In the season 1 finale of House of the Dragon, Aemond Targaryen lost control of his massive dragon Vhagar, which chomped his nephew Lucerys Velaryon to bits. True, there was bad blood between uncle and nephew — Luke had dashed out Aemond's eye when the two of them were kids — but Aemond hadn't really met to kill his nephew when he chased him into the sky on his dragon...but it was soon out of his hands.
"This idea that these dragons and their riders are extensions of each other, I wonder sometimes if Vhagar, in the skies above Storm's End last season, tapped into Aemond and Lucerys' shared history and that resentment," Mitchell mused to TV Guide. "He did forgive Luke for taking his eye out, but he didn't forgive the fact that he got away with it. Maybe that hatred was embedded deep down and Vhagar tapped into it in some way, shape, or form."
But on the latest episode, "The Red Dragon and the Gold," Aemond was much more in control of himself and his dragon. He met his second cousin Rhaenys Targaryen in the air above the castle of Rook's Rest, and killed both her and her dragon Meleys. "t was purely intentional, what he did this time."
Does he feel any guilt over killing yet another relative? "If he feels any sort of regret, it’s certainly something that he will never show, he’ll get hidden behind that hardened facade that Aemond possesses," Mitchell told TheWrap. "That’s one of the beautiful aspects of playing in the character, you never truly know what Aemond is thinking in any given time. He could be looking at someone thinking about how he wants to cook them a meal and take them on a date, or he could be looking at them, thinking about how he wants to make them the meal and take Vhagar on a date. you do know that he is thinking. He’s not just this mindless sociopath — the cogs are turning behind his eye. There’s a very, very dangerous calculative quality to Aemond and picks his moments."
Was Aemond trying to kill his brother Aegon on purpose?
Ultimately, Rhaenys was a seasons warrior on the opposite side of a war Aemond is fighting on behalf of his brother Aegon, who was also at the Battle on Rook's Rest on his dragon Sunfyre. Related or not, maybe it's too much to expect Aemond to regret killing an enemy combatent.
But Aemond also tried to kill Aegon, his own brother, or at least that's what it looked like. When Aegon showed up at the battle unexpected, Aemond didn't immediately join in, possibly hoping that Aegon and Rhaenys would take each other out. Then, when Aemond did join the fray, he had Vhagar spray fire at Aegon and Rhaenys alike, not seeming to care that he could roast his own brother alive.
So was Aemond trying to kill Aegon? Mitchell prefers to keep it "ambiguous." Either way, things are going to awkward around the family dinner table from now on. “I think he recognizes, going forward, that he’s changed things forever between him and his brother — There’s no going back,” Mitchell said. “It’s such an interesting turning point for those characters.”
Aemond does have reason to want his brother dead. For one thing, Aegon is the king, and if he dies, Aemond would be next in line to inherit the Iron Throne. " still believes his brother is inferior to rule," Mitchell said. "Aegon was squandering his inheritance whilst he was in some sleazy corner in Flea Bottom, whilst Aemond was in the Red Keep yard training with Criston Cole. Day in and day out, he was studying with the masters; he was very much manufacturing himself into this weapon. Although Aemond is the second son, he still very much believes that he should be treated as the first."
For another, Aegon viciously mocked Aemond in the previous episode, where the king caught his brother naked and vulnerable in bed with the same prostitute who'd deflowered him years ago. Aemond brushed it off like it was no big deal, but he had to have been hurt. In fact, Aegon has been bullying Aemond since childhood. What better revenge than attempted fratricide? "hat’s something that Aemond forgives, but he does not forget," Mitchell said. "hat’s probably always in the back of his mind as well."
Finally, at the end of episode, Criston Cole sees Aemond with his sword drawn near Aegon's charred body. Was Aemond planning to finish off his brother after Aegon crashed-landed on the ground with his dragon Sunfyre? "I think it’s ambiguous — that’s what I love," Mitchell said. "If I give all the answers, people will stop asking the questions. I like that debate, I like the theories that the fans strike up.
Why does Aemond do what he does? It all comes back to mother
It's all very sad, because under different circumstances, these brothers could be there for each other. But their family dynamic is beyond broken. "Aemond and Aegon growing up shared a world of hurt, because they were the half of the family that weren’t seen to succeed the kingdom, so Aegon and Aemond were kind of pushed aside, they were neglected by Viserys," Mitchell explained. They never experienced that unconditional love from either Viserys or Alicent, so maybe they don’t know how to show it as well, certainly Aemond doesn’t necessarily know how to show it."
"I always liken Aegon and Aemond as Fredo Corleone and Michael Corleone [from The Godfather] respectively, because Fredo should have looked out for Michael, the same way that Aegon should have looked out for Aemond, but instead, Aegon went behind Aemond’s back and conspired against Aemond with the help of his nephews. Aemond does feel a hate to his enemies, but when it’s your own brother that goes behind your back and backstabbed you, that hatred is even deeper than someone who’s supposed to protect you and supposed to look out for you."
There's one family member Aemond remembers standing up for him: his mother Alicent, who demanded that Luke be severely punished after he slashed out Aemond's eye when they were kids. Alicent even tried to do the deed herself and got into a monster fight with Luke's mother Rhaenyra. Mitchell thinks that loyalty drives Aemond...although in typical Aemond fashion, things get weird fast.
"Every time I shared a scene with Olivia Cooke around the council table, every time I looked at Alicent Hightower, I very much imagined Aemond and Alicent sitting on a Dornish beach, far from war, sipping on pina coladas," Mitchell told The Hollywood Reporter. "Aemond having become the war hero and managing to make his mum happy, in his eye, so to speak. Whether or not that’s Alicent’s version of happiness is another thing. But that’s how Aemond sees it. So I think that’s one of his is driving motivations."
"Also, what Alicent does in episode seven of season one, that’s something that Aemond doesn’t forget. When they’re all arguing about where Aemond had heard this illegitimate [child of Harwin] Strong [rumor] from, Alicent went back to the idea that this kid had been physically damaged and changed for life. She was the only voice that was backing him up in that moment."
I'd never even considered that Aemond might look at his mother in...that way. We also know that he didn't spend time in the brothel having sex with the prostitute Sylvi, but rather curled up in her lap in the fetal position. He seemed to be looking for comfort, not sex. "I don’t know if he has mummy issues so much as he just wanted to be loved by his mum a little bit more," Mitchell said. "Kids kind of need that, that unconditional love to develop a balanced view of themselves. Aemond never received it. He had to find it elsewhere. He found it in Vhagar, this older she-dragon, which I think is quite a nice parallel. He found it in Madame Sylvi, another surrogate. And because he never really was shown love growing up, he doesn’t really know how to express it himself."
What happens next? "It's gonna be good"
The episode left ambiguous whether King Aegon lives or dies, although if you've read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood you probably have a decent idea. "I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone," Mitchell said. "But going into episode five, you are going to see the fallout of Rook’s Rest, which I can’t wait for people to see. It’s a massive blow for Team Black. The line in the sand has been drawn and Aemond just crossed that line. And there’s no going back. I’m sure there will be retaliation."
As for what happens with Aemond himself, Mitchell would only say this: "I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s gonna be good."
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
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