This post contains major spoilers for House of the Dragon season three, episode five. If you want to avoid them like fire and blood, for now you can instead check out our coverage of episode four.
An awkward moment in House of the Dragon‘s “Tumbleton” suggested Queen Helaena Targaryen is pregnant. Season three’s fifth episode has confirmed she is indeed with child. Under normal circumstances, that would be a reason for her family to celebrate. During the Dance of the Dragons it’s anything but. Her half-sister Rhaenyra is intent on killing any possible male heirs who threaten her rule, both now and in the future. It’s why Alicent pushed her daughter to drink moon tea and abort the pregnancy. Helaena’s refusal led the two to try and escape. It didn’t work, but it did reveal just how dire the situation is for both Helaena and Rhaenyra.
House of the Dragon confirmed Helaena’s pregnancy, which would account for her missing third child. Her and Aegon’s youngest, Maelor—-already a toddler at this point in Fire & Blood—was cut from the show, much to George R.R. Martin’s frustration. Alicent doesn’t want her daughter to give birth. She had her friend Grand Maester Orwyle secretly brew some moon tea, which he delivered without informing Rhaenyra. Orwyle was happy to help, but said this would be the last time he could do so without telling the new Queen. Alicent believes that if Helaena has a boy, Rhaenyra will have it killed immediately or, even worse, use it as a shield against Aemond or any other green loyalists. Rhaenyra will likely do that even if it’s a girl.
An angry Helaena, who is neurodivergent and does not often speak up for herself or even raise her voice, refused. She wouldn’t drink the moon tea and screamed, “It’s mine! It’s my own! It’s mine!”
Before she did, she also reminded viewers she has a foresight into events she shouldn’t be able to know about. She told her mother Aemond is still at Harrenhal even though Vhagar is not. She also said her brother “burns” without fire, a reference to the nightmares plaguing him in the haunted keep. Helaena’s visions raise the possibility she has had a vision of a bright and happy future for her child. Or it could mean the opposite, that this unborn baby and its unknown fate represent the only chance she has at any happiness.
She has already lost her son Prince Jaehaerys, and her mother Alicent is now willing to sacrifice her granddaughter Jaehaera so her and Helaena can escape King’s Landing. The dowager Queen’s plan to escape involved leaving the little princess behind. Running and hiding is much harder with a toddler. And while there was some truth to what Alicent said, that a princess posed no threat to Rhaenyra and being a ward of the crown might be the safest place for Jaehaera, she didn’t fully believe it. Helaena knew she was lying initially, but agreed to the plan when her mother said a servant would meet them with Jaehaera when they tried to flee.
They didn’t get far. Mysaria’s spies in the Red Keep informed her of Orwyle’s secret visit. Alicent showed he had only brought moon tea. Alicent lied and said it was because Helaena is sick with digestive issues. But when Mysaria pointed out the goblet was still full Alicent pretended it was for herself and drank it. A skeptical White Worm accepted the story, but she remained vigilant. When Alicent tried to buy her and her daughter their freedom via a handmaid she bribed with her gold necklace, Mysaria was waiting for them in the hallway.
Mysaria then knew the truth without question about Helaena being pregnant, but Alicent stopped her from telling Rhaenyra. She pointed out no one had to know anything, that nothing had changed. Rhaenyra would still do what she would do when she eventually fell out. What would change was Mysaria’s place with House Hightower. If Rhaenyra is to falter in her reign, the Hightowers will rule again. And then Mysaria will have done that family—the family that once burned down her brothel even after she’d given them a missing Aegon following his father’s death–a favor. Mysaria, a master of self-preservation, did exactly that. She kept both Alicent’s ecsape attempt and Helaena’s pregnancy a secret. At least for now.
Getting caught didn’t stop Alicent from trying to run when an unexpected opportunity to escape presented itself. The cats Rhaenyra has catching all the mice in the Red Keep revealed a hidden passage in the room where her and Helaena are kept in under guard. They are the same hidden tunnels Blood and Cheese used the night they killed little Jaehaerys. Alicent and Helaena entered them with nothing more than lanterns and hope. They even closed their room door behind them so no one could follow. But they reached a dead end. Someone bricked off the tunnel trapping them (almost certainly temporarily) in the walls.
Who bricked it up and why? Was it Mysaria? Daemon? Larys before he left with Aegon? The better question is why did someone do it? It might have been to prevent the two women from leaving. Or it might have been to keep them safe. That secret passage already claimed one of Helaena’s children. Closing it off might be what keeps the pregnant Queen alive now.
If that’s true, it means someone with intimate knowledge of the Red Keep is working against Rhaenyra. But once Rhaenyra finds out Helaena is pregnant, there might not be anything that can keep her safe. Not that King’s Landing is safe for any of the three queens who now call it home.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He admired that brickwork in the tunnel. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.