5 moments from Fire & Blood we can’t wait to see in House of the Dragon

2. The war begins at Storm’s End

Game of Thrones introduced us to a lot of Westerosi families and locales, but there are a lot it didn’t touch. House of the Dragon can take us to some new places. While the Dance involves familiar families like the Tullys, Lannisters and Starks, people like the Hightowers and Velaryons are also major players, with their own home bases that could become as iconic as Winterfell or Casterly Rock.

The first fight of the war happens at Storm’s End, the ancestral home of House Baratheon, which we didn’t see much of on the original show. Aemond Targaryen (or Aemond one-eyed), Alicent’s second eldest son by King Viserys, is sent there on a diplomatic mission to win House Baratheon to side of the Greens. After securing his allegiance, Rhaenyra’s second eldest son, Lucerys, arrives for the exact same purpose. What follows is an intense stand-off between the two young men, both of whom already hate each other. Before this moment, the war has been fought with promises, letters and words. But both of these men have dragons, and even though Lucerys promised his mother there would be no bloodshed, things are about to escalate.

Lucerys’ dragon, Arrax, is relatively small and young. Aemond, who is of a cruel disposition, rides Vhagar, the world’s largest and oldest dragon at the time. The two fight above Storm’s End amidst a raging thunderstorm, and Lucerys becomes the first casualty of the war.

This event underscores the tragedy of the entire war. It’s Targaryen killing Targaryen, dragon killing dragon until all of them are almost wiped out. The Dance of the Dragons marks the beginning of the end for House Targaryen, and if was avoided, Westerosi history may have been very different. Hopefully we’ll get a sense of that tragedy when this mind-blowing battle plays out on screen.