Note: The following contains spoilers for “House of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 2
Following the brutal assassination at the hands of Blood and Cheese in the “House of the Dragon” Season 2 premiere, showrunner Ryan Condal said Aegon’s impulsive Episode 2 decision reflects a king “learning how to rule.”
Episode 2 saw Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) — Aegon’s grandfather as well as his hand — reprimanding Aegon for executing the entirety of the city’s ratcatchers following his son’s brutal murder, and reached his last straw when he learned Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) sent Arryk (Luke Tittensor) to Dragonstone to kill Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). Following their confrontation, Aegon asked Otto to remove his hand badge and give it to Criston, a choice Condal noted is undeniably influenced by whispers from Larys Strong (Matthew Needham).
“We know from the first episode, and probably other events that have happened off-screen, that Larys has incepted Aegon to start looking at Otto Hightower as his father’s hand,” Condal told TheWrap. “In Larys’ mind — who’s always trying to get closer and closer to the nexus of power — [he’s] hopefully getting Aegon to realize that there is a ceiling over his head and it’s made with the old people that his father’s generation put into power.”
Following the “seismic events” leading up to the decision to remove Otto as the King’s hand, Condal noted Aegon “impulsively makes this decision to move on from Otto in a way to clear his way to a more centralized nexus of power.”
The shift reflects a “king learning how to rule,” Condal added, which is heightened due to Aegon’s age, as the showrunner noted the younger generation is historically “less studied” and “less temperate.”
“That’s just classic politics — History is littered with characters like Aegon, who inherited an office, particularly in a monarchy, and don’t really have the training or the temper for it, and then have to find their way through rule,” Condal said. “Some of those people figure it out and become great and others are tyrants or monsters — not making any commentary on Aegon.”
As for any contemporary parallels to how Aegon’s revenge-driven reign might resemble modern political figures, Condal says those are merely coincidental.
“I don’t think we’re making any specific allegory to current events — I think people will read into the show, really whatever’s going on in the moment,” Condal said, noting he hopes the messages still resonate with viewers who watch the series 10 years from now. “I think you’ve done your job [if] you have a core, aligned theme people will draw even contemporary allegory from that didn’t exist at the time that the piece was created.”
New episodes of “House of the Dragon” air Sundays on HBO and stream on Max.
