On 'House of the Dragon,' a 10-year time jump brought new actors and major new characters into the fold. Here's a guide to who's who and what's going on.
But if Rhaenyra’s kids have a problem with legitimacy, Alicent’s kids have a problem with temperament. Aegon, in particular, seems to toe the line between cocky teen and cruel bully, especially with a bitter Ser Criston Cole stirring up animosity by favoring Alicent’s boys over Rhaenyra’s in the training yard. Though Viserys may want his sons and grandsons to grow up as loving brothers-in-arms, right now that’s wishful thinking at best.But those aren’t the only new Targaryens in town.
At first, the problems in this Targaryen-Velaryon household are mostly interpersonal. Melancholy Daemon and homesick Laena have a loving but complicated marriage, while Rhaena feels like an outsider because her dragon egg never hatched, leaving her as the only non-dragonrider in her immediate family. But things take a turn for the tragic when Laena loses her life in childbirth , leaving Daemon and his daughters without the loving mother who held their family together.
, Laena is faced with a deadly childbirth scenario in which the baby simply won’t come. Unlike Aemma, however, the still-pregnant Laena chooses how she would like to die: in a fiery blaze of glory from Vhagar, the beloved dragon she claimed when she was 15 years old. "At my end I want to die a dragonrider’s death," Laena tells Daemon earlier in the episode. At least she gets that much.
Sadly, Harwin’s death lacks even that kind of agency. When his connection to Rhaenyra and her kids makes it untenable for him to remain in King’s Landing, he sets off to take his place at his family home of Harrenhal. Unfortunately, a deadly fire claims his life — along with the life of his father Lyonel Strong , the loyal Hand of King Viserys. And while the fire is publicly assumed to be an accident, the truth is far darker.
Larys’ murder plot not only makes him the new Lord of Harrenhal, it also gives him leverage over Alicent. Apparently Larys and the queen have been enjoying private dinners/rant-sessions these past 10 years. Only this time around, Larys decides to interpret Alicent’s off-handed wish that her father Ser Otto could return as Hand of the King as an order to kill off Lyonel. And that leaves the morally righteous Alicent absolutely aghast when she realizes what she’s gotten herself into.