What happened to Dyana in House of the Dragon Episode 8? Aegon sits at the dinner table.

‘House of the Dragon’: What Happened to Dyana in Episode 8?

Here's what happened to Dyana the servant girl in 'House of the Dragon' Episode 8.

by Erica Scassellati

Published on October 16, 2022

2 min read

Alicent speaks with a sobbing girl named Dyana in ‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 8

By House of the Dragon Episode 8, Queen Alicent is running most of the day-to-day affairs of the castle. In one scene, she meets with a sobbing servant girl named Dyana. The girl tells Alicent in so many words that her son Aegon raped her.

Alicent hugs Dyana and tells her that she believes it wasn’t her fault. She then tells Dyana to keep what happened a secret, warning that others might not be so understanding. Alicent gives her money to keep her quiet and moon tea to prevent pregnancy and sends Dyana on her way.

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon. Alicent wears a green dress and gold jewelry.

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower in ‘House of the Dragon’ | Ollie Upton/HBO

‘House of the Dragon’ director discusses Alicent’s life in episode 8

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, House of the Dragon episode 8 director Geeta Patel unpacked the heavy scene between Alicent and Dyana. “When you read that scene, and you’ve been through all the episodes right before, it’s easy to just be like, ‘Alicent is a cold-hearted snake,'” she stated.

“We talked about it before, we were like, ‘We can’t let that happen. We have to feel Alicent.’ So we, of course, had a way of shooting it and really feeling what Alicent might be going through.” Alicent has been dealing with her children and taking on Viserys’ responsibilities now that he is bedridden.

“The idea was to make it a day in the life for her. You’re going through the hallways, you’re going meeting to meeting to meeting. You feel this ‘working mom’ feeling and that she’s not always perfect, and she doesn’t always get it right, and she doesn’t have all the choices in the world,” Patel continued. “She almost has to choose between worst-case scenarios.”

The director also acknowledged that Alicent is giving a young, traumatized girl hush money. “It’s interesting how when we got to that scene, I was still concerned. I thought, ‘God, she cannot come across as a snake,’ And yet, what is she doing right now? Well, she’s paying off this girl to be quiet about being raped. Olivia just blew it out of the water.”

Alicent confronts Aegon for what he did to Dyana

Though Alicent is bribing a girl to protect her son, she doesn’t exactly let Aegon off the hook. In the following scene, she screams at Aegon for his actions. “You are no son of mine,” she tells him after giving Aegon a swift slap in the face.

[“Aegon] is this lonely child who is disliked by everyone, misunderstood, and he found a way to make us love him and feel for him,” Patel told Entertainment Weekly. “And that moment where Alicent walks away from him, he’s naked in bed. I don’t know about anybody else, but I felt the child in him.”