House of the Dragon foreshadowed the finale’s climactic scene back in episode one.
The HBO series’s first season drew to a close on Sunday (23 October), ending with a plot twist with repercussions that will ricochet through the episodes to come.
*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*
In the hopes of recruiting allies and maintaining support from people who believe her to be the rightful heir to the throne, Rhaneyra (Emma D’Arcy) sends her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) to Storm’s End with his dragon Arrax.
Rhaenyra urges him to act as a diplomat. When he arrives, however, something is amiss and he notices Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is already there doing the bidding for his newly crowned brother.
Aemond has long been seeking revenge on Lucerys, who cut his eye out years before. When he loses his cool and goes for Lucerys, Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans) tells him not to fight on his land.
Lucerys hurriedly leaves and flies away in the middle of a storm. Aemond chases him on Vhagar. But, in the last moment, Aemond indicates he just wanted to scare Lucerys, but Vhagar has other plans and rips Arrax to shreds, sending Lucerys falling from the sky and killing him.
It’s this act that sees Rhaenyra turn from diplomat to a vengeful queen, and will no doubt lead to the start of the civil war, named the Dance of the Dragons in George RR Martin’s source material, Fire & Blood.
This plot twist was foreshadowed by Viserys (Paddy Considine) in a conversation with a young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) featured in the show’s debut episode.
Viserys:“When you look at the dragons, what do you see?”
Rhaneyra:“Everyone says Targaryens are closers to gods than to men, but they say that because of our dragons. Without them, we’re just like everyone else.”
Viserys:“The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion. They’re a power men should never have trifled with. One that brought Valyria it’s doom. If we don’t mind our own histories, it will do the same to us.”
The finale also featured another detail from episode one – namely the note handed to Rhaenyra by Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).
Elsewhere, the episode cleared up a recent controversial plot point that angered many fans, and left viewers “traumatised” with yet another harrowing birth scene.
House of the Dragon, which is available to watch on NOW, has been renewed for a secnd season. Find the biggest talking points from the episode here.
