Foreshadowing in House of the Dragon: The tragedy of Helaena Targaryen

Beware: SPOILERS for House of the Dragon and Fire & Blood follow below

“Hand turns loom; spool of green, spool of black; dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread.”

Viewers were once again treated to the haunting musings of Princess Helaena Targaryen in the latest episode of House of the Dragon, “Driftmark.” The only daughter of Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower seems to be writing these weekly articles for us at this point! Last week, Helaena talked about someone having to “lose an eye,” and lo and behold, her brother Aemond did just that after he claimed Vhagar the dragon for himself.

Here, her ramblings are again easy to interpret. She talks of green and black fabric. In George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, the “Greens” and the “Blacks” are the names given to the two competing factions of the Targaryen family competing for the Iron Throne. The Greens support Alicent Hightower — they get their name from the green dress she wore in Episode 5 — while the Blacks back Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra actually called Alicent’s faction “the Greens” at the end of the episode. That’s the first time we’ve heard it, but it won’t be the last.

Then there’s Helaena’s line about the “dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread.” This refers to Alicent, Rhaenyra and all the characters supporting them — the “dragons of flesh” — using their actual dragons to fight in the wars to come.

A difficult path ahead for Aegon Targaryen

While Helaena speaks to bugs (what is it with this girl and bugs?), her brothers Aegon and Aemond talk about her. Apparently Aegon is now betrothed to his sister, as happens in Fire & Blood. Because he’s a jerk, Aegon takes the opportunity to taunt his younger brother about not having a dragon, saying that while he and Helaena may not have much in common, at least they both like creatures with “long legs.” Here, Aegon is referring both to his own lechery and the fact that he and Helaena have dragons — Sunfyre and Dreamfyre respectively — while Aemond does not, although he will be the end of the episode.

It’s foreboding that Aegon mentions “legs.” Later in the story, probably in season 2, Aegon will suffer an injury in battle and have his legs crushed. The show foreshadows this when Helaena caps off her creepy monologuing by crushing a spider in her bare hands.

How House of the Dragon changed Helaena Targaryen from the book

Fire & Blood doesn’t draw Helaena Targaryen in any great detail, presenting her as happy and pleasant. Nowhere is it said that she talks to bugs or has premonitions; that’s an invention for the show.

But whatever her personality, her story ends in tragedy, although we probably won’t see the details for a couple of seasons. By introducing her character as an outsider amongst the other members of her family and highlighting the ways in which she is fragile, innocent, and potentially disturbed, the series sets us up for the troubled times ahead. It seems that Helaena is already aware of the fact that, even though she is innocent of any wrongdoing, she will suffer as a result of the war that tears the house of the dragon apart.

The younger characters have been a highlight these past couple episodes. The adults are using them for their own ends, but they are innocent children who just want to be with their families. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than Lucerys telling Corlys Velaryon he doesn’t want his inheritance because it means everyone else is dead. As you can expect, a lot of these kids will have it very rough by the time the story is over, and possibly only Helaena has an idea of what’s coming.

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