The official X account for HBO's Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon has posted a new tagline for the series: "Nothing burns like betrayal."
By itself, this doesn't tell us much...but we're obsessed with all things Westeros here, so you can bet we're willing to read into it anyway. When I think of betrayals on House of the Dragon, the first thing that comes to mind is Alicent Hightower crossing the aisle to work with Rhaenyra Targaryen in the season 2 finale. Alicent and Rhaenyra are supposed to be on opposite sides of a war, but in the finale Alicent offers to help Rhaenyra take the Iron Throne in King's Landing; she even agrees to let Rhaenyra kill her own son Aegon, the current king, in order to establish her rule. Betrayals don't come much more straightforward than that.
That said, the show seemed to depict Alicent's actions as less of a betrayal and more of a bitterly heroic sacrifice, which is in keeping with its attempt to frame this story as being mainly about Rhaenyra and Alicent, rather than about a Game of Thrones-esque ensemble where there's no clear main character. The whole Alicent-works-with-Rhaenyra plotline is one of several wholly invented for the show. It greatly surprised fans of the source material: the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. If I'm being cynical, I could say that the tagline refers to fans who expected a somewhat faithful adaptation of the book and who now feel betrayed, but let's not get too sidetracked.
Beware potential SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 3 below!
It's notable that the tagline is being changed right as the show is gearing up to film its third season; the cameras will likely start rolling in March. Looking forward to that season, there are a couple of betrayals the tagline could be rerferring to.
In season 2, we met the dragonseeds, Targaryen bastards living as peasants who were called upon to mount and ride dragons in service to Queen Rhaenyra. Without spoiling too much, in Fire & Blood, two of those new dragon-riders, Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White, will betray Rhaenyra, although it's hard to know if it'll happen in this upcoming season, or even at all, given how far afield the show has wandered from the book.
We'll find out when the third season of House of the Dragon airs on HBO and Max, likely in 2026. Are there any betrayals that come to your mind when you see this tagling?
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