\n\tSet 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, Season One of Ryan J. Condal and George R.R. Martin\u2019s prequel series established a growing rift within the all-powerful, all-blond, all-incestuous Targaryen clan. Without a male heir, King Viserys I named his daughter, Rhaenyra, as his successor to the Iron Throne. But things got thorny when he and his second wife, Alicent Hightower, gave birth to a son, Aegon. Further complicating matters is the fact that Rhaenyra and Alicent were childhood besties before her marriage to Viserys.<\/p>\n
\n\tBy the end of that first season, Viserys was dead and Aegon was sitting the Iron Throne thanks to a lot of scheming and a major miscommunication. With her striving uncle\/husband, Daemon, and their children in tow, Rhaenyra fled to Dragonstone to plot their next move. The finale culminated in the murder of Rhaenyra\u2019s son Lucerys at the hands and claws of Alicent\u2019s son Aemond and his mega-dragon. With the two sides set against each other, Westeros stood poised on the brink of a brutal civil war.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHBO<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Two was in some ways a quieter affair, but it set the stakes sky-high for Season Three, which kicks off on June 21. Considering it\u2019s been two years since we last caught up with Targaryens, you\u2019d be forgiven for being a little hazy on the details. We\u2019ve got you covered with this rundown of where the major players stand.<\/p>\n
\t\tRhaenyra Targaryen\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Season Two premiere found the exiled queen (Emma D\u2019Arcy) quietly mourning her son\u2019s death. Unlike a certain Mother of Dragons, Rhaenyra isn\u2019t the type to transmute grief into slaughter. But she winds up villainized all the same after she\u2019s blamed for the brutal murder of Aegon\u2019s young son, Jaehaerys \u2014 which is actually Daemon\u2019s (Matt Smith) fault. Determined to prevent more deaths, Rhaenyra sneaks into King\u2019s Landing to confer with Alicent (Olivia Cooke); but they both acknowledge that it\u2019s too late to un-ring the bells of war.<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n
\n\tNext, Rhaenyra turns to the pressing task of finding more dragonriders to join her cause. But when the death lizards fricassee every nobleman sent their way, the queen realizes that the only people her scaly kids will accept are those with the blood of the dragon. After mounting a search for every Targaryen bastard in the Southron, she winds up with a trio of rough \u2019n\u2019 ready smallfolk who may or may not make reliable allies. But since she needs those dragon WMDs on her side, beggars can\u2019t be choosers.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: With both sides\u2019 armies on the march and dragons on the wing, can Rhaenyra stick to her commitment to minimize bloodshed? With so much firepower and such high stakes at play, mass casualties seem all but unavoidable.<\/p>\n
\t\tDaemon Targaryen\t<\/p>\n
\n\tViserys\u2019 younger brother doesn\u2019t have a legitimate claim to the Iron Throne, but when has that ever stopped a Targaryen? Miffed at Rhaenyra and ravenous for power, Daemon flies off to Harrenhal to secure the loyalty of the Rivermen \u2014 nominally for his wife, but really for himself. He quickly learns that when you set up shop in a cursed, haunted castle, things don\u2019t go as planned. Each night, he\u2019s plagued by visions of himself doing very normal stuff like beheading Rhaenyra, sleeping with his mother, and being visited by Viserys\u2019 ghost (Paddy Considine).<\/p>\n
\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tMatt Smith looking chill as Daemon Targaryen.<\/p>\n
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\n\tThe Prince Consort is also having a hard time winning the Rivermen to his side; turns out that no one wants to pledge fealty to the guy who murdered his own grandson. But with the reluctant help of Oscar Tully (Archie Barns), the tween lord of the Riverlands, he gets his army. On the brink of his march to King\u2019s Landing, the Three-Eyed Raven pulls him into a vision of things to come\u2014fire, blood, White Walkers, Daenerys Targaryen. It\u2019s just the ego death he needs to realize that he\u2019s a tiny part of a much bigger story. And when Rhaenyra arrives to chew him out, he doesn\u2019t hesitate to bend the knee.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: As anyone who\u2019s tripped on shrooms knows, psychedelic epiphanies only take you so far. If Daemon makes it into the Red Keep first, will he truly be able to hold himself back from parking his keester on the Iron Throne?<\/p>\n
\t\tAlicent Hightower\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Dowager Queen may have been responsible for setting the war in motion, but she\u2019s the least interested in fighting it. Unlike her best frenemy Rhaenyra, Alicent never wanted to play the game of thrones. And over the course of Season Two, she realizes that it\u2019s actually the game that\u2019s been playing her, ever since her scheming father, Otto (Rhys Ifans), forced her to marry a man twice her age.<\/p>\n
\n\tOnce Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) becomes king, she finds herself with even less power than she already had: Her eldest son is a childish, selfish cad with no interest in overseeing the realm. And when Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) violently maims his brother, it\u2019s the last straw for Alicent. All she wants is to disappear into the forest and never think about the line of succession again.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith nothing left to lose, she shows up at Rhaenyra\u2019s doorstep and offers to orchestrate a bloodless coup in exchange for her freedom. The two share a bittersweet exchange that lays bare both the ways they\u2019ve hurt each other and the ways they\u2019ll always love each other. Alicent asks Rhaenyra to run away with her, but this is where their paths diverge: For one, sovereignty is a cage; for the other, it\u2019s a duty. When Rhaenyra says that her ascension to the throne will mean Aegon\u2019s execution, Alicent reluctantly agrees. It\u2019s the last resort of a desperate woman, but it\u2019s also a signal that perhaps this friendship runs thicker than blood.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: When Alicent confesses her wish to disappear into obscurity, Rhaenyra tells her, \u201cYou speak as if from a distant dream.\u201d If Rhaenyra ascends to power, will it actually be feasible for her to let her old friend go free, or will the new queen\u2019s bannermen demand retribution?<\/p>\n
\t\tAegon, Aemond, and Helaena Targaryen\t<\/p>\n
\n\tAegon may be a drunken, misogynistic fool, but Aemond is a straight-up monster. During a skirmish with Rhaenyra\u2019s forces, Aemond takes advantage of the fog of war to take his brother down, killing his dragon and leaving Aegon severely disabled. Back in the Red Keep, Aemond convinces the Small Council to name him Prince Regent and begins laying waste to the countryside astride the largest dragon in Westeros.<\/p>\n
\n\tMeanwhile, Aegon is bedridden and in agony. With his mother fled and his brother poised to murder him in his sleep, Aegon\u2019s only ally is his conniving Master of Whisperers, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). The king is borderline suicidal, but Larys argues that his story isn\u2019t over yet: All he has to do is cool his heels in Braavos while Rhaenyra and Aemond rip each other to pieces. Then, once the smoke clears, he can return as a savior and retake his crown.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs ever, Alicent\u2019s strange, gentle daughter, Helaena (Phia Saban), wants no part of the drama. The impossible choice she\u2019s forced to make early in the season \u2014 which of her two children will die \u2014 has set her even further adrift from reality. But that only heightens her ability to peer into the future. And like Cassandra, no one wants to hear about it \u2014 least of all when she tells Aemond that he\u2019s doomed to die and Aegon will ultimately retake the throne. There\u2019s also the matter of her dragon, Dreamfyre, whom she refuses to ride into battle no matter how much Aemond threatens her life.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning questions: Despite his ruthless determination, Aemond is a hard sell as king. Even if he defeats Rhaenyra\u2019s forces, how long will the citizens of the Realm put up with his wanton cruelty? Though Aegon successfully escaped Westeros, with his despair running so deep, can he really hold on long enough to wait out the war? Finally, Helaena doesn\u2019t seem long for this world. Alicent begs her daughter to join her in exile, but Helaena doesn\u2019t seem to be particularly concerned whether she lives or dies. Will she make it through the war to come?<\/p>\n
\t\tCorlys Velaryon\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Sea Snake (Steve Toussaint) has been Rhaenyra\u2019s staunchest ally since the very beginning; but he\u2019s knocked sideways by the untimely death of his beloved wife, Rhaenys (Eve Best). In honor of her sacrifice, he agrees to become Hand of the Queen, backing up Rhaenyra whenever her bannermen question her judgment. When lowborn shipwright Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) becomes a dragonrider, Corlys must contend with the reality that Addam and his brother, Alyn (Abubakar Salim), are his bastard sons. When Corlys makes the latter his first mate, Alyn takes his father to task for leaving him and his brother to suffer in poverty.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: Over the last two seasons, the Sea Snake has lost his two children and his wife. With only his granddaughters left to call family, will he accept Addam and Alyn as his true sons?<\/p>\n
\t\tJacaerys Velaryon\t<\/p>\n
\n\tRhaenyra\u2019s eldest son (Harry Collett) spends most of Season Two in a sulk, but it\u2019s kind of hard to blame him. Not only is his brother dead, but his mom is bringing Targaryen bastards into the fold while refusing to grapple with the fact that he himself is a Targaryen bastard. Rhaenyra assures him that her newly minted dragonriders won\u2019t try to usurp his place as her heir, but he isn\u2019t convinced. But after a talking-to from his wife\/cousin\/half-sister Baela (Bethany Antonia), Jace falls in line and helps to ensure that his mom\u2019s \u201carmy of bastards\u201d fall in line.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: Jace\u2019s fear of what the upstart dragonriders might do with their newfound power \u2014 particularly the boorish, disrespectful Ulf (Tom Bennett) \u2014 isn\u2019t unfounded. Will Ulf turn on Rhaenyra, proving Jace\u2019s misgivings true?<\/p>\n
\t\tTyland Lannister\t<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of House of the Dragon\u2019s biggest shortcomings is that, unlike Game of Thrones, the show\u2019s got zero sense of humor. Enter Master of Ships Tyland (Jefferson Hall), who finds himself thrust into an action-comedy after Aemond dispatches him to Tyrosh to recruit the fearsome Triarchy. But being an ambassador to Essos comes with his own set of rules \u2014 which is how Tyland winds up wrestling in a mud pit with Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn), the female commander of the Triarchy fleet who will only agree to his terms if he pins her in a fight. He may or may not have agreed to make babies with Lohar\u2019s wives, but either way, the Greens have a brand new fleet.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: Under Lohar\u2019s chaotic sway, will Tyland abandon his staunch Casterly Rock\u2013bred values and go full native? We sure hope so.<\/p>\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n
\t\tWesteros\t<\/p>\n
\n\tBy the end of Season Two, all the pieces are laid out on the Cyvasse board: the Blacks\u2019 three new dragonriders; Daemon and the Rivermen; the Sea Snake\u2019s ships; Tyland and the Triarchy fleet; assorted Lannisters, Starks, and Hightowers; and Aegon and Larys bound for Essos. The finale also throws in a couple of wildcards: Baela\u2019s sister Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), who finally finds a dragon of her own after days of searching; and Otto Hightower, exiled and imprisoned. The score crescendos on twin shots of Rhaenyra and Alicent, dwarfed by the vastness of their tasks as they gaze off into the uncertain future.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeason Three burning question: What will the Seven Kingdoms look like once the dust has settled? Only the Three-Eyed Raven knows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the fantasy worlds in film, television, and literature, none are more brutal than Westeros. Life is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,10526,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-508276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-house-of-the-dragon","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}