In Episode 5, Aemond is back. At first, he appears wounded and broken. But he ably defends Alys from a group of invaders, relying on muscle memory and \u2014 perhaps \u2014 a sense of honor to pay her back for saving his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liken Harrenhal to the White Lotus of Westeros,\u201d Mitchell says. \u201cIt\u2019s a place you go for a retreat. You have all of your toxins drawn out of you. You have to confront them head on. You discover like the darkest, deepest places of yourself. And the general manager of that place is Alys Rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In Episode 5, Aemond (Mitchell) fights off invaders, saving Alys\u2019 life.<\/p>\n
(Theo Whiteman \/ HBO)<\/p>\n
The upcoming episodes will keep Aemond at Harrenhal with Alys and expand on the events of George R.R. Martin\u2019s 2018 book \u201cFire & Blood,\u201d on which the series is based. Showrunner Ryan Condal wanted to explore what wasn\u2019t in Martin\u2019s fictional history of Westeros.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew from the book that he goes to Harrenhal and effectively disappears, at least from the interactive narrative,\u201d Condal says, speaking later over video call. \u201cIt\u2019s thought that he establishes some relationship with Alys Rivers. We had that as a baseline, but the idea was: \u2018Where can we take Aemond from here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that there was \u201ca danger of the character becoming an anime villain,\u201d which the writers wanted to undercut. \u201cHe looks a certain way,\u201d Condal says. \u201cHe has this eye patch. He rides this Godzilla-sized dragon. And he\u2019s done some pretty reprehensible things.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the writers wanted to go beyond Aemond\u2019s surface, to \u201ca different place and excavate that trauma and vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell says Alys is the key to Aemond finding himself. \u201cWe know his dragon Vhagar is missing,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd if Aemond is nothing without his dragon, then does he really deserve her? We\u2019ve got to challenge what we know of the character already \u2026 Vhagar was the wind in his sails.\u201d<\/p>\n
He compares Aemond with Spider-Man, an oddly aligned character. \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility to wield that power,\u201d Mitchell says. \u201cHe\u2019s got to be able to show he can control it effectively. That\u2019s what he wanted to prove throughout Season 1 and 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughs: \u201cIt\u2019s just like \u2018Spider-Man 2.\u2019 I find it really interesting building up this character over two seasons to bring him back down.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cI find it really interesting building up this character over two seasons to bring him back down,\u201d Mitchell says of Aemond, who is facing turbulent times in Season 3.<\/p>\n
(Jennifer McCord \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
Condal adds, \u201cHe\u2019s feeling isolated and alone and he possibly has made an enemy of his family. And then this woman saves him. He feels this sudden magnetic draw to her. In the episodes that follow, we will further excavate that relationship. It\u2019s one of the most surprising and engaging and emotional stories we have this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell first appeared as Aemond, the son of Viserys and Alicent and the brother of Aegon II, in the eighth episode of Season 1. He was originally played by Leo Ashton, who Mitchell says \u201creally set up the character for me.\u201d Production had already begun when Mitchell auditioned, first with a self-tape and then for the producers. Initially, he didn\u2019t know which character he was up for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew this character was the younger brother and that was like a theme of the first season and going through further seasons,\u201d Mitchell recalls. \u201cThe second son out to prove his worth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell\u2019s audition was memorable. \u201cHe came into the room in character and he scared all of us,\u201d Condal says. \u201cI remember the first question that I asked [our casting director] after he left was, \u2018Is he always like that?\u2019 Because it felt like he had gone to such a dark place just to do the audition. When I spoke to him later, I loved how different the person was on the phone versus the person I met in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n
To play Aemond, Mitchell looked at MMA and cage fighters to hone in on the character\u2019s agile, brutal fighting style. He trained physically to make Aemond lean but also strong and imposing. He took inspiration from paintings, including Alexandre Cabanel\u2019s 1847 work \u201cThe Fallen Angel,\u201d which depicts the devil after his fall from heaven.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this tear in his eye and you don\u2019t know if he\u2019s feeling sorry for himself or he\u2019s looking at things to come,\u201d Mitchell says. \u201cIs he thinking about the harm he\u2019s going to inflict in retaliation? That was something I wanted to do in Season 2. It contrasts his muscular physique. It\u2019s a mixture between vulnerability and sheer muscle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Season 2 saw Aemond purposefully incinerating his brother, leaving him badly burned, and decimating the Riverlands while on Vhagar. The character was grappling for power, even if it meant brutalizing his own family. Condal hints that a reckoning with Aegon will come.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the great tradition of \u2018Game of Thrones,\u2019 I feel like that is a fairly safe bet,\u201d he says. \u201cCharacters are scattered all over the map and then slowly find themselves being brought back together, but in different forms. That was always something we were talking about doing with Aemond and Aegon.\u201d<\/p>\n
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To play Aemond, Mitchell looked at MMA and cage fighters to hone in on the character\u2019s agile, brutal fighting style. He also took inspiration from paintings, including Alexandre Cabanel\u2019s 1847 work \u201cThe Fallen Angel.\u201d (Jennifer McCord\/For The Times) <\/p>\n
Mitchell sees Aemond as a product of his circumstances, rather than just a murdering psychopath. He was bullied as a child and coddled by his mother, but never received the unconditional love he craved. He was taken to brothels from an early age. He lost an eye. And he grew up in the midst of a brutal war between the Greens and the Blacks. Now he has to reckon with what he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might not understand all of the things he does,\u201d Mitchell says. \u201cAnd you might not feel like you\u2019re supposed to understand all the things he does. But you do feel something for him. In the moment he saves Alys, maybe there is a redeemable Aemond in there somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooke says she loves working opposite Mitchell thanks to his complex approach to the character.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has such intensity and helps me as an actor in playing Alicent to feel like I\u2019m completely on the back foot,\u201d she says in a voice memo. \u201cIt\u2019s filled with tension trying to guess what he\u2019s going to do. Yet in reality, he is the most gentle, lovely, quiet, beautiful person. He\u2019s a joy to work with and I think he makes such interesting choices outside of \u2018House of the Dragon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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