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House Of The Dragon fans distraught after Storm’s End twist


Published : 24 Oct 2022 07:29 PM

Fan reactions to the House of the Dragon season 1 finale episode are in, and that heartbreaking twist at Storm’s End is proving difficult to handle.

House of the Dragon fans have emotional reactions to the events of the season 1 finale. After working up to it all season, episode 8 finally saw King Viserys (Paddy Considine) succumb to his illness and pass away. However, his last words were misinterpreted by his wife Alicent (Olivia Cooke), leading her to believe that he wanted their son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the throne rather than his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), whom he had previously named as heir. Episode 9 saw Alicent's supporters, the Greens, usurp Rhaenyra's claim and install Aegon on the throne, setting off the wars to come.

After an Alicent-focused episode 9, the House of the Dragon season 1 finale follows Rhaenyra and her court at Dragonstone as they strategize. The Queen, hoping to keep the realm united as she seeks to defend her claim, sends her son Jacaerys (Harry Collett) to the Vale and Winterfell and his brother Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) to Storm's End on dragonback with messages for the Lords of those regions. Fans of the source material for the series, George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, knew that Lucerys was in for a one-way trip, as his uncle (and his dragon Vhagar) has beat him to Storm's End. The teen's accidental death at the hands of his uncle Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) was as chilling as it was tragic, and viewers have expressed their thoughts.

Some viewers have taken to Twitter and pointed to Viserys' words about controlling dragons earlier in the series, which foreshadowed both Lucerys and Aemond's loss of control over their dragons in the heat of the battle at Storm's End. Many have also expressed frustration over Rhaenyra allowing young Lucerys to go on his own, while others comically speculate about Aemond's return to King's Landing after what has unfolded. The posts reveal that the audience has many emotions about the loss of Rhaenyra's second son.

Now that Aemond has effectively killed Lucerys due to his taunts getting out of hand, it will not matter to either side that the murder was accidental. As Rhaenyra's expression showed at the end of the House of the Dragon season 1 finale, the Blacks are ready for revenge, with Lucerys' death possibly giving his mother the push she needed to fight back against the Greens and allow the war to commence. Since Lucerys was set to inherit Driftmark, his death has implications outside the personal - perhaps Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) will reconsider his support for the Queen now that the boy whose claim he supported for his seat for is dead, and his granddaughter Rhaena Velaryon (Eva Ossei Gerning) will have to be married to someone else - though Rhaenyra does have a third son she could consider.