Did King Aegon die in the new episode of House of the Dragon?

The latest episode of House of the Dragon climaxes with a spectacular battle at the castle of Rook's Rest. Criston Cole leads an army of Greens to the minor castle just a puddle jump away from Dragonstone, where Queen Rhaenyra has set up her war council. Rhaenyra dispatches Rhaenys Targaryen, who rides the dragon Meleys, to deal with the army...but Rhaenys is flying into a trap. Criston Cole was trying to lure out one of Rhaenyra's dragonriders, and he has one of his own in reserve: Aemond Targaryen, who's flying on Vhagar, the biggest and oldest dragon alive.

But Crison and Aemond are both surprised when King Aegon, who's contesting Rhaenyra for the Iron Throne, flies in on his dragon Sunfyre. Aegon has been feeling under-appreciated, so he got drunk and decided to take out Sunfyre for a joyride right into the middle of a war. He's determined to prove that he's just as fearsome a warrior as his one-eyed brother.

Unfortunately, he's wrong. Aegon is inexperienced and drunk, and he and Sunfyre are no match for Rhaenys and Meleys. Things get even more dangerous when Aemond and Vhagar join the battle. Eventually, Sunfyre crashes into the forest floor, and Aegon falls with him.

The last image of the episode is Criston Cole coming upon Sunfyre and Aegon in the forest. Sunfyre is alive — we can see him moving — but Aegon lies still. Is the king dead or merely knocked unconscious?

Unless House of the Dragon breaks from the source material, King Aegon is still alive

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. The Battle of Rook's Rest plays out onscreen more or less exactly as it does in the book; the only big difference is that, on the page, Aegon was always supposed to be at the battle, whereas onscreen he's there because of a last-minute impulsive decision on his part.

Still, the broad strokes are the same. Aegon and Sunfyre go down and the Greens win the battle. In the book, Aegon survives the fall, although he's badly injured and never fully recovers. All the same, he has a lot of story ahead of him. He's responsible for a couple more big plot twists and even gets involved in another dragon-vs-dragon fight down the line.

House of the Dragon has changed things about the book before. King Aegon's son Maelor has been cut from the story, for example. Rhaenyra's husband Laenor Velaryon died on the page but survived onscreen (for a while, at least). The show has also added in some big events, like the bit where Rhaenys and Meleys interrupt King Aegon's coronation near the end of the first season, or Rhaenyra and Alicent's clandestine summit meeting last week.

So while the show is willing to alter the book here and there, I don't think they would kill a major character like Aegon when there's still so much left for him to do. Unless the show swerves in a very unexpected way, I think King Aegon will survive the Battle of Rook's Rest and live to drink...er, fight...another day.

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