House of the Dragon is taking its greatest villain in the wrong direction. House of the Dragon excels at creating complex characters with very few who could be called heroic and many who are deeply flawed. However, there is one character who has long stood out as the villain of the show. Aemond Targaryen is a chilling and fascinating character who has become the most intimidating figure in the Greens’ army.
With Ewan Mitchell’s performance at the center, Aemond quickly became a standout character in the series. House of the Dragon season 3 solidifies his power as the Targaryen civil war rages on. However, one troubling aspect of the character suggests the show is losing touch with what made him such a good finale early on and is taking him in a less interesting direction.
Aemond’s complexity was an asset early on
From Joffrey Baratheon to Ramsay Bolton, there have been many Game of Thrones villains who have been cruel for the sake of it. This can make them terrifying enemies and the kind of villains the audience loves to hate, but it is much more effective to see a villain with depth that we can understand. This was Aemond early on.
The show cemented Aemond as a tormented and bullied young man who sought out love but also wanted to maintain an intimidating persona. It made him more and more hateful as he got older, but that vulnerability remained such an essential part of the character. His cruelest moments seemed to stem from the mistreatment and sadness he felt for most of his life.
Aemond was also intimidating thanks to his calculating nature. When he was a young boy, he lost his eye in a fight with his cousin, Lucerys. However, he doesn’t seek punishment for Lucerys, reasoning that being able to claim Vhagar was worth losing his eye. It is a chilling moment that shows how emotionless Aemond can be when he has a goal in his mind.
Much like Tywin Lannister, he felt like a villain who was willing to make the cold-blooded decisions that brought him closer to victory. Even nearly killing his brother, Aegon II, seemed only partially motivated by his long-held hate for him, with it also being a shrewd strategy to place him in the position of power.
When Aemond kills Lucerys while riding Vhagar in House of the Dragon season 1, it feels like an action he deeply regrets. He let his emotions get out of control, and it led to a result that kick-started the bloody war. It felt like a defining moment of Aemond realizing that such emotion needs to be controlled.
Aemond is becoming a more boring “evil” villain
House of the Dragon season 3 continues to establish Aemond as a true threat to the Blacks. They have actively avoided a battle with him out of fear of facing him and Vhagar. However, along with that intimidation factor, the show is also trying to make him scarier simply by making him more evil.
The balance between Aemond being a damaged young man and a killer with dangerous ambitions is gradually being replaced with a much less nuanced approach. Leaning more into Ramsay Bolton’s character, Aemond lashes out at his enemies and makes emotional choices that would have seemed out of character for him earlier in the series.
Aemond is the foil for Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon, leading to their inevitable face-off. However, while Aemond once seemed like the more level-headed of the two, he now feels too close to Daemon, mirroring his recklessness and his wounded ego. It makes their collision course less interesting as they become more similar.
The show seems to be making Aemond into the kind of villain who feels like he could kill anyone at any time. It adds tension to scenes but has also taken away a lot of Aemond’s menace. His emotional reactions have made him appear weaker as an enemy, being more easily manipulated and losing that calculating mind.
Villains like this are fun, but they can also feel dull over time. Aemond runs the risk of becoming another cartoonish evil villain rather than going down as one of the most complex and interesting villains in the Game of Thrones universe.
There’s still time to correct Aemond’s character
While House of the Dragon season 3 has been worrying for Aemond’s characterization so far, episode 2 has presented an opportunity to course-correct before things stray too far. The latest episode saw Aemond arriving at Harrenhal, and in his typical recent fashion, he proceeds to slaughter everyone in sight. However, his recklessness leads to him being wounded, and the last we see of him, he is at Alysanne Blackwood’s feet begging her for help.
This is the most vulnerable we’ve seen Aemond in quite some time and immediately reminds us that there is a human under this evil caricature. It can be assumed that Alysanne will nurse Aemond back to health, giving him more opportunity to embrace the compassion he had longed for as a child.
Alysanne also has reason to be angry with Daemon, as he denied her Harrenhal despite having helped him. Perhaps Alysanne will seek a similar deal with Aemond and help him understand that he can’t be as reckless as Daemon if he wants to defeat him.
Aemond remains one of the best characters in House of the Dragon, and Mitchell’s performance only makes it better. If the show remembers what made him so great to begin with, we’re sure to see a return to form for the character as the show draws closer to its end.
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