The queens made their own moves. Into the finals House of the Dragon In the second season, “The Queen Who Was,” Team Black and Team Blue rally their armies as the widowed Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) meet again in secret. During their fateful meeting, Alicent makes Rhaenyra an offer she cannot refuse—but at a great cost to the widowed queen.
Before Alicent and Rhaenyra’s secret meeting, both queens were preparing for the great war to (finally) begin. After receiving a raven from Simon Knight (Simon Russell Beale) doubting Daemon’s loyalty, Rhaenyra flew to Harrenhal to see for herself whether Daemon was loyal. Fortunately, Alice Rivers (Gayle Rankin) has granted Daemon (Carpenter) a vision of the future—including white walkers, war, and even the mother of dragons Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clark)—which inspired him to swear fealty to Rhaenyra and abandon his dreams of claiming the Iron Throne.
As Daemon and his army prepare to fight for the Black Company, the Blue Company receives a new group of soldiers funded by Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) and his mud-wrestling talents. Tyland convinced the Triarchy to pledge their men to King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and the Blue Team, but only if he beats Lohar (Abigail Thorne), the eccentric leader of the gladiators. After an epic mud wrestling match, Lohar pledges all their men to join the Blue Team and, as a reward, they like Tyland so much that they ask him for another favor: “I want you to have sex with my wife,” Lohar says.
While Tyland is asked to bear children, Alicent is asked to sacrifice one of hers. In echoes of their secret meeting in episode threeAlicent arrives at Dragonstone to plead with Rhaenyra to stop the brewing war. Alicent tells Rhaenyra that she no longer wants her family to rule Westeros, and offers Rhaenyra the chance to go to King’s Landing and seize the Iron Throne without bloodshed or battle. Rhaenyra points out that if she takes the throne, she will be forced to publicly depose and kill King Aegon II—Alicent’s eldest son. In a moment of grief, Alicent is forced to make a decision: will she sacrifice her son for the good of the realm? At the end of their conversation, it appears that Alicent has agreed to Rhaenyra’s terms, and she leaves Dragonstone with the understanding that she has sentenced Aegon to death.
What Alicent did not know was that the crippled Aegon was no longer in King’s Landing. After being humiliated by Rhaenyra’s new, inferior dragonriders, a disgraced Prince Regent Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) unleashed his fury on innocent people, burning down the entire village of Sharp Point with his dragon Vhagar. The prince regent’s war path inspired Larys (Matthew Needham) to tell Aegon that it was time to flee the Red Keep. “The Prince Regent will kill you,” Larys told the bedridden and heartbroken Aegon. And with that, the unlikely pair set out across the narrow sea from King’s Landing.
The season two finale left more questions than answers. Which army prevails, the Black or the Green? What will Rhaenyra and Alicent do if they arrive at King’s Landing and find Aegon has fled? Will Rhaenyra’s new dragonriders be loyal to her? We won’t know until next season. has been renewed House of the Dragon back to HBO.
