With the highly anticipated House of the Dragon episode 9, The Green Council, coming to a stunning ending, especially with Rhaenys entering her dragon’s red dungeon (we all felt the creeps) and threatening the Hightowers. Now, we don’t see the Hightowers in Game of Thrones, so we can be sure their house will be completely gone before House of the Dragon ends, and next week’s episode could be the start of that.
Green is the color of House Hightower and therefore the aptly named episode 9, and as House of the Dragon episode 10 is called “The Black Queen” we can safely bet that Rhaenyra will be at the center attention in next week’s episode. With that in mind, let’s break down the Episode 10 trailer scene by scene to get a better idea of what’s to come (spoiler alert: dragon fight).
The Black Council Meeting
Dark Council Meeting at Dragonstone from HOTD Episode 10 Preview
The trailer opens with Rhaenyra and the team discussing their next moves. We also see Rhaenys Targaryen in the early shots of the trailer, so we know she’s returned to Dragonstone on her dragon, Meraxes. Rhaenys warns Rhaenyra that “The Greens” (The Hightowers) are coming for you and your children, which means Rhaenyra will do everything possible to save her family now. We see that Rhaenyra looks sad in there, which could be normal for her father, King Viseeys has just died, and his half-brother has usurped the throne.
There are Jacaerys and Lucerys in the scene, and we hear Jacaerys say, “Send us.” Some fans misinterpreted this as asking Rhaenyra to send them to King’s Landing. However, according to the books, Jace and Luke travel to different locations in Westeros to collect as many houses as possible.
This may turn out badly for Lucerys Velaryon as he travels to Storm’s End to get the Baratheons on their side. We also see a scene in which Lucerys, with her sword, runs towards Aemond, who is mounted on Vhagar, the greatest dragon in the world. It was raining heavily in the scene (the place is called Storm’s End for a reason), and Lucerys seemed to have lost her dragon (just speculation, not fact).
Rhaenyra has followers after all
Erryk Cargyl and the Council of Westeros Dragonstone map
In the House of the Dragon episode 10 preview, we see Ser Erryk Cargyll (or could be Arryk cargyll) presenting King Viserys’ crown to Rhaenyra. This means the Cargyll twins and their military expertise are with Rhaenyra.
We also see Rhaenyra’s adviser advising her to take the seat of the Red Keep while standing over the infamous table in Dragonstone with the map of Westeros on it, like Aegon the Conqueror had done. On the board you can see Rhaenyra’s allies and her side. Coupled with Daemon tricking Rhaenyra into war as the Hightowers took her birthright, this will result in a full-frontal civil war, splitting families in two, as revealed by Shireen in Season 5 of Game of Thrones.
Why did Aemond take off his eye patch?
Aemond removes his eye patch
According to the books, Aemond was already present at Storm’s End negotiating with Lord Boris Baratheon when Lucerys came to court. Afterwards, Aemond begins to goad Lucerys into a fight and revenge for his lost eye, which he took. It is also mentioned that Aemond had a sapphire placed in place of his eye. However, House of the Dragon is unlikely to show him, as they also didn’t show his purple eyes (also mentioned in the Fire & Blood novel).
We can almost be certain that Aemond is taking off his patch just to show Lucerys what he’s done, and by doing so publicly he can also gain the support of all the members gathered in the hall of Storm’s End. Aemond and Lucerys’ feud in the books has them fighting with their dragons, so we’ll definitely see a dragon dance in next week’s episode.
Episode 10 is full of dragons
HOTD Episode 10 Dragons Preview
In one of the shots, we see a close-up of a dragon’s eye. This is probably Vhagar, the dragon of Aemond. Fans have confused this with Caraxes, as in the next scene Daemon Targaryen is shown approaching a dragon with a lit lamp to light up the dragon pit in the next scene. These two scenes look very different and probably don’t depict the same dragon.
So first we have Aemond and Lucerys battling a dragon, and we also have a scene where Daemon is singing something to his dragon, Caraxes, and probably goading him into a fight.
