Warning: spoilers ahead for the season finale of House of the Dragon.
It was the very first season finale of House of the Dragon Sunday night, so fans were already anticipating a shocking ending. With everything that has happened since Queen Alicent misunderstood King Viserys’s final words on his deathbed, thinking he wanted their son Aegon to be the heir to the Iron Throne, not Princess Rhaenyra, we knew it wasn’t going to end well. This was likely the catalyst to the Dance of the Dragons. However, following the ending of Sunday night’s finale, a different incident might actually be to blame.
And, just in case, this is where you should stop reading if you have not seen the Season 1 finale of House of the Dragon.
After Rhaenyra learned her father, Viserys, had died and Aegon was crowned king of the Iron Throne without her knowledge, it was a dash to collect allies across the realm to determine who would remain loyal to their original oath to Princess Rhaenyra as the true heir to the throne. Despite all the men around the Painted Table wanting to immediately plunge the realm into war, Rhaenyra was the only one with reason.
“I do not wish to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone,” said Rhaenyra. “My father’s dead and he chose me as his successor. To defend the realm, not cast it headlong into war.”
Rhaenyra also explained to Daemon, “You know my oath reaches beyond our personal ambitions. A Song of Ice and Fire.” Yet another reason why Rhaenyra deserves to be queen.
Despite mourning the death of her father, a miscarriage (yeah, that also happened), her throne usurped, and everyone betraying her, Rhaenyra still was making decisions in the best interest of the realm. That is, until something, or shall we say someone, incredibly valuable and priceless was stolen from her.
Rhaenyra allowed her sons, Jacaerys and Lucerys, to travel by dragon to Winterfell in the North and Storm’s End in the South respectively. It was at House Baratheon in the South that Lucerys came face-to-face, or eyes-to-eye with Vaemond, who never forgave Lucerys for taking his eye when they were kids. Vaemond attempted to seize one of Lucerys’s eyes for revenge, but Lord Borros Baratheon condoned it.
So while Lucerys was flying his dragon Arrax back to Dragonstone, Vaemond hopped on his (stolen) dragon Vhagar to harass him mid-air and have, well, a dance of dragons. Some cool foreshadowing there.
Arrax attempted to get Vhagar off his back by spitting fire at him, which triggered Vhagar into a full on dragon fight. And since Vhagar was stolen by Vaemond, not naturally chosen and bonded, Vaemond couldn’t maintain control over him. Out of the clouds, Vhagar, who was at least ten times Arrax’s size, if not much more, chomped Arrax to bits in one bite, sending pieces of dragon and Lucerys plunging to the ground.
Killing Lucerys and ripping his dragon to shreds was actually not what Vaemond meant to do. Regardless, that shocking and heartbreaking moment was what had fans running to Twitter with tweets like:
In the end, after Rhaenyra learned what had become of her son, the final scene of the season finale showed the true Queen of the Iron Throne staring straight into the camera with a look so fierce, viewers are ready for anything and everything she will do in Season 2 to avenge Lucerys’s death.
The season finale of House of the Dragon aired Sunday, October 23rd on HBO.
Watch this awkward ‘HOTD’ family reunion ending with a shocking death and a major misunderstanding:
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