How are we all feeling after “The Red Dragon and the Gold“? Episode four of House of the Dragon offered a searing reminder that no matter how badass or seemingly irreplaceable a character may be, they could still meet a terrible end at any moment. It’s a lesson Game of Thrones fans have been learning and re-learning since Ned Stark parted ways with his head in season one of that show—and now, with this week’s full-on escalation into dragon-powered war, House of the Dragon, which has already racked up quite a body count in season two, has gone and offed one of its core cast members.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal, who dubbed episode four’s Battle of Rook’s Rest the show’s first “nuclear conflict;” episode director Alan Taylor; and cast members including Eve Best talked about the dragon-on-dragon brawl that ended with Best’s character, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, and her dragon, Meleys, meeting terrible deaths. Meleys has her neck chomped by the much larger Vhagar—and when she perishes, Rhaenys takes a doomed plunge from a very great height. It’s a poignant moment especially since Rhaenys was one of the few House of the Dragon characters with that all-too-rare rare combination of wisdom, experience, and integrity; Team Black is going to feel her loss right along with the show’s fans.
Rhaenys’ decision to turn back after seemingly making a getaway mid-battle—you have to love that little glance she shares with Meleys when they decide to re-enter the fray—is a callback to a key moment at the end of season one, according to Taylor. “It goes way back to … her decision not to toast the Greens when she could have, and to the death of her grandson [Elliot Grihault’s Lucerys Velaryon] at the hands of this very beast. She has to go back in,” the director told the magazine.
Best agreed, and admired her character’s brave choice. “The honorable thing is that she could have escaped, and then she’s like, ‘No, we’ve got to go back.’ Because there’s the potential to end it,” she told EW. “I think she knows she’s going back to die, but she has to try because if Vhagar can be taken down, then it’s done. It’s cauterized. The potential for nuclear war is cut down.”
Best also shared her feelings about Rhaenys accepting her fate—and the “beautiful” quality she brings to the moment. “It was a moment of total surrender and letting go of everything she’d been carrying for two seasons: never, ever letting anybody see any of her pain, any of her anguish, any of her fear, any of her vulnerability, and just being this rock of wisdom and grace and stoicism and goodness and badassery at the same time. I think for her to finally let go was the most wonderful relief.” (According to Taylor, shots of Rhaenys dead on the ground were filmed but ultimately cut, which feels like the more graceful choice). Moving forward, Best knows Team Black is going to dearly feel her character’s absence: “They’re going to be really screwed without her,” she said.
Head to EW to read more from House of the Dragon‘s team, including some fascinating insights into the technical and physical efforts that went into filming those “dragon dogfights.” New episode of House of the Dragon arrive Sundays on HBO and Max.
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