Movies - TV
Why Aemond's Big Injury In House Of The Dragon Was Satisfying For Rhaenyra
By MICHAEL BOYLE
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for "House of the Dragon."
In Episode 7 of "House of the Dragon," titled "Driftmark," Aemond Targaryen gains arguably the strongest dragon in the Seven Kingdoms — Vhagar — but also gets his eye cut out by Lucerys Velaryon. The events that followed the gory loss of his eye were tough on his mother Alicent Hightower, but Lucerys’ mother Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) came out the clear winner.
In an interview with Vulture, D’Arcy said her character’s strategy was “Lie hard, do not back down, and weaponize this word 'treason,'" and it paid off as her father Viserys sides with her over his wife Alicent, representing the biggest win for Rhaenyra in the episode. "She so rarely gets definitively the backing of her father," D'Arcy noted.
Another satisfying aspect of this sequence for Rhaenyra is the way that her uncle-lover Daemon Targaryen is also by her side. Daemon steps in to stop Cristin Cole from cutting out Lucerys' eye, defending Rhaenrya's kids as if they were his own, and his actions are likely a major factor in Rhaenyra's later decision to fake-kill her husband so she and Daemon can marry.