At the time, she gets no answer from Viserys. Earlier in the episode, Rhaenyra asks her brain-addled father if he still believes in Aegon the Conqueror’s prophecy about “the prince who was promised,” meant to unite the realms of men against an unknown evil gathering in the north. When Alicent is alone again with her husband, the dying king makes a declaration that stands to ruin the very fragile peace between the queen and princess Rhaenyra. Meanwhile, back in his room, Viserys rests in bed, on the verge of resting in peace. Aemond One-Eye ( Ewan Mitchell), who has apparently claimed the word “nephews” in addition to the dragon Vhagar, goads the Velaryon brothers Jace and Luke into violence, mocking them as “Strong boys.” The mood is well and truly ruined, with Rhaenyra realizing King’s Landing is still not safe for her family, and might never be safe if this is what happens the moment her father leaves the room. The howls echo through the rest of the feast. The king’s illness kicks back in, forcing him to retire for the night, howling in pain. There’s music, there’s dancing, even Otto Hightower does a weird little celebratory golf clap… a good time is had by all! Even ex-best friends Rhaenyra and Alicent have kind words for one another, and it seems like they mean them, with hope for a renewed friendship between the estranged princess and queen flickering with life for the first time in years. They raise their glasses, toasting to the recent betrothal of the Velaryon brothers Jace ( Harry Collett) and Luke to their (deep sigh) cousins and step-sisters Baela ( Bethany Antonia) and Rhaena ( Phoebe Campbell). At the king’s aforementioned urging, the family makes nice with one another.
With a mostly-headless Vaemond wasting away in the morgue and the matter of Driftmark officially settled, King Viserys’s family circles up for dinner. Vaemond’s death is a gruesome image, one that rivals Viserys’s own gruesome appearance, but it’s not so disturbing as to ruin the extended House Targaryen’s appetite. Instead, Daemon cuts Vaemond’s head clean off from his lower jaw and up, leaving his dead tongue wagging in the breeze. This time, for Vaemond, he loses much more than that. The last time someone made such a public accusation, that person lost an eye. Except, that’s not that for Vaemond, who loudly shouts down the king and names the Velaryon boys as bastards. In any event, Viserys himself acknowledges the inevitable in this episode, gathering his entire family together for one final feast and one last attempt at peace.ĭoubled over in pain, walking with a cane, and wearing a mask that makes him look one part Crabfeeder, one part Crypt Keeper, and one part Phantom of the Opera, Viserys takes the Iron Throne and resettles the matter for all to see: Luke Velaryon is heir of Driftmark, and that’s that. It’s implied Viserys has either drawn his final breath, or is about to. The bedridden, broken-bodied king is barely breathing in the last scene of the episode, grasping skyward and speaking at ghosts we can’t see. The surprise is that through eight episodes and two decades worth of story, the increasingly ill Viserys is still alive-barely standing, sure, but still standing all the same.Īt least, that’s the case until the final moments of “The Lord of the Tides,” House of the Dragon’s eighth episode, directed by Geeta V. The surprise is not that Viserys will someday die, leaving his daughter Rhaenyra ( Emma D’Arcy) and wife Alicent ( Olivia Cooke) to duke it out over who gets to sit on the Iron Throne.
Given the show’s built-in premise about succession, and given the franchise’s violent history toward its own protagonists, the death of King Viserys Targaryen has felt like a guaranteed outcome since the very first trailer, let alone the very first frame of the series. From the death of Sean Bean’s top-billed character Ned Stark onward, Thrones viewers knew to expect the unexpected at every turn, with no character too safe to die.įor its part, House of the Dragon has taken a different tact with the actor at the top of the call sheet, Paddy Considine. One episode removed from the end of its first season, Game of Thrones loudly announced its cruel intentions for the audience, by chopping off the apparent main character’s head.
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