In the very first shot of the latest trailer for House of the Dragon season 3, the camera pans over a field of dead bodies, ending with Daemon (Matt Smith) battering some schmuck in the mud. We’re then treated to images of people being stabbed, squished, and torched alive by dragons. Yep, this is a Game of Thrones show alright.
House of the Dragon continues the HBO franchise’s central theme, one straight from the George R. R. Martin books: the fight to rule tends to decimate those who would be ruled. But with its focus on best-friends turned rivals Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the show reminds us that things aren’t so great for the rulers either. As Alicent puts it in the trailer, “The crown is a weight that crushes.”
Apparently, that crushing came as a surprise to Rhaenyra, who is seen in the trailer finally laying claim to King’s Landing and fully asserting herself as the ruler of Westeros. Over images of her forces moving in and tearing down the green flags of the Hightowers, Rhaenyra declares that she will secure the city “without further bloodshed.” And how does she plan to do that? By threatening bloodshed for those who oppose her. Or, more accurately, by threatening to torch the opposition with dragons.
For Rhaenyra, that opposition stems entirely from her challenger to the throne, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), son of her father Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Alicent. Aegon has proven hard to kill, having survived even near-immolation from a dragon, but Rhaenyra remains convinced that if she can just get him out of the way, then the people will unite around her. She seems unaware of the building resentment among the people, particularly as she establishes her rule in King’s Landing, or the machinations of Aegon’s insane brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), who still rides the Queen of All Dragons, Vhagar.
