“House of the Dragon”: Why did Vhagar disobey Aemond?

In the final episode of the first season of “House of the Dragon”, the HBO series that takes place about 200 years before “Game of Thrones”, a disagreement between Prince Aemond Targaryen and his dragon, Vhagar, has generated a key event for the start of the war.

In an attempt to gain Borros Baratheon’s support for the Black cause, Rhaenyra sent her son, Lucerys Velaryon, to Storm’s End. However, once he arrived there, the boy discovered that the Greens had arrived before him under the figure of his uncle, Aemond Targaryen, with the giant dragon Vhagar.

While Aemond wants revenge for the loss of the eye, caused by Lucerys a few years earlier, the young Lucerys only seems to want to go home, mainly due to the promise made to his mother that he would only go as a messenger and would not get involved in fighting.

But it all ends in a chase involving Aemond riding Vhagar and Lucerys riding the little dragon Arrax, which ends with the death of the last two. Although Aemond clearly has no intention of killing his grandson in the series (the story is different in the book), the prince cannot control the dragon himself.

Thus, Vhagar ends up attacking Arrax, who did not appear to be completely under Lucerys’ control. The scene in question draws attention to the complexity of the dragons’ personalities and the connections shared between them and their knights of Valyrian blood. With the two knights trying to stop the clash caused by their dragons, why is this happening?

The relationship between dragons and knights in the series

In the universe of the series, known as the world of ice and fire, the bond between a knight and his dragon carries great emotional weight, with dragons able to perceive and reflect the feelings of their masters.

Rhaenyra and Syrax, for example, maintain a close relationship and this bond is shown in the same episode, with the dragon feeling Rhaenyra’s pain while in labor. Caraxes and Daemon share a similar relationship, with Prince Targaryen’s dragon accompanying him in several battles.

However, there are complex relationships involving the oldest dragons, as was the case with Vhagar, the oldest and largest dragon among all Targaryen dragons in Westeros at the time. Vhagar was assembled by Visenya Targaryen and Baelon Targaryen in the past, and during the series he forms a bond with Laena Velaryon and later with Aemond Targaryen, which we see happening in episode 7.

In “House of the Dragon”, and also in “Game of Thrones”, there are clues that controlling a dragon is not that simple. In Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 4, Daenerys Targaryen pretends to give slaver Kraznys one of her little dragons in exchange for the army of the Unsullied.

In one of the most famous scenes of the series, Kraznys complains that the dragon does not respond to his commands. In this, Daenerys replies that a dragon is not a slave.

In the first episode of “House of the Dragon”, Viserys tells Rhaenyra that the idea that anyone can control a dragon is an illusion.

What could have happened in the final episode of “House of the Dragon”?

When Arrax leaves the castle, Lucerys tries to calm him down right away. There, the dragon was already nervous, because Lucerys himself was restless. While he wants to keep his promise to his mother, the young prince also wants to fight Aemond for all the years of enmity between his uncle and his nephew, who grew up together. So it is possible that Arrax attacked Vhagar, despite Lucerys’ protests, because the boy wanted to fight his uncle.

On the other hand, Vhagar is a much older dragon and may have channeled Aemond’s anger against his grandson, even though it was not his intention to kill the boy at the time, to the point of simply not obeying. Like any other creature, dragons are driven by instinct, and in this case, it is likely that both Vhagar and Arrax responded to their knights’ emotions and instincts, culminating in the tragic deaths of Lucerys and Arrax.

All episodes of the first season of “House of the Dragon” are available on HBO Max.

The post “The House of the Dragon”: Why did Vhagar disobey Aemond? first appeared on Digital Look.

Source: Olhar Digital

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.