House of the Dragon: What Happens to Laenor Velaryon?

The sixth episode of House of the Dragon ended in tragedy, with Laena Velaryon choosing to die by the flame of her own dragon instead of losing her life during a dangerous childbirth. This leaves Daemon without a wife, and the King Consort without his beloved sister and best friend. The death of Laena will change a lot for all sorts of characters in Westeros, especially Laenor, who now finds himself in a vulnerable place. Could he now be next on the chopping block.

Daemon has always wanted to be with Rhaenyra to strengthen their claim to the Iron Throne. With Laena gone, Laenor is the only thing that stands in his way. Daemon certainly isn’t above making the kind of moves that result in someone losing their life, as we’ve already seen this season, so Laenor could be on the chopping block. There’s also the source material to consider. In George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the book House of the Dragon is based on, Laenor suffers a frustrating fate.

In the book’s version of things, Laenor dies the same year as Laena does. He’s killed by Ser Qarl Correy, who is in turn killed by Daemon soon after. Correy was a lover of Laenor and some thought he killed the King Consort as part of a lover’s quarrel. Others believe that Daemon orchestrated his death, paying Correy to do his work and then killing the man in order to keep everything quiet. The reason for the death was never fully confirmed, but Laenor did die at the hands of Qarl Correy around the same time his sister died.

So far, House of the Dragon has kept close to the events of Fire & Blood, changing only details rather than the actual outcomes of events. For example, the show changes the way characters like Laena and Joffrey died, but it still killed them off around the same time as the book. So it would be surprising if Laenor didn’t die at some point over the next few episodes, but there’s always still a chance something could change. If the showrunners love the character and want to find a way to use him in the future that doesn’t interfere with the necessary parts of the story, they could choose to keep him alive. That said, nothing to this point has indicated that such a thing will happen.

What do you think of House of the Dragon so far? Let us know in the comments!