by House of the Dragon was released two years ago. It has returned with season 2 breaking records being the largest series premiere in HBO History with over 7.8 million viewers due to high ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes from season 1. After what felt like a long hiatus, most viewers have forgotten important details from season 1. In this article, we will discuss them to refresh our memories and better understand upcoming episodes.
1. Viserys didn’t save Aemma.
After losing three babies and going through two miscarriages, Aemma tells Viserys this is her last try. Desperate for a male heir and the continuation of Targaeryen’s Legacy, probably this is why Viserys decided to put baby Baelon’s life before his wife’s.
2. Viserys cuts himself on the Iron Throne when he exiles Daemon.
In the myth of the Song of Ice and Fire, the Iron Throne rejects rulers who it considers to be unfit. Interestingly, as soon as Viserys starts lacking authority and presence, Daemon and Otto Hightower undermine his decisions. He becomes softer than usual and, blinded by grief, he seems lost and easy to manipulate. Could it be possible that the Iron Throne sees that too?
3. Rhaenys reminds Rhaenyra there has never been a Queen of the Seven Kingdoms before.
When Rhaenys approaches Rhaenyra and says that, Rhaenyra seems to get irritated. As if she intended to provoke or challenge her. However, I believe Rhaenys does that out of care for her. Maybe she was trying to save her from any disappointment like the one she felt when Viserys got crowned instead of her.
4. On a vulnerable state, Alice and Viserys are manipulated by Otto Hightower.
Otto loves to pretend he’s an honorable man who only cares about the good of the realm. However, wishing his descendants to sit on the Iron Throne reveals something deeper. He knows if his grandchild sits on the throne, he could be the ghost behind the realm’s future. He believes he can manipulate both Alicent and his grandchildren to do what he wants. Even though he wouldn’t be the face of decisions around the Seven Kingdoms, he would be the man behind them.
5. Rhaenyra sees the White Hart.
In the books, Sansa Stark says White Harts are believed to be magic and a good omen. In House of the Dragon S1E3, the lords say there is a white hart roaming around and Otto says it is a sign from the gods showing their favor for Aegon. Nonetheless, Rhaenyra was the only one who saw the white stag, which suggests Viserys’ choice to name his daughter the rightful heir was not a mistake, but rather a wise decision.
6. Daemon took Rhaenyra to a Brothel.
Despite Daemon’s perverted tendencies, I believe he took Rhaenyra to the brothel to show her what sex also means for both men and women. I think he tried to prove how pleasure is real and attainable and how she could find a way of getting that for herself instead of only devoting her life to providing heirs, as opposed to her mother’s sayings about women’s battlefield being giving birth.
Later, Daemon started seducing Rhaenyra and tried sleeping with her but stopped right before that. I think there had always been an understanding and sexual tension between them, but Daemon only saw his seduction as a test of how much control he could have over her. I think therefore he stopped and left her there because he finally realized she was also interested in seducing him. That reveals he has no control over her, but rather she has allowed him to get close because she wants to.
7. Rheanyra and Sir Criston Cole sleep together and Alicent gets upset.
Alicent is very conservative and religious, therefore she dislikes the fact that she believed Rhaenyra when she said she was still a virgin. She is also resentful that her father got fired after telling the truth about Rhaenyra and she didn’t believe him either. I believe she is also jealous because she is a young miserable woman who has lost her life to providing heirs to an ill senior king.
8. Daemon and Rhaenyra plot to kill Laenor.
Shortly after Daemon offers gold to Laenor’s lover to kill him, we see Laenor and him escaping on a small boat while Corlys and Rhaenys find a burnt corpse that appears to be Laenor. The question is: did Laenor escape a fatal murder or did he plan that with Rhaenyra and Daemon all along? This way, Laenor could enjoy his life with Sir Qarl, and Rhaenyra and Daemon could get married and fight the Battle of the Dragons together, giving the illusion that Rhaenyra is also capable of heinous acts and install fear amongst her enemies.
9. Daemon kills Vaemar Velaryon at court. for calling Rhaenyra a whore with bastards.
10. Rhaenys confronts Alicent after getting trapped in the castle.
Alicent asks Rhaenys to acknowledge Aegon as king and Rhaenys says: “You toill still in service to men. Your father’s, your husband’s, your son’s. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you ever imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?”. Alicent is not truly in control but rather the men around her who have used her, yet where will she stand once she’s no longer needed as a medium? When will Alicent make choices for herself instead of trying to prove herself through the eyes of others?
11. Rhaenyra miscarriages after she’s told Aegon is usurping the throne.
This is Rhaenyra’s first tumultuous birth. She pulls away from the midwives to pull the baby out by herself while we’re shown scenes of Syrax suffering as well. This tells three things:
1. The connection between birth being women’s battlefield and The Battle of the Dragons begins. Aegon usurping the throne and Viserys’s death cause great stress on Rhaenyra causing her to miscarry her only daughter, Visenya. While Daemon plans war downstairs, Rhaenyra begins to fight a horrible and violent battle.
2. The deeply rooted connection between dragons and their riders. Syrax can feel Rhaenyra’s pain. In detail, Visenyas’s skin has scales showing how children in the womb are dragon-like because of Valyrian magic used to mix Valyrian blood with the dragons to connect with them and ride them. Hence, dragons see Valyrian blood as their own and will defend it.
3. Rhaenyra pulls Visenya out by herself, distancing from the midwives before anyone decides to save the baby’s life over hers, just like Viserys did with Aemma. This shows Rhaenyra’s compromise to her responsibility as heir to the throne, especially knowing Aegon and the Hightowers are not fit to be rulers.
12. Vhagar ate Lucerys and Arrax
After running into each other at Storm’s End, Aemond and Lucerys argue over Lord Borros Baratheon’s support for their respective rulers. When they leave on their dragons, Aemon hassles Lucerys wanting revenge for his lost eye. In the end, Vhagar gets angrier than Daemon and Daemon loses control over her, yelling a shocked “No!” after Vhagar ate Lucerys and Arrax.
