We’re almost to the House of the Dragon season three finale, but there’s still an hour of betrayals, forgiveness, forgiveness denied, severed heads and appendages, freaky dreams, and a frankly delightful amount of dragons doing dragon things to get through first.
The episode begins in Helaena’s dream. We know it’s not real because she is outside the Red Keep, wind in her hair, happily petting a horse. The gates open, and while we can’t see what’s out there, Helaena is bathed in golden light. The moment is interrupted when we hear someone calling her name: Rhaenyra, who’s promised to watch over her while Alicent is running her little “sneak an assassin into Harrenhal to get rid of Aemond” errand. It’s not a friendly awakening. Rhaenyra asks Helaena if Aemond had encouraged her to ride Dreamfyre into battle. She says he did. But she’s not much for dragonriding these days. Being around Dreamfyre is “too much.” She’s like their father, Viserys, in that way, Rhaenyra says. He wasn’t into dragonriding either. “He did not wish to be changed,” Helaena says, and Rhaenyra is bemused by the idea that dragons can alter people. To that, Helaena points out that Rhaenyra now has many dragons: “Are you yourself not… altered?”
