Is this possible? Is there really a civil war missing in the world of ‘Game Of Thrones: House Of The Dragon’ because of a misunderstanding? We recap: In the final scene of episode 8, “The Lord of the Tides”, lies King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) is dying and speaks one last time about the prophecy “A Song of Ice and Fire”, which his ancestor Aegon I made. It says that a threat will come to the North – as we know from “Game Of Thrones”, it will be the White Walkers. Westeros must be saved by the “Prince Who Was Promised.”
Like the showrunners Miguel Sapochnik And Ryan Condal in the “Inside The Episode” video for episode 8 to confirmViserys thinks he is talking to his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). It’s a continuation of the conversation they had earlier in the episode about the prophecy. Rhaenyra asks him if he believes the prophecy is true and if she should really bear this burden. And it is only when he dies that Viserys is moved to answer. But it’s not Rhaenyra who sits at his bedside, but his wife Alicent (Olivia Cooke) – and she’s never heard of this prophecy, so she has no idea what Viserys is talking about.
All Alicent gets from his last words is something about “Aegon”, a prince who must unite the empire, and “it is you, you are the promise”. The words are addressed to Rhaenyra – but Alicent refers them to her son Aegon (Tom Glynn Carney). She has never heard of the prophecy, but King Viserys told her about it around the campfire while he was hunting deer dream in which he with the conqueror’s crown…
Alicent hears what she wants to hear
It is therefore not entirely illogical that Alicent believes that Viserys is talking about Prince Aegon – after all, she only knows Viserys’ dream and not that of King Aegon I – and therefore speaks out in favor of Aegon’s coronation, after she has literally met Rhaenyra spoken. a few hours earlier she had said she would make a good queen. So does the HBO series actually go the route of attributing the civil war called ‘Dance of the Dragons’ to a stupid misunderstanding?
We believe: No. Even if this misunderstanding had not occurred, the power-seeking Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) would have found a way to turn and manipulate Alicent against Rhaenyra again. It wouldn’t be the first time. And other Green Party supporters who oppose a woman as heir to the throne would also continue to advise Alicent toward having her son Aegon crowned for the good of the people.
And last but not least, Alicent may have simply heard what she wanted to hear: knowing full well that a dying man filled with poppy flower juice was probably already speaking in delirium, she interpreted his words in the way that best suited her. . One dinner in which (almost) everyone forgets their arguments for a moment does not simply erase half a life full of anger, resentment and disappointments.
The fact that ‘House Of The Dragon’ incorporates this misunderstanding surrounding Aegon’s prophecy, which does not appear in George RR Martin’s book ‘Fire and Blood’, is probably intended to give Alicent a somewhat understandable reason after her peace offer to Rhaenyra. to turn on her stepdaughter again.
The series always tries to make the characters seem more sympathetic in some way than in the book – For example, Daemon (Matt Smith) and Rhaenyra are not guilty of the murder of Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan), and Rhaenyra explains in the series that she only fathered children with another man because things didn’t work out with Laenor.
Viserys’ last words: “My love”
But who are Viserys’ very last words to as he lies alone in bed, reaches out his hand and the screen goes black? The king murmurs, “My love.” By this he can actually only mean his first wife Aemma. He always remembered his love for her, kissed her wedding ring in episode 7 and even called his wife Alicent Aemma. Now Viserys is reunited with her in death.