Which ‘House of the Dragon’ Character Has the Toughest Two Days Ahead?
Season 2 of the HBO show ends with Rhaenyra saying that war will begin in two days. But how will each character spend those days? And who will be the most stressed out?
The House of the Dragon Season 2 finale ended not with a bang, but with a montage. It was, at least, a captivating montage, one that would have perfectly transitioned from an interpersonal Episode 8 into an action-packed Episode 9 in a classic 10-part Game of Thrones season. But alas, this season was only eight episodes. So the whole thing ended by showing how each character was set up to head into dragon warfare … without showing any actual warfare.
Instead, we’re told by Rhaenyra and several other characters that there will be two days between the Season 2 finale and all hell breaking loose for Teams Black and Green. Sure, we’ll eventually get bastards riding dragons into battle on learner’s permits, queens enacting backdoor plots to take King’s Landing, several different sets of siblings trying to kill each other, and many, many armies fighting at many, many strategically located castles. But what is just two days in the show’s timeline represents a likely two-year waiting period for viewers, in which we’ll have to twiddle our thumbs, keep our HBO subscriptions fresh, and dream up what the future may hold in the Dance of the Dragons—and Season 3 …
… which feels a little like going to a birthday party and leaving the moment the candles are lit on the cake. We’re so close to the big shebang! Shouldn’t we be singing? Shouldn’t the dragons be dancing? Shouldn’t that old, nasty hag Vhagar be looking down the nostrils of Syrax, Seasmoke, and Caraxes while realizing that her rider—let’s see, how do I say this in High Valyrian—royally fucked up when he decided to torch his brother’s dragon and enter into war against his aerially superior half sister?
Apparently not. Those things are definitely coming, but at present, all parties involved still have one more weekend to dwell on their fates, work through their respective existential crises, and plot and prepare. And all I kept thinking as the finale faded to black was, Wow, these guys have A LOT to do to get ready for war. They better get a move on! They’ve got to batten down hatches, and put up the sails, and whisk away to Essos, and get on board with letting their sons get murdered … all in the two days before they—and the two years before we—finally learn who lives and who dies in this particularly airborne game of thrones.
So let’s consider which of our characters has the longest figurative (and sometimes literal) road ahead, ranked from “totally chillin’” to “has to save the whole world 48 hours from now, according to the prophecy.”
Ser Simon Strong and Alys Rivers
These two are chillin’. Their duty is done, their watch is over, and their mischief has been managed in the form of one last bout of meddling. Simon and Alys annoyed and haunted Daemon so hard, and for so long, at Harrenhal that he finally forgot his entire personality and bent the knee to Rhaenyra. Good job, you two! Take a load off for the next few days. You’ve earned it.
Daemon Targaryen
And thanks to Simon and Alys’s efforts, we now have an enlightened king consort on our hands. Daemon touched a weirwood tree, and the weirwood tree touched back. A big part of this season finale showcased characters considering what their roles will be in the conflict ahead—and what part they’ll play in the larger story of Westeros. And thanks to a creative combination of witchcraft, sleep deprivation, and some powerful visual pulls from Thrones, Daemon doesn’t just know what part he plays—he’s seen it: serving Rhaenyra “until death, or the end of our story.” He’s essentially a husband who went on an ayahuasca retreat and realized that if he didn’t start helping his wife more around the house, she would leave him (that is a real plot point from the iconic television show The Valley, but in that instance, she still left him, as his third eye opened about five years too late).
Fear of missing out on your role in an ancient prophecy isn’t exactly a replacement for respecting your wife … but in times of war, it will do. Daemon heads into the next two days with purpose after spending a lifetime conniving and obfuscating to feed his own ego—and you really can’t buy that kind of personal growth and solace as you march (well, fly) toward your almost-certain death.
Aegon Targaryen and Larys Strong
Actually, seemingly the only people who aren’t marching, sailing, or flying toward wartime are Aegon and Larys. For at least the next two days, the boys are on a road trip! Weird way to get to Essos, but the boys are on a road trip nonetheless, doing whatever the medieval version of slamming hot Cheetos and drinking fountain Coke is (pheasant and a flask of mead?). Of course, Aegon isn’t the best of road trip hangs at this point—he’s a little touch and go on that whole “will to live” thing. Remember a short while ago when he was laid up in bed, burnt to a crisp, and asking the question of the season?
War is futile (especially if you’ve seen Season 8 of Game of Thrones), and given that Aegon’s penis apparently, ahem, “burst into flames like a sausage on a spit” when his brother lit him on fire, life is feeling that way to him now too. He may be on his way to spend Harrenhal’s gold in Essos while everyone fights it out back in Westeros, but Aegon definitely has some existential stuff to deal with—and Larys has to deal with Aegon.
Ser Tyland Lannister
But Essos already has one visitor from Westeros, and he at least is doing OK. Yes, we leave Tyland Lannister sailing with the Triarchy toward battle after making a series of unapproved executive decisions … but before that, he gets dealt a pretty surprising hand.
It’s two days of hard work, but I guess someone has to do it?
Jacaerys Targaryen
Jace, you are fine, buddy. You don’t need to be in the know all the time, and if Ulf keeps bugging you, remember that you’re the heir to the Iron Throne—you can make him disappear. Just spend the next two days listening to your mom, serving face, and keeping that show-pony dragon of yours in fighting condition, and I’m sure everything will be toooootally fine. (Right? Right??? Should I Google it?!)
Baela Targaryen
Baela, on the other hand, will spend the next two days doing the same torturous work she’s always done—telling men about themselves in the hopes that they’ll shape the fuck up and ship the fuck out. No one in all the Seven Kingdoms has a more acutely exhausting task.
Ser Criston Cole
Listen, is Ser Criston doing well? No. He’s sniffing dirty handkerchiefs, suffering from severe PTSD after seeing dragons light whole armies on fire, and turning to nihilism in the face of what he believes to be his inevitable annihilation.
But this isn’t a vibe check; it’s an agenda check. And as Ser Criston prepares for battle, there is a sort of peaceful oblivion to just … giving up. If you know that “the dragons dance and men are like dust under their feet,” then your days ahead can be spent niiiiice and numb. Like Criston tells Gwayne: “To die will be a kind of relief, don’t you think?”
It doesn’t set Gwayne up for a great two days of marching, but Criston Cole is ready for whatever comes. He’s had enough self-righteousness for one lifetime.
Otto Hightower
Listen, he’s in the montage, so he’s on the list. What’s Otto Hightower doing for the next two days?
Presumably more of this. It may not be fun, but at least it’s predictable—whatever and wherever it may be.
The Armed Forces
Likewise, we know what the various black and green armies will be doing for the next two days. They have instructions, a plan, and a purpose—even if they don’t know that that purpose is either to secure the throne for a malicious second son or to ward off future ice zombies.
The Hightower host (plus Alicent’s youngest, Daeron, and his pretty blue dragon) is headed for the Reach, the Lannister armies are headed toward the Riverlands, and the Triarchy (plus a presumably worn-out Tyland Lannister) will go head-to-head with the Velaryon fleet, led by Lord Corlys and his bastard son Alyn. Who are big mad at each other, yes, but may be able to work it out on the open seas. What better way to spend the two days before a civil war than broodingly considering your legacy?
Rhaena Targaryen
Rhaena’s legacy might very well be cemented in the next 48 hours—or maybe even in the next 20 minutes after the screen cuts to black. Our girl is on a mission to get herself a dragon!
Is there a need for that mission? No. Do we know why she’s doing it? Not really. Did she pack any snacks? She most definitely did not! But tasked with one more minute of babysitting versus setting out to find and tame the wild dragon Sheepstealer—even though she was notoriously not able to bond with one of Dragonstone’s semidomesticated dragons—Rhaena chooses the free-range beast. That makes the stakes for her next few days mortally high, but also incredibly interesting. If she fails to become Sheepstealer’s rider, she’ll almost definitely die. But if she succeeds, she has no obligation to join the war—she could just fly off to anywhere she wanted and have a sheep roast. And she probably should, considering that when Rhaenyra finds out what a bad babysitter Rhaena is, she’s probably gonna kill her. But as for the other new riders …
The Dragonseeds
Addam, Hugh, and Ulf are told specifically by Rhaenyra that they have two days before they ride off to battle for Team Black. That’s two days to learn Valyrian commands, two days to figure out how to do a dragon war, two days to get comfortable flying on a winged beast … or two days to become traitors and abandon ship. During this time, they have to also have good table manners and comport themselves like gentlemen of the court, or else Jace will be really mad at them. So there’s a lot for these fellas to consider as they prepare for a war that two of the three of them were basically forced into by poverty. Die a hero? Live like a villain? Or do something weird and in-between because you’re a commoner who just got an extended lease on a giant flying lizard?
The Grand Maester
Unlike Ser Simon and Alys, the grand maester’s duty isn’t over. Like the dragonseeds, the grand maester has a lot of unknowns in front of him over the next few days—but unlike the dragonseeds, he doesn’t even know it yet. Alicent is about to come careening back into King’s Landing, begging for help on her super-secret mission to overthrow Aemond, kill Aegon (“Can you find him, grand maester?”), and abscond to the east with her daughter, her daughter’s child, and her daughter’s bug collection. Should be easy enough work for a guy who [checks notes] mostly brews tea and treats ailments with leeches.
Alicent Hightower
Alicent has nothing and no one at this point in her life. Which is why she showed up at her ex-best friend’s house with her big brown doe eyes talkin’ ’bout, “Is it too late to call a do-over?”
It’s too late for peace between Team Black and (a dwindling) Team Green, but it’s not too late for a classic switcheroo and sailing off to Essos in a wig, apparently. Because in the style of Ariana Grande, Alicent finally met the person she needed all along:
Our girl did a Wild out in the woods last week, and now she’s come up with quite the plan. In two days, Alicent has to get back to King’s Landing, ensure Aemond leaves the house, figure out how to keep Rhaenyra onboard now that Aegon has disappeared and she did a pinky promise to let Rhaenyra kill him, smuggle Rhaenyra and her team inside the castle walls, frame it as a conquering, and be mentally fine with everyone thinking she’s a villain when, really, she’s trying to save people from a bloody, fiery fate. And between all of that, I imagine she’ll be navigating quite a bit of morning-after anxiety replaying the moment when she asked a woman who’s about to go to war for her birthright if she might want to go somewhere a little more private, like maybe Essos forever and ever or something chill like that …
And yes, I saw the final imagery of Alicent out in the big open sky and Rhaenyra trapped among her scrolls; I read the interviews that said Alicent is finally free. But sister still has a lot to do in the next couple of days. Chop, chop you future kingslayer, you!
Helaena Targaryen
Helaena has few logistics to manage for sure, and she can theoretically just follow her mom’s lead on checking into a quaint Airbnb outside of King’s Landing, but … she’s in quite the predicament as Team Green heads to war. Helaena somehow knows when and how everyone around her will die, yet she also seems quite confused by her own circumstances and future. She knows one thing for sure, though:
Good on you, Helaena! Unfortunately, it will be difficult to evade your homicidal brother who accidentally got himself outmatched in a seven-to-two dragon fight on the eve of war. If Helaena can steer clear of Aemond, make it out of King’s Landing with her child and her bugs, and not give anyone a spoiler-riddled prophecy for at least two days, it will be an absolute miracle.
Rhaenyra Targaryen
In many ways, Rhaenyra should mentally and strategically be in a good spot. Her arsenal is stacked. She’s got seven dragons, all kinds of armies, a seafaring advantage, and finally the full allegiance of a man (uncle) who loves her. Plus, she has the sweet, sweet fuel of vindication—the adolescent friend who married her dad, shunned her for sleeping with a man said friend eventually slept with herself, and started a war because of a misunderstanding has come crawling back to say that she was wrong and might like to run away together …
Alas, Rhaenyra cannot, because there’s that whole mental burden of being the one true heir and tasked with saving an entire realm thing. That’s what Rhaenyra is facing over the next two days: figuring out how to win this war once and for all without losing every single person she loves in the process. But, hey … maybe she can meet up with Alicent after the ashes have settled, and they can eat only cake together.
Aemond Targaryen
But probably not if Aemond has anything to say about it! Aemond is doing everything in his power not to admit defeat. His next two days will be spent blaming everyone else for his inadequacies as a leader, listening to no one, and working himself into a tizzy of anger and insecurity that will cost the lives of thousands. He will ride into battle, sparing no life, no ally, no family member. He will make dust beneath Vhagar’s feet, and he will learn nothing. But mostly, of course, he will be thinking about how his magic sister said he’ll die.
That’s no way to live.
Us
Yeah, it’s us. We as an audience will have the toughest two-day road ahead, because for us, it’s not just two days—it’s two years. That’s simple Interstellar math. Filming on Season 3 won’t even begin until 2025, and while we wait, we have only that montage and this blog post to suggest what our HotD characters will be up to next.
Sure, the sea captains have rough waters, and the broken-up bestie queens are angsting, and the novice dragonriders have war practice, and the foot soldiers are days away from becoming walking skeletons under a sea of dragonfire—but none of those people are real. We are, and we are impatient mortals who want our fun TV show, HBO! We will wait. Oh, we will wait. But rest assured that our expectations will become bigger, bolder, and more unreachable the longer we imagine these two days in between seasons. I just hope everyone is ready to go when the time is up. Two days isn’t a long time—but two years sure is.
