‘House of the Dragon’ Season Finale Recap: “The Black Queen”

“When dragons flew to war, everything burned.” Rhaenyra has always known her histories. Everything from her late father King Viseyrs’ beloved tomes and generational tales, to the unchallenging lessons she blew off as a teen, when Alicent was still her best friend and courtly companion. Now, Rhaenyra’s old pal and her Green Council have installed Aegon Targaryen on the Iron Throne. This was Princess Rhaenys’ second truth bomb to drop after she arrived at Dragonstone still clad in battle armor. The first was the death of the king, Rhaneyra’s father and Prince Daemon’s brother, which the latter hears as “was slain,” as in, the Hightowers murdered him so as to install their patsy. But Rhaenys deflects Daemon’s anger over her incinerational hesitance at the end of House of the Dragon Episode 9. There will definitely be blood. And all kinds of fire. But Rhaenys is right in that it wasn’t her war to start. “The Greens are coming for you, Rhaenyra. And your children.”

And yes, Daemon has “gone to madness,” as Rhanyra puts it so perfectly to her teenage sons Jacerys (Harry Collett) and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). Yes, the prince has “gone to plot his war.” But it was her father’s ruling dictum to keep the realm safe and secure, and a headstrong plunge into violence, no matter the disparity of dragons between the Blacks and the Greens, is initially checked by Rhaenyra. “Naught is to be done but by my command,” she informs the warmongering men of Dragonstone. 

Rhaenyra has more immediate concerns. The stress of Rhaneys’ news has caused her to go into labor early, and it’s clear this birth won’t be like her last five. Through her pain, tears, and blood, she has visions of an angry dragon – that mystical union between the creatures and the Targaryens that takes so many forms – and gives birth to a daughter, premature and without breath. As Daemon and all those gathered at Dragonstone join her on the rocks for the infant Visenya’s funeral, they bend the knee to Queen Rhaenyra, First of Her Name. (Ser Erryk, the loyal Kingsguardian twin, also shows up with King Viserys’ crown.) And the fires are lit underneath the Dragonstone Table, which is like a basalt version of the geography lesson in the opening credits of Game of Thrones. Who will ally with the true heir? Who will hew to the coronated king?

And guess who’s back? Lord Corlys Velaryon recovered from his Stepstones wounds and crazy high fever just in time to take a deserved earful from Princess Rhaenys – “You abandoned us for more adventure at sea!” – and discover a kingdom more rent than ever with ruling class pettiness and power grabs. He wants to leave it all behind, be neutral, and retire with his family. But Rhaenys reminds her husband that it’s family they need to fight for. Their grandchildren, who hold claims of succession, will be marked for death by the Greens. Corlys, after arriving in the main hall, limping but dignified, throws his weight around at the Dragonstone Table. “Hope is the fool’s ally,” he intones grimly. But the Sea Snake eventually gives his blessing to Rhaenyra and her mustering list of friendly Lords and other allies. He says the Targaryens and Velaryon  families share blood, have “common cause” against the Hightowerian treason, and that Rhaenyra will have the full support of the Velaryon fleet. But neither Corlys nor Rhaenys ever actually bend the knee.

If the Black Queen, Daemon, and their braintrust want to establish a blockade of all King’s Landing seaboard shipping and angle for a protracted siege of the city, they’ll need more swords. Rhaneyra agrees with her oldest son that dragons can fly faster than ravens, and that the creatures are definitely more convincing, so she sends Jacerys to call on her relations in Arryn, and then to Winterfell, where he’ll treat with Lord Cregan Stark for allegiance from the north. As for Lucerys, he’ll fly his young dragon Arryx to Storm’s End, where Rhaenyra believes he’ll encounter a pliable Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans). Remind him that oaths of allegiance are made at a cost, she tells her son.

“When dragons flew to war, everything burned.” As fire and blood danced in his eyes, Rhaenyra told her husband Daemon about the creatures’ track record in the histories, their singular ability to scald the earth with impunity, no matter their psychological bond with a rider. She told her husband that his math of 13 dragons to the Greens’ 4 only made their decision to fight more difficult, and also of what they must protect. “A Song of Ice and Fire,” she said. “The coming war against the darkness of the north. The Conqueror’s dream.” And Daemon, exhausted with the shadow of his brother’s reign with all of its omens and portents, and unwilling to admit knowing anything about the prophecy, nearly choked Rhaenyra to death in his lust for battle. Ten episodes in, right down the line, and Prince Daemon is still a guy with yowly demons living rent-free underneath his platinum dome.

As Daemon and his war madness sing the Old Valyrian hymn for awakening long-slumbering ancient and very large dragons (‘Sup, Vermithor?) Lucerys brings his youthful dragon out of the clouds and in for a landing at Storm’s End. It’s a great entrance, and the teenage prince pats the flank of Arryx as he walks toward the Baratheon castle for his first bit of diplomacy. Which is also when he notices the dragon Vhagar’s bulk draped across seven or eight parapets.

That’s right, Ol’ Patchy, Prince Aemond, has already brought tidings from King’s Landing and the offer of a marriage match to one of his daughters, so it’s all Borros Baratheon can do to bellow that “The House of the Dragon does not seem to know who rules it!” and send Luc’s envoyship packing. But Aemond, shocker, is in a jesting mood. He challenges “Lord Strong.” He calls him a realm imposter. And he says dragonflame would be no retribution at all for an eye-stealer. Aemond removes his eyepatch to reveal a socket a-shimmer with sinister bling. “Put out your eye.” 

Lucerys doesn’t, but Aemond’s eyeball-for-eyeball beef was just a midair collision waiting to happen. (Jeez, talk about optics.) Wary of attack, Luc saddles up outside the castle and pushes Arryx airborne, right into the teeth of a vicious thunderstorm. In there, it’s no trouble for Aemond to taunt Lucerys from beyond the clouds. The monstrous silhouette of his veteran dragon appears above Arryx, who Luc manages to push downward into a series of evasive maneuvers through some folds in the rocks. By now, both men are having trouble with their dragons. Mind-meld or not, the creatures are in their own hierarchical battle. Excitable greenhorn Arryx unfurls an unwise burst of flame at the older and larger dragon, and climbs desperately to the clear air above the storm, but she’s no match for Vhagar, who rips through a cloud and devours both dragon and prince in less than a second. Aemond is left only to moan. Was this a jest too far? If dragons can’t even be brought to bear during a vendetta, who’s to say what control they’ll allow on a battlefield? As he watches the shreds of Arryx’s wings fall to earth, the eye-jeweled prince is left to consider how he describes this to the Greens.

We see it described to Rhaenyra, too. In slow-motion. Across the place holding hubbub of the main hall and cluttered Dragonstone Table, through throngs of men waving their arms ineffectually. Daemon approaches his wife, whose gaze was steady on him the entire time. And when she turns around from the hearth, the treachery of Queen Alicent and Otto Hightower and the role of their deceit in the deaths of two of her children have transformed a royal who sought restraint into a warrior queen who will have her vengeance. When dragons fly to war, everything burns. 

But that, of course, is a story for House of the Dragon Season 2.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges