Any publicity is good publicity.
Things have spiced up a lot just ahead of the season finale. Someone has just pulled off a Lord Varys masterpiece and managed to leak a clip from the season finale that will release tomorrow!
Needless to say, it has been getting exponential attention from fans.
House of the Dragon is a prequel to Game of Thrones and focuses on the Targaryen dynasty and how they become extinct. The ninth episode of season 1 aired last week and was considered one of the most debatable and exciting episodes so far.
How Episode 9 Ended
Just one ‘Dracarys’ escaping the lips of Queen Rhaenys could have sealed the deal for The Black Council.
The ninth episode juxtaposes so many events taking place one after the other. King Viserys finally dies, and what follows is a series of events plotted by the Green Council to make Queen Alicent’s son Aegon the King.
In the climax, princess Rhaenys blasts through the floor with her dragon Meleys and stands in front of Aegon and other members of the Green Council. A simple ‘Dracarys’ would have ended it all.
But it is not Rhaenys’ battle to fight.
The episode ends with Rhaenys on the back of Meleys. She goes to Dragonstone to inform Rhaenyra about her father’s death. The war is already on the horizon.
In tomorrow’s episode, we will see the aftermath of Rhaenyra getting to know about Aegon II’s coronation. The cold war has already begun, and Rhaenyra will try to amass as many allies as possible for the battle ahead.
The leaked clip shows the final clash between Aemond, the one-eyed prince, and Lucerys. And it is epic!
Why does Aemond Hate Lucerys?
Lucerys (Luke) Valeryon is the second-born son of Princess Rhaenyra and her first husband, Ser Laenor Valeryon. Although, it is an open secret that Lucerys is the son of the captain of the City’s Watch, Ser Harwin Strong.
This is one of the prime reasons for the underlying friction between Rhaenyra and Allicent’s children.
Luke and Jace have always neglected Aemond because he didn’t have a dragon. When Luke and Jace used to practice taming a dragon using high Valeryon, Aemond would watch them hoping to get a dragon one day.
Rhaenyra’s sons even made a joke out of him by sticking wings on a pig and gifting it to Aemond.
The final nail in the coffin was in episode 7 when Aemond managed to claim Vhagar with his sheer bravery after her previous owner Laena died.
The other kids, including Luke and Jace, tried to stop him. This triggered a fight that didn’t end well.
Aemond called Luke and Jace bastards for not being true Valeryons. Luke slashed his eye open with a knife.
It started a long-drawn hostility between the two which will culminate with the death of one in the finale on Sunday.
SPOILER Died in a Battle of Dragon
In the finale, Luke is sent to the Baratheons to convince them to side with the Black Council in the upcoming war.
Upon arriving, Luke discovers that Aemond is already in the castle with the same motive.
While returning, a fierce cat-and-mouse chase begins between Aemond and Luke, both Dragonriders. But Luke’s dragon Arrax is totally dwarfed by Aemond’s Vhagar.
The leaked clip treats us to an epic race between the swift and tiny Arrax and the battle-hardened Vhagar. After a long chase, Vhagar seems to have disappeared, and we start thinking that the scene is over.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the titanic mouth of Vhagar rises from beneath and dismembers Arrax. Luke is swallowed whole, and the remains of Arrax plummet into the ocean.
Did Aemond Kill Luke?
The short answer is, No.
From what we understand from the leaked footage and the parent material in the book Fire and Blood, Aemond only tries to scare Luke.
Aemond has always hated Luke for trolling him mercilessly when he didn’t have a dragon. Now that Aemond has the biggest and the oldest one in the entire Westeros, he wants to show that off to Luke.
In a tragic turn of events, Arrax attacks Vhagar. This causes Vhagar to spiral out of control, and she stops listening to Aemond. Vhagar goes on to massacre both Luke and Arrax in one swift maneuver.
Why did Vhagar not listen to Aemond?
Just like ‘a wand chooses a wizard’, a dragon chooses its rider. Targaryen or not, no one can control a dragon if it doesn’t want to be controlled. They are like the nukes of the George R.R. Martin universe.
Even after choosing a rider, a dragon is not bound to always listen to them. They cannot be stolen or controlled even by their riders.
Vhagar is the largest and the oldest dragon in the realm, and she feels insulted when Arrax attacks her first. Aemond loses control of the beast, and Vhagar kills both Luke and his dragon to satiate her ego.
Talking about consequences, this will act as a trigger to the Dance of the Dragons in the next season.
With Luke’s death, the war of ravens will end, and the war of fire and blood will begin.
About House Of The Dragon
House of the Dragon is the prequel series to HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones based on George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood.
Set three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon will show Westeros under the Targaryen family’s rule before the dragons went extinct. It will follow the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war between siblings Aegon II and Rhaenyra, who fought for the throne after the death of their father, Viserys I.
Directed by Ryan Condall and Miguel Sapochnik, the show stars Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen, Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Craney as Aegon II Targaryen, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole, and Graham McTavish.
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