The latest season of House of the Dragon is winding down, with the finale arriving on Sunday, Aug. 9. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not really feeling Team Black anymore. I think I'm going all-in on Team Green.
That’s not to say I’m still not a Rhaenyra stan. I still love her character and do believe that she deserves a certain amount of respect. I’ve been supporting her for two seasons now because we support women’s rights and women’s wrongs over here.
But all jokes aside, these last few episodes have really shifted my perspective a little. And I must admit, there are a lot of things that are leading me much closer to supporting Team Green in the upcoming finale versus Team Black. And here’s why.
I genuinely like Aegon’s attitude
Was I the biggest supporter of Aegon at first? No. In fact, I honestly still don’t like him as a person because he has done horrible things and he says things that sometimes annoy me so dang bad that I want to throw my phone at my television screen.
But I think at this point, the issue is that I kind of like that a little.
Rhaenyra has lost a lot throughout this war: her children and her supporters, but honestly, Aegon has as well. Yes, this story mainly focuses on Rhaenyra’s story, but it shows how many parallels there are between the two of them. And in season 3, episode 7, we see Aegon really at his lowest.
He believes his dragon to be dead. He is willing to put everything on the line and sacrifice his life because he believes there is no way he can win this. He is ready for it all to end until — miraculously — Sunfyre has essentially risen from the dead (or is just really deformed now) and burns all his enemies to the ground. It's such a freaking cool scene.
His maniacal laughter at the end of that moment as Sunfyre burns everything down actually kind of hit with me, because it’s at that point I realized he is all in. It’s this or death, and truthfully, that kind of devotion makes me rethink things. His return could change everything, but that’s not the only reason.
Rhaenyra is starting to shift into a darker side
For anyone who has read Fire & Blood, you know how this story ends. Because I don’t want to spoil the best parts of George R.R. Martin’s book, I won’t say anything. Even so, there is a clear darker shift going on with Rhaenyra from the moment we saw her take the throne.
It’s not all based on nothing, because trust me, after everything she has lost, I get it. I’m not some heartless fool who will shift her alliances because someone is grieving a certain way. We all experience the emotion differently, and sometimes, that is taken out as rage or vengeance or whatever the case may be.
I started to draw a very faint line when Rhaenyra confronted Helaena in her bed.
For the most part, Helaena is completely innocent in all of this. She is the victim of both her mother’s ambitions and problems and her half-sister’s attempts for the throne. And Helaena’s dreams are something she cannot control. So when Rhaenyra was basically yelling and gripping her, begging her to tell her that she was the one meant to rule, that got to me.
And it started making me realize a lot about Rhaenyra. I don’t think she’s going to get out of this.
I don’t mean that she’s going to go all “Mad Queen” on us. I don’t think she’ll burn down all of King’s Landing. But I think the deaths of her sons, as well as those who would go against her, will affect her far more than we believe they will. Due to that, it’s going to cause some major issues.
I really hope the writers explore that side a little more instead of just throwing it all at her grief and everything else. But then again, who knows with the world of Game of Thrones? Anything goes, and there have been plenty of changes in the series thus far that make me think they might go in a different direction. Only time will tell.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not Alicent’s biggest fan, nor Aemond's, but Aegon? He might be winning me over.
You can watch all seven episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 on HBO Max now.
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