The first season of House of the Dragon brought us some very memorable scenes, including Alicent Hightower’s entrance into Rhaenyra’s wedding feast, a dying Viserys Targaryen making his way to the Iron Throne one last time, and the dragon battle in the season finale, where Aemond Targaryen and his dragon Vhagar killed his nephew Lucerys along with the much smaller dragon Arrax.
That’s the first of many dragon fights we’ll see during the upcoming Targaryen civil war. It’s hard to say which will be the most spectacular onscreen, but those who have read George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood are probably looking forward to one in particular: the Battle Above the Gods Eye. And Martin is right there with them. “Well yeah… the Battle Over the Gods Eye,” he said in response to a fan question about what Fire & Blood moment he was most looking forward to seeing on House of the Dragon. “Although that battle that they did in the season finale was pretty amazing, too.”
But what exactly is the Battle Above the Gods Eye? Beware SPOILERS below.
Daemon vs Aemond Targaryen in the Battle Above the Gods Eye
House of the Dragon has already teased some tension between Daemon Targaryen and his nephew Aemond Targaryen. The two had a brief standoff in Episode 8, “The Lord of the Tides.” Aemond even kind of looks like a young Daemon, with the long blonde hair and the devil-may-care attitude.
It probably won’t surprise people to learn that these two will eventually come to blows. Their final fight takes place over the Gods Eye, the largest lake in the Seven Kingdoms. Daemon rides Caraxes, Aemond rides Vhagar. Two men (and two dragons) enter. Who will leave?
This battle happens towards the end of the story. With season 1 just wrapped, we have a long time to wait.
George R.R. Martin would like to write more about Harwin Strong
Another fan asked if Martin had any characters he’d like to explore more. He’s pretty much down to write more about anybody from Fire & Blood, including one character who charmed House of the Dragon fans for the space of an episode before his untimely death:
"Rhaenyra’s relationship with Harwin Strong…she had three children by him, but we never see them get together for the first time or kiss. We never have a scene where they first slept together. We don’t know exactly what has happened and how he felt about that and how Laenor felt about him. There’s a whole story there. There’s at least a novella and maybe a novel, but we simply did not have the time to tell it. And it did not fit the format of my history book. But it’s a story and I would love to do that."
Of course, Martin has other writing commitments at the moment, so I wouldn’t count on seeing A Song of Harwin and Rhaenyra anytime soon:
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