“The Targaryen who sits on the throne is not just a queen or a king. They are a protector of the Realm”, explains Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) in voiceover. “I now find myself in an impossible position,” she continues.
Poor Rhaenyra, a victim of sexism resentment, and envy. It’s not like Rhaenys (Eve Best) didn’t warn you. “The enemy has usurped my Throne”, we see Rhaneyra speaking to Rhaenys, accompanied by her son, Jacaerys (Harry Collett).
The final trailer for the second season of House of the Dragon was released almost a month before the premiere and although fans were excited, there was already controversy on the networks. There are character changes, there is little use of music, and there are doubts. I loved it. Yes, I wanted to hear the theme of the series, but I always like it when they avoid obviousness. Let’s go frame by frame?
The pieces are organized on the board: the recap before the analysis
In the first season, we saw how the game for the Iron Throne was developing, with Otto Hightower (Rhys Iphans) being the most cunning and strategic player of all. While everyone dealt with immediate facts, he prepared for the long – and ugly – game, placing Alicent (Olivia Cooke) early on at the heart of the Targaryen succession.
If the King had sons, she could marry the heir. She was already Princess Rhaenyra’s best friend and when Viserys I (Paddy Considine) was widowed, she became the ideal candidate to replace the late Raina Aemma Arryn. Bearing four children for Viserys, three of them men (we only saw two), Alicent fulfilled her role with submission and perfection. What Otto didn’t count on was that Viserys would keep Rhaenyra as his successor even after having sons, so the division between Blacks and Greens began earlier than expected.
As we know, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) killed his nephew Lucaerys by accident, but in doing so he anticipated the bloodshed between relatives. If we combine the teaser with the trailer, we will see that we will have the passage from the book in which Otto and Alicent despair over the murder of Rhaenyra’s son, but Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) celebrate.
The second season will begin immediately after this tragic event and the trailer starts after what we saw in the teaser, in December 2023.
In the teaser, we see how Luce’s death devastates Rhaenyra and a sequence of incredible battles. In the trailer, we go a little further.
Frame by Frame: what they reveal to us
Daemon’s (Matt Smith) entry into an empty throne room could be both the end of the season and a moment in the beginning, as we saw in images in the promotional videos that he personally goes to King’s Landing to deal with revenge for his stepson’s death.
In the images that cover Rhaenyra’s off-screen explanation of the sovereign’s role, we have images of the empty throne and Daemon looking at it, of Jacaerys with Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) at the Wall, of Rhaenyra entering a place that appears to be the chapel where he prayed with Alicent (is this a scene from the season finale?), as well as an aerial image of King’s Landing.
The shots cut with the hands of the population, a dragon flying over a forest, Rhaenyra in Dragonstone, looking at the horizon (an Easter egg in honor of Daenerys).
Cut to the arrogant Aegon II entering the throne room and surrounded by his friends, singing “All Hail King Aegon”, with everyone bowing to the King of the Greens.
“The enemy has usurped my Throne,” Rhaenyra says to Rhaenys at what appears to be Lucaerys’s funeral. Where in the other trailer completes with the outburst of “My father chose me, he kept his decision until his death, yet it is Alicent’s son who is sitting on my Throne”, she growls.
We know from the same trailer that the Queen Who Never Was will comment that “When the desire to kill and burn takes over and the reason is forgotten, not even we will remember the reason for the War”.
The images of Rhaenyra looking at the swords and armor in a room, wielding one of them, reinforce her intention to obtain her Crown with blood.
“We’re going to King’s Landing”, appears Daemon, agreeing with Rhaenys.
The anticipation of Blood and Cheese
There are two major turning points in the story, both at this stage and both tragic. When the trailer cuts from Daemon and Rhaenys to the Council of Greens with an angry Aegon demanding “Well, what are we going to do about this?” it could be about Daemon taking Harrenhall or already his hatred for the murder of his children by Blood and Cheese. I bet on the first. In the Greens trailer, we know how eager he is for War.
Another aerial image of the Red Keep, with Alicent next to Aemond looking down on the population. “We must play the board before us,” Otto tells his daughter in another council scene.
“Proceed with caution,” Alicent urges Aegon, with Criston Cole clearly disagreeing.
“Fuck dignity”, Aegon responds to Aemond in another scene.
“I want revenge,” he announces.
Well, both sides believe they are wronged!
Another aerial sequence of armies arriving at a castle, with Lannister soldiers at the front.
A sequence of the Rook’s Nest forest with a dragon flying over.
“News spread across the land”, warns Otto to his grandson. “The big houses will come our way,” he explains. We see Cole’s physical proximity to Aegon’s side, sharing the rejection of the Hand of the King’s diplomatic plan. Here will be the sequence in which Otto will be removed from his position in favor of Cole, as we see.
More aerial footage of soldiers marching and footage of the battle of Rook’s Nest.
“I didn’t think they’d be so eager to die,” we hear Daemon casually comment as he drinks wine at the Council of Blacks, with Rhaenyra looking at him sternly.
We see Corlys Velaryon’s (Steve Touissant) ships disembarking in some port. “My ships are at your command,” he tells Rhaenyra, looking haggard.
The image of Myraxes with Daemon in his armor clearly arrives at Harrenhal despite being an internal image. “The kingdom’s only hope lies in a leader strong enough to unite it,” he says, apparently doubting Rhaenyra and suggesting he should be King.
“Do you accept me as your queen and ruler?” Rhaenyra asks her uncle-husband in Dragonstone in what may or may not be the same scene. There’s no answer, just Rhaenyra’s worried look.
It cuts to Aegon riding Sunfyre, ready for the battle of Rook’s Nest, flying over King’s Landing and the soldiers approaching the castle.
A dismayed Alicent, in the Red Keep, says “This senseless war must end”, she pleads with Aemond, shocked by her mother responding indignantly: “Wouldn’t you like us to prevail?” to which she responds “Not like that!”.
We see a glimpse of a Myraxes at Harrenhal, on a stormy night.
Alicent is praying and we hear her son Aemond complain, “Alicent loves our enemy,” cutting to Rhaenyra at Lucaerys’ funeral, suggesting that the emotional conflict of these once-friendly queens is still an issue on both sides. “That makes her a fool,” adds Aemond, sitting in a room talking to Cole.
We cut to the North, with the Starks’ men marching. And we return to Jacaerys with Cregan on the wall. This is when Jace will learn of the threat of the White Walkers.
Rook’s Nest promises to be the Battle of the Bastards of the season
Now cut to the battlefield in Rooks Nest. With Rhaenys and Meleys chasing Criston Cole who heads into the woods.
We cut to Rhaenyra crying and distressed by something she heard and Aegon devastated by the news of the death of his children, with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) saying “The external enemy can be fought with swords” cutting to the sad image of the brothers’ clash Cargill twins with Larys completing “the enemy within is more insidious”.
The image of Daemon in what appears to be the corridors of the Red Keep frighteningly suggests his more direct participation in the death of his great-nephews. We cut to Aemond, naked, lying on a bed and waking up. Will we prove the theory of the paternity of Helaena’s children?
A gloved hand closes, and feet walk between bodies in the night. We cut to the sea and we get the first image of Allyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim).
An image of what appears to be a party and I suspect it is Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), we cut to a distressed Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) looking up at the sky and then we go to Baelar (Bethany Antonia) in Rooks Nest.
“There is more than one way to fight a war”, we hear Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) advise, confirming what I have already mentioned before, the evil strategists are the supporting characters Mysaria and Larys Strong, the Masters of Sighs for the Blacks and the Greens, respectively.
Then we see images (from afar) of Blood and Cheese, with the hand of Mysaria paying one of the two for the service.
We see that there is a scene of a woman who looks like Aemma Arryn in bed, but the hand on her neck appears to be Daemon’s so… what does that mean??
Cutting to the knife in Cheese’s (or Blood’s) hand, and the population of King’s Landing revolted by hunger, with Helaena and Alicent running from the crowd in the middle. of the funeral.
We return to the battle of Rook’s Nest and it promises to be incredible. Rhaenys and Meleys hover over the battle, with Aemond and Vhagar attacking.
“War is coming,” says Rhaenyra’s voice, “and none of us can win,” she acknowledges in an image of her at the head of Vemithor.
And now?
Conclusion
Of everything they wanted to show us, the biggest episode will be the battle of Rooks Nest. There will be violent moments like Cheese and Blood, but it will be this confrontation that House of Dragon bets on as the turning point for the series.
There will also be mutual suspicions between the Blacks and the Greens about Rhaenyra and Alicent’s intentions, which leaves many people suspicious that they can make some kind of agreement.
The great suspense about what Daemon Targaryen really wants remains. His relationship with Rhaenyra is not one of love, but they insist on focusing on her insecurity about his desire to take her place.
Everyone thinks that Daemon wants the Iron Throne, but it seems to me that it is not this that moves him, but his feeling of superiority and he resents his wife, as he resented his brother, the lack of “trust” in him and in the decisions he makes, generally aggressive. Unfortunately, we know that their relationship will deteriorate even more as the conflict progresses, but in the books, Daemon fights for Rhaenyra until the end, without ever questioning his Queen.
We missed hearing the theme of the series or even Game of Thrones, but the trailer proves the production quality, which is incredible. 32 days left. Now it will look like it will drag!
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