The ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 finale, explained

This season on Home of the Dragon, we endured the horrors of Blood and Cheese, witnessed the pivotal battle of Rook’s Relaxation, and welcomed new dragonriders following the fiery Pink Sowing. Now, we come to the finale, and the outcomes are… a tad underwhelming.

Do not get me flawed, the Season 2 finale is under no circumstances a nasty episode of Home of the Dragon. That emotional reunion between Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) alone is price heaps and heaps of reward. Plus, there are many juicy lore tidbits that trace at massive issues forward for the present.

Sadly, when it comes to ending Season 2 with a bang, this finale fails to ship. It performs extra like a mid-season episode or a “next-on” trailer for Season 3 than a satisfying conclusion to Season 2.

It would not assist that probably the most thrilling footage from the finale’s trailer, together with marching armies, naval motion, and our first glimpse at Prince Daeron’s dragon Tessarion, have little or no bearing on the finale itself. They’re the definition of trailer fodder, and whereas they could have set expectations for an action-filled finale, the fact — like a lot of Home of the Dragon Season 2 — is a a lot slower, extra dialogue-driven affair. Fairly a little bit of it lands, whereas different components drag the momentum of what ought to have been a extra propulsive episode of TV.

Nonetheless, it is clear from this finale that Home of the Dragon is maneuvering itself into place for a number of key battles sooner or later. (However would any of them have labored higher as closers to Season 2? Completely.) From new political alliances to mysterious visions, let’s break down what occurs in Home of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale — and what it may imply for the long run.

Tyland Lannister has the worst time of his life in Essos.

Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Corridor) isn’t any stranger to bullying. Keep in mind his short-lived beef with child Jaehaerys in Season 2’s first episode, when the 2 dueled over his treasured Small Council ball? However Home of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale takes Tyland’s robust instances up a notch with a go to to Essos, the place he hopes to safe an alliance with the Triarchy on Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) orders.

Members of the Triarchy — representing the Free Cities of Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr — canine stroll Tyland throughout their negotiations. They get him to cede the Stepstones to them in change for his or her naval assist. It is definitely not the tradeoff Tyland would have wished, however no less than the Triarchy’s fleet can go break up the Velaryon blockade within the Gullet now, proper? Proper?

Not so quick! First, Tyland has to show himself to Lysene commander Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn). His trials — or actually, Lysene hazing — embody mud wrestling and singing for Lohar’s leisure. Don’t fret, although: Lohar takes an actual liking to Tyland, sufficient to ask him to impregnate his personal wives and pledge his navy to King’s Touchdown.

“To the Gullet on the morrow!” Lohar crows to his males. Sadly, the “morrow” for these characters is wanting extra like 2026 (or at any time when Season 3 comes out) for us, as we do not see any naval clashing this episode.

Tensions rise on Dragonstone and Driftmark.

Talking of the Gullet, let’s pop over to Dragonstone and Driftmark, the place battle is within the air. (However when is it not?)

On Driftmark, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) is able to be a part of the blockade on his mended warship the Sea Snake, which he is renamed the Queen Who By no means Was in honor of Princess Rhaenys (Eve Greatest). Becoming a member of him is his first mate and bastard son Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). But Alyn stays unenthused about his promotion.

In one of many finale’s greatest scenes, he breaks his characteristically stoic countenance to present Corlys a heartbreaking dressing-down. He particulars the struggles he and his brother Addam (Clinton Liberty) confronted of their youth, particularly when in comparison with the soft lifetime of Corlys’s trueborn son Laenor. The truth that Corlys solely turned to Alyn as soon as his respectable heirs have been useless can also be not misplaced on Alyn, who spurns any additional assist or favor from his father as they head off to battle.

Bastard tensions linger in Dragonstone as nicely. Freshly minted dragonrider Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) is a little too snug in his new function. He is placing his toes up on Dragonstone’s famed Painted Desk, ordering servants round, poking at Jacaerys’ (Harry Collett) illegitimacy — in brief, he is performing like he is king of the citadel. Final I checked, that was nonetheless Rhaenyra, Ulf! His fellow new dragonriders Addam and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) are much more respectful of Rhaenyra, however Ulf’s perspective already spells hassle for the following phases of Rhaenyra’s plan.

What’s that plan, precisely? Properly, now that Rhaenyra has much more dragons at her disposal than Aemond, she plans to face him head-on and take the Iron Throne. Nonetheless, an assault on King’s Touchdown would kill hundreds of innocents, sowing discord and worry throughout Westeros as a substitute of uniting the realm. This rigidity between placing for victory and risking pointless homicide is the dilemma Rhaenyra has been dealing with all season. It is why she did not retaliate additional after Jaehaerys’s loss of life, and why she waited so lengthy to unleash a dragon in fight.

Now she has all of the firepower wanted to finish the battle — however does she have the merciless streak to do it?

Aemond has a mood tantrum, and Alicent and Helaena need no a part of it.

Ewan Mitchell and Phia Saban in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton/HBO

As Staff Black rejoices of their three new dragonriders, Aemond is in shambles. He takes Vhagar on a joyride, with slightly aspect serving to of loss of life and destruction alongside the best way. The victims of Aemond’s rage? The whole city of Sharp Level, burned to a crisp, with no thought for the individuals who reside inside. (Or how the realm will react once they discover out of this slaughter.)

Aemond’s subsequent step to rally his dragonriders doesn’t go in accordance with plan. He turns to Helaena (Phia Saban), ordering her to fly Dreamfyre into battle. However as Rhaenyra stated earlier within the episode, Helaena has no style for dragonriding. She refuses to burn individuals, and Alicent would not need the perfect and most light member of her household to face any extra ache.

Not even threats from Aemond can change Helaena’s thoughts. As an alternative, she hits him with a one-two punch courtesy of her prescient dreaming capability. First, she tells him that she is aware of he burned Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) at Rook’s Relaxation. Then, she delivers a knockout within the type of a prophecy: Aegon shall be king once more sooner or later, whereas Aemond will die. “You might be swallowed up within the Gods Eye,” she tells him, referring to the big lake apart from Harrenhal.

Helaena’s phrases are in line with Aegon and Aemond’s fates in George R.R. Martin’s Fireplace & Blood, so except Home of the Dragon makes some stunning strikes, Helaena simply instructed us precisely what’s going to occur within the present’s subsequent seasons. If Aemond desires to outlive, perhaps he ought to heed his sister’s spoiler warning — though as she says when he threatens to kill her, it would not change something.

Daemon has one final Harrenhal imaginative and prescient — of Daenerys Targaryen herself.

Matt Smith in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton/HBO

Helaena’s dreaming powers are working additional time on this finale, as she additionally seems in a weirwood imaginative and prescient Daemon (Matt Smith) has at Harrenhal. However not like Daemon’s different visions, which he skilled involuntarily, this can be a imaginative and prescient he chooses.

Witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) guides him to Harrenhal’s weirwood tree in the midst of the evening, telling him how being at Harrenhal has opened him up, and the way he is realized he cannot merely bend the world to his will. Now, she gives him the selection to see the omens the world needs to present him. He accepts, and launches into the final — and trippiest — of his Season 2 visions.

Right here, he sees visions of battle and doom, together with the White Walkers main a military of loss of life. He additionally sees a pale-haired man (Joshua Ben-Tovim) sitting in a weirwood tree. A birthmark on his face morphs right into a three-eyed raven, implying that this man is Brynden Rivers, aka Bloodraven. A Targaryen bastard and former Commander of the Evening’s Watch, Brynden is most recognized to Sport of Thrones followers because the Three-Eyed Raven, Bran’s greenseer mentor.

However by far the buzziest Sport of Thrones reference in Daemon’s imaginative and prescient is the looks of none apart from Daenerys Targaryen herself, simply after the delivery of her three dragons. Her presence right here proves that Home Targaryen will persevere and stand in opposition to the specter of the Lengthy Evening, even when Daemon is unaware of the a long time of tragedy that can befall his Home between now and her delivery.

One final imaginative and prescient of Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne and a useful nudge from Helaena push Daemon to do what he ought to have carried out from the start of the battle: bend the knee to Rhaenyra. The selection is a product of all of the ghostly visits that got here earlier than this, during which younger Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell), and Viserys (Paddy Considine) pressured him to query his need for the crown. Now, understanding that Westeros wants somebody to unite the realm within the face of loss of life and destruction, Daemon is greater than prepared to face behind Rhaenyra. I am certain Willem Blackwood (Jack Parry-Jones) and the members of Home Bracken who suffered at his arms would have cherished for this resolution to return sooner, however higher late than by no means!

Alicent involves Rhaenyra with a game-changing proposal.

Olivia Cooke in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton/HBO

There aren’t any massive battles in Home of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale, however this last confrontation between Rhaenyra and Alicent cuts deeper than any knife.

After a season of being belittled and pushed to the aspect, Alicent has lastly realized the folly within the order that she fought so exhausting to uphold for all of her life. She by no means knew something however the responsibility Otto (Rhys Ifans) and the realm pressured upon her — what would she have chosen to do had she been in a position to reside her life any otherwise? She makes an attempt to make a daring new selection now, assembly Rhaenyra on Dragonstone to suggest a deal that might finish the battle.

At first, Rhaenyra would not need to hear it, rightfully stating Alicent’s hypocrisy. Alicent slandered Rhaenyra’s advantage, then later selected to take a lover when it suited her. Alicent kickstarted the battle by crowning Aegon and turned down Rhaenyra’s try and sue for peace. Now she desires to do the identical?

Nonetheless, Alicent’s proposal is simply too good for Rhaenyra to show down outright. When Aemond flies to Harrenhal, Alicent says, she’s going to give up King’s Touchdown to Rhaenyra. All she asks is that she and Helaena are in a position to go free. Rhaenyra accepts, on one situation: Alicent should give up Aegon to Rhaenyra. Solely his loss of life will actually safe her declare to the throne.

What follows is a heartbreaking silence as Alicent weighs her personal life, Helaena’s life, and the way forward for the realm in opposition to the lifetime of her eldest son. She tearfully nods, unable to even voice the settlement. The selection comes as considerably of a shock to Rhaenyra. “Historical past will paint you a villain,” she tells Alicent. But Alicent would not care, hoping to actually reside as herself for the primary time since her youth.

The whole scene is a full circle second for Rhaenyra and Alicent, who could have agreed on a plan of action however who might also by no means be farther aside when it comes to their relationship to energy and their locations on this battle. Alicent is at peace with giving up any of the ability she thought she as soon as held: Gone are her signature darkish inexperienced wardrobe and any symbols of the Religion of the Seven. As an alternative, she wears a brand new, lighter shade of blue, in line with the thought of rebirth we noticed when she swam in a lake in episode 7. In a pleasant element, we additionally see her nervously biting her nails, simply as younger Alicent (Emily Carey) did within the first few episodes of Home of the Dragon, suggesting that Alicent has reverted in some methods to her youthful self.

In the meantime, Rhaenyra stays squarely targeted on taking the Iron Throne, together with her insistence that Alicent select Aegon’s destiny performing as the final word energy play. It additionally calls to thoughts Jaehaerys’s homicide, particularly with the brutal return of the road, “a son for a son.” And whereas Alicent gladly relinquishes her spot within the historical past books, even asking Rhaenyra to return together with her, Rhaenyra stays firmly on the warpath. “Whether or not I’ll it or no,” she tells Alicent. The road suggests a reversal between the 2: Now it is Rhaenyra who’s given up selection, whereas Alicent is selecting to stroll away.

Nonetheless, regardless of all their variations, there is a heat between the 2 as they half methods, proof of the love they’ve at all times had for each other. Sadly, given the opposite many transferring items at play right here, it is fairly probably this duo’s plan in direction of peace will crumble proper initially of Season 3.

The board is about. The items are transferring. We simply have to attend till Season 3.

Tom Glynn-Carney and Matthew Needham in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Liam Daniel/HBO

The primary drawback with Alicent’s plan? Aegon is not in King’s Touchdown. Larys Sturdy (Matthew Needham) is smuggling him to Braavos, so there is not any means she may give him as much as Rhaenyra. There is no means Rhaenyra sees Aegon’s departure as something however a betrayal from Alicent, so think about that alliance toastier than certainly one of Vermithor’s Pink Sowing victims come Season 3.

Aegon and Larys’s street journey reveal is only one of many who comes within the montage that closes out Home of the Dragon Season 2. We additionally see varied armies marching in direction of the Riverlands for battle: the Hightower host rides with Daeron and his dragon Tessarion from Oldtown, the Winter Wolves cross the Twins on their means south, and the Lannisters are actually inside eyeshot of Harrenhal. On the naval aspect of issues, Tyland and Lohar sail in direction of the Gullet — presumably to interrupt the blockade “on the morrow” — whereas Corlys and Alyn trip out to hitch the struggle. Oh, and Otto’s in jail! And Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) has discovered the wild dragon within the Vale! And the brand new dragonriders are suiting up for the primary time!

It is a jam-packed montage that definitely teases massive issues to return in Season 3, however as an ending, it feels overstuffed and underdeveloped. Why could not Rhaena have gone on her dragon tenting journey in episode 7, proper after she left on her quest? Why aren’t we getting any motion regarding the blockade, particularly since that is a confrontation that is been teased because the very first episode of Season 2? Why do none of those arcs really feel totally accomplished?

Solely Daemon’s return to Rhaenyra and Rhaenyra’s relationship with Alicent really feel like they’ve reached their pure conclusion this season, and the finale chooses to concentrate on the latter as its last picture. Simply as it has been doing because the very begin of Season 2, Home of the Dragon locations Rhaenyra and Alicent in parallel. We see related photographs of them each from behind. Rhaenyra is framed by the cabinets holding the various historic scrolls and household information of Home Targaryen, whereas Alicent stands on a cliff edge at Dragonstone, watching the solar rise. One is now ceaselessly held throughout the framework of her Home and its nice historical past, whereas the opposite hopes for freedom.

In fact, that might all change on the morrow. (Or in Season 3.)

Home of the Dragon Season 2 is now streaming on Max.