House of the Dragon recap: The biggest talking points from the finale

Spoiler warning for House of the Dragon episode 10

After 10 long weeks, which have covered some two decades of action, we’ve made it to the end of the first season of House of the Dragon. Give yourself a pat on the back. While murmurings around the watercooler may have focused less on shock twists or big set pieces – and more on time leaps, negronis, and sbagliato with prosecco – this has still felt like an epic saga in the offing.

Now, finally, the pieces have fallen into place and the war that’s been brewing, thanks to the blithe idiocy of King Viserys (Paddy Considine), has begun. Ready your dragons.

Dragon it out

“We don’t choose our destiny,” announces Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) at the outset of this episode. “It chooses us.” This is the fate that the princess has had to deal with ever since her father named her heir, plunging the realm into a succession crisis he would not live to see. Now she finally hears of daddy’s demise from Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) who appropriately arrives at Dragonstone on dragon back. “That whore of a Queen murdered my brother and stole his throne,” hubby Daemon (Matt Smith) yells at Rhaenys upon hearing the news, “and you could’ve burnt them all for it!”

He sets the tone for this episode, which is, in fact, largely a prelude to war. Daemon is full of belligerence while his wife is more circumspect. For all the racing through the years that House of the Dragon has done, there’s also been much of this toing and froing: will Alicent claim the throne for Aegon? Will Rhaenyra back-up her claim with dragonfire? Will X show mercy on Y? Politics, rather than violence, has been the name of the game. Until now.

Stung Rhaey

To put matters, momentarily, in perspective, Rhaenyra goes into early labour on her fifth pregnancy, and loses the child in a sequence that is not for the faint of heart (and ought to come with a fairly robust content warning). Like the trooper mediaeval princess she is, Rhaenyra bounces back in time for her coronation. “My Queen,” proclaims Daemon at the ceremony, and bends the knee. But how long will this obeisance last? It is immediately put to the test by the arrival of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) in a scene that mirrors Daemon’s previous exile on Dragonstone. They face off, once again, on the stone bridge. And, once again, Rhaenyra interrupts them on dragonback. “I’m Queen Rhaenyra now,” she announces to Otto and his men, “and you all are traitors to the realm.”

All the same – and despite the bellicose nature of Otto’s message – the Princess/Queen thaws slightly when reminded of Alicent’s affection for her. “Queen Alicent has not forgotten the love you once had for each other,” she is told. Such soppy sentimentality will not do for Daemon, however. “I would rather feed my sons to the dragons than have them carry shields and cups for your drunken usurper c*** of a king,” he bellows, and Otto is lucky to escape with his life. Rhaenyra holds her husband back on this occasion – killing envoys is not a good look – but the power dynamic within Dragonstone’s top couple is beginning to shift.

The King and Eye

“The enemy have declared war,” Daemon roars at his wife in private. “What are you going to do about it?” Rhaenyra, isolated on the Targaryen seat, seems unsure. There are suggestions of rallying men from loyal houses and comparisons of the dragon arsenals held by the two forces. But total war seems some way off. Time then, for the return to action of Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), the famous “Sea Snake”, whose death has been much anticipated but apparently over reported. He seems humbled by his near demise: “Heedless ambition has always been a Velaryon weakness… I reached too far, and for nothing.”

But what his restoration does mean is that Rhaenyra’s second son, Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), is no longer about to become Lord of Driftmark. Instead, he’s sent off to Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans), Lord of Storm’s End, on an alliance-building mission. “The house of the dragon does not seem to know who rules it!” chuckles Borros upon Lucerys’s arrival. His confusion is down to the fact that Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is already in his hall, having shown up with offerings from King’s Landing (the team now known as “the Greens”). Lucerys, who has been sent out with a scrawny dragon and no bargaining chips, gets short shrift. But before he leaves, Aemond intervenes. “Did you really think that you could fly about the realm, trying to steal my brother’s throne, at no cost?”

Aemond wants revenge for Lucerys poking his eye out when they were kids, and, having been banished from Storm’s End, he takes his vendetta to the skies. Finally, we get the first of the famous dragon dances, and the first piece of dragon-on-dragon action in the Thrones canon. It results in a curtain-dropping, season-ending chomp, as Aemond loses control of his mount, Vhagar, who proceeds to bite the smaller Arrax clean in half. Aemond looks shell-shocked; Lucerys looks, well, dead. Finally, after a season of place-setting and world-building, the dance of dragons is ready to begin.