House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer promises major battles as the war for the Iron Throne ramps up, and teases a big death from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. It’s been a long wait for the third season, given the cliffhanger ending to House of the Dragon Season 2. That ended on the precipice of the Battle of the Gullet, a massive sea conflict, as well as Rhaenyra Targaryen looking to take King’s Landing, with Alicent Hightower promising to open the gates to her.
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Warning: This article is going to get into MAJOR spoilers from Fire & Blood, and thus likely major spoilers for House of the Dragon. Do not read on if you don’t wish to be spoiled.
The trailer for House of the Dragon Season 3 is very much focused on those two elements. We see the Velaryon fleet facing off with that of the Triarchy, soldiers fighting on ships, and dragons swooping into the naval conflict as well. Meanwhile, much of the dialogue is centered around Alicent’s promise, whether she can be trusted, and what exactly Rhaenyra is going to do now.
Those elements aren’t independent of one another – one will have a significant impact on the other, especially in terms of what will be one of the show’s biggest deaths.
How Jacaerys Velaryon Dies In House Of The Dragon
One of the key shots from the trailer is Jacaerys Velaryon flying into action at the Battle of the Gullet on his dragon, Vermax. We haven’t see Jace be too involved in the heat of things just yet, so this alone is a major step up for his character, and a welcome one at that. It’s taken straight from the pages of Martin’s book, where he and several other dragonriders end up getting involved.
Jace and the other dragons smash much of the Triarchy’s fleet, who aren’t able to stop such powerful beasts, but it does come at a cost. Somehow, Vermax ends up crashing down into the ocean, though there are different accounts of how it happens: one claims it was from a crossbow bolt, another that she was caught by a grapnel thrown by a sailor, which took hold of her scales and led to her becoming entangled in the rigging, with the ship and dragon eventually being taken down together.
That’s not exactly where Jace dies, as he does leap from the dragon – but he soon follows. Jace is killed immediately after this, with multiple crossbowmen firing at him, with one eventually taking him through the neck and, as Martin writes, “Jace was swallowed by the sea.” The shot in the trailer of Rhaenyra crying is likely after she learns of Jace’s death, while her banging on a door could be her being locked inside to stop her from taking part in the battle (presumably by Jace himself).
House Of The Dragon Adds A New Character To The Battle Of The Gullet
In the book, Jace is one of several dragonriders present in the battle, which also includes:
- Addam of Hull on Seasmoke
- Ulf the White on Silverwing
- Hugh Hammer on Vermithor
- Nettles on Sheepstealer
It’s unclear if the first three will be present, but the fourth won’t be, as Nettles was seemingly cut from House of the Dragon in Season 2, with Rhaena Targaryen finding Sheepstealer instead. However, given she’s still in the Vale, it wouldn’t make sense for her to suddenly be arriving at the Battle of the Gullet.
Instead, the trailer reveals that Baela Targaryen and her dragon, Moondancer, will be taking part. If Nettles isn’t going to be involved, then this isn’t a bad change for this specific sequence.
Baela is betrothed to Jacaerys, and so it seems like she’ll be witness to his death, which should make it even more devastating than it already promises to be, and I can already feel just how visceral and emotional her reaction to it is going to be. It also means giving her character much more to do, as both she and Rhaena have been on the sidelines of things a little too much in the series so far.
House Of The Dragon Probably Has To Change Another Part Of The Battle Of The Gullet
The Battle of the Gullet is unlikely to be exactly like the book: it’s also unclear just how much Rhaenyra’s youngest kids, Aegon and Viserys, will be involved. In the source material, they were on a ship, called Gay Abandon, sailing for Pentos, when they met the Triarchy fleet. Viserys was taken captive, but Aegon flew on his dragon, Stormcloud, back to Dragonstone, which is what led to Jace and the others flying into action.
Based on Season 2, the kids and their dragons are both tiny, and the action is clearly picking up directly where things left off, so this might have to be changed significantly as well. It could still have them taken captive, but it’d have to find a new reason for Jace et al to get involved in the fight, unless it fudges the timeline and dragon growth a bit. Besides that wrinkle, though, the Battle of the Gullet looks every bit as epic as you’d hope, and should be an incredible way to kick off House of the Dragon Season 3.
House of the Dragon Season 3 begins in June on HBO and HBO Max.
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Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme
