Episode 10 of “House of the Dragon”, the last of the first season, arrived on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday (23), with the Blacks organizing to defend Rhaenyra’s right as queen.
After the events of the previous episode centered around the Greens and their conquest of the Iron Throne following the death of King Viserys I Targaryen, this time it was the Blacks who took center stage, with much of the episode set in the Rock of the Dragon.
Young Lucerys Velaryon begins the episode in a conversation with his mother, Rhaenyra, about power and duty. Then comes Princess Rhaenys, who gives Rhaenyra the news of her father’s death and the Green coup, which happened without her knowledge in the previous episode.
With the strong information, Rhaenyra soon begins to feel the pains of childbirth. As Rhaenyra suffers, Daemon takes matters into his own hands, starting to wage a war against his wife’s wishes, who orders nothing to be done without her permission.
After suffering greatly and refusing help, Rhaenyra gives birth to a dead and deformed child, in one of the most memorable scenes of the episode. The same Rhaenyra wraps the body of the child, which we do not know from the episode but from the book, which would be a girl, named Visenya Targaryen.
At the cremation ceremony of the child, Ser Erryk Cargyll arrives, who has helped Princess Rhaenys escape from the Red Keep. He wears the crown worn by King Viserys and swears allegiance to the new queen, who is crowned right there by Daemon. However, Rhaenys does not kneel like the others and there are doubts about the Queen’s support that she has never been there.
Current Queen Rhaenyra takes control of the situation and tries to find out who her allies are. In a scene reminiscent of the beginning of the series, when a younger Daemon confronts Otto Hightower and the Rhaenyra still experienced by Milly Alcock arrives to prevent a confrontation, the three find themselves in the same place.
Otto presents the terms sent by Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra seems to consider the possibility. This later draws the attention of Rhaenys, who declares to her husband Corlys Velaryon, who returns after nearly dying in the war, that she is the only one holding her kingdom together at the time.
This leads to the conquest of an important ally for the cause of Rhaenyra, with the fleet of the Sea Serpent now at the disposal of the Blacks.
Another decision is also made: Queen Rhaenyra wants to make sure who her allies are and seeks the support of houses Stark, Arryn and Baratheon. For this, she ends up sending her two older children: Jacaerys and Lucerys. The older one heads towards the Eagle’s Nest and Winterfell, while the younger heads towards Storm’s End.
As the dragons separate, we follow the fate of only one of them, Lucerys, surprised by the presence of her uncle, Aemond, upon arrival at Storm’s End. Borros Baratheon receives Rhaenyra’s message and refuses to support the queen’s cause, pointing out that King Aegon II’s side has brought advantageous proposals to him and his house.
Aemond tries to confront the young Lucerys, but the boy promised his mother that he would not fight and would only be a messenger. Borros stops Aemond from chasing Lucerys, who wants an eye from Lucerys, as revenge for past events, and reveals that he is now wearing a sapphire eye instead of the one he lost.
In torrential rain, Lucerys rides the little dragon Arrax, but Aemond chases him with the giant dragon Vhagar. After approaching the escape, Lucerys’ dragon ends up attacking Vhagar, who escapes Aemond’s control, and causes the terrible death of the dragon and the boy, despite the protests of Aemond, who only seemed to want to scare his grandson.
The news of her son’s death is received by Rhaenyra in the final scene of the episode, and if at some point in the episode she stated that she would not be the first to attack, now first blood has been shed and the war is simply unavoidable .
As always, the special effects are great and for the first time we see dragons fighting in the air, although we hardly see any fighting given the size inequality between the people involved. The episode had important moments, such as Rhaenyra’s coronation, childbirth and what happened to him.
Emma D’Arcy was one of the highlights of the episode, showing different nuances in her portrayal, providing depth to Rhaenyra’s character. Additionally, Matt Smith delivered a war-crazed, war-hungry Demon capable of going above and beyond for it. And the wish for him will come true in the next second season.
The full first season of “House of the Dragon” is now available on HBO Max.
The post “House of the Dragon”: Final Episode Makes Way for War first appeared on Digital Look.
Source: Olhar Digital
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