In House of the Dragon (HOTD) Season 2, Episode 4, titled A Dance of Dragons, fans were treated to intense action sequences. The episode provided the first major death in the ongoing war between team green and team black. Amidst the chaos, the biggest mystery now revolves around whether King Aegon, Alicent’s son, is truly dead. In George RR Martin’s book Fire and Blood, Aegon survives the battle.
In the episode, Ser Criston Cole diverts from the plan to seize Harrenhal and heads to Rook’s Rest, with the strategy to trap one of Rhaenyra’s dragons. The plan succeeds when Rhaenys volunteers to fight for Team Black with her dragon. Meanwhile, Aegon arrives on his dragon, Sunfyre, with Aemond on Vhagar. The battle intensifies as Vhagar takes down both Sunfyre and Meleys. The fight ends tragically with Rhaenys and Meleys confirmed dead. The episode closes with Aemond and Ser Criston discovering Aegon’s body, but the viewer’s aren’t sure if the young king is dead or live.
As per Fire and Blood, Cole and Aemond’s plan was to simply eliminate Rhaenyra’s dragons using Vhagar. However, Aegon, who is not originally part of the plan, gets severely injured due to his foolish actions. Initially, Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre struggle against Rhaenys and Meleys, before Aemond and Vhagar join the battle. The dragon battle ends after Vhagar attack both Meleys and Sunfyre from above. Surprisingly, Sunfyre and Aegon manage to survive the brutal attack.
After the fall, Aegon suffers from shattered hip, ribs and severe burns from his burned armour. According to George RR Martin, Aegon’s burns were so heartbreaking that he reportedly wished for death. His injuries forced him yearlong bed rest and as a result, Aemond took over the role of Prince Regent to fulfill Aegon’s duties in his absence.
After years of recovery from his injuries, Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre eventually meet their end in another battle.
Talking about the episode, Alan Taylor in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly shared, “The more I read the script, the more I realized it’s not really a battle. It’s something else. It’s an army attacking a castle, but the castle is never the point. It’s all a ruse to draw out a dragon. The challenge was to shake the story momentum, given that you’re pretending to do one thing but actually doing something else. And when the dragons turn up, it really becomes about them.”
House of the Dragon season 2 stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Milly Alcock, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell and Olivia Cooke.
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