House of the Dragon season 3 has made a lot of the enmity between Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) and King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). The show depicted the two brothers with as much duplicity and resentment as possible given the accounts in George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. Showrunner Ryan Condal recently hinted that this feud is going somewhere. In an interview with The L.A. Times this week, Condal said that it's "a fairly safe bet" we'll see Aemond and Aegon confront each other once again before the series is over. In a show with this many magical dreams and visions, this reunion could take a lot of different forms.
"In the great tradition of Game of Thrones, I feel like that is a fairly safe bet," Condal said when asked about these two warring brothers. "Characters are scattered all over the map and then slowly find themselves being brought back together, but in different forms. That was always something we were talking about doing with Aemond and Aegon."
In the show's version of events, Aemond and Aegon have always been at odds due to childhood bullying and jealousy. However, Aemond took things even further in season 2 when he used the Battle at Rook's Rest as an excuse to attack his brother with dragonfire. The conflagration left Aegon badly burned, and Aemond threatened him to keep the truth a secret. However, now that Aegon has healed enough to travel and gained some perspective, he is dead set on taking revenge against his brother. Meanwhile, Aemond is fixated on his brother as he languishes in Harrenhal.
SPOILERS ahead for George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood.
How Aegon and Aemond might reunite on the show
For those who have read Fire & Blood, Condal's commentary here might come as a surprise. Martin's fictional history book gives us no indication that Aemond and Aegon ever saw each other again after the Fall of King's Landing, which would make this a bit of a change for the TV show. Of course, Aemond is very mobile and very elusive at this point in the story, flying all over the realm alone on his dragon. It's possible that he'll simply happen to alight in Aegon's path at some point soon, allowing for a meeting that would not be recorded by the maesters.
At the same time, the show's focus on prophecy, dragon dreams, and weirwood visions offer another avenue for the two brothers to connect. Aemond is currently at Harrenhal, where we've already seen Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) overwhelmed by the power of the weirwood trees and the psychic visions they can induce. At the end of season 2, Daemon even seemed to communicate directly with Helaena (Phia Saban) in one of these dreams. The camera then cut back to Helaena at the Red Keep, as if to confirm that this was a real-time psychic link they were experiencing.
This kind of magic is strongly rooted in Martin's writing, even if it wasn't used very much on Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon clearly set out to fill in that gap to some extent, and this would be another way to do it. Aemond will soon be facing his demons as Daemon did in Season 2, so at the very least we can expect him to see a vision of Aegon in his own mind, just as Daemon saw Rhaenyra and Viserys.
For Aemond and Aegon to communicate directly through a psychic link, we should expect some kind of magical awakening on Aegon's end. This could come from his reunion with his dragon Sunfyre, as the dragonrider's bond is magical in its own way. It could also come from a weirwood encountered on his journey, or perhaps even a Valyrian glass candle. These artifacts allow for psychic communication across vast distances, and many fans have been hoping to see one in action on House of the Dragon. Aegon may be able to find one stashed by his ancestors, though it would be a stretch for him to learn how to use it on his own.
Whatever Condal has planned for these brothers, he only has 11 more episodes to fit it in — assuming he still intends to finish the show with one more season.
House of the Dragon season 3 continues on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max. Martin's books are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
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