Although it’s just two seasons in, House of the Dragon is already halfway through its story, with the HBO series confirmed to wrap up after Season 4. And that means the upcoming Season 3 will be the turning point where we witness several major character deaths. Much like in Game of Thrones, all men (and women, children, and dragons) must die, or at least, almost all of them. And while many of the biggest deaths likely won’t come until the prequel is fully in the endgame, we will be saying goodbye to a few characters in the third outing.
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Showrunner Ryan Condal recently confirmed as much during an appearance on The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast. With Season 3 nearing the end of filming, he spoke about having to say a final farewell to some of the show’s cast, including wrap gifts for them as well. He said: “We’ve reached that point in the series, we’re starting to say goodbye to some people,” adding that there have been “a number of these tearful ceremonies.” Of course, no deaths have yet been officially confirmed but, based on George R.R. Martin’s source material, there are some massive ones to expect. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Fire & Blood, the book on which House of the Dragon is based.
4) Jacaerys Velaryon
Jacaerys Velaryon’s death will be among the most heartbreaking in House of the Dragon Season 3, and most likely the earliest, too. Season 2 ended things on the precipice of the Battle of the Gullet, which was originally planned for the sophomore year’s finale, but was postponed to the third season. That conflict will presumably be happening straight away, which means Jace will be dying within the first couple of episodes.
In Fire & Blood, Jacaerys and the dragonseeds – that’s Addam of Hull, Hugh the Hammer, and Ulf the White, plus Nettles (who has seemingly been cut from the show) – enter the fray and begin to wipe out the Triarchy fleet with their dragons. However, when Jace’s dragon, Vermax, is wounded and crashes into a burning ship, the prince leaps from his dragon’s back… and is killed by a crossbow, his dead body sinking into the sea.
3) Otto Hightower
Another major event that should be happening in the first few episodes of House of the Dragon Season 3 is the Fall of King’s Landing. Everything is set up for Rhaenyra Targaryen to take the city, with King Aegon II Targaryen having already fled. And when that happens in the book, the Queen immediately sets an example, beheading some of those loyal to Team Green for treason, including Lord Jasper Wylde, the Lords of houses Rosby and Stokeworth, and most notably, Otto Hightower.
There is, however, a wrinkle to this in the show. The end of House of the Dragon Season 2 made a deviation with Otto’s story, revealing him to have been imprisoned somewhere (the best theory is that he’s at Honeyholt, the seat of House Beesbury in the Reach). That doesn’t rule out him dying, but does mean he may not be in King’s Landing when Rhaenyra arrives. His death will presumably still happen eventually, because it’d be too major a change to have him survive. It might be as simple as the Beesburys (or whoever has him) personally delivering him to the Queen, but it’ll be interesting to see if there are bigger twists with that.
Before Otto, Gwayne Hightower is also killed during the Fall of King’s Landing in Fire & Blood, but that seems unlikely to happen in the TV show. The last time we saw him, Alicent’s brother was off fighting with Criston Cole. Again, he probably will still die, but it now seems more likely to be in a different battle and at a different time, whether that’s in Season 3 or 4.
2) Criston Cole
There are few House of the Dragon characters as loathsome as Criston Cole. The self-righteous knight, who has already killed several supporters of Team Black, did have an epiphany in the Season 2 finale, however: he and his men march to oblivion. And that is something he’s dead right about, with dead being the operative word, because Criston seems certain to meet his end in Season 3.
In the book, this comes at a battle known as the Butcher’s Ball. The build-up to this sees Criston and Aemond Targaryen capture an abandoned Harrenhal, and then disagree on how best to proceed. The Kingmaker wants to march back south to meet with the Hightower forces and add to their strength, while Aemond wants to burn the riverlands with Vhagar in search of Daemon Targaryen. They go their separate ways, and Criston and his men south… and straight into an ambush by Team Black, led by the Winter Wolves.
With his men severely outnumbered, Criston attempted to negotiate a surrender with the opposition’s leading lords, and offered to fight them himself in combat. Before that could happen, however, he was struck down by several arrows. It’ll be extremely satisfying to see Criston’s death and likely a moment that elicits some cheers from viewers, but his final moments, like those in Season 2’s finale, should also help make him a more complex character than a purely detestable one, and can be expected to come in the second half of the season.
1) Helaena Targaryen
Like with Jace, the death of Helaena Targaryen will be tragic: she’s one of the few purely good and innocent people in this story, after all, which adds to the impact of her demise. But hers is also a curious case, because major changes have already been made to her story: not only does she have dragon dreams (an ability not present in the book), but she’s also missing a son. Her and Aegon’s youngest child, Prince Maelor, has so far been cut from the show, and it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be added back in.
In the book, Helaena falls into depression and then madness after Jaehaerys’ death at the hands of Blood and Cheese, but it’s after Maelor is killed that she takes her own life. She jumps from her room’s window and is killed by the spikes below (a shot in Season 2 of Helaena being pushed close to some spikes seemingly foreshadowed this). This, combined with anger among the smallfolk at Rhaenyra’s reign, sparks riots in King’s Landing. This itself leads to an event known as the Storming of the Dragonpit, in which Helaena’s dragon, Dreamfyre, is killed, as is one of Rhaenyra’s sons, Prince Joffrey, and the Queen’s dragon, Syrax.
There’s a lot to accomplish there and, honestly, I’m not sure how Season 3 can fit it all in and do it all justice. It’s also worth noting that Helaena’s death comes after the Battle Above the God’s Eye, an epic dragonback clash between Daemon and Aemond. That event seems unlikely to happen until Season 4, not least because HBO will likely want Matt Smith around to promote the final season, and teasing the long-awaited face-off would be good for marketing. But will Helaena’s death also wait until then?
Not according to George R.R. Martin. In his now deleted blog post criticizing House of the Dragon Season 2 for cutting Maelor, he seemingly confirmed Helaena’s death is coming up, albeit not in a positive way, writing: “In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen.” That absolutely could have changed, but it does make Helaena’s story a little unclear, and concerning, heading into the third season.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is currently in production, and is expected to release on HBO and HBO Max in summer 2026.
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