Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for the season one finale of HBO’s House of the Dragon, “The Black Queen.”
As many fans of the Game of Thrones franchise have learned, expect the unexpected and chaos in the world of Westeros. The Game of Thrones spin-off prequel show, House of the Dragon, proved on Sunday night that series finales are no exception to this. Garnering the highest viewership since the conclusion of Game of Thrones in May of 2019, the final episode left fans craving more and eagerly awaiting the next season.
The precursor to the final episode, “The Green Council,” focused on the aftermath of the tragic death of King Viserys the Peaceful from the point of view of those in King’s Landing, more specifically, from the scrambling perspective of Queen Alicent Hightower and the late king’s small council. In the episode, the Hightowers, or the Greens, along with the small council, stage a coup to implement Aegon II Targaryen as king on the precedent of Alicent’s misunderstanding that it was Viserys’ final wish to make their son his heir. In a hasty and sneaky fashion, the Greens work towards accomplishing their goal by threatening high lords of Westeros to break their past oaths and vow their allegiance to the new king or suffer the consequences. Aegon is crowned king in front of the masses of King’s Landing by the end of the episode, without Princess Rhaenyra, the named heir of King Visery’s, knowledge. The episode ends with Rhaenys, the cousin of the late king, unleashing her dragon at Aegon’s coronation and flying to Dragonstone to inform Rhaenyra of the happenings in King’s Landing.
“The Black Queen” picks up where “The Green Council” leaves off, with Rhaenys riding her dragon to alert a very pregnant Rhaenyra of the passing of her father and of the coup that arose. While the prior episode focused on Queen Alicent and the Greens attempting to maintain control after the King’s death, this episode focuses on Rhaenyra and the Blacks’ handling of the situation. Rhaenyra, along with her husband and uncle Daemon, is shocked by the news and goes into premature labor. As she battles the pain of her labors, the men of the Blacks’ team begin planning the war to come against the Greens without her authorization; this was foreshadowed in the first episode when Rhaenyra’s mother says, “The childbed is our battlefield. We must learn to face it with a stiff flip.”
Already at her seemingly lowest point, engrossed in worry and panic, Rhaenyra must also deal with the stillbirth and loss of her child. As she buries her unborn baby, Sir Erryk, a member of the Kingsguard and Aegon’s sworn protector, arrives from King’s Landing and presents Daemon with her father’s crown, which he places on Rhaenyra’s head. Daemon and all in attendance bow down to Rhaenyra, calling her Queen and swearing their loyalty. As Queen, Rhaenyra is determined to protect the realm from violence and to keep Westeros united, as her father did.
Back at Dragonstone’s Painted Table, Rhaenyra puts a stop to Daemon’s vengeful plan of plunging Westeros into destruction and promptly states that she “[does] not wish to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone.” Growing into her new role as queen, Rhaenyra level-headedly and assertively takes control of the situation and begins planning to accumulate support for her cause based solely on merit and past oaths before rallying any troops to war. Rhaenyra sends her sons, Jacaerys and Lucerys, on dragon back to appeal personally to her presumed closest allies, whom she expected to “receive a very warm welcome” from.
In a shocking and tragic ending, upon his arrival to Storm’s End, Lucerys, the younger son of only 14, is met by not only a cold demeanor from Lord Borros, but also by the spine-chillingly bitter Aemond Targaryen and his dragon Vhagar, the largest in the world. After being turned away and taunted, Lucerys saddles his dragon and begins his returning flight back to Dragonstone, but soon realizes that he is being chased. In search of “an eye for an eye,” Aemond follows Lucerys around the sky in a gripping, anxiety-inducing chase. Eventually losing control of their beasts, both boys’ dragons begin tantalizing each other, ending with Vhagar disobediently killing Lucreys and his dragon with one ginormous, yawning bite.
The season ends with the nonaudible news being broken to Rhaenyra via Daemon. She breaks down and then slowly turns back to face the painted table with a revengeful, fiery look in her eyes.
What’s to come for season two?
In an interview with Variety, Ryan Condal, the co-creator and executive producer of House of the Dragon, gives insight on what to expect from the confirmed second season of the hit show. When asked whether season two would be expanding the scope of the series beyond King’s Landing, Condal responded, “a war is coming that requires allegiances from different kingdoms and armies all over the map of Westeros. [T]here are definitely many more new worlds to come, and new worlds that you haven’t necessarily seen in the original show, either. Rest assured, plenty of scope to come.” Showrunners also promise that going forward no more time jumps and recasting will occur and war scenes will more correspond with the book’s “Dance of the Dragons” storyline. The season finale left many questions unanswered and filled viewers with anticipation, though, according to Condal, the premiere date of season two has yet to be determined.
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