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Warning: Thi list contains spoilers for House of the Dragon.The climactic finale of House of the Dragon lived up to expectations, with revealing character moments, more book clarifications, and the first dragon confrontation in the series. The line has been drawn for the Dance of the Dragons to begin, and fans are already eagerly awaiting season 2.
While the wait time may be longer than some hoped, season 1’s episodes have offered up a ton for fans to break down and discuss. Redditors have been active throughout the season, and have left many funny or insightful reactions to the finale.
Storm’s End
Redditor CakeBossUltimate gave their take on the look of Storm’s End in the finale. “Storms End lived up to its name. Fantastic set design and cinematography,” they say. The castle was mentioned multiple times in Game of Thrones, but the seat of House Baratheon is never visited.
The castle has always been one of the more intriguing locations in Westeros. Its construction seems to have some mystical element, having been described by Melisandre as having “dark walls that no shadow can pass, ancient, forgotten, yet still in place.” The sight in episode 10 truly lived up to this image, with the added weather element capturing the fantastical nature of the castle.
Alicent’s Reaction
The final two episodes of the season each offered an opposing perspective to the brewing conflict. Because of this, Alicent Hightower did not have any scenes in episode 10, and her reaction to the news of her son killing Lucerys is unknown.
“She probably only likes Helena now out of all of her kids,” jokes Redditor Dovahgereas, as fans have already witnessed Alicent giving Aegon a piece of her mind. With her intentions of keeping the peace, Aemond’s reckless and irresponsible move will be incredibly frustrating for her, as everyone knows they’ve reached the point of no return. Many will be looking forward to Aemond’s scolding in Season 2. Despite this, Aemond remains one of Alicent’s greatest allies.
Vhagar’s Size
“Vhagar is so big she’s taller than the castle walls just lying there,” notes user DragonOnPoopsies, commenting on Vhagar’s massive size in comparison to the walls of Storm’s End, and to the much smaller Arrax. It can be hard to tell the shear size of a dragon just from their
Among all the dragons in House of the Dragon, Vhagar is the most physically imposing specimen alive at this time, making Aemond such a threat for the Greens. Seeing the short dragon chase will have many looking forward to seeing how Vhagar confronts a more even match.
Dragonstone Map Features
One fan commented on the lit-up table map in Dragonstone. “Damn, no one told Stannis he could light up the map,” they joke, regarding the usage of the same table over a century later by Stannis Baratheon and then Daenerys Targaryen. The usage of the historic castle and some of the same halls and rooms was a great way to bridge the continuity between shows.
Like with the decoration in the Red Keep, the changes made to Dragonstone offer an interesting twist to familiarities from Game of Thrones. Some Redditors joked that the option to light up the map still existed, but that it would have been in Stannis’ character to not want to waste time on doing so.
Vengeance For Vaemond
Redditor radio__raheem commented on the return of Corlys Velaryon, saying “love how Corlys was ready to avenge his brother for all of 3.6 seconds.” The return of Corlys and his announcement to align himself and Princess Rhaenys with the Blacks was one of the high points of the episode, despite him quickly passing over the news of his brother’s death.
Luckily for Daemon and his alliance, Corlys does not hold a grudge on this matter, knowing well how Vaemond would’ve acted. To Corlys, the idea of protecting his still living relatives is far more important, with the hopes of carrying on his house’s name. The rational decision-making by Corlys is why he’s one of the smartest House of the Dragon characters.
Aemond’s Eye
The casting for the season has been exceptional, and one Redditor specifically notes the show’s success with Aemond. “I gotta say, Aemond’s sapphire eye looks sick,” commenting on the confrontation in Storm’s End, where Aemond removes his patch and shows the blue gem holding the place of his eye.
Aemond Targaryen losing his eye was one of the most shocking moments of House of the Dragon season 1, creating a deadly conflict between him and Lucerys. The late-season development quickly turned him into one of the most appealing characters in the series, with many excited about his continued villainy.
Accidental Kill
Some fans found Aemond’s loss of control of Vhagar, and the accidental killing of Lucerys to be absurdly comedic. Redditor bears2267 jokes “I know Aemond’s ride home on Vhagar was dead silent like me and my dad driving back home from a little league game where I struck out 5 times.” While Aemond’s reaction was quite amusing, it also brought up an interesting dynamic in question, about who is actually in control between the dragon and the rider.
Aemond can’t exactly scold Vhagar too much for disobeying him, as even though he controls the reins, she’s still in complete power. The return to King’s Landing likely left him with a lot to ponder about how to break the news to his family.
Viserys’ Wisdom
One fan simply quoted Viserys Targaryen. He spoke earlier in the season about the idea of Targaryen control over dragons being an illusion, alluding to the fact that even though the dragons were tamable, they could never be completely controlled. Redditor bobbimorses responds to this, saying “I looooooved that we ended the season on this intense reminder of what exactly is being unleashed in a dragon war.”
Much like in Game of Thrones, the conflict between the wealthy politicians of Westeros will cause the kingdom to suffer greatly. The Riverlands were crippled by the War of Five Kings, and these themes will likely carry over as dragon fire begins to lay havoc on the realm. Even with humans mounting them, the dragons are the real power, and their destruction is inevitable.
Winter Is Coming
The assembly of the Black Council discussing potential diplomacy with the Vale and North left many excited to return to these familiar Game of Thrones locations, and meet more distant relatives. “Way to get me hyped to see a familiar family one more time. Gimme some Cregan Stark!” says user SerDire.
Cregan Stark is meant to be a young man, leaving many fans excited for an announcement of his casting. The role of the noble houses of Westeros will be important in the Dance of the Dragons, so a number of new characters will likely appear throughout the second season.
Many fans commented on the extra scenes and dialogue Lucerys Velaryon had before his death in the finale. “They went the walking dead route of giving him more dialogue scenes when he normally didn’t get to say much which is always a bad sign of what’s to come,” noted user Kidney05, commenting on the cliché of giving a character who is about to die extra scenes to make their passing more notable.
In truth, Lucerys was not too important for most of the season, so the extra attention and long goodbye scene from his mother may have been a dead giveaway that he was about to perish. By the time he flew off into the storm, many fans had predicted he would not return.