Why it was important to have this scene in House of the Dragon

One of the greatest strength of George R. R Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series is the fact that its characters are well rounded and often portrayed as grey — a trend which House of the Dragon continues on.

There is really nothing more endearing to an audience than seeing the perspective from both sides of the divide in an argument in a creative work just as it is in the real world; whereby there is really a cloud hovering on Bad and Good, Right from Wrong. The audience are left to figure out things for themselves and make their own observations than be spoon fed things.

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This makes viewership more interesting when there is no straight villain or hero, just a side to an argument and the lines are blurred on who to root for or turn on.

In House of the Dragon, this concept was brought back into play this season when it started to look like the Green side of the divide were the villains, out for no good but their own. In contrast, season 2 had the Blacks more in the bad side, until episode 3 brought together Rhaenyra and Alicent towards the end of the episode for a scene that not only shakes things, but leaves everything hanging on fate to decide where the coin lands.

 Spoiler warning — 

The scene in question sees the ‘rightful’ heir to the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra Targaryen meeting up with the mother of the ‘usurper’ King, Aegon Targaryen to see how the civil war can be brought to an end before it tears the 7-kingdoms and families further apart. However, neither of Alicent or Rhaenyra are willing to bend for the other, insisting their own faction is on the ‘right‘ side while the other is ‘wrong‘.

Though they genuinely agree that the war must be put to an end, but it is the reality that there is nothing either of them can do but to serve as pariahs for the destruction that comes next.

The scene not only paints Rhaenyra and Alicent as grey characters who genuinely do not want evil to befall their houses and are willing to do what’s necessary to end the conflict before it gets out of hand, but just like it is in real life; who is ready to let their ego or grief slide to usher in peace? No one.

Both Rhaenyra and now Alicent have suffered equal losses of some sorts, and despite holding a lot of power, the reality is, they are just pawns to a fate already decided.

It is also interesting that the show writers decided to bring about this scene because in the original book; Fire and Blood, the two characters never met to try to iron things out before the escalation.