House of the Dragon killing off Sunfyre would majorly impact future events in a negative way

The second season of House of the Dragon is now behind us, setting up what's to come next in the war. I think I speak for most of the fandom when I say the finale was a bit underwhelming (okay, maybe very underwhelming) as the show introduced a ton of setup and then just left us hanging. We have a long list of questions going into the third season, especially since the show has changed a good amount from the source material, George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. One question that's been on fans' minds is the fate of Sunfyre, Aegon's dragon who was severely injured during the Battle at Rook's Rest. In the episode, Aegon says his dragon is dead.

But is he really? Those who have read the book know that Sunfyre can't die before a pivotal moment later on in the story, making this all very alarming. In the season 2 finale, Aegon plainly says to Larys that Sunfyre is dead. Surely that's just what he thinks, right? Did anyone see the dragon's dead body? At this point, we don't know, but we do know that a change like this would be a mistake. Let's get into why.

WARNING: Major spoilers for Fire & Blood are below

In Fire & Blood, Sunfyre is attacked during the Battle at Rook's Rest. With a torn wing, he remains there to heal. Aegon is also badly injured and taken back to King's Landing, just as we see in House of the Dragon. The dragon and dragonrider don't reunite until much later in the story when Sunfyre flies to Dragonstone where Aegon has been hiding. It's there that Aegon is able to get the upper hand against Rhaenyra, and Sunfyre ends up setting her on fire and eating her body. Yeah, it's pretty wild! See why we need Sunfyre to stay alive?

It's entirely possible that Aegon — and non-book readers — just think that Sunfyre is dead for dramatic effect. That way, when he shows up at Dragonstone, it'll be a major surprise. That said, it's worth noting that people know Sunfyre survived the Battle at Rook's Rest in the book. It's said that Criston's men make sure to feed him, so surely Aegon knows he didn't die. There's another big event for Sunfyre after this when he attacks Walys Mooton's army as they try to retake Rook's Rest for Rhaenyra. It's not until after this that Sunfyre goes into hiding.

The writers of House of the Dragon could be cooking up something entirely new for Rhaenyra's death, but at this point, I wouldn't entirely trust them with that. Some of the new storylines for the show throughout seasons 1 and 2 have been great, while other changes haven't worked at all. It'd be very risky to try to rewrite how Rhaenyra meets her fate, but I guess we have a while to see how that'll go down. Considering how much of a focus Rhaenyra is, I'd assume the writers will want to keep her around as long as they can.

As a book fan, it's tough not knowing all the answers ahead of the third season, but I'm crossing my fingers the show will deliver in its last two installments. Not only is House of the Dragon renewed for a third season, but showrunner Ryan Condal has confirmed the fourth will be their last.

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