The House of the Dragon season 3 finale brings the heat, leaving us on the edge of our seat for the majority of the runtime with surprises, deaths, and a big reunion. As Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) learns of Aegon Targaryen’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) return, all reason is out the window. She acts on pure emotion, leading to the highly-anticipated First Battle of Tumbleton, along with a few questionable choices such as having the High Septon killed.
Key players in the Dance of the Dragons, like Ormund Hightower (James Norton) and Roddy the Ruin (Tommy Flanagan), meet their fate, while wildcard Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) goes rogue and blasts fire onto both sides of the war. It’s a highly entertaining episode packed with not only tons of action but a long list of characters. However, there are a few important characters who don’t appear. Here are five of those noticeably absent, and where their storylines might go in season 4.
Larys Strong
Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) is Aegon’s travel companion for most of the season, but in the penultimate episode, he makes the difficult decision to depart when learning Mooton soldiers are close by. Larys knows he’s not able to fight, and because Aegon doesn’t ask him to stay, he leaves. It’s a sad moment as Larys loses his purpose, which had been protecting his king and getting him to safety. As such, Larys is nowhere to be found in the season 3 finale.
In Fire & Blood, Larys remains at King’s Landing after helping Aegon escape, so we’re unsure where his character will go from here on the show. With Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne, he’s likely not welcome back in the city, and Harrenhal surely isn’t the ideal place for him, either. Larys has a bigger storyline to come in King’s Landing in the book, however, so it’s entirely possible he will make his way back there in season 4.
On the other hand, maybe we could see him travel to Essos after all. He no longer has Aegon with him, but it could be time for Larys to start fresh. If that’s the case, we doubt he’ll have a big role in the fourth season, but maybe that’s for the best.
Tyland Lannister
Another companion of Aegon’s, Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) reemerges in season 3 after a near-death experience during the Battle of the Gullet, surprising Aegon and Larys at Rook’s Rest. Loyal to his king, he tries to convince Aegon to go with him to seek shelter in Lannisport, but of course, that doesn’t happen. The last we see Tyland, he’s beside Aegon as the usurper is reunited with Sunfyre and they take out a group of Mooton soldiers.
In the season 3 finale, Aegon arrives in Harrenhal to sort out his unfinished business with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) but Tyland doesn’t accompany him. Though he’s absent in the episode, we don’t anticipate his story ending here. In fact, he has a key part to play in Fire & Blood, so he might just get an exciting storyline in season 4.
Without giving away major book spoilers, Tyland remains close to the crown and takes on an important role for a future ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.
Rhaena Targaryen
Oh, Rhaena! You really got the short end of the stick this season, didn’t you? With the removal of the Fire & Blood character Nettles in House of the Dragon, the writers gave Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) parts of her storyline, and the last we see her, she’s back at King’s Landing after being caught by Rhaenyra as Sheepstealer’s rider.
Though her sister Baela (Bethany Antonia) appears briefly in the season 3 finale, Rhaena is nowhere to be found, but that’s not surprising. She needs time to recover from everything that’s happened since the Battle of the Gullet.
Considering Rhaena and book character Nettles have more or less been merged as characters, I’m particularly very interested to see where Rhaena’s storyline goes in season 4. This season pretty neatly tied up her Sheepstealer storyline, so the writers could now focus on her actual storyline from Fire & Blood.
Fans of Fire & Blood are particularly hopeful we’ll still get to see Rhaena’s dragon Morning in the future, and we think it could be possible for season 4.
Jeyne Arryn
Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin) plays a minor role in House of the Dragon season 3, but an impactful one. She’s supposed to be keeping watch over Rhaena in the Vale, but everything changes when she learns of what happens at the Battle of the Gullet. Jeyne’s final appearance this season comes when Daemon (Matt Smith) arrives at the Vale demanding answers on where his daughter is. Now that Rhaena is back at the Red Keep, is Jeyne’s storyline over?
No, we’ll most likely see more of Jeyne in the fourth season. Though her role might not grow in future episodes, she remains loyal to Rhaenyra in Fire & Blood and continues to lend support to her cause. We don’t expect that to change in the show.
Sabitha Frey
Lastly, as Sabitha Frey (Sarah Woodward) seemingly leaves King’s Landing in the penultimate episode of House of the Dragon season 3, she is noticeably absent in the finale. Though she doesn’t play a major role, where her storyline is going could get very interesting.
As a refresher, Sabitha joins Rhaenyra’s Small Council in exchange for losing Harrenhal, a not-exactly-fair tradeoff which somewhat works for the time being.
In season 3 episode 7, however, Rhaenyra tells Sabitha she can have Harrenhal, to which the noblewoman is clearly relieved about. We can assume she could be headed to the cursed castle after this, which should be interesting, considering… it’s now inhabited by Aemond, Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), and Aegon. Rhaenyra incorrectly assumes Alicent (Olivia Cooke) will be successful in killing Aemond, meaning she believes Harrenhal will be empty for the taking. Of course, that’s not the case.
This storyline is not from Fire & Blood, so I’m definitely curious to see where Sabitha goes next in House of the Dragon. If she ends up at Harrenhal while certain Targaryens are still there, she could be in trouble. But, as Aegon is adamant on leaving as soon as possible, she might be in the clear. In the book, Sabitha is involved in the Second Battle of Tumbleton, but we don’t see that happening in the show.
House of the Dragon season 3 certainly concludes on a high note. How can we possibly wait two years for the next installment?! Keep up with us at Winter Is Coming as we cover all things news and opinions in Westeros.
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