House of the Dragon: 5 scenes we’re still thinking about from season 1
By Daniel Roman
5. Storm’s End and Rhaenyra Targaryen putting on her war face
We end where House of the Dragon season 1 ended: with the tragedy at Storm’s End. After learning of the greens’ coup, Rhaenyra dispatches her sons Jacaerys and Lucerys on their young dragons to make alliances in her name. Being the older of the pair, Jace takes the more dangerous journey to the North, where he’ll parley with the leaders of the Vale and Winterfell.
Younger brother Lucerys is given the seemingly easier task of going to Storm’s End to remind Lord Borros Baratheon of his oath to Rhaenyra. Except that when Luke arrives, he finds his uncle Aemond already there. Aemond has long harbored a grudge against Luke for slicing out his eye when they were children, and we see that simmering hatred boil over when Aemond takes to the sky on Vhagar to chase down Luke and his fledgeling dragon Arrax.
The chase through the storm is one of the best dragon moments so far; Vhagar is terrifyingly enormous, especially when she swoops out of darkened clouds to snap at Arrax.
It all goes tragically wrong when Arrax tries to fight back, breathing fire on Vhagar’s face. In a moment of rage, the old dragon disobeys her rider Aemond and chomps Arrax — and Lucerys — to bits. Despite any animosity Aemond harbored for his nephew, it’s clear from his final reaction that he didn’t intend to kill him in this moment. But whatever his intentions, he drew first blood in the war.
Yet as epic and memorable as the dragon chase above Storm’s End is, the part of this sequence that has most emblazoned itself in my memory is the final scene, where we watch as Rhaenyra Targaryen receives news of her son’s death. Season 1 ends with Rhaenyra turning slowly toward the camera, her face transforming into a grim mask of determination to mete out retribution on those who have wronged her and harmed her family.
If only those people weren’t also her family. There are a lot of tragic events ahead in the story of the Dance of the Dragons, and Rhaenyra’s final glare is a promise that we’ll see them. This is only the beginning of the larger conflict, and the question of what Rhaenyra will do next looms large.
We’ll find out when House of the Dragon season 2 premieres on HBO, most likely sometime in 2024!
Next. 5 things from the Game of Thrones books we wish were in the show. dark
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