House of the Dragon: 'Weeks ahead' trailer teases future episodes

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The new HBO drama concentrated on the line of succession for the Iron Throne and House of the Dragon’s series premiere set up the story which begins 200 years before the fall of King Aerys Targaryen (played by David Rintoul). By the end of the opening episode, King Viserys (Paddy Considine) had named his young daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) as his heir with many eyebrows raised at the decision.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from Fire and Blood and House of the Dragon spoilers

Among those to disapprove of the king’s choice was his cousin Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best), who was also known as the Queen Who Never Was after she was passed over as the ruler of Westeros because she was a woman.

In a heated scene, Rhaenyra and Rhaenys clashed after the wife of the Sea Snake (Steve Toussaint) warned her the position of heir wouldn’t be hers for long.

Rhaenys said: “Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.”

She told Rhaenyra once Viserys had found a new wife and had sired further children, her claim to the Iron Throne would become redundant with her males half-siblings superseding her.

READ MORE: House of the Dragon episode 2 release date: When is it out?

Rhaenys added: “A woman would not inherit the throne because that is the order of things.”

In response, Rhaenyra defiantly told her: “When I am queen, I will create a new order.”

Her words very much seem to echo those of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) after she ordered the sacking and slaughter of King’s Landing in the misguided belief she was liberating its people in Game of Thrones.

Daenerys seemed to have become a megalomaniac as she finally defeated her enemies and hungered not just for the Iron Throne but complete world domination, transforming her into a despot.

She told Jon Snow (Kit Harington): “The world we need won’t be built by men loyal to the world we have.”

Daenerys went on to say: “Build the new world with me. This is our reason. It has been from the beginning since you were a little boy with a bastard’s name, and I was a little girl who couldn’t count to 20. We do it together. We break the wheel together.”

House of the Dragon has many parallels but this one struck a chord as neither Daenerys nor Rhaenyra even sat on the Iron Throne to rule.

They were both in line to be the first Targaryen queen to sit on the Iron Throne and both were killed before they could assume power.

Their words also feed back into the notion of Targaryens simply being hungry for power and taps into the madness within the dynasty caused by generations of inbreeding.

Daenerys was killed by her nephew Jon Snow after he realised the power had gone to her head and she’d transformed into a dictator.

Additionally, Rhaenyra’s words seem to foreshadow her fate which is expected to play out later on at some point in House of the Dragon.

Rhaenyra’s fate was just as tragic as Daenerys’ and she suffered a betrayal at the hands of her half-brother Aegon II, the son of Viserys and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

During the Dance of the Dragons, Rhaenyra went to Dragonestone where she was captured by Aegon II who fed her to his dragon Sunfyre.

After this, Aegon II declared his half-sister Rhaenyra was never queen and made sure the records all reflected this and she was simply ‘Princess’.

Tragically, Rhaenyra’s son Aegon III or ‘Aegon the Younger’ witnessed his mother’s horrific death, something which weighed heavy on him throughout his life.

The Dance of the Dragons ended when Aegon II died with no male heir and ironically Rhaenyra’s son Aegon III then ascended to the throne.

Her son Viserys II Targaryen would then go on to rule after his brother Aegon, meaning she had two sons become kings even though she never made in onto the Iron Throne herself.

House of the Dragon airs on HBO on Sundays and Sky Atlantic on Mondays and streams on NOW 

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