The House of the Dragon first season finale finally arrived, delivering everything we’ve anticipated from a Game of Thrones finale. If you watched and haven’t already experienced heartbreak, you might want to get checked out because you’re probably dead inside.
The theme of responsibility and carrying one’s weight was heavily emphasized in “The Black Queen,” which mostly focused on Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) rise to prominence as a contentious queen during times of conflict and also on her second child, Lucerys Velaryon, who is obligated to inherit Driftmark and was wrestling with that thought at the start of the episode. Sadly, he didn’t have time to accept his burden.
We will talk about the ending of House Of The Dragon played out in George RR Martin’s book. The are some similarities between the show ending and the bookend, but there are also some major changes. And the book readers were just waiting to see how the show would handle Lucerys’ death. Here is the House Of The Dragon Season 1 Ending According To Books:
House Of The Dragon Season 1 Show Ending
In an effort to avoid taking the initiative and spare lives from being lost, Rhaenyra summons her council on Dragonstone because the very real possibility of war in Westeros is looming. In an effort to assume greater responsibility.
Her boys Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Lucerys offer to lead a tour of the most significant castles in the Seven Kingdoms and inform the ladies and lords of the fealty they promised to Rhaenyra as the successor to the Iron Throne. While Jace is traveling up north, Luke only needs to make a quick roundtrip to Storm’s End to meet Lord Borros Baratheon for a treat, but he never returns.
At Storm’s End, Luke was received with hostility by Lord Borros, who was already hosting another guest: Aemond Targaryen, the person whose eye Luke had stabbed all of those years ago in the “Driftmark” episode. Aemond is so wicked that he taunts Lucerys and chases the young prince as he runs.
Luke heroically and skillfully leads Arrax, his dragon, through the constant storm that engulfs the Stormlands, but he is killed when Vhagar disobeys Aemond and murders the young Velaryon and his mount. Aemond watches in horror as his cruel joke completely fails and ignites the war.
House Of The Dragon Season 1 Ending According To Books
There are some differences between George R.R. Martin’s books and House of the dragon’s account of this ending, which is described in Fire & Blood. However, their essence is the same across both mediums.
According to the stories of Archmaester Gyldayn and the fool Mushroom in the book, Rhaenyra also begged her sons to avoid fighting and made them swear it in front of The Seven-Pointed Star, the bible of the Faith in the A Song of Ice and Fire world.
Being young and still forming his relationship with his dragon, Arrax, Lucerys was expected to return from Storm’s End early. Additionally, his mother expected a kind greeting from Lord Burros, who she believed would be honored to entertain a royal prince in his halls.
However, Rhaenyra misjudged Borros’ pride, and her strategy failed. Borros was furious to witness Lucerys represent his mother as an envoy while bringing no offerings. When the prince was asked which one of his daughters Lucerys would want to marry, he said that he couldn’t because he was already engaged to Rhaena Targaryen, a cousin of the prince.
Borros sent the young boy back right away to inform his mother “not to have assumed the lord of Storm’s End to serve like a dog.” It didn’t matter to Borros that his late dad, Lord Boremund, had taken a pledge to support Rhaenyra because he was really proud, maybe if Lucerys had shown up sooner.
He hadn’t, though. Unfortunately, Aemond Targaryen had already made a commitment to marry Maris Baratheon and was there at Storm’s End. After Lucerys was denied by Borros, Aemond rushed after him, saying that he owed a duty and should surrender either his eye or his life. He also revealed the sapphire he had implanted in his eye socket after losing his eyeball to the young prince years earlier.
Lord Borros decided to intervene and had Lucerys carried back to Arrax as Aemond went to ask him for his leave. The Targaryen prince pursued his nephew after being mocked by Maris, who asked him whether Luke had “taken his balls” in addition to the eye. The Lord of Storm’s End had previously stated that he didn’t really care what Aemond did outside of his halls.
How Aemond Killed Lucerys In The Books?
Although the actual battle is not described in Fire & Blood, there are many different accounts of it. The most significant fact is that Vhagar appears to have carried out Aemond’s orders and purposefully killed Lucerys and his dragon.
Even though Luke and Arrax were faster than Aemond and Vhagar in the air, the storm hampered their progress. Gyldayn stated that “if there had been a battle, it couldn’t have lasted long” because the smaller dragon had difficulty fighting in such circumstances and was up against the five times larger Vhagar.
Three days later, the head and neck of Arrax washed ashore on the shores of Storm’s End, but Lucerys’ corpse was never found. Aemond supposedly discovered his nephew’s body and amputated its eyes so he could show it to Maris Baratheon, according to Mushroom, although Gyldayn disputes that claim.
Other accounts claim that Lucerys survived the battle but was completely blind, going on to live a humble life as a fisherman without any recollection of being devoured whole by Vhagar. Once more, these are just rumors.
The fact that Lucerys’s death served as the fuel for the Dance of Dragons to start was retained from the original plot in the books. When Aemond arrived back in King’s Landing, Queen Alicent Hightower was horrified to hear that her own son had killed Lucerys.
Even his grandfather, the ambitious Hand of King Otto Hightower, was surprised and asked Aemond how he could have been so blind given that he had “just lost one eye.” But his brother, King Aegon II, was pleased and held a feast to celebrate the start of the war.
Different Perspectives In The Books
Fire & Blood is virtually the complete opposite of House of the Dragon, which has a plot that is heavily centered on characters. The book mostly relies on the accounts of two characters to tell the tale of the Targaryen rule and the Dance of Dragons: court fool Mushroom and Archmaester Gyldayn. Gyldayn, a reputable historian, collected numerous stories and accounts from other Maesters in his work.
Mushroom, who played the fool on Viserys’, Aegon II’s, and Aegon III’s courts, had a more realistic perspective on the events. Being personal and both reports cannot be trusted.
It makes sense that the way in which Lucerys’ death is shown in the series would be very different from how it is described in the book. We must see how events actually transpired as we follow the characters personally in order for the show to move forward.
They all have backstories and complete character arcs, so we must understand the greater picture once the piece is put together. Even though we have only spent a relatively brief total of four episodes with Lucerys and Aemond, we are familiar with both of their character’s skills and flaws. What remains to be seen is how Lucerys’ story, which was drastically shortened, will affect Aemond’s future in Season 2.
Thoughts On The House Of The Dragon Season 1 Finale
House of the Dragon Season 1 comes to a thrilling conclusion with some fantastic dragon action and everything falling into place just so for the impending war. This is all about establishing the stage and getting ready for what’s to come, much the same as Game of Thrones season 1, and it’s actually great to discover a series such as this that doesn’t just attempt to squeeze in action scenes for the sake of keeping its viewers interested.
The final scene with Luke’s death is probably going to mark the tipping point where things go from being peaceful to all-out bloodshed in the struggle for this realm. The war is set to take a very ugly turn. You can sense that Westeros is approaching a day of reckoning and that it will elegantly appear in season 2.
This season’s finale is the ideal example of high-quality television. A politically charged story with strong characters, an intriguing subject, and no-nonsense audience treatment. Even though it’s far from flawless, House of the Dragon was one of the year’s biggest surprises.
Also Read: House Of The Dragon Season 1 Deleted Scenes And Two Deleted Endings
