Aidonian's blog

since i didn’t wrote a review for this season, I can post it without the label of spoilers added to it.

The story continues in season 2 where season 1 left us. Rhaenyra has lost a son and wants to exact vengeance upon the Greens for it. Lucerys was killed along with his dragon by Aemond and his dragon Vhaegar. She wants revenge on Aemond and asks Daemon to arrange it. Daemon goes to King’s Landing and bribes a guard and a rat catcher to go after Aemond. Daemon wanted originally to go after Vhaegar along with Rhaenys, stating that with both dragons that they will have the power to take her down. A decision Rhaenys will regret later on.

Daemon plan goes haywire after the rat catcher and the guard kill the wrong son. They kill the young boy Jayhaerys, son of Aegon, not Aemond. Lucikly they don’t show it what they are doing. Even for HBO, to behead a small child would be to much. The killers are caught and executed. The Greens use the death to their advantage to turn the people and the houses against Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra is shocked when she found out what happened. Aegon as response, sends a kingsguard knight to Dragon Stone to take out Rhaenyra. Only he is twarted by his twin brother. Cole as hand of the King set out to capture the castles of those houses who support Rhaenyra. They only attack at night to make sure that they have cover of night against the dragons. By episode four we finally see dragons vs dragons action again. Rhaenyra returns from Kings Landing from a secretive mission to sue for peace, only to found out that peace is not possible and Alicent mistoke the dying words of her father as words that Aegon, their son should be king, and not that he was talking about the Conqueror. Rhaenys decides she is the only dragon rider who has battle experience next to Daemon, who was sent to Harranhal to capture it. She is dispatched to help out Rook’s nest from Cole and his forces, only to walk into a trap laid out by Aemond and Cole, which angered Aegon. Aemon taunts his brother but goes to Rooks nest. When Rhaenys arrives at Rook’s nest, she is also attacked by Aegon and his dragon who is no match for Rhaenys and her dragon. Aemond’s dragon is to young and inexperienced.The episode is corectly called “Dance of Dragons” and this clearly shows it. While Rhaenys and Aegon are fighting, Aemond and Vhaegar arrives as intended and he attacks Aegon, who falls. His dragon dies. The battle of dragons end, but Rhaenys makes the tactical error to take on Vhaegar and it costs her her life in the end. She knew that she couldn’t win, but fought anyway.

The king himself was gravely wounded and Aemond assumes command in his absence. He had always looked down on his older brother as his older brother taunted him, bullied him and now he could exact revenge. Aegon is really badly wounded. He is now also cockless, which is befitting because he had raped women in the past and now he is more or less a eunich. A eunich and a cripple. A deserving fate for sure. The master of whispers was correct in his assesment that Aemond will kill Aegon in the end so both fled Kings Landing. When Rhaenyra finds new dragon riders, Aemond is angered and affraid and lashes out, using Vhaegar. Vhaegar is at that time the oldest dragon that still lived from the time of the Conqueror. The whole sequence of the possible bastard Targaryens who could be potential dragon riders was amazing to see. It clearly shows that the dragons are the ones who decide who can ride them, not the people. The thought that ordinary people could ride dragons upset even the order of dragon keepers. Rhaenyra came up with the idea after a dragon denied the knight the right and killed him and ended up finding her own rider, a bastard son of Lord Velraryon.

Overall it was a good season with a lot of progression of storylines weaved into one. Daemon losing his mind at harrenhal and finding it again towards the end where he settled te disputes between the clans of riverlands. A Lannister seeks out the Triarchy to help with the blockade set up by Lord Velaryon. So season 3 that arrives this summer, will be action packed for sure. Emma D’arcy and Olivia Cooke are the real stars of the shows. Two mothers seeking to protect their children, and their status, while the one clearly knows what her position is, Alicent fades from position when she is driven out of court by her sons.

The sets, the costumes, the music was perfectly done. It is reminiscient of the older seasons of Game of Thrones where the show was done correctly. So i defintly look forward to season 3 and season 4, which will be the last season. Since i have not read the books the show is based upon, i can not tell how close they remain to the source material.