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

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

Don’t get me wrong, the Season 2 finale is by no means a bad episode of House of the Dragon. That emotional reunion between Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) alone is worth heaps and heaps of praise. Plus, there are plenty of juicy lore tidbits that hint at big things ahead for the show.

Unfortunately, in terms of ending Season 2 with a bang, this finale fails to deliver. It plays more like a mid-season episode or a “next-on” trailer for Season 3 than a satisfying conclusion to Season 2.

It doesn’t help that the most exciting footage from the finale’s trailer, including marching armies, naval action, and our first glimpse at Prince Daeron’s dragon Tessarion, have very little bearing on the finale itself. They’re the definition of trailer fodder, and while they may have set expectations for an action-filled finale, the reality — like much of House of the Dragon Season 2 — is a much slower, more dialogue-driven affair. Quite a bit of it lands, while other parts drag the momentum of what should have been a more propulsive episode of TV.

Still, it’s clear from this finale that House of the Dragon is maneuvering itself into place for several key battles in the future. (But would any of them have worked better as closers to Season 2? Absolutely.) From new political alliances to mysterious visions, let’s break down what happens in House of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale — and what it could mean for the future.

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

Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) is no stranger to bullying. Remember his short-lived beef with baby Jaehaerys in Season 2’s first episode, when the two dueled over his precious Small Council ball? But House of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale takes Tyland’s tough times up a notch with a visit to Essos, where he hopes to secure an alliance with the Triarchy on Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) orders.

Members of the Triarchy — representing the Free Cities of Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr — dog walk Tyland during their negotiations. They get him to cede the Stepstones to them in exchange for their naval support. It’s certainly not the tradeoff Tyland would have wanted, but at least the Triarchy’s fleet can go break up the Velaryon blockade in the Gullet now, right? Right?

Not so fast! First, Tyland has to prove himself to Lysene commander Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn). His trials — or really, Lysene hazing — include mud wrestling and singing for Lohar’s entertainment. Don’t worry, though: Lohar takes a real liking to Tyland, enough to ask him to impregnate his own wives and pledge his navy to King’s Landing.

“To the Gullet on the morrow!” Lohar crows to his men. Unfortunately, the “morrow” for these characters is looking more like 2026 (or whenever Season 3 comes out) for us, as we don’t see any naval clashing this episode.

Tensions rise on Dragonstone and Driftmark.

Clinton Liberty, Harry Collett, Emma D’Arcy, Bethany Antonia, Kieran Bew, and Tom Bennett in “House of the Dragons.”
Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO

Speaking of the Gullet, let’s pop over to Dragonstone and Driftmark, where war is in the air. (But when is it not?)

On Driftmark, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) is ready to join the blockade on his mended warship the Sea Snake, which he’s renamed the Queen Who Never Was in honor of Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best). Joining him is his first mate and bastard son Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). Yet Alyn remains unenthused about his promotion.

In one of the finale’s best scenes, he breaks his characteristically stoic countenance to give Corlys a heartbreaking dressing-down. He details the struggles he and his brother Addam (Clinton Liberty) faced in their youth, especially when compared to the cushy life of Corlys’s trueborn son Laenor. The fact that Corlys only turned to Alyn once his legitimate heirs were dead is also not lost on Alyn, who spurns any further help or favor from his father as they head off to war.

Bastard tensions linger in Dragonstone as well. Freshly minted dragonrider Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) is a little too comfortable in his new role. He’s putting his feet up on Dragonstone’s famed Painted Table, ordering servants around, poking at Jacaerys’ (Harry Collett) illegitimacy — in short, he’s acting like he’s king of the castle. Last I checked, that was still Rhaenyra, Ulf! His fellow new dragonriders Addam and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) are far more respectful of Rhaenyra, but Ulf’s attitude already spells trouble for the next stages of Rhaenyra’s plan.

What is that plan, exactly? Well, now that Rhaenyra has far more dragons at her disposal than Aemond, she plans to face him head-on and take the Iron Throne. However, an attack on King’s Landing would kill thousands of innocents, sowing discord and fear across Westeros instead of uniting the realm. This tension between striking for victory and risking needless murder is the dilemma Rhaenyra has been facing all season. It’s why she didn’t retaliate further after Jaehaerys’s death, and why she waited so long to unleash a dragon in combat.

Now she has all the firepower needed to end the war — but does she have the cruel streak to do it?

Aemond has a temper tantrum, and Alicent and Helaena want no part of it.

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

As Team Black rejoices in their three new dragonriders, Aemond is in shambles. He takes Vhagar on a joyride, with a little side helping of death and destruction along the way. The victims of Aemond’s rage? The entire town of Sharp Point, burned to a crisp, with no thought for the people who live within. (Or how the realm will react when they find out of this slaughter.)

Aemond’s next step to rally his dragonriders does not go according to plan. He turns to Helaena (Phia Saban), ordering her to fly Dreamfyre into battle. But as Rhaenyra said earlier in the episode, Helaena has no taste for dragonriding. She refuses to burn people, and Alicent doesn’t want the best and most gentle member of her family to face any more pain.

Not even threats from Aemond can change Helaena’s mind. Instead, she hits him with a one-two punch courtesy of her prescient dreaming ability. First, she tells him that she knows he burned Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) at Rook’s Rest. Then, she delivers a knockout in the form of a prophecy: Aegon will be king again in the future, while Aemond will die. “You are swallowed up in the Gods Eye,” she tells him, referring to the large lake besides Harrenhal.

Helaena’s words are consistent with Aegon and Aemond’s fates in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, so unless House of the Dragon makes some surprising moves, Helaena just told us exactly what will happen in the show’s next seasons. If Aemond wants to survive, maybe he should heed his sister’s spoiler warning — although as she says when he threatens to kill her, it wouldn’t change anything.

Daemon has one last Harrenhal vision — of Daenerys Targaryen herself.

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

Helaena’s dreaming powers are working overtime in this finale, as she also appears in a weirwood vision Daemon (Matt Smith) has at Harrenhal. But unlike Daemon’s other visions, which he experienced involuntarily, this is a vision he chooses.

Witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) guides him to Harrenhal’s weirwood tree in the middle of the night, telling him how being at Harrenhal has opened him up, and how he’s realized he can’t simply bend the world to his will. Now, she offers him the choice to see the omens the world wishes to give him. He accepts, and launches into the last — and trippiest — of his Season 2 visions.

Here, he sees visions of war and doom, including the White Walkers leading an army of death. He also sees a pale-haired man (Joshua Ben-Tovim) sitting in a weirwood tree. A birthmark on his face morphs into a three-eyed raven, implying that this man is Brynden Rivers, aka Bloodraven. A Targaryen bastard and former Commander of the Night’s Watch, Brynden is most known to Game of Thrones fans as the Three-Eyed Raven, Bran’s greenseer mentor.

But by far the buzziest Game of Thrones reference in Daemon’s vision is the appearance of none other than Daenerys Targaryen herself, just after the birth of her three dragons. Her presence here proves that House Targaryen will persevere and stand against the threat of the Long Night, even if Daemon is unaware of the decades of tragedy that will befall his House between now and her birth.

One last vision of Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne and a helpful nudge from Helaena push Daemon to do what he should have done from the beginning of the war: bend the knee to Rhaenyra. The choice is a product of all the ghostly visits that came before this, in which young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell), and Viserys (Paddy Considine) forced him to question his desire for the crown. Now, knowing that Westeros needs someone to unite the realm in the face of death and destruction, Daemon is more than ready to stand behind Rhaenyra. I’m sure Willem Blackwood (Jack Parry-Jones) and the members of House Bracken who suffered at his hands would have loved for this decision to come sooner, but better late than never!

Alicent comes to Rhaenyra with a game-changing proposal.

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

There are no big battles in House of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale, but this final confrontation between Rhaenyra and Alicent cuts deeper than any knife.

After a season of being belittled and pushed to the side, Alicent has finally realized the folly in the order that she fought so hard to uphold for all of her life. She never knew anything but the duty Otto (Rhys Ifans) and the realm forced upon her — what would she have chosen to do had she been able to live her life any differently? She attempts to make a bold new choice now, meeting Rhaenyra on Dragonstone to propose a deal that could end the war.

At first, Rhaenyra doesn’t want to hear it, rightfully pointing out Alicent’s hypocrisy. Alicent slandered Rhaenyra’s virtue, then later chose to take a lover when it suited her. Alicent kickstarted the war by crowning Aegon and turned down Rhaenyra’s attempt to sue for peace. Now she wants to do the same?

However, Alicent’s proposal is too good for Rhaenyra to turn down outright. When Aemond flies to Harrenhal, Alicent says, she will surrender King’s Landing to Rhaenyra. All she asks is that she and Helaena are able to go free. Rhaenyra accepts, on one condition: Alicent must surrender Aegon to Rhaenyra. Only his death will truly secure her claim to the throne.

What follows is a heartbreaking silence as Alicent weighs her own life, Helaena’s life, and the future of the realm against the life of her eldest son. She tearfully nods, unable to even voice the agreement. The choice comes as somewhat of a surprise to Rhaenyra. “History will paint you a villain,” she tells Alicent. Yet Alicent doesn’t care, hoping to truly live as herself for the first time since her youth.

The entire scene is a full circle moment for Rhaenyra and Alicent, who may have agreed on a course of action but who may also never be farther apart in terms of their relationship to power and their places in this war. Alicent is at peace with giving up any of the power she thought she once held: Gone are her signature dark green wardrobe and any symbols of the Faith of the Seven. Instead, she wears a new, lighter shade of blue, consistent with the idea of rebirth we saw when she swam in a lake in episode 7. In a nice detail, we also see her nervously biting her nails, just as young Alicent (Emily Carey) did in the first few episodes of House of the Dragon, suggesting that Alicent has reverted in some ways to her younger self.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra remains squarely focused on taking the Iron Throne, with her insistence that Alicent choose Aegon’s fate acting as the ultimate power play. It also calls to mind Jaehaerys’s murder, especially with the brutal return of the line, “a son for a son.” And while Alicent gladly relinquishes her spot in the history books, even asking Rhaenyra to come with her, Rhaenyra remains firmly on the warpath. “Whether I will it or no,” she tells Alicent. The line suggests a reversal between the two: Now it’s Rhaenyra who’s given up choice, while Alicent is choosing to walk away.

Still, despite all their differences, there’s a warmth between the two as they part ways, proof of the love they’ve always had for one another. Unfortunately, given the other many moving pieces at play here, it’s quite likely this duo’s plan towards peace will fall apart right at the start of Season 3.

The board is set. The pieces are moving. We just have to wait until Season 3.

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

The first problem with Alicent’s plan? Aegon is no longer in King’s Landing. Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) is smuggling him to Braavos, so there’s no way she can give him up to Rhaenyra. There’s no way Rhaenyra sees Aegon’s departure as anything but a betrayal from Alicent, so consider that alliance toastier than one of Vermithor’s Red Sowing victims come Season 3.

Aegon and Larys’s road trip reveal is just one of many that comes in the montage that closes out House of the Dragon Season 2. We also see various armies marching towards the Riverlands for battle: the Hightower host rides with Daeron and his dragon Tessarion from Oldtown, the Winter Wolves cross the Twins on their way south, and the Lannisters are now within eyeshot of Harrenhal. On the naval side of things, Tyland and Lohar sail towards the Gullet — presumably to break the blockade “on the morrow” — while Corlys and Alyn ride out to join the fight. Oh, and Otto’s in jail! And Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) has found the wild dragon in the Vale! And the new dragonriders are suiting up for the first time!

It’s a jam-packed montage that certainly teases big things to come in Season 3, but as an ending, it feels overstuffed and underdeveloped. Why couldn’t Rhaena have gone on her dragon camping trip in episode 7, right after she left on her quest? Why aren’t we getting any action concerning the blockade, especially since that’s a confrontation that’s been teased since the very first episode of Season 2? Why do none of these arcs feel fully completed?

Only Daemon’s return to Rhaenyra and Rhaenyra’s relationship with Alicent feel like they’ve reached their natural conclusion this season, and the finale chooses to focus on the latter as its final image. Just as it’s been doing since the very start of Season 2, House of the Dragon places Rhaenyra and Alicent in parallel. We see similar shots of them both from behind. Rhaenyra is framed by the shelves holding the many historical scrolls and family records of House Targaryen, while Alicent stands on a cliff edge at Dragonstone, watching the sun rise. One is now forever held within the framework of her House and its great history, while the other hopes for freedom.

Of course, that could all change on the morrow. (Or in Season 3.)

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