Why Did Laena Kill Herself?

Why did Laena burn herself to death?

House of the Dragon’s Laena Velaryon got a different fate in the book Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO ‘s sixth episode, “The Princess and the Queen,” was a particularly difficult one for almost everybody on the show. The series picked up, and caught us up with its most important characters, many of whom had in the interim. Among these characters was Laena Velaryon, daughter of, and now Daemon Targaryen’s second wife.

1. Viewers knew Laena best as the 12-year-old girl from episode 2 who spoke to Viserys about dragons before pitching him on marriage (which he politely declined).
2. Laena and Daemon wound up having two children during the 10-year time jump, and Laena spends most of the sixth episode pregnant with what would be their third.

Amid the drama of an incoming newborn is where the filmmakers decided to change a few details about her fate from the show’s source material, Fire & Blood, In Fire & Blood, Laena undergoes a particularly difficult labor before giving birth to a stillborn child, much like what happens in the show.

• However, in the book, she spends several days ill and dying.
• According to Fire & Blood ‘s maester author, legend has it that in her final moments, she tried to find her dragon, Vhagar, to fly just one more time, but died on her way.
• The show makes all this a little quicker and a little more literal.
• Overcome with grief over the loss of her son, Laena rushes from the birthing chamber and finds Vhagar.

She kneels down in front of the dragon and commands it to burn her alive. Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO There could be a couple of explanations for this change, or more accurately, this new version of the story. While Fire & Blood plays the part of a history, telling only the most important details of its tale — and even then, doing so with the fallibility of its author and their sources — House of the Dragon is supposed to be a more factual and detailed account of the Dance of Dragons, according to showrunner Ryan Condal.

• It’s possible that that’s what is happening here — that Laena’s suicide by dragon was simply not recorded by Maester Yandel in the in-universe version of Fire & Blood to help protect the reputation of the Targaryens.
• But this isn’t the only possible reason for the new scene.
• Like many elements of House of the Dragon so far, this isn’t so much a direct departure from the story of the books as it is a literalization of certain themes.

While the difficulties of childbirth and women’s roles in Westeros are certainly concepts that are explored in Fire & Blood, the book doesn’t really spend time detailing them (or any other themes), choosing simply to recount events in Westeros rather than think about them.

The show’s changes come most often in the realm of character deaths. While the book most often has them slipping away after several days in the care of maesters and their leeches, House of the Dragon prefers to kill characters with a flourish. Characters like, and even Daemon’s first wife, Lady Rhea Royce, were explicitly killed by House of the Dragon ‘s leads to help move the plot and characters along.

An added benefit of this choice in Laena’s case is that it more strongly defines her character. Though we didn’t spend much time with Laena in the show, seeing that she’d rather end her own life than bear the loss of a child adds an interesting wrinkle to who she was, and helps us better understand House of the Dragon ‘s very difficult relationship with motherhood, and especially with childbirth.

Why did Leanne kill herself?

Servant’s finale was uncomfortable, confounding, and perfectly fitting Endings are hard. That’s particularly true for serialized mystery box TV shows, ones where plentiful juicy secrets hook viewers but the answers often fail to satisfy them. Putting a final bow on a story like that is a unique challenge.

• That’s part of what makes Servant, the Apple TV Plus psychological thriller helmed by M.
• Night Shyamalan, so interesting.
• Whereas many of these shows seem like they’re making it up as they go, Servant had a specific ending in mind.
• The story wanted to be four seasons.” The show has been weird, confusing, and frequently nonsensical.

But at least there has been the promise that it’ll all make some sense eventually. So now, here we are at that ending. It has been, it’s an understatement to say, a strange journey — one full of “,” obsessive cults, plague-like afflictions, and quite possibly, a quarrel with God.

People have died, and others have been brought back to life. And through it all, the core question at the center of the show — just who or what is Leanne (Nell Tiger Free), a nanny who is the titular servant — has remained unanswered. In the finale, someone finally comes out and asks outright, “What are you?” The answer, as you can imagine, is a little complicated.

But at the very least, Servant goes out on its own terms — which is to say, the finale was equal parts uncomfortable and confounding but in a way that fit the story perfectly. Note: this review includes spoilers for all four seasons of Servant, up to and including the final episode.

Okay, so first, a little setup is required., and since then, forces have been conspiring against Leanne, which, in turn, has unleashed her full might. Dorothy Turner (Lauren Ambrose), who Leanne views as a sort of mother figure, lives in fear of her nanny and wants nothing more than for her to be gone for good.

Dorothy’s husband Sean (Toby Kebbell) and brother Julian (Rupert Grint) are now fully on her side. Leanne is still living in their home, taking care of the family and their child Jericho, but she’s incredibly isolated (aside from the cult of devotees who worship her in the park across the street). Rupert Grint in Servant, Image: Apple In episode 8, a full-on Category 2 hurricane descends on Philadelphia as a physical symbol of Leanne’s simmering rage. She yells at the swirling winds as if they’re locked in a battle. (Presumably, she’s actually speaking to God.) She also learns an important truth from her former cult, the Church of the Lesser Saints: since no one is strong enough to kill her, the only way to end all of this chaos is to kill herself.

“You should not exist,” her former cult leader Uncle George (Boris McGiver) tells her. Leanne, naturally, does not agree. Another very important thing happened in the lead-up to the finale. Way back in season 1, the show began with a tragedy: Dorothy, sleep-deprived and alone, left her child, Jericho, in a car overnight one summer, and the baby died.

Dorothy’s inability to cope with this horrible experience led to the therapy involving a reborn doll, and when Leanne came aboard as nanny, the doll miraculously came to life (though it also switched back to a doll at several points throughout the show).

1. The big problem is that no one in Dorothy’s life, in particular, her husband and brother, could summon the courage to tell her what really happened — partly because they were scared and partly because they didn’t want to ruin whatever magic Leanne was working.
2. If Servant ended on a neat and tidy note, it wouldn’t be Servant anymore But in episode 9, the penultimate one, amid the chaos of the powerful storm, they finally have the conversation — and it’s brutal.

The camera pulsates like a heart as it slowly zooms in on Dorothy’s horrified face. It’s a heartbreaking scene, one that sets Dorothy up with a difficult choice: does she accept reality or change her mind to side with Leanne in hopes of bringing Jericho back yet again? Part of this decision-making process involves Dorothy finally asking Leanne just what she is.

1. It doesn’t matter,” Leanne tells her.
2. I’m yours.” In the end, we don’t actually learn much new from the finale.
3. And honestly.
4. That’s fine.
5. Ambiguity works for what Servant is.
6. It’s clear that Leanne is some kind of supernatural force, one with a darkness inside of her — her moods can impact the weather, bring people to life, and inflict bodily harm — but whether she’s literally a demon or angel or something else is never explicitly explained.

Instead, the finale focuses on something much more personal. Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose in Servant, Image: Apple Despite her late-season grasp for power, Leanne really only wants one thing: a family. She thought she found it in the Turner home, a place where she could be a help and a comfort for a family struggling with terrible loss.

• But her inability to control her powers made life difficult.
• And when Dorothy ultimately decides that she needs to live with the pain as an expression of her love for Jericho, Leanne finds herself without a purpose.
• She makes a decision of her own: in order to end the destruction her power has brought, she decides to take Uncle George’s advice and end her life.

And she does so in the most dramatic way possible, burning down the Turner house while still inside. The scene is beautiful in a tragic kind of way, like a literal interpretation of, before becoming truly horrifying. The finale reminds me a bit of Lost ‘s controversial ending.

Both are narratively frustrating, leaving lots of unanswered questions and details open to interpretation. But they’re emotionally satisfying. If Servant ended on a neat and tidy note, it wouldn’t be Servant anymore. Instead, it ends the only way it could: with a bizarre, terrifying, and confusing sequence that completely encapsulates the last four seasons.

Even if the show had all the answers, it would be out of character to tell you all of them. : Servant’s finale was uncomfortable, confounding, and perfectly fitting

Why did Laena let Vhagar kill her?

House of the Dragon season 1, episode 6’s ending sees Lady Laena Velaryon command her massive dragon Vhagar to perform a shocking action. WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon season 1, episode 6! Laena Velaryon’s death by Vhagar’s fire was a tragic way to end House of the Dragon episode 6, but was a fitting end for the rider of the world’s largest dragon.

• House of the Dragon season 1, episode 6 picks up after a 10-year time jump, revealing that Lady Laena Velaryon has been living in Pentos with her husband Daemon Targaryen and their two daughters Baela and Rhaena.
• Not only was the pregnant Laena living lavishly in Essos, but she had also claimed Vhagar during this time, who is now the biggest living dragon.

While Daemon had no intention to return to Westeros due to House of the Dragon ‘s growing political feuds, Laena was desperate to return to Driftmark with her family. As the blood of Old Valyria, Laena wanted her children to be living at home with their dragon power and birthrights, but a difficult labor would keep her from realizing this dream.

• In House of the Dragon episode 6’s ending, the complications during Laena’s childbirth turned lethal, indicating that neither the baby nor mother would survive.
• Laena quickly came to this realization on her own, so she ran outside the Pentoshi manse, laid before her dragon, and commanded House of the Dragon ‘s Vhagar to burn her alive.

Proving how attached Vhagar and Laena had become in the time after House of the Dragon episode 5, the dragon at first refused to obey the “Dracarys” command. Not only does Laena’s death prove how incredibly powerful Vhagar is, but it is also another instance of Aemma Arryn’s assessment that the birthing bed is a brutal battlefield for women.

Why did Laena burn but not Daenerys?

Even though Laena Velaryon is Targaryen from her mother’s side, she can burn because Valyrians are not impervious to fire.

Why did Vhagar hesitate to burn Laena?

‘House of the Dragon’: Why Laena’s Death By Vhagar is Not to Be Overlooked

• House of the Dragon, like Game of Thrones before it, is not afraid to kill off a number of characters, and episode 6 proved to be pretty brutal.
• The episode, which was the first to star in the roles of Princess and Alicent Hightower, featured the death of several characters, including Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell).
• But it is how Laena dies that is of note because it is through her dragon Vhagar that the act takes place.

Nanna Blondell as Laena Velaryon in “House of the Dragon” episode 6. The character demanded that her dragon Vhagar kill her. Ollie Upton/HBO

1. In the episode, Laena is preparing to give birth to her third child by Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) after having two daughters: Baela and Rhaena.
2. Her third pregnancy does not go smoothly, though, and when she is unable to give birth to her child, Laena chooses to walk to her dragon, Vhagar, and demand that the creature kill her.
3. At first, the beast does not want to obey her command of “Dracarys,” but the dragon appears to understand the pain that Laena is going through with her birth, and it realizes that she is asking for a quick death rather than a slow, painful one.
4. After some initial resistance, the dragon does grant her command and kills her by fire, with Daemon arriving too late to stop his second wife from dying.

Matt Smith and Nanna Blondell as Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon in “House of the Dragon,” Laena died after the birth of her and Daemon’s third child went wrong. Ollie Upton/HBO The death takes place differently in ‘s book Fire and Blood, which tells the history of the Targaryen dynasty.

1. In it, Laena gives birth to her and Daemon’s son, but the child was said to be “twisted and malformed,” and he died shortly afterwards.
2. Laena was weak following her grueling labour, and she spent three days in a delirious state.
3. She tried to go to Vhagar to fly with the creature one last time, only to collapse and die while walking towards the dragon.

Daemon finds Laena and brings her to bed, where he watches vigil over her dead body alongside Princess Rhaenyra. Although there are differences between Laena’s death in the book and show, the way in which she passes in the show should not be overlooked.

1. In Martin’s world, the dragons follow their Targaryen masters’ orders, and they are also fiercely protective of them.
2. That Vhagar at first did not want to kill Laena is proof of that because he showed how much he cared for her, and the dragon’s decision to concede and give Laena the death she sought appears to be a way he felt he could help her.

In Martin’s books, Vhagar does not remain masterless for long following Laena’s death, as it is Aemond who manages to win him. House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on and HBO Max. : ‘House of the Dragon’: Why Laena’s Death By Vhagar is Not to Be Overlooked

How did Laena burn if she is a Targaryen?

House of the Dragon episode six spoilers follow. House of the Dragon episode six came to a scorching end when Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) took her own life by dragon fire. That is she asked her dragon Vaghar to burn her alive. After an arduous labour, Laena was unable to deliver her child.

1. The tragic turn of fate harks back to the brutality of Queen Aemma’s labour in the show’s debut episode.
2. When faced with the same choice as his brother Viserys (Paddy Considine), Daemon (Matt Smith) opted not to have his wife hacked to bits in order to save the child and so Laena made the only choice she felt she had – uttering the famed word dracarys she died bathed in dragon fire.

Fans of the show were no doubt as crushed as Vaghar was to see yet another pregnant woman face such a harrowing death. However her devastating demise also stirs up a question that’s been needling us for quite some time. Aren’t the Targaryens supposed to be fireproof? HBO Laena may bear the maiden name of Velaryon, earning her Targaryen surname by marriage, but the blood of the dragon is also in her genetically. Her mother is Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), the queen who never was, elder cousin to King Viserys and so by blood she is also a Targaryen.

Is Leanne a fallen angel?

Trivia –

The title refers to Leanne having been reborn as one of the Fallen Angels, fully disproving what Sean and Julian had believed from the recently deceased George since ” Myth,” Despite that a lunar eclipse was mentioned to coincide with the ever increasing downpour, it is not seen. Originally, the show was going to have a total of two more seasons (six) and sixty episodes but was shortened to just four seasons and forty episodes. Officer Reyes is revealed to he a member of the Church of Lesser Saints who was assigned to keep an eye on the Turners as they dealt with her “sister” Leanne after Jericho’s untimely premature demise one year ago.

Did Leanne have powers?

Showrunner M. Night Shyamalan explains how the two women’s storylines became so central to the show’s endgame. WARNING: This post contains spoilers from Servant seasons 1-4. For four seasons, Servant has focused on the psychological and supernatural travails of four characters: Sean ( Toby Kebbell ), Dorothy ( Lauren Ambrose ), Julian ( Rupert Grint ), and Leanne ( Nell Tiger Free ).

But the complicated surrogate mother-daughter relationship between Dorothy and Leanne has gradually taken center stage. The Servant cast and showrunner M. Night Shyamalan teased EW ahead of the season 4 premiere that the conflict between Dorothy and Leanne would play a major part in the show’s final act, and lo and behold — the series finale, which hit Apple TV+ on Friday, culminates in a climactic confrontation between the two on the rooftop of the Philadelphia apartment that has housed Servant ‘s secrets.

They’ve come a long way since the first episode. Leanne was originally hired by the Turner family to be a nanny for their baby Jericho. The baby had actually died before the show began, but Dorothy was in such deep denial about it that Sean and Julian introduced a lifelike doll to take Jericho’s place. Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose on ‘Servant.’ | Credit: Apple TV+ In the subsequent seasons, Leanne has demonstrated more and more seemingly supernatural abilities. In the series finale, her powers seem to be throwing all of nature out of balance: Storms ravaging the sky, sinkholes opening in the middle of Philadelphia streets.

Only Dorothy can really talk to her. “I realized that there are two storylines to the show,” Shyamalan tells EW. “There’s the mother who doesn’t remember, and then the mythology of a girl who’s left a tragic backstory of her own. That was always there, but then it grew into understanding that those two storylines are the flip of each other.

One is a mother who didn’t get a chance to be a mother, and then a child who didn’t have a mother. When I thought of it like that, then I went, ‘oh, okay. The only way that we’re, that anybody’s gonna stop this young woman from becoming this horrific entity, is the love of a mother.’ I was like well, that’s where our 40 episodes are going.” It took four seasons, but in the penultimate episode last week, Sean and Julian finally came clean to Dorothy and told her the truth about Jericho — how he had died in a hot car while Dorothy was stressed out from motherhood, while Sean and Julian had basically abandoned her. Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose on ‘Servant.’ | Credit: Apple TV+ “Here’s how it really went: ‘Hey, let’s wake her up in episode three,'” Shyamalan says with a laugh. “Then I went, ‘okay, but then what’s better than that? Let’s just push it. Let’s keep writing more episodes.

Maybe let’s push it to episode six. Okay.’ Then we kept going, and I went, ‘wait wait, I’m not ready to wake her up. Let’s do the backstory instead, the reveal of what happened to baby Jericho. We’ll do it at the end of the last episode of the first season.’ But even then I was still like, ‘no, wait, the story feels over if I let them have that conversation.’ And when I didn’t do it, then is when I went, ‘oh, we’re gonna do it at the end of the show.

That’s the only time to do it. As soon as she wakes up, the show’s over.'” Shyamalan continues, “then the question was, ‘can we do that for 40 episodes? Can we do 39 episodes with her essentially asleep?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, we can, because that’s what the tension and the weirdness of everything is.'” Now, after all that tension and weirdness, the truth is out, and relationships have come to their explosive climax.

Is the baby in Servant really Jericho?

Why Servant had to end with that epic confrontation between Dorothy and Leanne WARNING: This post contains spoilers from Servant seasons 1-4. For four seasons, has focused on the psychological and supernatural travails of four characters: Sean (), Dorothy (), Julian (), and Leanne ().

But the complicated surrogate mother-daughter relationship between Dorothy and Leanne has gradually taken center stage. The Servant cast and showrunner teased EW ahead of the season 4 premiere that, and lo and behold — the series finale, which hit Apple TV+ on Friday, culminates in a climactic confrontation between the two on the rooftop of the Philadelphia apartment that has housed Servant ‘s secrets.

They’ve come a long way since the first episode. Leanne was originally hired by the Turner family to be a nanny for their baby Jericho. The baby had actually died before the show began, but Dorothy was in such deep denial about it that Sean and Julian introduced a lifelike doll to take Jericho’s place.

Leanne was hired almost as a joke by them, but astonished everyone by reintroducing a human baby into the household who she claimed was Jericho. Was this a con, or a legitimate resurrection? The question has hung over the show ever since. Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose in “Servant,” now streaming on Apple TV+ Apple TV+ Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose on ‘Servant.’ In the subsequent seasons, Leanne has demonstrated more and more seemingly supernatural abilities.

In the series finale, her powers seem to be throwing all of nature out of balance: Storms ravaging the sky, sinkholes opening in the middle of Philadelphia streets. Only Dorothy can really talk to her. “I realized that there are two storylines to the show,” Shyamalan tells EW.

“There’s the mother who doesn’t remember, and then the mythology of a girl who’s left a tragic backstory of her own. That was always there, but then it grew into understanding that those two storylines are the flip of each other. One is a mother who didn’t get a chance to be a mother, and then a child who didn’t have a mother.

When I thought of it like that, then I went, ‘oh, okay. The only way that we’re, that anybody’s gonna stop this young woman from becoming this horrific entity, is the love of a mother.’ I was like well, that’s where our 40 episodes are going.” It took four seasons, but in the penultimate episode last week, Sean and Julian finally came clean to Dorothy and told her the truth about Jericho — how he had died in a hot car while Dorothy was stressed out from motherhood, while Sean and Julian had basically abandoned her.

It was a hard truth to hear — but a necessary one. Shyamalan tells EW that the initial plan was to tell Dorothy the truth early. But he and the other Servant writers soon realized her journey to understanding was the whole story of the show. Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose in “Servant,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Apple TV+ Nell Tiger Free and Lauren Ambrose on ‘Servant.’ “Here’s how it really went: ‘Hey, let’s wake her up in episode three,'” Shyamalan says with a laugh. “Then I went, ‘okay, but then what’s better than that? Let’s just push it. Let’s keep writing more episodes.

• Maybe let’s push it to episode six.
• Okay.’ Then we kept going, and I went, ‘wait wait, I’m not ready to wake her up.
• Let’s do the backstory instead, the reveal of what happened to baby Jericho.
• We’ll do it at the end of the last episode of the first season.’ But even then I was still like, ‘no, wait, the story feels over if I let them have that conversation.’ And when I didn’t do it, then is when I went, ‘oh, we’re gonna do it at the end of the show.

That’s the only time to do it. As soon as she wakes up, the show’s over.'” Shyamalan continues, “then the question was, ‘can we do that for 40 episodes? Can we do 39 episodes with her essentially asleep?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, we can, because that’s what the tension and the weirdness of everything is.'” Now, after all that tension and weirdness, the truth is out, and relationships have come to their explosive climax.

Who got eaten by Vhagar?

Warning: contains Spoilers for House of the Dragon and the book Fire & Blood.As upsetting as Lucerys Velaryon’s death was in House of the Dragon ‘s season 1 finale, the death of his younger brother Joffrey will be worse. Lucerys Velaryon died after riding away from Storm’s End when he was eaten mid-flight by Aemond Targaryen’s dragon, Vhagar.

Because of the sheer size of Vhagar, whose neck is rumored over a century later by Tyrion Lannister to be large enough for a horse to ride down her gullet, Lucerys’ death wasn’t necessarily quick. He would of course have been severely maimed from having a dragon’s maw chomp down over him, but it can’t be assumed that he was killed immediately while being swallowed by Vhagar and subsequently digested.

Regardless of how long he was alive after being eaten, Lucerys’ death was shocking and violent. Making Vhagar’s brutal House of the Dragon.

11/3/2022by Allison Wonchoba ScreenRant.com

Why did daemon laugh at the funeral?

Why Is Daemon Laughing During Laena’s Funeral? – Image via HBO So, why, in front of his family and the extended family, does he laugh in the middle of Laena’s funeral? Well, the problem, surprisingly, actually isn’t Daemon at all. During his eulogy, Vaemond, Corlys’ younger brother in the show, speaks to the gathered in High Valyrian — a language that, the majority of the people standing there understand.

• He talks about returning Laena to the sea and uses flowery words to basically say he hopes that her afterlife is peaceful.
• The problem arises when he mentions her daughters.
• Vaemond says, “Lady Laena leaves two true-born daughters on the shore.
• Though their mother will not return from her voyage, they will all remain bound together in blood.

Salt courses through Velaryon blood. Ours runs thick. Ours runs true. And ours must never thin.” It is at this point that Daemon starts laughing, understandably leading everyone to glare at him. Vaemond’s words are an open condemnation of Rhaenyra’s children and fall in line with what Rhaenys tells her husband later on in the episode. Image via HBO It’s a curious moment to choose when laying your niece to rest, to call out her brother and sister-in-law. We saw from Episode 6, when Laena and Daemon were discussing the paternity of the new baby Joffrey, she brushed away the thought of paternity issues, even knowing the truth.

Who rides Vhagar after Leana dies?

Laena died early in 120 AC. It is said that Laena attempted to reach Vhagar in her final hour as to fly one last time, but she did not have the strength. Following Laena’s funeral on Driftmark, the ten-year old prince Aemond Targaryen claimed Vhagar as his own dragon.

Did Daemon Targaryen love Laena?

Did Daemon Love Laena? – In the series, Daemon and Laena’s relationship is portrayed somewhat differently in episode six. The pair do flee Westeros after their marriage, but they never return as they did in the book, nor is their marriage an entirely happy one.

1. While Daemon is seemingly content to stay in self-inflicted exile in the Free Cities, Laena longs to return to Westeros to raise their twin daughters (and third unborn child) at Driftmark where she was raised.
2. When the pair discusses this desire, Laena implies Daemon is in love with someone else, saying, “Perhaps I too am not the wife you would have wished for yourself.” When Daemon tries to protest (albeit weakly), she stops him, saying, “It does not pain me.

I’ve made my peace.” This interaction suggests Daemon still holds a flame for Rhaenyra all these years later. While Daemon may not love Laena romantically, it is clear he holds her in high regard and has a tenderness for her. He kisses her pregnant belly at one point in the episode, and later, when she realizes she’s not going to survive the birth of their third child, he unsuccessfully attempts to stop her when she goes outside to die by Vhagar’s fire.

Who killed Daemon Targaryen?

In Fire & Blood, Daemon is thought to have been killed after jumping from his own dragon’s back onto the flying dragon of Aemond Targaryen and stabbing Aemond through the eye with Dark Sister.

Why doesn t fire hurt Targaryens?

Only one more episode remains in House of the Dragon ‘s first season, after a divisive ninth installment that crowned a new king. But what happens when a Targaryen king doesn’t want to rule? Could Aegon II have died from a burst of fire from Rhaenys’s dragon? It’s time to answer your questions in the ninth Dragon mailbag.

• To appear in the last Season 1 mailbag, message me at @zachkram on Twitter or [email protected] next week after the Dragon finale airs.
• Daniel asks: “Why wouldn’t Aegon abdicate the throne? He doesn’t want it but it’s not even talked about or considered.
• Abdication was very common in Europe, is it not done in Westeros?” No Targaryen king ever abdicated in peacetime.

However, there are concrete examples of a potential king passing up a chance at the Iron Throne. About a century after the events of Dragon, Maester Aemon turns down an opportunity to be released from his maester’s vows and become king. This selfless decision allows Aemon’s younger brother, Aegon V—Egg of Dunk and Egg fame—to ascend unopposed.

1. A generation later, Prince Duncan—King Aegon V’s eldest son and heir—is betrothed to a Baratheon.
2. But while traveling in the Riverlands, he encounters a woman named Jenny of Oldstones, later the subject of a beautiful song that Podrick sings in the only good episode of Thrones Season 8.
3. Duncan loves Jenny, no matter her ignoble background, and when the combined authorities of the king, high septon, and Small Council force him to “choose between the Iron Throne and this wild woman of the woods,” The World of Ice & Fire says, he follows his heart.

As Barristan Selmy thinks in A Dance With Dragons, “The Prince of Dragonflies loved Jenny of Oldstones so much he cast aside a crown.” It’s Westeros’s version of Edward VIII leaving the British throne for Wallis Simpson, only if Edward had made that choice before becoming king.

• Of course, the examples of Aemon and Duncan occur after the events of Dragon, so Aegon doesn’t have these precedents to consult—but Aegon himself flirts with a similar notion this episode, hoping to run away from King’s Landing rather than attend his own coronation.
• Yet once he wears the crown, with Blackfyre in his hand and a cheering crowd below him, he sure seems thrilled to be in such a powerful position.

Even if abdication were a regular occurrence in Westeros, that taste of royalty might have changed Aegon’s once-hesitant mind. Notice I said “in peacetime” above, however. Wartime comes with more examples of kings relinquishing their thrones. Back before Aegon the Conqueror united Westeros (except for Dorne—more on that in a moment), the continent was composed of individual kingdoms, each with its own ruler.

But faced with Aegon’s dragons and certain destruction, some kings, most notably Torrhen Stark (known forever after as the King Who Knelt), set aside their royal claims. Within Targaryen family history, there’s the possible precedent set by Maegor the Cruel—an abdication of sorts. Late in Maegor’s reign, amid all sorts of chaos we don’t have time to explore in detail here, Jaehaerys—a younger brother of Aegon the Uncrowned, whom Maegor had jumped in the line of succession to usurp the throne—put forth his own claim to the throne.

A number of powerful houses sided with the young Targaryen challenger; Maegor’s days were clearly numbered. But they came to an end earlier than expected, when Maegor died from wounds he suffered while sitting on the Iron Throne one night. Maegor was allegedly alone in the throne room, and Fire & Blood says the culprit behind Maegor’s death was never identified, though some theorized that the king “took his own life, twisting the blades as needed and opening his veins to spare himself the defeat and disgrace that surely awaited him.” That’s a long way of saying: Yes, Aegon would in theory be allowed to decline the Iron Throne in the first place.

1. But once he accedes to his mother and grandfather’s dictates and becomes the king, there’s no backing out unless an unwinnable war forces his hand.
2. Wesley asks about Viserys and Aegon being “referred to as ‘Lord of the Seven Kingdoms’ in this show.
3. But wouldn’t it be Six Kingdoms since Dorne still has yet to join the Seven Kingdoms?” The Westeros we know from Thrones actually includes nine regions, because George R.R.

Martin likes to make his fictional world as intricately confusing as possible. Like some NCAA conferences whose names reflect their makeup when they were founded—hi, 10-team Big 12!—the realm is called the Seven Kingdoms because that’s how many existed at the time of Aegon the Conqueror’s conquest:

1. The North
2. The Vale
3. The Westerlands
4. The Reach
5. The Stormlands
6. Dorne
7. The Isles and Rivers, ruled by House Hoare

After the conquest, Aegon split the Hoares’ holdings into the Iron Islands (ruled by House Greyjoy) and the Riverlands (ruled by House Tully). That makes eight “kingdoms.” He also established the Crownlands, with King’s Landing as its capital, giving Westeros nine distinct regions south of the Wall.

1. Despite all of that numerical hopscotch, the Targaryen monarchs—and later, Robert, Joffrey, and so on—were always called “Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms” for consistency’s sake, both before and after Dorne joined the collection.
2. For a non-NCAA real-world comp, the term “Seven Kingdoms” is linguistically like “Holy Roman Empire,” which was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire,

The Seven Kingdoms aren’t individual kingdoms anymore—there’s only one king—and even if they were, there wouldn’t be seven of them. Nathaniel asks: “Why are Jace and Luke such wimps? If Harwin Strong’s genetics were dominant enough to determine their appearance and throw succession into chaos, why are his kids sized more like hobbits?” Hobbits? I think you’re asking about the wrong IP fantasy show.

• We have plenty of harfoot-inclusive Rings of Power coverage if you desire.) But your point is well-taken—and I think this portrayal is an unfortunate byproduct of the confusing age quandary I mentioned last week,
• After the time jumps, it seems like the show is lumping most of the next generation of Targaryens together in a tight age cohort (except young Joffrey, who must have been aged down to 6 years old, given that we see and have a firm timeline for his birth).

Showrunner Ryan Condal said on the Inside the Episode segment after Episode 8 that the kids are “in the 17-to-21 age range.” That’s a major change from the source text, because at the time of Viserys’s death in the book, Alicent’s children are:

• Aegon, age 22
• Helaena, age 20
• Aemond, age 19
• Daeron, age 15 (Daeron hasn’t been so much as mentioned in the show yet, but Martin says he is “down in Oldtown, we just did not have the time to work him in this season”)

Rhaenyra’s children with Laenor/Harwin, meanwhile, are:

• Jacaerys, age 15
• Lucerys, age 14
• Joffrey, age 12

The only reason Jace and Luke are smaller than their uncles in the book is this age gap. In fact, in Fire & Blood, Jacaerys’s physique is actually one of the reasons people think Harwin Strong is his father. At one point in the text, Jace is described as “a large, strapping lad”; at another, he and Luke are described together as “strong and strapping lads, skilled in arms.” So other than the fact that the show evidently shrunk the age gap between Alicent’s and Rhaenyra’s kids without also reducing their size differential, I can’t explain why, say, Aegon and Aemond so easily beat Jace and Luke in their fracas in Episode 8.

I suppose it makes the latter seem more like underdogs against the greens, which would also fit the show’s decision to tilt audience sympathies in the blacks’ favor. Michael asks: “Daenerys says in Game of Thrones that ‘fire cannot kill a dragon’ and we see her survive intense heat throughout that show, implying that Targaryens have immunity.

How does this impact the current show? Are we supposed to believe that some of Team Green may have survived Meleys’ fire breath if she had attacked?” TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! Sorry to yell at you with an all-caps answer; I’m actually just quoting George R.R.

1. Martin, who exclaimed as much when addressing this “common misconception” during a chat all the way back in 1999: TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle.
2. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived.
3. But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.

Daenerys survived the flames when her dragons were born thanks to a mysterious, magical mix of Mirri Maz Duur, sacrifice, and dragon eggs. Yet while Thrones decided to make Daenerys completely immune to fire to explain this experience, it’s more of a onetime thing in the books.

During Drogon’s rescue of Daenerys from the fighting pit in Meereen, for instance, Daenerys thinks, “If I run from him, he will burn me and devour me.” Later, after escaping, she observes that due to Drogon’s flames, “Her skin was pink and tender, and a pale milky fluid was leaking from her cracked palms, but her burns were healing.” And even if Daenerys were completely immune, her family sure isn’t.

As Martin says in his chat answer, her brother Viserys died with a face full of molten gold, on both page and screen. And he’s far from the only Targaryen throughout history to show his susceptibility to intense heat. Aerion Brightflame, one of Maester Aemon and Egg’s older brothers, thought he was a dragon in human form, drank a cup of wildfire to prove it, and died.

The so-called tragedy at Summerhall involved a fire that killed a whole bunch of people, including Targaryens like the aforementioned Aegon V and Prince Duncan. And Jon Snow—secretly a half-Targaryen—burns his hand when he throws burning drapes onto a wight at Castle Black. The damage is so severe—the text says “his cracked red skin oozed fluid, and fearsome blood blisters rose between his fingers, big as roaches”—that he still feels lingering pain books later.

Heck, earlier in Dragon, Laena—who, remember, is Rhaenys Targaryen’s daughter—dies when she asks Vhagar to immolate her. This method of death is a show invention, so Dragon clearly wants to tell its audience that Targaryens are quite vulnerable to dragonfire.

Who rode Vhagar before Laena?

Who Is Vhagar at This Point? – Image via HBO As we know, Vhagar is the last surviving dragon of Aegon the Conqueror’s Conquest of Westeros. She was ridden by Visenya Targaryen, and, after her first rider’s death, she spent 29 years by herself, with no one mounting her. She was then claimed by the young Prince Baelon Targaryen, and, afterward, by someone we know: Lady Laena Velaryon ( Nana Blondell ).

She had a brief period of peace and adventure living with Laena, Daemon Targaryen ( Matt Smith ), and their family in Pentos, as the series shows us, but even that ended tragically when Laena died. So Vhagar is old. When she eventually dies, she will be 181 years old, and almost as big as Balerion, the Black Dread.

We haven’t seen her before the events of House of the Dragon, but we know she is the survivor of more than a hundred battles, has seen a lot of stuff and, at this point in her life, is most likely tired. We also know she is not an idle killer, as there were many moments in which she could have killed people around her — even young Aemond Targaryen ( Leo Ashton ) when he attempted to claim her in ” Driftmark ” — and didn’t.

1. She doesn’t have it in her anymore to pull petty pranks on kids.
2. Either her mission is a serious one, or not really demanding her obedience.
3. After a lifetime of fighting and heartbreak, she just wants some peace and quiet.
4. Series creator and showrunner Ryan Condal describes Vhagar in a very interesting way.

In a recent featurette, he says she is basically “an old cat,” as she is very grumpy and sleeps a lot. She has also grown so big she doesn’t really fit anywhere anymore, not even in the Dragonpit in King’s Landing. This has developed in her a kind of “loner personality,” as Condal says — not necessarily antisocial, but, if she can avoid it, she most likely will, because that’s who she is at this point in her life.

Why Caraxes is stronger than Vhagar?

There’s been a lot of debate on whose stronger, and my take on that is:

Vhagar

She’s probably one of the most strongest dragons in the GRRM universe, only behind Balerion the Black Dread in both strength and size. Even then, she comes very close. During, HOTD, she’s at her largest, due to her reaching about 180 years of age. This gives her a big, BIG advantage with most of the other dragons in a fight, as she easily outclasses almost all of them in this category.

Due to her monstrous size and battle experience, she defeated a lot of other dragons during the Dance Of The Dragons. But, this is a double edged sword, as her age and size reduces her speed and mobility, which would prove fatal, as we can see that Caraxes got the upper hand in the Battle above God’s Eye due to this.2.Caraxes Caraxes, even though bigger than most of the other dragons in HOTD, was only half the size of Vhagar.

However, – though not the fastest or biggest – his extreme maneuverability and blood lust combined with his battle experience, creates a truly challenging foe to even the biggest dragons in the GRRM universe. He defeats Vhagar – 2x his size – in one of the most exciting battles in HOTD; the Battle above God’s Eye.

1. During this, Caraxes slammed into Vhagar, locking his jaws on Vhagar’s neck.
2. Caraxes’s jaw continued to tighten around Vhagar’s neck even as Vhagar’s teeth tore Caraxes’s wing and his claws opened Caraxes’s belly.
3. Needless to say, Caraxes won that fight, even though he dies soon after.3.
4. FInal thoughts It is safe to say that both dragons are equal in their prowess, but you cannot use the excuse that Vhagar cannot be fairly judged as she was old and weak.

Her age is what gave her that mammoth size, and if you decrease her age to make her go back to here prime, she’ll lose that advantage. Also, if you increase Caraxes’ age to match Vhagar’s, then he’ll be bigger and longer than before. Needless to say, Both are my most favourite dragons in this universe, and no one else can take their place!

Why couldn t Aemond control vhagar?

Here’s why Aemond couldn’t control his dragon Vhagar in House of the Dragon’s season 1 finale and what it means for the HBO series’ future. Warning: SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 1 finale. House of the Dragon ‘s season 1 finale featured Aemond Targaryen’s chase of Lucerys Velaryon on dragon back, but it raised the question of why Aemond couldn’t control the dragon. The combat transpired after Rhaenyra sent her sons Jacaerys and Lucerys to deliver messages reminding various houses of their prior oaths to Rhaenyra’s succession.

1. Later, Aemond and Vhagar embarked on an aerial pursuit of Lucerys and his much smaller dragon, Arrax.
2. Aemond eventually lost control of Vhagar when Arrax attacked, and Vhagar obliterated Lucerys and his dragon with a single chomp of her massive jaws.
3. The sequence’s tragic turn of events revealed a daunting truth about dragons in House of the Dragon,

Even though Aemond claimed and flew Vhagar in House of the Dragon episode 7 — which took place years prior to the season finale — he struggled to manage the beast’s actions in the heat of the intense chase. Far too powerful to be kept at bay by an inexperienced dragon-rider such as Aemond, Vhagar reacted to Arrax’s offensive in the most devastating manner.

Which Targaryens couldn t be burnt?

Photograph by courtesy of HBO “If Laena Velaryon truly had the blood of Old Valyria, she wouldn’t have burned, right? Because people with Targaryen blood are fireproof.” If I had a quarter for every time I’d heard something like that since House of the Dragon Episode 6 aired, I’d have enough to buy a good lunch, at least.

It’s understandable that there’s some confusion: on Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, the Unburnt, was absolutely immune to fire. The show made it a point not just to illustrate how she went into a pyre and emerged with three baby dragons in the season 1 finale, but also how she utilized this special ability time and again, from taking scalding hot baths to burning alive the Dothraki khals who wanted to force her into the Dosh Khaleen.

As it turns out, this special ability of Daenerys’ was something specifically created in the show. So let’s clear the air, and settle the matter of whether the Targaryens are fireproof once and for allbecause with a civil war between members of the dragon-riding family brewing on House of the Dragon, you can bet some people are going to get burned. Image: Game of Thrones/HBO

Is Daemon Targaryen fire proof?

TV Fantasy House Of The Dragon

(Image credit: HBO) Are Targaryens fireproof? It’s a fair question, considering Game of Thrones repeatedly showed Daenerys Targaryen escaping from flames unscathed. They don’t call her “The Unburnt” for nothing. But, House of the Dragon seems to point the other way, with more than one Targaryen revealed to be susceptible to heat. (Image credit: HBO) In Game of Thrones, Daenerys was absolutely, without a doubt, fireproof. She walked from a funeral pyre unharmed, burned the khals’ temple to the ground without so much as a blister, and is even shown gripping hot metal and sinking into a scalding bath without a flinch.

“Fire cannot kill a dragon,” she says, after her brother Viserys (not the same one as House of the Dragon’s King Viserys) is killed with a pot of molten gold poured over his head. Naturally, that might lead you to believe Targaryens are fireproof – though, in Game of Thrones season 1, Jon Snow, who is truly Aegon Targaryen, yelps in pain when he picks up a burning lantern.

But, according to George R.R. Martin, Targaryens definitely aren’t fireproof. “TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE!” Martin stressed in a Q&A way back in 1999 (via Time ). “The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived.

But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.” In the books, Daenerys gets her hair singed off more than once, though, curiously enough, never seems to burn her skin. Perhaps she’s the one exception? House of the Dragon is making sure we know Targaryens aren’t fireproof, too. For one thing, reference is made to Viserys’ wounds being cauterized in episode 1 – if he was immune to fire, that would never work.

Then, Daemon appears to be burned by a flaming arrow during the War for the Stepstones in episode 2, and the scar is present throughout the rest of the series. call_me_dumb_but_i_just_realized_its_a_burn_scar from r/HouseOfTheDragon Then there’s Laena Velaryon.

She might not be a Targaryen, but she is a dragon rider with Valyrian blood. But, in episode 6, Laena commands Vhagar “dracarys” when her childbirth goes horribly wrong. Vhagar is reluctant, but eventually does as she’s told – and Laena is burned to a crisp. So, the answer to “are Targaryens fireproof?” is no, unless you’re the Mother of Dragons herself.

See our House of the Dragon release schedule to find out when the next episode arrives in your time zone – and fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best Netflix shows streaming now. Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections.

How old was Laena when she married daemon?

The 12-year-old Lady Laena Velaryon may not be marrying King Viserys Targaryen, but her marriage drama is still not over in HOTD season 1. WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 1, episode 2! King Viserys rightly chose not to wed the 12-year-old Laena Velaryon, but her marriage troubles aren’t over in House of the Dragon season 1. Despite being advised to marry Laena for political reasons, Viserys chose to reject this proposal for its unethical and gross implications and marry Alicent Hightower instead,

While Viserys deciding to not marry a 12-year-old child was a refreshing decision in the messed-up world of Game of Thrones, Lady Laena Velaryon will sadly continue to be used as a pawn in House of the Dragon ‘s marital pacts. Following the death of Queen Aemma Arryn, King Viserys was advised to choose another wife, with Lord Corlys Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen proposing he marry their daughter Laena.

A rift had grown between the Velaryons and Targaryens ever since Rhaenys was passed over as heir in favor of Viserys, so marrying Laena would reunite the families by giving the Velaryons a direct link to the Iron Throne while also keeping the blood of Old Valyria in the Targaryen family line.

• However, when speaking with Laena Velaryon in House of the Dragon episode 2, Viserys was visibly repulsed by the fact that Rhaenys and Corlys told her she would have to bed him at age 14 – younger than Viserys’ daughter Rhaenyra.
• Laena was already subject to the horrible standards of Westerosi culture when she was almost King Viserys’ child bride, but her marriage drama only increases.

Still needing to heal the rift between House Targaryen and House Velaryon, two more major marriages will occur after the wedding between Alicent Hightower and King Viserys Targaryen. The first will be between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon, Corlys and Rhaenys’ son.

Why did Laena burn in fire?

Why did Laena Velaryon burn herself alive? – Laena Velaryon burned herself alive so she wouldn’t die a slow death in the agony of childbirth. Let us explain. You see, Laena was giving birth to Daemon Targaryen’s third child the night she died. Unfortunately, the birth was a difficult one, and the baby could not be safely delivered. Earlier in the episode, Laena said she wanted to die a true dragonrider’s death, not in some Pentos palace, so her decision to take her own life likely stems from a belief that those with the blood of old Valyria deserve a more spectacular death than passing away from a failed pregnancy.

How was Laena Velaryon killed by fire?

Laena’s Death in the Show Is the Death of a Dragonrider – Image via HBO For the most part, HBO follows Laena’s life quite close to how it is depicted in Fire & Blood, However, the most poignant change made to the character is how she meets her unfortunate and untimely death. In the sixth episode of House of the Dragon, Laena finds herself in labor in Pentos, during the tour of Essos.

• Despite her best efforts, she is unable to deliver her and Daemon’s child.
• The attending surgeon proposes to Daemon that it may be possible to save the child if they perform a Caesarian Section, mirroring the circumstances of King Viserys Targaryen ( Paddy Considine ) and his wife, Queen Aemma Arryn ( Sian Brooke ) in the show’s first episode,

As Daemon mulls over the decision, knowing that Laena is sure to die, she takes matters into her own hands. Refusing to die in the birthing bed, Laena makes her way to the shores of Pentos where Vhagar rests. She shouts out Dracarys to Vhagar, begging him to incinerate her. It’s a truly shocking and dramatic death in a franchise full of shocking and dramatic deaths to be sure, but it’s also a vast improvement over Laena’s death in Fire & Blood, Compared to her death in Martin’s book, Laena Velaryon is able to die in the manner of a dragonrider on her own terms, showcasing her determination and willpower as well.

1. Additionally, this death sequence creates a parallel between Daemon and his brother King Viserys, placing him in the shoes of his kin when an impossible choice was made.
2. In Viserys’ case, he went through with the Caesarian Section, resulting in the death of his wife Aemma but delivering his son Baelon, who did not survive long after.

Daemon mocked Baelon as “The Heir for a Day,” causing significant friction between him and his brother. Now, cruel fate has placed him in the same conundrum, but he seems conflicted where his brother was once decisive. Instead of making a choice, Laena makes her own decision, and it’s a vast improvement from her death in the source material.

Who gets vhagar after laena dies?

Laena died early in 120 AC. It is said that Laena attempted to reach Vhagar in her final hour as to fly one last time, but she did not have the strength. Following Laena’s funeral on Driftmark, the ten-year old prince Aemond Targaryen claimed Vhagar as his own dragon.

Did Daemon Targaryen love Laena?

Did Daemon Love Laena? – In the series, Daemon and Laena’s relationship is portrayed somewhat differently in episode six. The pair do flee Westeros after their marriage, but they never return as they did in the book, nor is their marriage an entirely happy one.

While Daemon is seemingly content to stay in self-inflicted exile in the Free Cities, Laena longs to return to Westeros to raise their twin daughters (and third unborn child) at Driftmark where she was raised. When the pair discusses this desire, Laena implies Daemon is in love with someone else, saying, “Perhaps I too am not the wife you would have wished for yourself.” When Daemon tries to protest (albeit weakly), she stops him, saying, “It does not pain me.

I’ve made my peace.” This interaction suggests Daemon still holds a flame for Rhaenyra all these years later. While Daemon may not love Laena romantically, it is clear he holds her in high regard and has a tenderness for her. He kisses her pregnant belly at one point in the episode, and later, when she realizes she’s not going to survive the birth of their third child, he unsuccessfully attempts to stop her when she goes outside to die by Vhagar’s fire.