‘House of the Dragon’ Season 1 Finale: Did Aemond Mean to Kill [SPOILER]? — Ryan Condal Doesn’t Think So
The House of the Dragon Season 1 finale ended at the very beginning of the Dance of the Dragons. The series showed the first of many casualties in the Targaryen Civil War, and now there’s no going back. Aemond kills an essential character in episode 10, but showrunner Ryan Condal doesn’t believe he meant to do it.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for the House of the Dragon Season 1 finale.]
Aemond confronts Lucerys at Storm’s End in the ‘House of the Dragon’ finale
Westeros is on the brink of all-out war in the House of the Dragon finale. Alicent crowned her son Aegon II king after Viserys’ death, although he named Rhaenyra his heir. Rhaenyra asserts that she is the rightful queen, but she isn’t as ready for war as her husband, Daemon.
Jacaerys and Lucerys volunteer to serve as envoys to raise support for their mother’s claim to the throne. Rhaenyra sends Lucerys to Storm’s End to meet with Lord Barros Baratheon, thinking that this short flight will be the safer journey. She also expects Lord Baratheon to give Lucerys a warm welcome, but when he arrives, Aemond is already present.
Aemond offered to marry one of Lord Baratheon’s daughters in exchange for his allegiance to his brother Aegon II. With nothing to offer, Lucerys prepares to leave, but Aemond first demands he pluck out his own eye in exchange for taking his in a fight years ago. Lucerys refuses and leaves on his dragon Arrax into a terrible storm. Aemond quickly pursues him on Vhagar.
Ryan Condal thinks Lucerys’ death was an accident
The following scene implies that both Lucerys and Aemond began to lose control of their dragons. Arrax shoots a burst of dragonfire at Vhagar, and Lucerys responds in High Valyrian, trying to get his dragon to obey him. Aemond, in turn yells, “No! No! No!” as an enraged Vhagar bursts forward and kills both Arrax and Lucerys.
The stunned look on Aemond’s face implies that this was not at all what he had planned. “I think what you’re seeing there is the last vestiges of the little boy that’s left in Aemond, and maybe he was trying to scare Luke, but I don’t think ultimately he intended to kill him,” showrunner Ryan Condal said in a featurette.
“But now he’s done it, and he has to decide whether or not he’s going to own it in his travel back to King’s Landing. Because obviously, if the usurping of the throne and them crowning Aegon in the dragon pit wasn’t the start of the war, certainly killing one of the queen’s sons is.”
“I think anyone who was wronged like Aemond was and has his eye taken out— you’re gonna feel some sort of hatred, whether its subconsciously or consciously, toward the person who did it,” Aemond actor Ewan Mitchell said in the featurette. “But what Aemond ends up doing in the skies above Storm’s End ultimately starts the domino effect of the Dance of the Dragons.”
‘House of the Dragon’ changes Lucerys’ death from the book
House of the Dragon slightly changes Lucerys death by making it an accidental act. In George R.R. Martin’s novel, things seem more intentional. Aemond and Lucerys meet on their dragons in the skies above Storm’s End. Some onlookers see distant blasts of fire above.
Days later, Arrax’s head and neck wash up on the shore, but Lucerys’ body is never found, though there are rumors that he miraculously survived. “Lucerys Velaryon died with his dragon, Munkun insists. This is undoubtedly correct,” the book reads.
“The prince was thirteen years of age. His body was never found. And with his death, the war of ravens and envoys and marriage pacts came to an end, and the war of fire and blood began in earnest.”
All episodes of House of the Dragon are currently streaming on HBO Max.
