Spoiler Alert: This list includes spoilers for the House of the Dragon Season 3 finale.House of the Dragon is HBO's first spin-off of Game of Thrones
Spoiler Alert: This list includes spoilers for the House of the Dragon Season 3 finale.House of the Dragon is HBO’s first spin-off of Game of Thrones, and based on the prequel book Fire and Blood to George R. R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire series. It chronicles the downfall of House Targaryen due to a civil war fought between the eldest children of King Viserys I (Paddy Considine). On one side are the Blacks, who support Queen Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock and Emma D’Arcy), Viserys’ eldest child and intended heir, and on the other are the Greens, who support Aegon II (Ty Tennant and Tom Glynn-Carney), Viserys’ eldest son by his second wife, Queen Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke).
With Season 3 having come to a close, fans are going to have to wait two years before the final season that will bring the Dance of the Dragon to a close. That leaves plenty of time to speculate on several mysteries laid out in the last few episodes, especially since the show has deviated so far from the books.
Where Is Vhagar?
Of the numerous dragons who took part in the Dance, none are more terrifying than Vhagar. First seen in Westeros as the mount of Queen Visenya, she is the last of the original Targaryen dragons that united the Seven Kingdoms (minus Dorne), and is now as huge as Balerion the Black Dread was during the conquest. Now, she is ridden by Prince Aemond “One-Eye” Targaryen (Leo Ashton and Ewan Mitchell), and has killed two dragons and their riders already.
Strangely, Vhagar has been absent for most of the season, vanishing after Aemond took Harrenhal and only leaving scorched settlements and footprints to show that she is still alive. Why she did this and where she has flown off to is anyone’s guess, but for a narrative reason, it was to keep Aemond at Harrenhal so he could interact with Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin). This is a acute change from the books, where Aemond rode Vhagar on a campaign of destruction through the Riverlands.
What Will Happen to Sheepstealer?
One of the biggest changes in the show concerns the wild dragon Sheepstealer. Originally claimed by a bastard-girl named Nettles, the show instead gave him to Lady Rhaena Targaryen (Eva Ossei-Gerning and Phoebe Campbell), who abandoned the duties given to her by Rhaenyra to chase a dragon. Her headstrong decision nearly got her killed in the wilds and proved disastrous for Rhaenyra, as Sheepstealer burned much of the Velaryon fleet in the Battle of the Gullet and was in part responsible for the death of Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Leo Hart and Harry Collett).
After spending half of the season hiding from the consequences of her actions, Rhaena is eventually taken back to King’s Landing, while Sheepstealer is attacked by three dragons, including Caraxes, the mount of Rhaena’s father, Daemon (Matt Smith). Ultimately, Daemon can’t bring himself to kill the wild dragon and allows him to limp away with his life. This begs the question of what will happen to Sheepstealer in the future: will he be absent for the rest of the war, die of his injuries, or somehow reunite with Rhaena?
Where Does Corlys Velaryon’s Loyalty Lie?
Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) has been one of Rhaenyra’s most essential allies in the war, providing her with a navy to blockade King’s Landing and serving as her Hand of the Queen. However, he has lost almost everything the longer the war has gone on, from his ships being sunk, his home being burned, and Rhaenyra refusing to legitimize his bastard sons Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Addam (Abubakar Salim). By the end of the season, he’s a prisoner of the Hightowers, down one finger, and even tries to lend a hand Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) sue for peace before being reclaimed by the Blacks.
Given that Corlys was willing to work with his captors and mutilators in negotiation, one has to wonder where his loyalties now lie? It’s understandable that he’s not Rhaenyra’s biggest fan right now, but how far is he willing to go in defying her for the sake of peace, as he claims? Especially when he learns about what Rhaenyra had Alyn do in his absence, or how the betrayal of Ser Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) might affect Rhaenyra’s relationship with Addam, a fellow Dragonseed.
What Happened to Daeron Targaryen?
One of the most essential fresh characters this season was Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), the youngest son of Viserys and Alicent, and rider of the Blue Queen, Tessarion. Raised in Oldtown by his cousin-uncle, Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton), he flies to war when the Hightower army marches against Rhaenyra, and is later made a knight and proclaimed king to keep the Green cause going when Aegon and Aemond are presumed dead. Unfortunately, Daeron’s noble heart puts him at odds with Ormund’s ambition, and he nearly flies into battle during the Battle of Tumbleton until Gwayne stops him.
After the battle, Daeron seems to have vanished in the chaos, and there was no indication of Tessarion’s fate either. This leaves it ambiguous if he died, was taken captive, injured, chased after the retreating Blacks, or who knows what else. It’s an unfortunate mystery because Daeron is a character whose hands felt like they were tied the entire season, so leaving his fate ambiguous feels like the show is committed to keeping him from truly earning the title “Daeron the Daring.”
What Will Hugh Hammer Do Now?
Ser Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) is perhaps the least developed and utilized of the Dragonseeds. Despite claiming the second-largest dragon, Vermithor, and losing his daughter due to Rhaenyra’s blockade, his entire character has only revolved around his estranged wife, Kat (Ellora Torchia), who moved to Tumbleton as things deteriorated in King’s Landing and refused to flee the city when Hugh sought her out. He even left his post guarding King’s Landing to try and rescue her during the battle, only to find her corpse.
Now that Kat is dead, one has to wonder what Hugh will do in the future. In the book he betrays Rhaenyra alongside Ulf, but that seems unlikely now because he is a far kinder character than in the book, and Ulf and the Hightowers were more responsible for his wife’s death than Rhaenyra’s forces. Honestly, it makes more sense for him to strike out on his own, but that likely won’t happen unless the show decides to completely change the end of his story.
What Are Ulf the White’s Plans?
Ser Ulf the White started out as the local drunk in King’s Landing, only to suddenly become one of the most powerful people in Westeros when he claimed the third-largest dragon, Silverwing. However, his crass behavior didn’t earn him any favors from the nobility who already looked down upon him, and the Targaryens’ physical and emotional abuse led him to betray them for the Hightowers. Yet, when Ormund Hightower beat Ulf for passing out in a privy instead of attacking Rhaenyra’s army, he turned on the Hightowers and destroyed Tumbleton with dragonfire.
Now that Ulf has angered both sides in the war, what exactly is his plan? In the book, he and Hugh only burned the Black army and remained with the Hightower army, but that seems incredibly improbable since everyone saw him attack the town needlessly. Sure, Silverwing is a huge dragon and will allow him to throw his weight around, but she is far from the deadliest due to her lack of combat experience compared to the likes of Caraxes and Seasmoke, and feeding her will be more tough without highborn allies.
What Are Mysaria’s Plans Now?
Nicknamed the White Worm, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) has attempted to position herself as Rhaenyra’s closest confidant, both to secure power and control for herself, and to champion the rights of the smallfolk while the highborn only care about themselves in this war. However, Rhaenyra finally caught on to her plans, and made plans to send her away. She had some final words to say to Queen Helaena Targaryen (Evie Allen and Phia Saban) before leaving the Red Keep, but slipped away from her guards to get lost in the crowds of King’s Landing.
Mysaria remains as Rhaenyra’s Master of Whispers in the book until the bitter end, so removing her at the end of Season 3 is another change that invites so many questions. The most immediate possibility for her Season 4 storyline is that she will lend a hand stir up riots in King’s Landing, but if she is meant to be the voice of the people again, getting lots of them killed to take down Rhaenyra feels counterproductive. So one also has to wonder what her fresh goals are: does she care more about helping the smallfolk or does she want revenge on Rhaenyra?
Will Alicent Return to the Red Keep, or Will She Run Away?
Alicent’s character journey has been a roller coaster of inconsistencies. Once a woman who resented Rhaenyra for doing whatever she wanted free of consequence and who would defend her children even if they were not the best people, she has become a selfish woman willing to patch things up with Rhaenyra and even conspire with her to kill her sons if it meant Alicent and Helaena—not her granddaughter Jaehaera (Lulu Barker and Pearl Clark)—can leave the city and disappear. She is last seen returning to King’s Landing after attempting to poison Aemond, and is bound to learn that Helaena has just died under Rhaenyra’s watch.
Alicent, in the books, is supposed to remain in the Red Keep until the end of the war, but with how the show has characterized her, that’s no longer a guarantee. It’s possible the show could instead have her learn about Helaena’s death and hide among the people of King’s Landing to find allies among Ormund’s assassins and stir up some riots. If she does go back to the Red Keep, then she’s going to have to be kept under constant guard, because realistically, any good will between her and Rhaenyra should be destroyed.
Where Are Aegon and Viserys?
After marrying Daemon, Rhaenyra had two sons with him: Aegon, nicknamed “The Younger” to distinguish him from his uncle, and Viserys, named after his grandfather. For some reason, the show aged them down compared to their book counterparts, making them toddlers instead of seven to ten years elderly. They were initially sent to the Vale of Arryn to be watched over by Rhaena, but she abandoned them as the boys were sent on a ship to Pentos, which, so far, was their last appearance.
Book Aegon and Viserys’ ship was intercepted by the Triarchy navy on their way to the Battle of the Gullet, with Viserys getting captured and sitting out the rest of the war, and Aegon barely escaping back to Dragonstone on his dragon, Stormcloud. Due to the show’s decision to age them down, the boys were absent from the battle, yet we still don’t know if they made it across the Narrow Sea or not. This is a really glaring issue because both boys play essential roles in the history of Westeros, yet they’re little more than an afterthought in the show.
House of the Dragon
- Release Date
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August 21, 2022
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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George R.R. Martin
- Directors
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Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel
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Fabien Frankel
Ser Criston Cole
