House of the Dragon season three’s second episode starts off with some serious heartbreak. Rhaenyra is parsing through the demise of her son Jace, who died in the Battle of the Gullet. She’s angry and lashing out at everyone, and understandably no longer focused on her plan to take King’s Landing. It seems that no one will be able to motivate her into getting back into the game… well, except one person. Enter Daemon Targaryen, her husband who has been determined to see her sit on the Iron Throne since he saw those visions of Daenerys last season. And, it is that vision about the song of fire and ice that re-ignites Rhaenyra and leads her to seizing the opportunity to claim the Iron Throne.
Daemon receives a letter informing him that Jace is dead. The next move is to fly to King’s Landing with Rhaenyra and take the Iron Throne in Aemond and Vhagar’s absence. He returns home to find Rhaenyra in bed grieving and, in true Daemon fashion, he starts to talk her into chaos. She questions if it is worth losing her sons to sit upon a throne and Daemon counters, saying that they cannot let them die in vain. He begins to speak in High Valyrian and tells her about the in-depth visions that he saw while in Harrenhal.
In case you forgot, last season, Daemon saw his own descendent Daenerys Targaryen hatching three dragons from the flames. And, he also saw that all of that will only be possible if Rhaenyra, not himself, sits on the Iron Throne.
I saw it, Rhaenyra. At Harrenhal. The darkness in the north. The Song of Fire and Ice. I saw a girl with silver hair in a desert far away. And there were dragons at her breast… But if it is real, what my brother told you… If it were true, what then would you do?
Of course, the girl with the silver hair is when Daenerys emerges from the fire with her dragons in Game of Thrones and earns her moniker “the unburnt.” This speech from Daemon, combined with reminding Rhaenyra of Viserys’ promise and vision, is enough to make her want to rise from bed and seize the throne.
And, well, she does indeed do that but it is with a cost in many ways. She severs the head of Otto Hightower, who manipulated his daughter and grandsons’ path into power, only for Alicent to show up and see her father’s headless body on the floor. Yep, it’s pretty messy.
It is nice to see the interconnectedness between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon despite the stories taking place hundreds of years apart. The choices that Rhaenyra makes will certainly impact the legacy of the Targaryens and set the course for what we’ve seen with Daenerys.