This story contains spoilers by way of Season 2, Episode 4, of HBO’s Home of the Dragon.
If solely Princess Rhaenys had unleashed her dragon, Meleys, within the Season 1 finale of Home of the Dragon. Again then, the Targaryen royal (performed with a quiet gravitas by Eve Finest) had the proper alternative to finish a conflict earlier than it started. However she left the throne’s usurpers unhurt, later explaining that such a battle was not hers to begin.
Because it seems, it was hers to lose. In tonight’s episode of HBO’s prequel to Sport of Thrones, Rhaenys lastly attacked on behalf of her chosen ruler, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), burning by way of most of the opposing troops till two extra dragons appeared: Sunfyre, steered by King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), and the imposing Vhagar, with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) astride her again. As the primary airborne fight in the Targaryen civil conflict often called the Dance of the Dragons, it’s the type of visual-effects-laden spectacle that most of the present’s followers have been ready for, and it ended with Rhaenys intentionally commanding Meleys to reenter the fray regardless of their evident exhaustion. When Vhagar overpowers them, each dragon and rider plummet from the sky, Meleys crushing Rhaenys after they fall.
With apologies to little Prince Jaehaerys and the dual Sers Erryk and Arryk, Rhaenys’s dying is the primary important character exit of the season. Her departure, alongside together with her dragon’s, delivers a blow to Rhaenyra’s marketing campaign to win the Iron Throne: Meleys had been their largest dragon, and Rhaenys a high lieutenant, married to the commander of the formidable Home Velaryon navy. But Rhaenys was greater than a helpful ally; she was one of many present’s most rational figures, learning her enemies earlier than she acted and advising Rhaenyra to hunt alternate options to conflict. Home of the Dragon has tended to sacrifice nuance in favor of surprising plot machinations, however by way of Rhaenys, the sequence explored a potent theme in George R. R. Martin’s A Track of Ice and Hearth books: that there exists a advantageous line between performing a way of obligation and really embodying it.
Rhaenys had lengthy identified the distinction, after all. Because the so-called Queen Who By no means Was, she was the primary Targaryen to be rejected for the throne although she was subsequent in line, solely as a result of she was feminine. Within the years since, she watched her kin wrestle to make clear how succession works and continued to argue for her declare throughout formal councils, however she by no means resorted to violence. As a substitute, she strengthened the Targaryens’ alliance with the Velaryons and appears to have discovered satisfaction in her place. Earlier in Episode 4, earlier than she commanded Meleys to assault, she sternly reminded considered one of her husband’s males that she was a princess, not a queen.
But being honorable, because the sequence has demonstrated repeatedly, is a harmful endeavor in a world that has forgotten the worth of holding an oath. Think about the place Season 2 opens: The primary shot confirmed the Wall, the Northern outpost the place the lads of the Evening’s Watch dedicate their lives to guarding towards an enemy they will’t make certain really exists. To most of them, this obligation is a life sentence. Or revisit the brawl between Erryk and Arryk (Elliott and Luke Tittensor, respectively) in Episode 2: Neither brother yields regardless of figuring out one or each will die, as a result of they’ve sworn their lives to their respective royals. And Rhaenys’s dying is, in a method, the fruits of Rhaenyra’s makes an attempt to satisfy what she sees as her function: to hold out her father’s needs for her to succeed him, and to unite the Seven Kingdoms towards what’s past the Wall. The story of Aegon the Conqueror’s prophetic dream resurfaces in Episode 4—Rhaenyra recounts it to her son Jacaerys, and Aemond later picks up the dagger that can finally be used towards the White Walkers in Sport of Thrones—however Rhaenys’s dying doesn’t appear to unite anybody. The battle within the sky leaves solely devastation behind.
As a substitute, Westeros usually rewards those that see obligation as a malleable idea. Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) bullies Arryk into finishing up the poorly deliberate scheme to infiltrate Dragonstone in Episode 2, lecturing him about honor when it’s Criston who breaks his oath probably the most, given his nights in mattress with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and his failure to guard the royal household’s youngest members. For this incompetence, nonetheless, he manages to win a number of battles. Daemon (Matt Smith) misinterprets Rhaenyra’s grief-stricken assertion within the season premiere—that she desires Aemond to pay for murdering her son—and sends assassins who’re very happy to homicide a bit of boy instead. Rhaenyra chides Daemon, however he flies off and takes Harrenhal, the largest fortress in Westeros, for himself. Such characters usually are not honorable, however they perceive that pretending to be is important to their survival. That is, in any case, a realm wherein loyalty is a fancy dress, the place sigils adorn virtually each accent, and the shade of a robe can sow the seeds of conflict.
Within the moments earlier than Rhaenys rejoins the motion after contending with each Aegon and Aemond, she makes eye contact with Meleys. Finest’s expression conveys a combination of dedication and resignation, with a touch of worry. Maybe Rhaenys decides to not flee the shedding battle as a result of she’s dedicated herself to delivering as harsh a blow to Aegon’s forces as potential. Or maybe she realizes that returning to Dragonstone would mar her legacy, one already affected by her participation within the Dance of the Dragons. “There isn’t any conflict so hateful to the gods as a conflict between kin,” she’d advised Rhaenyra in Episode 3, but right here she was, partaking in it. In life, Rhaenys tried to do her obligation; she was the uncommon Targaryen who was conscious of the boundaries of energy and who tried to maintain these round her in test. In dying, she indicators the top of the rationale and restraint that she confirmed, organising a battle that has no room for honor, not even for many who perceive its true that means.