Rhaenyra Targaryen acquires an army of bastards in season 2 of House of the Dragon, and in doing so, she puts the Greens in a spin. King's Landing, which had gained the upper hand after Meleys' death, no longer thinks Vhagar is invincible. With Rhaenyra's three new dragons (and a wild one due to join later), Aemond needs all the help he can get.
It was foolhardy for Aemond to burn his brother Aegon II and his dragon Sunfyre at Rook's Rest. He acted on morally corrupt desires, in particular the lifetime grudge of being the second son, and burned Sunfyre the Golden and Aegon II before eliminating Meleys. Motivated by anger, he failed to consider strategy. Now, Aemond faces a dragon armada, and can only count Daeron's young dragon, Tessarion, in House of the Dragon. He wants his sister, Helaena, to fly Dreamfyre into battle at Harrenhal, but will that happen?
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Aemond Asks Helaena To Ride Dreamfyre Into Battle
After witnessing Rhaenyra surrounded by a Dragonriders' army across the bay, Aemond makes a U-turn in tactics and thinks about raising Helaena against the enemy. He means business with her, telling her:
The crown has need of your service.
All of this happens in the presence of their mother, Alicent, who is dumbfounded by her son's latest strategy. Helaena looks at her brother in disbelief and politely refuses his request. But Aemond doubles down, telling her that flying Dreamfyre means preserving the throne. Helaena continues to refuse and gets off her seat, declaring:
I won't burn anyone.
Aemond is consumed by the thought of the Blacks defiling the Green siblings' birthright and raising the lowborn as Dragonlords. In his fury, he takes it out on a person who has been an isolationist all along. Helaena has intentionally remained apart from the politics and interests of the Greens, and it is preposterous to demand that she must ride into battle. She has lost her child, Prince Jaehaerys, to this senseless war, and watched her absentee husband, Aegon II, endure pain. It's understandable that she wouldn't want to risk her life for a cause that has only brought her suffering. Helaena has a daughter, Princess Jaehaera, to care for, and she doesn't want to punish the commoners for the acts of the Blacks and the Greens.
Why Does Aemond Burn Sharp Point?
Aemond sets Sharp Point, the seat of House Bar Emmon, on fire. He is humiliated because Rhaenyra forces him to flee in terror, and thus he releases his rage at the Crownlands House, which was among the first to declare Black.
Sharp Point lies along the Gullet, at the end of the Blackwater Bay peninsula. Here, the south of Blackwater Bay meets the Narrow Sea. It lies in the shadow of the two bigger Crownlands castles of Dragonstone and Driftmark, and is sworn to the former. The Burning of Sharp Point is a House of the Dragon creation and does not take place in the original books. But it sends an important message to the realm's Houses: Aemond is frustrated, helpless, and scared. The entire town of Sharp Point was unprepared for the assault, thus an easy target to redeem some of that lost bravado.
Will Helaena Fly Dreamfyre To Harrenhal?
After this event, Aemond pleads with Helaena again, in their mother's absence, but this time, she vehemently turns him down. Helaena is nothing like the genocidal warmongers who have thus far killed, maimed, and burned whoever has crossed their paths. The Blacks and the Greens are morally corrupt, but Helaena is the exception in House Targaryen. Her arc is too magnanimous and her character too important to be ridden into battle and used to set fire to thousands of innocents.
Helaena wishes not to bring ruin and death upon the Smallfolk and commoners. She is the most deserving of the love and care that she has been so far denied by everyone, including her mother. She is a seer, has foretold many things, and saw Aemond burn Aegon at Rook's Rest. She is a part of Daemon's Song of Ice and Fire vision, and correctly predicts Aemond's death. In Fire & Blood, Aemond dies fighting his uncle Daemon in an aerial duel above the Gods Eye lake.
And you... You will be dead. You were swallowed up in the Gods Eye and you were never seen again.
Though Dreamfyre is formidable, it's unlikely that Ryan Condal and the writers are willing to corrupt her rider, who happens to be House of the Dragon's most humane, gentlest, and most promising character. TheBestWarGames correctly predicted Helaena's arc and the potential it holds for the future of House of the Dragon. It's safe to say that Helaena is unwilling to burn hundreds alongside the brother who destroyed their family and is destined to plunge into a lake.
House of the Dragon
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- August 21, 2022
House of the Dragon is HBO's prequel series to Game of Thrones. Set hundreds of years earlier, the show follows the inner machinations and rivalries of the Targaryen royal family. The show was created by Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin, and stars Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Rhys Ifans, and Olivia Cooke.
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