Note: This story contains spoilers from “House of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 7.
“House of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 7 saw as Rhaenyra and Team Black finally scored a win after a season full of struggles, which star Emma D’Arcy says gives the aspiring ruler the belief she can actually win the war for the Iron Throne.
“Her blood is up and I think for the first time … she thinks she can [win],” D’Arcy told TheWrap. “One of the few things she’s felt clear about is not entering into war that [she’s] obviously going to lose, that [it] being a completely pointless exercise. And for the first time, she has what she feels to be an ultimate deterrent.”
With Team Black facing a minority in dragonriders following Rhaenys and Meleys’ deaths at Rook’s Rest, Sunday’s new episode saw the Sowing of the Seeds play out, as Rhaenyra welcomed dozens of Targaryen and Velaryon bastards to try their hand at taming a dragon. While the endeavor proved bloody, Team Black gained two new dragon riders: Hugh the Hammer, who tamed Vermithor, and Ulf the White, who bonded with Vermithor’s mate Silverwing. By the end of the episode, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) rode atop Vhagar to Dragonstone, but quickly turned around when he spotted several dragons in front of him.
“She has so exceeded the Greens’ weaponry that maybe she’s expecting a surrender, certainly at the end of the episode … we see Aemond turn tail and fly away,” D’Arcy added. “We’ll see what happens in Episode 8, but for a moment, it feels like her political designs have paid off in a really complex way. In fact, as she has been espousing since the beginning of the series, an even bloodier war — an elongated conflict — might be avoided.”
Below, D’Arcy breaks down how opening up the search for dragon riders rightfully hurt Jace, reveals what Rhaenyra is expecting from Daemon after being separated for nearly the whole season and teased the return of “old faces” in the Season 2 finale.
TheWrap: This episode sees Rhaenyra opening up her search for dragonriders to the lower classes, which is a bit of a controversial decision in some ranks. Why was it worth it for her to break tradition?
Emma D’Arcy: One of Rhaenyra’s core skills is this thinking outside of the box approach to problems, maybe because she doesn’t have the formal battle training that her male colleagues have. She has no option but to think laterally. I think after the death of Rhaenys, the desire to seek different means of fighting becomes even more fundamentally important — she owes it to Rhaenys’ memory in some capacity.
Rhaenyra’s fire and volatility — the thing we see exhibit itself in Daemon as aggression or big impulsive acts — comes from the ultimate belief that she is supposed to take over her father’s throne. I think it borders on a kind of religious fanaticism — we see her become more and more wedded and ingratiated into her faith. She seeks the old gods, by which I think we also sort of mean dragons, as a key to her own future. In a slightly frightening way, there’s a religious fervor, like she has the gods at her back in this decision.
How has Rhaenyra’s partnership with Mysaria, who represents the small folk, helped open Rhaenyra’s mind?
Prior to her friendship with Mysaria, the idea of the common man was slightly abstract to Rhaenyra. She is possibly more tolerant than some of the other royals, but she’s dripping with privilege. That’s suddenly made tangible by Mysaria, not only in Mysaria’s wisdom and political instinct for trying to manipulate and guide the allegiance of the people, but also when Mysaria speaks about her own experiences, the life that she’s lived and the battles that she has undertaken. There’s such a clever and thorough investigation of the propaganda machines of both sides. It feels like it marks like a big deviation from the more straightforward battle designs of many of her male colleagues.
Jace is among those who aren’t happy about this dragonrider opportunity being opened up. Why do you think he feels so strongly about it?
Jace has every reason to feel deeply compromised by his mother’s choice. Ultimately, she will choose herself, really, above anyone. And here she chooses herself and her divine right over her son and her son’s legitimacy. I don’t think it’s an easy decision — we’ve seen Rhaenyra, over years, fight vehemently for the legitimacy of her children. We’ve seen her fight petitions. We’ve seen her stake all of her reputation, protecting those boys. But in this case, she feels she’s received divine permission. Jace says — and Harry Collette plays it so beautifully in the episode — all these issues with how I look are silenced by the fact that I’m a dragon rider, and you are willing to give that license that I own away, and he’s right that she doesn’t shut down his argument, which I feel is the only respect she can show him, right?
What does it mean to Rhaenyra that she accomplished this feat without Daemon? What is she expecting of him at this point? Can Rhaenyra and Daemon come together again?
I think Rhaenyra and Daemon’s relationship only really works when they are both in positions of power. Their erotic energy, their sex is like all power. When they are grieving, when they are mourning, when their campaign is failing, they absolutely struggle to relate to one another. Obviously, Rhaenyra is going to have to, sooner or later, think about dealing with whatever is going on at Harrenhal. She’s going have to ask that big question about whether or not he is allied to her. But I think now she might look forward to, in some way, that encounter, because I feel she’s reconnected with herself, with her identity, and when she feels powerful, I think she can take him on, both as a husband and as a potential enemy.
That scene with Vermithor is pretty epic. What was it like filming with that scene?
It’s actually amazing to shoot. I find those scenes really challenging. I don’t think I’m a natural gift to the world of tennis ball acting, but Loni Peristere, who directed the episode spent a huge amount of time filling the absence of dragon with his own voice. He was on a microphone and I think the value in that effort of his sings so loudly in the episode. You shoot these scenes over multiple days, it’s a real act of imagination to keep the invisible dragon alive, but that work is made so much easier when you have someone meeting you there.
It was my first time seeing live men set themselves on fire. I thought I actually wouldn’t like that for myself. They are incredibly impressive and very skilled people. Those days are sort of extraordinary, because there are so many different elements to it, they’re sort of exhausting because of the size of the machinery. I was really blown away watching it. Loni’s done a really exquisite job. I know how bitty it is to shoot that stuff and to see it all pieced together, and for it to feel so fluid and so alive, I thought was an absolute credit to him.
We’re getting excited about next week’s finale. What can you tease about the episode and if there’s any dragon warfare that occurs?
I should say I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll be watching it with everyone. Lots of old faces, lots of old relationships — they’re going to run into one another.
Will we see Rhaenyra and Daemon reunite?
No comment.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of “House of the Dragon” air Sundays on HBO and stream on Max.
