Can HOTD finally bring the heat? 7 things we want to see in the House Of The Dragon finale

Here's how we’d like to see House Of The Dragon wrap up its first season

TV Features Matt Smith
Can HOTD finally bring the heat? 7 things we want to see in the House Of The Dragon finale
Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy Image: Ollie Upton/HBO

There’s only one episode left in the first season of House Of The Dragon, and by now we know the characters and the world well enough to have some idea of what we want from the finale. It’s been a season of ups and downs, time jumps and catch-ups, incest, murder, and terrible wigs. What more could we ask for? Plenty.

In the penultimate episode, “The Green Council,” Alicent’s faction gained the upper hand following the death of King Viserys, by virtue of proximity. They were the first to find out he’d died, and Hand of the King Otto Hightower already had a plan in place to ensure Aegon’s ascension. While Rhaenyra and company were on their way back to Dragonstone, unaware that anything had changed, Otto was plotting their murder and a hasty coronation for his grandson. Said coronation nearly went off without a hitch, and even Rhaenys crashing the party on her dragon Meleys couldn’t stop the proceedings. So now we have Aegon II, Second of his Name, seated on the Iron Throne instead of Viserys’ legitimate heir. And everyone’s just going to go along and be cool with it, right? Yeah, not this family.

A lot of this season felt like a prologue, building up to something big. All that setup finally paid off in “The Green Council,” so we expect the next one will keep that momentum going. Bear in mind that these aren’t necessarily predictions or spoilers, just speculation. If you’ve read Fire And Blood, the book that inspired the series, you may think you have some idea of what happens next, but the showrunners have proven they’re willing to go in a different direction when they feel the story calls for it, so we may be in for a few surprises. And if some of these don’t come to pass in the episode, there’s always season two.

previous arrow7. A sign that the White Worm lives next arrow
7. A sign that the White Worm lives
Sonoya Mizuno Image Ollie Upton/HBO

Although we saw her establishment burning at the end of episode nine, we refuse to believe that Mysaria is dead. We don’t know much about her, except that she’s a cunning spy and a survivor. While we were distracted by the Targaryen family drama, she’s been secretly keeping tabs on everything that’s been going on inside the keep all season. She helped Otto in his search for Aegon (though Alicent still found him first), but her loyalty clearly doesn’t lie with him. She’s an advocate for the smallfolk and she’ll side with whoever is more likely to improve their lives. The show needs someone like that, and we’d be sorry to see Sonoya Mizuno go. Another season would give her more time to work on the accent, too. She also plays a part in the war to come in the books, so it’s a good bet she’ll show up later—we’d just like to get some hint of that by the time the season ends.

10 Comments

  • unicornonketamine-av says:

    “And if something don’t come to pass” “You shall not pass.”Gandalf.https://decider.com/2022/10/14/rings-of-power-episode-8-recap-alloyed/Well. Why can’t we live together?
    Tell me why? Tell me why?Why can’t we live together? And God said: let there be social media. and there was Twitter. Fuck It. Why do we have to have an opinion on anything? Identity is a fickle thing.There Can Be Only One,Why do I have to hate watch everything?FOMOBreak Stuff. Have at it.Random rulesKetamine is a bitch.
    Umm, why can’t we live together?

  • iambrett-av says:

    Speaking of Daemon’s reaction, I wonder if we’re going to get “Blood” and “Cheese”. 

    • badkuchikopi-av says:

      I’d assumed this would be in the season two premier. But now that they’ve torched Mysaria’s place, maybe. 

  • iwontlosethisone-av says:

    Not sure how much we’ll get in the finale but when I think about an upcoming “dance,” I’m struck that we haven’t had much foreshadowing that I can recall in either series about how dragon fighting goes other than the ice dragon thing. Do normal dragons of a house/family naturally like each other? Do they naturally hate all other dragons? Are they just mindless weapons that attack anything they are pointed at? Do they need to be lead by riders (or “mothers”) or do they form their own alliances or join others? I know they are smart with some weird loyalty rules so I assume not like cavalry horses but are they just going to start dracarysing each other? I don’t really want the answer from book readers but I wish they gave us more perspective on what the prospect of dragon riders vs. dragon riders means. Maybe we’re going to spend part of next season on this before any real aerial action.

    • dirtside-av says:

      It’d be interesting to game out out how medieval-style warfare would change when dragons are involved; but the show so far hasn’t put any effort into telling us what that might be, and this world’s depiction of militaries doesn’t make a whole lot of sense anyway. The one real battle sequence we’ve seen (when Daemon finally takes out the Crabfeeder) was typical TV-warfare nonsense (the usual “big disorganized melee where everyone is hacking at each other” that essentially never happened in the real world, mainly because soldiers are not suicidal morons). I fully expect whatever they end up doing to look “cool” (e.g. dragons fire-strafing crowds of CGI extras) but make very little sense.

      • atheissimo-av says:

        Yeesh, don’t remind me. I’m no armchair general, but I can still remember scoffing at Dany sending all her cavalry charging off into the darkness into an enemy they couldn’t see – with predictable results.

  • blueayou2-av says:

    Am I the only one who thinks Matt Smith is giving a pretty bland performance as Daemon? People keep talking about his charisma and I feel like I’m losing my mind. He looks bored. The guy who plays Aemond is giving a much more detailed and magnetically unnerving turn, conveying that sense capriciousness I’m pretty sure we’re meant to be heeding from Daemon. Hell the actor who played Vaemond managed to capture my attention more in the 5 seconds of screentime he had. I still think Milly Alcock was the best pairing of actor and character we’ve had on this show, and it’s really suffering without the center provided by her gravitational force. Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans just aren’t being given the tools they need. Olivia Cooke and Emma D’Arcy are doing their damndest, but something that I can’t quite put my finger on just isn’t clicking. I’m not invested in their relationship. I’m not compelled by their interior conflicts. Maybe it’s that the presentation of their childhood friendship and subsequent falling out was too broad and hasty. Maybe it’s that this show isn’t great at fleshing the psychology of it’s characters beyond the recognizable Game of Thrones-ian archetypes they’re meant to evoke. 

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