Is it possible that we were always wrong?
¡spoiler from the ending of ‘The House of the Dragon’ below!
Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) has always been a potential villain. He’s taken the Tywin Lannister/Joffrey Baratheon energy and combined it with a dash of Ramsay Bolton, for good measure.
Throughout the season, we had simply seen him border on the dark side. He wished ill on his brother Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) in order to take the throne; he scoffed at Rhaenyra’s brown children and, without any remorse, took Vhagar with his cousins still mourning his mother’s death.
Yeah, he’s been a pretty bad boy, but he had never done anything wicked enough to earn the title of villain. Until now.
In the last episode of ‘The House of the Dragon’, we saw how Aemond mercilessly pursued Prince Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), to gouge out his eye.
Not satisfied with having secured Lord Borros Baratheon’s support for ‘The Greens’, Aemond demanded his eye as payment for that ancient offense, which saw him lose his own, to Lucerys’s dagger.
Lucerys refused and the swords were drawn. However, Lord Baratheon ordered that no blood be spilled on his land and escorted Lucerys back to her dragon, Arrax.
This might have been the end of the matter, if Aemond had not pursued him on Vhagar’s back. A decision that has had direct consequences. And by direct, we mean Lucerys’ journey into Vhagar’s throat.
A bite later, Driftmark’s heir was no more.
Finally, Aemond has done what we always knew he could do: something dark enough to mark his (already) shady character. However, his appearance affected by the events that had just occurred, does not exactly fit the “Bolton-Lannister-Baratheon” style.
Even more bizarre, just before Vhagar opened his massive jaws and devoured Lucerys, Aemond could be heard yelling at him to stop.
Fans of the book ‘Fire and Blood’ will be just as confused. Given Aemond’s on-screen trajectory, many expected him to follow the dark and twisted path that characterizes him in the novel.
It seems, however, that this change from the book is leading him down a different path. So, what happens between Aemond and Lucerys in the book?Why could this small change have significant consequences?
How does Aemond kill Lucerys in the book?
Almost like on screen, Lucerys’s diplomatic mission to Storm’s End comes to a tragic end, driving the young man into Vhagar’s stomach. However, there is a significantly different aspect.
Although the incident itself is not narrated in the book, it is specified that Aemond not only wanted to hurt and maim Lucerys, he also wanted to kill her and her dragon.
The sinister prince took things a step further, even. Arrax’s decapitated head washed ashore on Storm’s End three days later. Lucerys’s body was never found.
However, it was rumored that Aemond had indeed found his body and gouged out his eyes (apparently killing him wasn’t enough). Lucerys’s death was not only cold, it was calculated and sadistic. If we delve into the rumor, it lets us see that Aemond does not feel guilty. He may be satisfied that he got his revenge, once and for all.
In ‘The House of the Dragon’, Aemond has always had a latent evil, but has not reached the extremes of his character in the novel. In fact, the series has always made fun of his abilities to do evil.
The decision to make Lucerys’s death almost accidental, rather than something done completely on purpose, seems like a direct choice of the showrunners.
Ambitious, proud and vindictive – Aemond is all of these things but, as in ‘House of the Dragon’ generally, there is much more nuance to him. Perhaps more than we have recognized him so far.
His shock and, let’s face it, some remorse at Lucerys’s fate, suggests that there is a line that even he wasn’t willing to cross. He now he has been forced to trespass. However, there is no turning back.
It is possible that this turn of events alters, or rather reaffirms, the public’s perception of him. This brutal and sadistic prince could start to embrace the potential dark side of him more. It seems that it will be something that we will not discover until the second season of ‘The House of the Dragon’.
‘The House of the Dragon’ has its first season available in streaming on HBO Max. All seasons of ‘Game of Thrones’ are available on HBO Max.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
