The first season of House of the Dragon has ended and the Dance of the Dragons is about to begin. Featuring Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) as she scrambles around trying to find allies in the event of Aegon II usurping her throne, the finale packed enough moments that had our jaws drop. With a bunch going on here as the fight for the Iron Throne begins, the wait for season two is definitely going to be a long one. House of the Dragon Season 1 Finale Review: Emma D’Arcy’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Ends on a Satisfyingly Tense Note! (LatestLY Exclusive).
The finale for House of the Dragon featured the first major character death for this show, and the implications of it are definitely going to be heavy. With Daemon having his own plans too and Rhaenyra’s rage finally set to be unleashed, we can expect the next few seasons to be as bloody as Game of Thrones comes. So, lets dive into the ending and see what we can expect. Also, a fair warning, there might be potential spoilers here for the next few seasons too as we delve deep into Fire and Blood as well.
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The Ending
The death of Lucerys #HouseoftheDragon pic.twitter.com/7QLc5n0nIM
— Otto Hightower (@OttoHightower) October 24, 2022
The Dance of the Dragons has been kicked off, and of course, the ending did see the death of Lucerys at the hand of Aemond Targaryen. When he was sent by Rhaenyra to Storm’s End to deliver a message asking for the help of Baratheon’s, Lucerys saw that Aemon had already beaten him to the chase. Asking an eye for an eye, the Baratheon King told Aemond that no blood shed would happen in this castle, and declines Lucerys’ offer to join Rhaenyra.
Lucerys quickly runs off to his dragon only to find himself in a chase with Aegon as he rallies behind him. Taking him by surprise, Aemon accidentally ends up killing Lucerys as his dragon can be seen torn in half and he falls down.
Being the first major death of this show, Rhaenyra can be seen filled with rage at the end, and this is going to lead into one of the moments from the book that will see Daemon try to extract a blood debt.
In the books, after these events Daemon sends a letter to Rhaenyra saying “An eye for an eye, a son for a son. Lucerys shall be avenged.” Asking help from one of his loyal friends in the city watch known as Blood, and a rat-catcher known as cheese, he asks them to infiltrate the Red Keep. With them infiltrating into the Tower of the Hand, they would capture and gag Queen Allicent knowing that Helaena would visit their quarters with her three sons.
“An eye for an eye, a son for a son. Lucerys shall be avenged.”
- Prince Daemon Targaryen#HouseoftheDragon #HOTD pic.twitter.com/wY4FZl6HxV
— Lime Juice (@LordLimeJuice) October 24, 2022
Blood and Cheese then take Helaena as a hostage and asks her that out of her three children, which one would she want dead. Pointing to Maelor, Blood would oppose her kill the six-year-old Jaehaerys, leaving Helaena heartbroken and having a complicated relationship with Maelor.
This basically is how Luke’s revenge is paid off in the books, but in the show, we can expect something different. When Aemond ends up killing Luke, we can see that he has a regretful face since that wasn’t his intention. This will surely escalate the war, and with Aemond being a huge target now, we can expect him to be a really major character going forward.
This will also of course force Rhaenyra’s hand as she has tried to look for a peaceful resolution to the usurping of the crown, however, with the death of her son, there is going to be a huge powerplay here. There are a few key differences from the book here as well with Daemon delivering the news to Rhaenyra and not being at Harrenhall.
Daemon can be seen in this episode singing to a dragon in higher Valyrion inside a cave. With the dragon being extremely huge in size, we can expect him to be Vermithor, who was King Jaehaerys’ dragon. Being the second largest dragon right behind Vhagar, when we see him next, he will probably be more than 100 years old. Looks like Daemon does have a new ride, and potentially might have a fight set up with Vhagar for killing Lucerys. House of the Dragon Episode 8: Fans Bid Farewell to Paddy Considine's Viserys Targaryen; React to Alicent Hightower's Misunderstanding.
Whatever it may be, remains to be seen as season two of House of the Dragon will begin filming in early 2023. We can probably expect the next season to drop in 2024. Until then, you can stream the entire first season now on Disney+ Hotstar.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2022 05:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).