me to…” Tyland stutters. “Indeed,” replies Lohar. “I want you to fuck my wives.” OK then! “How many wives do you have?” asks the visibly nervous Lannister. We may not know the answer until Season 3, but one thing is for sure: Dragon It’s been hurting for a few Throneslevel oddballs, and this new Lohar-Tyland comedy is among the most entertaining developments we’ve seen yet.
Moving on to more dramatic stories, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to see Daemon – inspired by a bloody vision granted to him by his own personal witch, proto-feminist spiritual guide, Alys Rivers – rethink his plan to betray Rhaenyra and seek the Iron Throne For yourself. On the one hand, the twist represents what may be the first truly effective implementation of the A Song of Ice and Fire prophecy we’ve seen in Dragon. Daemon suddenly understands how pathetically insignificant his personal ambitions are when the dragon war upends humanity’s entire future–a future that looks a lot like a supercut of Thrones highlights – in play. (If only J. Robert Oppenheimer had had an Alys Rivers.) Daemon has always been a wild card, but this season he has turned to a particularly unsurprising, macho form of villainy. By bending the knee to Rhaenyra, he not only evolves into a more complex character, but also subverts Dragonthe tiring habit of doing It’s a shame to be a woman the moral of each story.
See more information: What Daemon’s vision of Daenerys means for the House of the Dragon
Daemon’s redemption was hardly the only breathtaking part of the character’s development. If there was one area where the finale, written by Sara Hess and directed by Geeta Vasant Patel, stood out most, it was in the individual exchanges. We had a long-awaited clash between Alyn of Hull and Lord Corlys, which yet refuses to openly acknowledge the children he fathered outside of marriage in a frank conversation with Rhaenyra. “Do you know what hunger does to a boy? What does pain do? Or shame? Alyn demands of her absent father. Rhaenyra asked Mysaria “Who pays the price?” Of war. We made bratty Jacaerys lose control over the boorish ways of barroom braggart-turned-dragonrider Ulf. And who didn’t love seeing the once docile Helaena assure her terrible brother, Aemond, now desperate for her to ride her own dragon into battle against the Blacks, that he would never be king. “What about you? You’ll be dead.
Ollie Upton-HBO
Of course, no tete-a-tete was stronger than Alicent’s climactic plea to Rhaenyra. Fresh from last week’s hike and snorkel, it’s a repentant Alicent who arrives at Dragonstone ready to, as she puts it, “throw herself on the mercy of a friend who once loved me.” In fact, she says all the right things – that she was wrong to resent Rhaenyra’s freedom and to put her “faith in my husband, my father, my lover.” (Rhaenyra’s faux shock at the revelation that the prim and proper Alicent had a lover is quite delightful.) What’s more, Alicent assures her childhood companion, “I do not wish to rule. I wish to live.” To that end, she is here to warn Rhaenyra that Aemond will soon leave for the Riverlands, leaving Helaena in charge of King’s Landing. With Alicent ordering the Royal Guard to withdraw, “You will enter like a conqueror.”
See more information: How Alicent and Rhaenyra’s meeting completely changes our understanding of the Dance of Dragons
Considering how horrified she has been by the carnage so far, a bloodless transfer of power would seem to be Rhaenyra’s ideal resolution to the Dance of Dragons. However, she doesn’t immediately buy what Alicent is selling. “It’s too late,” she says, reminding her old friend: “Blood has been spilled. Burnt cities. Armies march. And you want to wash your hands of what you put into action? Rhaenyra insists that she cannot truly win without killing Aegon. “Choose,” she orders. “A son for a son.” When Alicent mutters something about persuading Aegon to bend the knee, Rhaenyra forces the issue. There is obviously a pragmatic aspect to making the agreement dependent on the king’s death. In reality, though, a broken Aegon doesn’t pose much of a threat. Even Rhaenyra is open about the fact that what she really needs, to accept Alicent as an ally, is to experience the pain that Rhaenyra felt over the loss of Lucerys (not to mention the mother that Alicent replaced). So the price of a peaceful end to the war is one more Targaryen head. And after some hesitation, Alicent is, in exchange for the freedom to live a peaceful life with Helaena, willing to pay for it.
The scene works on many levels. The dialogue is layered, drawing on the lifelong affection and enmity between the series’ richest characters. Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke are so well cast – and so well matched – as the righteous, weary, dismissive Rhaenyra and the fragile Alicent, who slowly realizes that everything she once believed in was wrong. As Rhaenyra watches Alicent beg, there are hints of empathy; Her face softens. But the scene never turns into the fan service of, well, two literal queens teaming up to maximize your joint kill. As Rhaenyra understands, this would be too easy and simplistic. She and Alicent may need each other, but they’re also too hurt to do anything but part ways once the plan is carried out.
See more information: 15 questions Dragon House Need to respond in season 3
As she sends Alicent home, the episode ends with a montage of armies and navies and dragons and dragon riders preparing, setting sail, and marching toward the battlefields—many, presumably, to die in what appears to be a feint to put Rhaenyra on the throne. I have a feeling this resolution will be received by viewers pining for dragon fire and the body count – both of which appear to be on the horizon for season three – as anticlimactic. But as far as I’m concerned, Dragon House gave us something better this week, something that separates George R.R. Martin’s franchise, at its most sophisticated and compelling, from so many other fantasy shows. Anyone with a big enough budget can produce compelling digital violence. It’s the characters, their regrets, and the evolution of their relationships that give value to this Targaryen civil war.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
