In House of the Dragon season 1, we already witnessed the chaos that was caused by lies, half-truths, and manipulation. Aegon’s coronation was a large example, and with it the commencement of the Dance of the Dragons civil war. The web of lies spun by nearly every major character in the show's first season took House Targaryen and the realm closer to devastation.
It is interesting to watch how hidden secrets and concealed information deepened the deception even further in season 2. And with every betrayal exposed, more blood is spilled, and trust is broken. As the season brings in new key players, it unravels new secrets and lies. It all ties into the bigger picture, adding not only chaos but unpredictability and higher stakes for both the Blacks and Greens.
With betrayal and tensions at their peak within House Targaryen, the Blacks and Greens now fight for the Iron Throne not only with armies and dragons, but influence, manipulation, and secrets. Let’s dive into 9 such instances where lies and the trail of their consequences left behind only destruction.
1. Daemon denies involvement in Jaehaerys’ tragic murder
We were already familiar with Daemon Targaryen’s rogue tendencies and impulses from season 1, but the plot that led to young Prince Jaehaerys’s tragic beheading backfired horribly. It accomplished the opposite of what Daemon had set out to achieve. Instead of avenging Rhaenyra's son, Lucerys, it left a scar on her image and crippled her cause, at a critical stage when alliances and public sympathy were most needed.
After the Greens seized the throne and Aemond’s dragon, Vhagar, devoured Prince Lucerys, Rhaenyra was away from Dragonstone in her grief, seeking signs of closure. Meanwhile Daemon, consumed by fury, felt restrained by her absence and lack of orders. After returning, Rhaenyra uttered only the words, “bring me Aemond Targaryen." They became fuel for Dameon’s vengeance, and he set out to equal a son for a son. He then recruited a ratcatcher and an officer of the city watch, known as Blood and Cheese, to sneak into the Red Keep and bring him Aemond’s head. But when asked what to do if Aemond wasn't found, Daemon simply instructed them to take a son for a son, echoing his prior conversation with Princess Rhaenys.
Daemon’s miscalculated move twisted the mission into the brutal murder of an innocent child, leaving blood on Rhaenyra’s hands and tainting her image as a ‘kinslayer.' When confronted, Daemon dismissed responsibility, claiming he could not be held responsible for a mistake, which revealed his inability to face the magnitude of what his miscalculated actions had caused.
This incident marked Rhaenyra’s breaking point with Daemon, as she lost complete trust in him. Daemon’s haste and reckless moves left his wife to bear the consequences — loss of trust, weakened public support, and diminished bargaining power. Daemon’s lie that he had no hand in Jaehaerys’s death was simply his refusal to confront the tragic repercussions of his actions, prioritizing revenge over accountability. It proved Daemon's thirst for vengeance would always outweigh his love, loyalty, and sense of duty.
2. Helaena hides the truth of that tragic night
Helaena Targaryen’s decision not to reveal Alicent Hightower and Ser Criston Cole’s actions on the night of Prince Jaehaerys’s murder was more than hiding a secret affair. It was her way of accepting the painful reality and attempting to move past the tragic events of that night, to allow events to unfold naturally. That very night, she lost her son and her faith in those entrusted with his protection, right before her eyes.
By concealing the truth, Helaena was shielding herself from the pain of betrayal. Her silence was both self-protection and a quiet protest. She knew very well that, had Cole not abandoned his post that night, her son might have been protected and alive. Bitter in grief over the tragedy, she could have exposed them, possibly causing them grave trouble, and even incurring a death sentence for Cole, but she chose restraint. She didn't forgive them, but it also wasn't in her nature to be confrontational or to reveal secrets, unless they had a purpose to fulfill.
By saying nothing, Helaena condemned them more powerfully than any accusation could, which made guilt silently eat away at Alicent. Helaena, perhaps more than anyone, understood that fate had already chosen its course, and that war, betrayal, and death were inevitable. Her concealment preserved the timeline of history's flow, allowing events to unfold without interference, even as her silence deepened her isolation.
3. Aegon pretends to care about duty and ruling
Aegon never wanted the crown. He despised duty and only sought freedom and pleasure, away from the crushing responsibilities of royal life. He never thought he was worthy of the Iron Throne, nor did he wish to challenge Rhaenyra’s claim or expect King Viserys to name him heir. It was the Hightowers who pushed him to fulfill their own motives. And once crowned, Aegon tasted the intoxicating power of rulership and the adoration of a cheering crowd, which he embraced as a delusion of destiny.
Having tasted authority, Aegon began to believe that the dying Viserys had chosen him as heir and convinced himself that he was destined to rule. He played the role of a king, devoted to duty, pretending to understand politics and legacy, but found it hard to resist the urge to go back to his old ways of harmfully self-indulgent behavior. He secretly longed for the carefree life he'd lost. And the tragedy is that he sometimes did try to be a good king, seeking the validation and respect that came with his position.
This pretension had devastating consequences for Aegon as he quickly went from being a boy who loathed responsibilities, to being crowned the King, to merely becoming a pawn in the game of thrones. The more he tried to prove himself, the more he realized he was a pawn in his council's power games, manipulated by Otto, Alicent, Criston Cole, and even his brother Aemond. It slowly became impossible to ignore how powerless he truly was.
The lie to himself and pretense to care about the crown and its responsibilities kept him clinging to it, leading him straight into tragedy. Vulnerable and powerless, Aegon ultimately ended up burned by his own brother's dragonfire at Rook's Rest, nearly losing his life. He was stripped of his identity, broken, betrayed, disabled, and left alone to survive by himself (if not for Larys Strong), fleeing from Rhaenyra and Aemond.
And the worst part is, he never even wanted the throne or its power, yet his pretense to them shaped his fate catastrophically.
4. Corlys Velaryon’s secret sons of Hull
House of the Dragon season 2 reveals one of the biggest secrets kept from the realm, which is that Lord Corlys Velaryon fathered two illegitimate sons, Alyn and Addam of Hull; a secret that threatens both his and House Velaryon’s honor. And despite upholding the Velaryon honor publicly, the Sea Snake could not face the hypocrisy of his own actions.
This secret costs him both personally and politically. When Princess Rhaenys encounters Alyn and notices his undeniable resemblance to Corlys, she subtly confronts her husband, even suggesting Alyn could be a fitting heir to Driftmark. But Corlys refuses to acknowledge both his boys and the fact that Rhaenys already knew and had quietly made peace with it. His denial of the truth silently led Alyn to harbor resentment for years of neglect, and distanced him from Rhaenys.
Personally, this secret burdens Corlys with shame and casts a shadow over his legacy. With Driftmark left without a legitimate heir, the future of House Velaryon remains uncertain. By prioritizing image over truth, Corlys was unknowingly breaking trust between husband and wife, father and son.
Corlys’ lie might not spill blood, but its devastation lies in the quiet fracture of the very foundation of his honor. The legacy he spent a lifetime building now hangs by the fragile thread of his own denial of the truth.
5. Ser Criston Cole’s righteous delusion destroys the Greens
Few characters in House of the Dragon embody self-delusion as completely as Ser Criston Cole. In season 2, he becomes the very thing he once claimed to despise: corrupt, reckless, and dishonorable. Rising from a knight of modest birth to Hand of the King, Criston wields duty as both shield and weapon.
As an outsider who climbed to power within the Greens' council, Criston's false sense of righteousness spirals into recklessness, causing tremendous chaos within House Targaryen, especially for the Greens. He understands neither diplomacy nor dragon warfare nor leadership, yet finds himself Hand to the King, drafting battle plans and commanding armies. His delusion of duty leads to disaster after disaster — abandoning his post and indirectly causing Prince Jaehaerys’s death, manipulating Ser Arryk into a suicidal mission that tragically kills both Kingsguard twins, plotting a failed secret battle plan with Aemond that nearly kills Aegon, and parading Meleys’s severed head through King’s Landing.
Every failure was met not with consequences, but reward, which led him to become Hand to the King, reinforcing his belief that his instincts were sound strategy, a delusion that continued to fuel one disaster after another.
Under Criston’s so-called leadership, the Greens’ war efforts collapsed into chaos. In truth, he serves not the crown, but his wounded pride, trying to reclaim the honor he lost. Even after destruction mounts, he convinces himself there is no turning back, that forgiveness is beyond reach, and therefore redemption is no longer worth seeking. What makes it worse is his accepting “the war is for the dragons now,” after directly causing this very outcome, absolving himself of responsibility. In pretending to be righteous, he spiraled into a campaign of destruction, leaving blood on every side of the war.
6. The secret meetings between Rhaenyra and Alicent
Amidst the looming chaos of the war, season 2 gives us two secret meetings between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, which were some of the few quiet moments that could have potentially altered the trajectory of events leading to the conflict. Hidden from their councils, these encounters were more than personal; they were attempts to seek an alternate path and see a clear picture of a war that is clouded by betrayal and misunderstandings.
In the first meeting, Rhaenyra, despite pressure from her council to act with force, chose to confront Alicent in secrecy, one final time, seeking clarity and exhausting every possible avenue for peace. She confronted Alicent about her betrayal, crowning Aegon despite Viserys’s unwavering support for her. And in doing so, Rhaenyra uncovers the truth she had suspected all along: Viserys’s dying words were not about Aegon, but about the “Song of Ice and Fire,” a prophecy meant for Rhaenyra. The revelation shatters Alicent’s conviction, but pride keeps her from admitting fault as she accepts that war is inevitable regardless. For Rhaenyra, however, this meeting reinforces her belief in her cause, clarifying that the bloodshed she is about to unleash, though tragic, is for a just purpose.
The second meeting occurs at a crucial moment after both sides have witnessed the first horrors of dragon war at the Battle of Rook’s Rest. This time, Alicent approaches Rhaenyra in surrender, seeing to withdraw herself and Helaena from the conflict. Broken by loss, rejection, and weighed down by guilt, Alicent was hoping to somehow find a way to end the devastation that awaited ahead. But Rhaenyra, hardened by loss, knows there's no turning back, and that she cannot allow hesitation to stop her from winning her throne.
These secret encounters might not have a huge impact in preventing the war, but they were crucial for these women at the center of it to realign with their causes, carry the weight of their role, and make a final attempt at preventing Westeros and House Targaryen from the fatal destruction ahead.
These encounters by former friends, shaped by duty and loss, seem like they could lead to potential reconciliation in some form, but it's already too late. Too much blood has been spilled, and the choice to descend into fire and blood was already made, over and over, by numerous key players of the game. Both Rhaenyra's and Alicent’s hidden words to seek peace show how personal truths and reconciliations are powerless against the momentum of war.
7. Ser Criston Cole and Aemond's secret battle plan at Rook’s Rest
The Battle of Rook’s Rest was messy at the least. It stands as a devastating example of what happens when dragons go to war, and also summarizes what pride disguised as strategy looks like. Ser Criston Cole and Aemond Targaryen, driven by ambition and vengeance, devise a secret battle plan without informing their king, Aegon or the small council, or the men fighting beside them, including Ser Gwayne Hightower.
On paper, it seemed foolproof, but the presence of dragons made it disastrously fragile. Cole’s plan to ambush Rhaenyra’s forces might have succeeded if not for the chaotic, uncontrollable nature of dragonfire. The plan was for Aemond, hidden on Vhagar, to strike Rhaenys off-guard, but Aegon, uninvited and eager to prove himself, arrived on Sunfyre, disrupting the plan entirely. In the resulting chaos, Aemond unleashed Vhagar’s fire directly onto Aegon, Rhaenys and Meleys, nearly killing his own brother. Meanwhile, Cole collapsed unconscious before he could even lift a sword. So much for their secret plan that left their army leaderless and their king unprotected.
Though the Greens claim victory, they emerged hollow; the king is maimed, the remaining army is traumatized, public support falters with Meleys’s severed head being paraded, and with Aemond’s move to take down their king, the Greens lose their grip on their true cause, especially Alicent. This secret plan not only fails, but also destabilizes the Greens’ command, with heavy casualties.
Incomplete planning can undermine even the most confident strategies, proving how Cole and Aemond’s clever strategies are meaningless when dragons and Targaryens are involved in a war. The only realistic outcome is collective destruction.
8. Aemond denies intentionally burning Aegon, and the fallout
In one of House of the Dragon season 2’s most chilling confrontations, Helaena accuses Aemond of burning Aegon, to which he vehemently denies responsibility. Beneath his deflection lies calculated ambition and long-held resentment. Aemond has always believed himself to be more deserving and fitting for the throne, but when the opportunity presented itself for the first time outside the Grand Sept during the Green Council coup, he resisted it. At Rook’s Rest he saw another opportunity to eliminate his rivals, including Aegon.
The near-fatal burning of Aegon, while unplanned in some ways, reflects Aemond’s intricate mix of vengeance and desire for power. Now Prince Regent, Aemond holds the authority to dismiss Alicent from court and summon his grandfather Otto Hightower back. His calculated lies, concealed plans, and unchecked ambition reshape the Greens’ position in the war, sowing distrust amongst themselves and weakening their leadership before the real battle even begins. Aemond’s actions illustrate the dangerous consequences of power combined with resentment, tipping the balance of their council and the war.
9. The lie of blood: the myth that only Valyrian descendants can ride dragons
For centuries, the Targaryens have claimed that only those of Valyrian blood can ride dragons, a claim that became one of the primary foundations of their power and legitimizes their divine right to rule. Yet season 2 challenges this long-held belief. After Rhaenyra, desperate to strengthen her forces, sends word across King’s Landing inviting anyone with Targaryen blood to attempt to claim riderless dragons, she undermines centuries of tradition. The arrival of the dragonseeds, Addam of Hull, Ulf, and Hugh Hammer, mark a shift in the story’s narrative about dragon riders.
Addam of Hull being the illegitimate son of Lord Corlys Velaryon gives proof of his Velaryon blood. Hugh Hammar and Ulf claim to be Daemon and Viserys’ cousin and half-brother, respectively, but their parentage can’t be known for sure. However, they all successfully manage to bond with the dragons, shaking the foundation of the narrative of dragonriders. If either Ulf or Hugh were lying, and managed to claim dragons, that would imply that everything the Targaryens told themselves about the divine bond of dragon and rider being rooted in Valyrian blood collapses.
The consequences of Rhaenyra’s bold decision to call for more riders unknowingly opens the door to cast doubt on centuries old tradition. Even her dragonkeepers, the ancient guardians of the Dragonpit who spent their lives worshipping the Targaryens’ connection to dragons as sacred truth, disapprove of it. The revelation that any commoner or lowborn with drops of dragon blood could attempt and succeed at dragonriding directly allows for the claim of Rhaenyra’s heir, Prince Lucaerys Velaryon, to be questioned. Spiritually, it corrupts the very mythology that justified centuries of Targaryen dominance. With only noble Valyrian bloodlines as riders, the hierarchy was sealed, but now that order risks being shaken.
The other bigger risk with Rhaenyra’s decision to recruit dragonseeds is that she is allowing strangers access to the highest, most prestigious, and most consequential kind of power in the realm, without being sure of their loyalties or true intentions. A single rogue decision by any of the three riders could massively backfire and cost Rhaenyra valuable lives, or even the war.
Rhaenyra’s attempt was meant to strengthen her cause, but it directly weakens the myth that dragons recognize the purity of blood — and with it, Jacaerys’ ability to defend his claim. She allows for questions about dragons choosing their rider with no crown, no name, and no noble bloodline to be raised, leaving a terrifying truth that dragons are not proof of Targaryen superiority. Her bold choice shows the tension between desperation and tradition, revealing that the most sacred Targaryen truths are not absolute, and that the dragons themselves choose their rider, regardless of purity of blood.
House of the Dragon Season 2 exposes the heartbreaking truth behind the Dance of the Dragons — that it was never just a war for the Iron Throne, but a tragic collapse of family resulting from the repercussions of lies, deceptions, secrets, miscommunications, and betrayals. The descent to war was inevitable since the moment centuries-old tradition was broken by naming Rhaenyra heir; the lies, half-truths, and secrets only sped up the process. The tragedy of House Targaryen is that at the end of this civil war, no one truly wins; the house only collapses.
House of the Dragon season 3 is expected to in summer 2026. Until then, watch out for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, set to release on January 18, 2026, on HBO and HBO Max!