Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: HBO (Ollie Upton, Theo Whiteman)
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Spoilers follow for the second season of House of the Dragon. The third season premieres June 21 on HBO.
Team Green or Team Black? The marketing for HBO’s House of the Dragon has been asking that for years now — remember 2024, when season two came out? — as the series pits two branches of the Targaryen family tree against each other in their quest for the Iron Throne. Each side has its share of heroes and assholes, and its own mixture of valid and questionable reasons for wanting power. They’re pretty evenly matched, meaning that you could argue for one side as easily as you could argue against it. Which is exactly what we’re going to do: Below, the 12 factions most and least worth rooting for in this upcoming third season of HOTD and why. Some are Team Green, some are Team Black, some are neither, and most have done terrible things that this ranking is not meant to endorse. We are simply considering what each of these groups got into in season two, what they could get into now, and what their characters reflect about the narrative priorities of HOTD as it shifts into its penultimate season. Hop aboard a dragon, let’s ride.
All of these men are terrible and have rubber-stamped King Aegon II Targaryen’s worst instincts. I am actively not rooting for them. Jasper is a sexist fascist drunk on his own power. Tyland may have gotten Triarchy pirate Admiral Sharako Lohar on Team Green’s side, but at his core this man is a coward. Larys is a professional sneak, so I can’t hold that against him, but he’s also a real jerk on top of that. Stop objectifying Alicent for her feet, you know? What I am rooting for is that they get consumed by a Team Black dragon ASAP. Of the other Green Council members, however, Grand Maester Orwyle is innocent; he can live. He was a real one for warning Alicent about the side effects of moon tea.
Two brothers who hate each other and whom I hate equally. The only reason they’re above the Green Council members is because they were pretty much conditioned to be terrible thanks to an elderly father, King Viserys I Targaryen, who barely paid attention to them, and Alicent Hightower, a too-young mother who was basically bartered to Viserys by her overly ambitious father, Ser Otto Hightower. They were set up to fail. Still. Aemond is a murderer, Aegon is a rapist; if either of them ends up on the Iron Throne for good, that would be a disaster.
I understand that it’s a little wild to include Criston, infamous murderer, oath breaker, and asshole, in this ranked list and not have him be at the bottom. There’s something appealing about Criston’s complete DGAF mentality by the end of season two, though; his awareness that the war is meaningless and that the dragons will do whatever they want is somehow nihilistic and refreshing at the same time. I’d like for him to continue to live a little while longer and keep giving “Who gives a shit about any of this?” speeches, especially to Gwayne Hightower, who still believes in nobility and honor and all that other crap. What a rube!
Three dudes disrupting the belief that only purebloods should be able to secure a dragon’s trust. As a smallfolk sympathizer, I must stan and hope they make it through, even though Ulf is being incredibly annoying with his newfound royal adjacency. How do you not realize Jace, with all his finery, is a prince whom you should not be bossing around? Read the room, Ulf! Realistically, given that the war coming up will heavily rely on dragonriders, I’m assuming at least one of these guys must die. Ulf’s expiration would be fine. Hugh and Addam, please stay alive.
Let the wild dragon be wild! If Rhaena succeeds in her attempt to tame Sheepstealer, it would be a major change from the source material, in which commoner bastard Nettles earned the dragon’s trust by bringing it a sheep every morning. (Nettles also became Daemon’s lover, which is very different from Rhaena being his daughter, even in this incest-filled franchise.) In one way or another, Sheepstealer will probably play a major part in this upcoming third season. But it would be nice if a dragon could just, like, sit this one out and keep living its life as a loner uninterested in war. Perhaps Sheepstealer could be a conscientious objector?
She’s a survivor. That kiss with Rhaenyra didn’t really make any sense from the self-proclaimed queen’s perspective, but if there’s one thing Mysaria is going to do, it’s make herself useful in any way possible. HOTD has not been great at communicating the needs and concerns of the smallfolk, but as a conduit for their opinions, it would be nice to have Mysaria stick around and communicate what everyone is really feeling about this war. Probably negative feedback! Plus who else is doing an accent like Sonoya Mizuno? It’s the kind of deranged acting choice that should be awarded with more screen time.
I still have no clue what this witch is up to. What’s her endgame? Is she fucking with anyone else, or just Daemon? Admittedly, showing him Aegon’s Dream put him in his place and countered his selfishness, which I appreciate. Fingers crossed she stays alive so we get more of a sense of her motivations — chaotic-evil, chaotic-neutral, or chaotic-good?
This man should be allowed to eat his little meals at Harrenhal for as long as he wants. He’s not bothering anyone.
Deep, aggrieved sigh. Daemon’s main function in HOTD is “sneer and encourage Rhaenyra’s worst choices,” but he seems like a changed man after seeing Alys Rivers’s vision of the future — which included a version of the same prophecy that his older brother, King Viserys I Targaryen, was aware of. Aegon’s Dream, with its White Walkers, dead dragons, and Dany surviving the fire with her three dragon eggs, have inspired in Daemon some actual responsibility and desire to win this war outside just personal ambition. Abandoning his plans to take the throne for himself, and vowing his army to serve Rhaenyra, was a good start. Against my will, I must root for a man who hopefully actually cares about saving the realm from an icily apocalyptic future.
In the interest of not being a monster, I obviously want these various children to live. Jace is a prime example of an annoying TV teenager — stop questioning every decision your mom makes, dude! — but his heart is in the right place. Baela is basically the best intern any boss could ever ask for. I disagree with Rhaena’s attempt to tame Sheepstealer, a dragon who doesn’t want anything to do with any of this, but she’s got gumption. And the babies are babies, now headed to Pentos by way of the Vale. Hopefully they’ll get the chance to grow up.
It’s undeniable that Rhaenyra’s claim to the crown is valid; if this were a Dorne-set story, it wouldn’t even be a question that Rhaenyra should rule. (God, I would watch a spinoff called The Dorne Supremacy. Anything to make up for how Game of Thrones butchered that place and the Martells.) Viserys intended her to be his heir, and she grew up by his side learning how to lead. Has Daemon been a bad influence? Totally. Is it a problem that Rhaenyra hasn’t been battle tested, like so many other male kings who see violence as the only way to judge a person’s character? Not Rhaenyra’s fault, but sure. Nevertheless, if we’re talking about the person who most deserves to lead, between her and her half-brothers, Aegon and Aemond, she’s clearly the best choice. I hate to promote a girlboss in 2026, but Rhaenyra is trying to navigate a terrible situation while also defending her birthright. She’s worth supporting.
Sure, yeah, Alicent sort of started this war by misinterpreting Viserys’s recounting of Aegon’s Dream and believing that he was telling her Aegon should be his heir. Sure. Yeah. It was bad! But by the end of season two, Alicent knows she screwed up bad (think of how her face collapses in fifth episode “Regent,” when she realizes no one on the Small Council will listen to her heeds for caution), and her attempt to surrender King’s Landing, and the crown, to former friend Rhaenyra feel genuine. All Alicent wants to do is keep herself and the innocent, clairvoyant Helaena safe, and she’s willing to sacrifice her two shitty sons to do it. That’s genuine altruism, and for now, she and Helaena feel like the most sympathetic characters in a realm full of evildoers. Helaena should be able to sketch her little insects in peace, you know? She’s been through enough.
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