House Of The Dragon Season 2's Final Shots Explained By Director: "Rhaenyra Is Caught In A Web & Alicent Is Free"

“There’s A Beast Somewhere”: Helaena’s House Of The Dragon Season 2 Visions Explained By Star

Warning! SPOILERS ahead for House of the Dragon season 2 finale, “The Queen Who Ever Was.”

Summary

House of the Dragondirector Geeta Vasant Patel addresses how theseason 2 finale, “The Queen Who Ever Was,“ends for Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). The finale sees Alicent unexpectedly coming to Dragonstone to speak with Rhaenyra, desperately seeking a way to peacefully end the war before it escalates further. Earlier in season 2, Rhaenyra went to King’s Landing to speak with Alicent, partly to see if a peaceful resolution was possible.

In an interview withThe Wrap,Patel discusses the intentional juxtaposition in the respective season 2 endings for Rhaenyra and Alicentand how this is visually communicated in the episode. This includes the final shots of the two characters that show Rhaenyra through the diamond-shaped bookcase shelves and Alicent looking at the sunrise over the sea. Patel also explains the narrative shift she and showrunner Ryan Condal intended to demonstrate through these shots. Check out Patel’s comments below:

The end of the montage, I spent months thinking about the visuals of how to end this episode and end this season. That came to me just in terms of how they both were feeling in the end. One of them was trapped — and as Ryan says is now carrying the burden — and that would be Rhaenyra. The other one has lifted the burden off of her own shoulders and is now free having given it to Rhaenyra. Visually my thought was: Rhaenyra is caught in a web and Alicent is free.

Rhaenyra & Alicent’s Season 2 Arcs Prove The Difference Between Power & Freedom

Power Can Be A Prison

Rhaenyra is instead bound to lead the Blacks into a war that will only become more destructive inHouse of the Dragonseason 3 and that isunlikely to end well for Rhaenyra, those she loves, or Westeros itself.

Even though Rhaenyra endsHouse of the Dragonseason 2 in a far more powerful position than Alicent does, Alicent ends with more freedom. Rhaenyra is one ofthe Blacks' seven dragonridersfighting for her claim to the Iron Throne and now has the armies of the Riverlands and the North behind her. Meanwhile, Alicent has little influence over the actions of her son, Aemond Targaryen, and how the Greens rule and proceed with the war effort.Rhaenyra and Alicent’s power has shifted from earlier in season 2when Rhaenyra desperately appealed to Alicent for peace, only to be rebuffed.

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Alicent made mistakes and later tried to atone for them by coming to a peaceful resolution, but it is too late now. She is now powerless in many ways, but the burden of shaping the fate of Westeros and the many lives acrossits Seven Kingdomsis no longer in her hands.Rhaenyra, on the other hand, is trapped in moving forwardwith her quest to take the Iron Throne as she and the growing forces who have pledged themselves to her plunge headfirst into war.

Now,Rhaenyra is more powerful than Alicent ever was, even compared to when Alicent ruled the Seven Kingdoms, when Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) was too ill to do so. Nevertheless, Alicent’s powerlessness and the realization that she cannot change anything gives her a surprising sense of newfound freedom. Rhaenyra is instead bound to lead the Blacks into a war that will only become more destructive inHouse of the Dragonseason 3 and that isunlikely to end well for Rhaenyra, those she loves, or Westeros itself.