Warning: Major spoilers lie ahead.
Time flies when you're fighting a civil war! The season two finale for House of the Dragon is finally upon us, and the episode ended with multiple battle plans set into motion—something that will surely set us up for an action-packed season three.
To recap, much of season two followed Team Black and Team Green preparing to march into battle (although, technically, we only got one fully fleshed-out battle scene).
War raises the stakes for every party involved, leading to Rhaenyra's search for dragonseeds, Daemon's ghostly nightmares at Harrenhal, and Aemond's fiery attack against his own brother.
With Rhaenyra successfully recruiting Targaryen bastards as dragon riders for her army in episode seven, Aemond has resorted to desperate measures, burning down entire communities and demanding his younger sister fight with him. With three new dragons at her disposal, Rhaenyra's advantage seems unstoppable—but, as fans well know, nothing is ever that easy in Westeros.
Ahead, we answer all of your burning questions about the season two finale.
What plan does Alicent propose to Rhaenyra?
One of the most shocking moments in the season two finale occurs when Alicent secretly makes her way to Dragonstone to convene with Rhaenyra, a callback to Rhaenyra sneaking into King's Landing to meet Alicent in episode three. Desperate to stop further bloodshed and save Helaena's life, Alicent hatches a scheme that could allow Rhaenyra to successfully conquer King's Landing.
It's no secret that Alicent has been going through it in the past few episodes. Ever since her reunion with Rhaenyra in the Great Sept, the dowager queen has contended with feelings of remorse and culpability, feeling herself responsible for her sons' violent streaks and simultaneously hopeless against a warmongering council.
To Rhaenyra, she admits that she has spent much of their adult lives resenting her former friend for seemingly rejecting virtue and order, tenets that Alicent was raised to uphold. Now a widow living—for the first time—without the shadow of her father, Alicent realizes that she has never truly gotten to know what her own desires are. What she wants is an opportunity to live outside of fulfilling duty to the crown, and that's how she introduces an opening for Rhaenyra.
With Aemond planning to fly out to Harrenhal on Vhagar, King's Landing will be left virtually defenseless. Alicent tells Rhaenyra to fly to the city then, and she will make sure the guards will throw down their arms and have the gates to the city opened. The Iron Throne will be hers—without lives lost.
But, what of Aegon? Rhaenyra knows that taking her rightful inheritance inevitably means taking the heads of those who usurped her, and Alicent reluctantly recognizes that Aegon must die under Rhaenyra's hand.
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What happened in Daemon's vision at Harrenhal?
Daemon's spooky time at Harrenhal isn't over yet. Alys Rivers wakes the prince up in the middle of the night to take him to the Godswood, where she tells him that he is now ready to truly understand his fate. He places his hand against the sap running down the tree's bark and is immediately launched into a vision that straddles the present day and the future.
The vision includes some familiar faces—like a crown-clad Rhaenyra seated at the Iron Throne, or Helaena ominously speaking directly to her uncle. “It's all a story and you are but one part of it,” says Helaena, who herself possesses the power of foresight. “You know your part. You know what you must do.”
Besides including characters from House of the Dragon, the vision also features characters that haven't yet been introduced to this series. Brynden Rivers, a Targaryen bastard who eventually becomes the three-eyed raven in Game of Thrones, is the first figure to appear in Daemon's vision, sitting snarled among the roots of a weirwood tree. Next, Daemon sees a glimpse of the Night King, the leader of the white walkers and the presumable foe of the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy.
Most notably, Daemon foresees the coming of Daenerys, seeing her three dragon eggs burning in a fire pit and, later, her body emerging unscathed from the ashes of a fire, cradling three dragon hatchlings in her arms.
Overall, the vision rounds out Daemon's haunted Harrenhal plotline. While much of this season has focused on resurrecting ghosts from Daemon's past, the vision indicates that Daemon has now accepted his role as a player in a larger, immovable story arc at hand—one that will play out over the next century.
Where are Aegon and Larys going?
Larys may not be the most likable character in the Game of Thrones universe, but his sense of foresight cannot be denied. With Rhaenyra's dragon army growing and Aemond's rage escalating, the king's Master of Whisperers knows that Aegon's life won't be viable for much longer in King's Landing. Larys convinces Aegon that the two must flee the city together, using the wealth that Larys has secretly withdrawn out of Harrenhal's gold reserves and into the Iron Bank in Braavos over the years.
Aegon isn't necessarily thrilled with the idea of living with Larys in Braavos for an indefinite amount of time, but Larys knows how to appease to the king's ego. “Let your brother and the pretender destroy themselves in blood and bitterness,” he tells Aegon. By the time they return to Westeros, the people of the Seven Kingdoms will embrace his ascent to the Iron Throne, Larys says, declaring him, “Aegon the Victorious” or “Aegon the Peacemaker.” At this, the king chimes in with his own suggested moniker: “Aegon, the Realm's Delight.”
The two later escape in an inconspicuous horse-drawn carriage, sitting humbly amongst cargo birds.
Did Rhaena get a dragon?
After leaving the Eyrie, Rhaena pursued rumors of a dragon hunting nearby. She spends much of episode eight running through the wilderness on a presumably multi-day chase of the beast. In the final minutes of the episode, Rhaena at last comes face to face with the dragon—though we don't get to see if her attempt to bond with him is successful.
We can probably assume that the wild dragon is Sheepstealer, who was claimed by a bastard girl named Nettles in the Fire and Blood novel. However, fans have speculated that Nettles's storyline has been transferred to Rhaena, with the younger Targaryen sister often expressing her insecurity over not being a dragon rider this season. Time will tell if that theory is true.
Where is Otto Hightower?
Remember when Aemond told Larys to go fetch Otto back in episode six? The former Hand of the King has barely been mentioned since then, aside from Alicent worrying over his silence to her letters. As it turns out, we seem to finally know why Otto wasn't responding.
In the finale's closing scenes, we get a very short glimpse of Otto sitting in a cell. A light from outside the cell's bars awakes him, and he turns towards his approacher with an indecipherable expression on his face.
Who captured Otto—and why? The episode ends before we're able to get confirmation on where, exactly, Otto is, but there may be an easy explanation.
After Otto gets fired from his position as Hand in episode two, Alicent tells her father to go to Highgarden to rally support for Aegon with Tyrell's bannermen. In Fire and Blood, House Tyrell remained neutral during the civil war, but the vassals under them were divided into support for Team Green and Team Black. It's possible that, during his expedition to Highgarden, Otto may have been taken as a political prisoner by those that declared support for Rhaenyra. But, we'll have to wait until season three to see what officially happened to him.
As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.
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