Rhaenyra & Alicent's Kids Will Be All Grown Up and Thirsty for Blood in HotD Season 2
It won’t be child’s play…
House of the Dragon season 1 was something of a slow burner. It took a while to get going and was very much a scene-setting season to prepare us for the real story to come.
And boy did it do that in the end! While the time jumps seemed a bit disconcerting in the beginning, they were actually a pretty simple ploy that helped move the show along at a reasonable pace while still dealing with the pertinent facts.
Season 2 looks to be very different. The history has been explained. The backstory has been laid out. Now it’s time for the grown-up offspring of Rhaenyra and Alicent to really get stuck into each other.
From the moment Rhaenyra convinced her father to demote Otto Hightower from his influential position as Hand of the King in episode 4 of season 1 her relationship with Alicent (which was already hanging by a thread) was doomed to completely fall apart.
And if there’s one thing we know about Westerosi families, it’s that they take their alliances and allegiances very seriously. By and large, they’re also pretty good at bearing a grudge.
So, all that pent-up aggression between the two families looks set to result in plenty of the skulduggery, scheming and bloodshed that we became so familiar with in Game of Thrones and saw glimpses of in House of the Dragon season 1.
The first season, of course, didn’t feature the kids very much. Why would it? While they play a key role in the story to come, it wasn’t yet their time to shine. But don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re not valuable characters with a part to play.
It was simply that their role so far has been essentially to be pawns in other people's power struggles. In season 2, they’re of fighting age and will be ready to climb aboard dragons to fight for the crown, for revenge, and well, maybe just for the love of fighting and killing in some circumstances.
As the downfall of House Targaryen begins to take shape, the battle for supremacy between those claiming a right to the throne – along with the introduction of the Greens and Starks – should ensure that the new season feels far closer to Game of Thrones than season 1 did.