House of the Dragon Season 2 Finale Recap With Spoilers

House of the Dragon's second season came to an end on Sunday night.

By Charlie Ridgely - August 4, 2024 10:10 pm EDT

The second season of House of the Dragon has come to an end. Sunday's new episode of HBO's hit Game of Thrones spinoff will be its last for some time, as the cast and crew get ready to produce Season 3, but it certainly left fans with quite a lot to talk about in the meantime. Given the title, it should be expected that this is absolutely filled with spoilers from the House of the Dragon finale, but what's the harm in mentioning it one more time? SPOILERS AHEAD!

Making Final Plans

The Season 2 finale begins with Tyland Lannister pleading the case of the Greens to the Triarchy, hoping to enlist their help in taking down the blockade at sea. The leader of the pirates, Sharako Lohar, tests Tyland and takes a liking to him, agreeing to aid Aegon's side in the coming battle. By the end of the episode, Tyland and Sharako will lead a horde of ships to war, and there's a possibility Tyland also tried to help get all of Sharako's wives pregnant (at her request). It's also worth noting that there was some mud wrestling involved.

Back in King's Landing, Aegon continues to struggle through his long recovery. Larys arrives in his quarters and does his best to convince the king to flee the city until the war is over. He believes that Aemond, furious over Rhaenyra's new dragon army, will come back and take his anger out on Aegon, finishing the job he started at Rook's Rest. Aegon is wary that leaving will paint him a coward, but Larys is able to sway him into believing that he'll be able to return a hero, a survivor of a war the people didn't even want.

Aegon also, unfortunately, made it known that his penis "burst into flames" when he was burned by the dragons. It's a detail that no one asked for, but everyone will have a hard time forgetting.

(Photo:
Hugh (Kieran Bew) stands up to Vermithor
- HBO)

Jacaerys continues his anger over the new "low-born" dragonriders. Add to that the anger over Aemond burning down an entire town of innocent people in his rage and you've got one enraged young man. Ulf is disrespectful to him from the jump and Jace doesn't have patience for it, despite Hugh's best efforts to keep everyone's tempers and manners in check. This spills over into a key sequence in which Rhaenyra assembles all of her dragonriders to discuss her battle plans.

This is the moment when Rhaenyra curves into slightly villainous territory. She's willing to burn down entire areas with their dragons in order to keep her momentum and truly put the Greens back on their heels. Not everyone seems to be on board with the idea, especially Addam, who Rhaenyra appears to have the most trust in when it comes to her riders.

Visions and Armies

Part of Aemond's grand plan is to get Helaena to ride her dragon, Dreamfyre, into battle alongside him. She refuses, as someone who barely rides and has no desire to harm others. Aemond obviously isn't one to take no for an answer, but Alicent eventually gets him to leave Helaena's quarters and drop the subject.

Later, when Aemond tries to appeal to Helaena one-on-one, she again shuts him down. This time, though, she tells him of a couple of her prophetic visions. She saw him try to kill Aegon at Rook's Rest. She also tells him that she saw him die at the God's Eye, the lake beside Harrenhal.

Criston Cole has been gone awhile and finally makes his return in the finale. Confronted by Gwayne over his affair with Alicent, Cole reveals his newly found nihilistic view of the world. Seeing the dragons in battle changed him, and he believes that nothing they do as soldiers matters anymore.

"To die will be a kind of relief. Don't you think?"

house-of-the-dragon-season-2-finale-daemon-harrenhal.jpg — (Photo:
Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) readies his armies in Harrenhal
- HBO)

When Rhaenyra gets a letter from Simon Strong about potential treachery on Daemon's part, she takes Addam and flies to Harrenhal to confront him. Before she can arrive, though, he touches the Weirwood tree as it bleeds, and he has a chilling vision of what awaits House Targaryen. Daemon sees his own death, as well as the coming of the Night King, and a glimpse of Brynden Rivers, aka the Three-Eyed Raven. He sees Daenerys Targaryen, a couple centuries into the future, hatching her trio of baby dragons in the fires of Khal Drogo's funeral. He finally sees Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne, wearing her crown, and Helaena appears to tell him that he's simply one part of the story.

This, thankfully, changes Daemon's outlook on his entire situation with Rhaenyra. When she appears in Harrenhal in front of his armies, he decidedly kneels before her and pledges his unending loyalty. He has now seen the prophecy known as the Song of Ice and Fire, which Viserys shared with Rhaenyra when she was younger and she recently shared with Jace.

To Battle

The pieces are in place for the fames Battle of the Gullet, with both sides readying all of their forces for the conflict. As Corlys prepares his ships, he and Alyn have a conversation that has to go down as one of the best of the season. Corlys says he's trying to help Alyn, which leads the latter to confront his father about only wanting to be helpful after his other heirs have been killed. They're heading into battle on shaky ground with one another.

Despite the fact that it has felt for a long time that too much has happened for Rhaenyra and Alicent to ever find common ground again, the latter secretly travels to Dragonstone to make a final attempt at peace. She tells Rhaenyra that Aemond is flying to Harrenhal to confront Daemon, which will leave Helaena in charge of King's Landing. When that happens, she wants Rhaenyra to fly in and claim King's Landing and the Iron Throne, and that she and Helaena will not offer any violent resistance. Rhaenyra tells Alicent that she has to kill Aegon in order to prove she earned the crown, knowing Alicent doesn't want to see any more lost children. They separate without coming to any real agreement.

And that sends everyone involved in the story into battle. Daeron, Alicent's youngest son, flies the dragon Tessarion above the marching Hightower army. Rhaena, who has been tracking down the wild dragon through the Vale, finds Sheepstealer and comes face-to-face with the beast. Aegon listened to Larys' advice, riding away from King's Landing in a covered wagon. Otto Hightower was imprisoned at some point, as we see him behind bars. The two Queens just stare out into the distance as the episode ends, knowing that a massive conflict is on the horizon.

The entire season comes to a close on the eve of battle, leaving fans to wait until Season 3 to see the dragons fight once again.

Making Final Plans

Visions and Armies

To Battle

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