Will Aemond Be the Father of Helaena’s Third Child in ‘House of the Dragon’?

Editor’s observe: The under comprises spoilers for Home of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 8, and the guide Hearth & Blood.

Regardless that House of the Dragon is a considerably distinctive adaptation because of the intentionally unreliable nature of its inspiration (Hearth & Blood, a novel George R. R. Martin styled like an in-universe recounting of the Targaryen dynasty), certain creative changes have distinguished the HBO series and Martin’s book as separate entities. Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) turn into childhood pals of the identical age; Laenor Velaryon (John Macmillan) fakes his dying; and Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) fails to commit fratricide in the course of the Battle of Rook’s Relaxation, to call some key variations. Because the Home of the Dragon workforce preps for Season 3, a element from Hearth & Blood that the collection continues to omit is Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Helaena’s Targaryen’s (Phia Saban) third and youngest youngster, Prince Maelor.

Slicing Maelor from Home of the Dragon has already altered the Blood and Cheese tragedy with out hampering the core narrative. Transferring ahead, nevertheless, his absence makes issues trickier. The window of alternative for Maelor to organically be part of the collection is closing, particularly because the Season 2 finale establishes that considered one of Aegon’s, properly, elements is a casualty of his accidents. He cannot father extra kids. There’s one attainable resolution, as disturbing or melodramatic (or each) because it is perhaps: Aemond. However how believable is that possibility?

Who Is Maelor Targaryen, Halaena’s Third Youngster?

In accordance with Hearth & Blood, Maelor is 2 years outdated when the Dance of the Dragons begins, making him 4 years youthful than his twin siblings, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. Sadly, Blood and Cheese marks his first vital look. In contrast to Home of the Dragon, the place employed assassins Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and Cheese (Mark Stobbart) demand that Helaena indicate which of the sleeping twins is her only son, in Hearth & Blood, the pair power Helaena into a distinct Sophie’s Selection: condemning one son to dying over the opposite. Distraught, Helaena selects Maelor. Blood and Cheese then taunt Maelor – “You hear that, little boy? Your mama desires you useless.” — and gleefully behead Jaehaerys as an alternative.

Maelor robotically turns into Aegon’s subsequent and solely inheritor. When Aegon and Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) flee King’s Touchdown, Larys additionally allows Maelor and Jaehaera’s respective escapes. Whereas on the run from Workforce Black, nevertheless, poor Maelor and his sworn guardian, Ser Rickard Thorne (Vincent Regan), meet their brutal deaths in Bitterbridge, a city beneath Rhaenyra’s management. Livid over his nephew’s homicide, Daeron Targaryen, Alicent’s fourth youngster with Viserys (Paddy Considine), burns Bitterbridge to ash together with his dragon, Tessarion.

Going into Home of the Dragon‘s third season, Maelor’s existence is essential for 2 intersecting plotlines: Daeron and Tessarion officially joining the war, and Aegon and Larys scurrying away to elements unknown. Burning Bitterbridge can be fairly the character-establishing (or constructing) second for Daeron, a participant the series has kept unseen past a teaser shot of Tessarion within the Season 2 finale. Home of the Dragon‘s best resolution to the “no Maelor” drawback — in addition to inventing a brand new plot — is substituting Maelor’s dying with Jaehaera. But when Jaehaera doesn’t survive the Dance of the Dragons, that opens a brand new can of worms. If showrunner Ryan Condal plans to introduce Maelor, then until Helaena is at the moment pregnant with Aegon’s final youngster, one query stays (cue the daytime speak present host voice): who’s the daddy?

How May Aemond Turn into Maelor’s Father in ‘Home of the Dragon’ Season 3?

That query circles again to Season 1. Followers shortly zeroed in on Helaena and Aemond as a relationship with romantic potential. A conspiracy idea citing Aemond as the actual father of Helaena’s twins gained sufficient traction for Ewan Mitchell and Phia Saban to debate the response. Within the pair’s exclusive conversation with Collider, Saban mentioned {that a} Helaemond relationship “[isn’t] fully out of the query,” and each actors agreed the siblings are “nearer” to 1 one other than their different siblings. With Aemond taking over his prince regent function like a duck to water, Season 2 has prompted murmurings about whether or not Aemond will resolve the Maelor dilemma.

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“If this be victory, I pray I by no means win one other.”

Given Helaena and Aemond’s fraught interactions this season, nevertheless, it is unlikely they’ve had a forbidden affair — at the very least, nothing of sufficient emotional consequence to handle or indicate. Contemplating how their dynamic shifts after the finale’s climatic balcony exchange, Helaena received’t be involved in a future rendezvous with out some intense story adjustment. The demure queen shows a newfound resolve about her prophetic insights, and that readability grants her an influence Aemond’s unsure frustrations and festering rage cannot hope to match. The one factor he can do is threaten her life. However different Home of the Dragon relationships have emerged from much less substance, and House Targaryen is the original home for unhealthy relationships.

There may be, after all, the non-consensual different: Aemond assaulting his sister as a result of he’s pushed by anger, lust, a necessity for management, some ludicrous bid to secure his claim to the throne, or all the above. It is secure to declare that this situation is not one audiences lengthy to see. For all of Aemond’s more and more risky rage, sexual violence does not align with how he is purged that anger thus far (or with how House of the Dragon has addressed assault). Aegon is the documented rapist, and the brothers are diametrically opposed in nearly each approach. That mentioned, the extra Aemond embraces his worst qualities, the extra nothing is off the desk, even when it’s unlikely.

SPOILER ALERT! The part under comprises main spoilers for the top of the Dance of the Dragons, in keeping with the guide Hearth & Blood.

May Alys Rivers Have an effect on Aemond and Helaena’s Tales?

Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) throws an additional complication into the ring. Regardless of not having Helaena and her dragon Dreamfyre by his aspect, Aemond reclaims Harrenhal from Workforce Black in Hearth & Blood. Upon assembly Alys, the 2 embark on an intense sexual/romantic relationship. After Aemond meets his premature finish at the Gods Eye, Alys makes a play for the throne by asserting that she’s pregnant together with his trueborn youngster and naming their offspring because the Iron Throne’s rightful heir. Finally, she gathers a ragtag military beneath her declare and her energy because the “witch queen of Harrenhal.”

Until Home of the Dragon‘s Alys chooses to seduce and manipulate Aemond as a result of it’s her most suitable option out of horrible choices, she is not prone to sleep with or be the puppet of a would-be conqueror. As characterised, Alys is the kind to toss Aemond headfirst into hallucination therapy, poison him in his sleep, or verbally demolish him till he cowers within the nook. Hearth & Blood by no means confirms Alys’ motivations for the connection or reveals the dynamic’s ins and outs (past Aemond being smitten), which leaves the writers considerable flexibility.

With that in thoughts, Home of the Dragon may fold story parts collectively for comfort’s sake, very similar to they seemingly have with Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) and Nettles, a book-only dragonseed who tames Sheepstealer, the identical wild dragon Rhaena discovers within the Vale. A method or one other, Helaena may take Alys’ place as Aemond’s prized “woman,” particularly since Hearth & Blood‘s Aemond makes use of Alys’ visions to his benefit. Maelor rising from their union solely to die as an infant would be a gut punch, so would Helaena giving start to the final youngster she and Aegon can have, particularly if her visions have already proven her son’s inescapable future.

Home of the Dragon Seasons 1 and a couple of can be found to stream on Max.

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