re: House of the Dragon S2E4 - “A Dance of Dragons” - Hodor thread *No Spoilers*

Hot damn that was a good episode of TV. Very tense. THe dragon fight scene was just increible.

That was the best episode of the series by far so far imo and up there with some of the best of the GoT's episodes.

Not sure if it's just me but I hate to see dragons die The dragons dying was much more painful to watch than Rhaenys and Aegon. Just knowing that there won't be too many more ever to live kind of sucks.

I thought it looked like Aegon’s dagger. THE dagger.

I took it to mean Aegon is dead and Aemond taking his role.

Oh shite forgot about that. Interesting.

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Is Alan the son that faked his death?

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Well of course that’s the stated reason in the show but nah it wasn’t just that. It was because it was Daemon and she was tired of his shite like pretty much everyone is.

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Fair.

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But it’s also partly Daemon’s fault. He told Rhaenys he wanted Vhagar for revenge on Luke. A son for a son. But if he had approached her tactically and said, “hey, one of us may die but getting rid of Vhagar and Aemond would likely put a swift end to the war and save countless lives” then he might have convinced her.

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Maybe. Personally I doubt it. Avoiding “overstepping” her bounds has been a theme for Rhaenys. And up until this episode, it was fairly clear than Rhaenyra did not want things to escalate to full-blown dragon warfare.

That said, I do agree that it would have totally been a worthwhile trade if they could take out Vhagar. Although they would have also had to deal with Sunfyre and Dreamfyre (Helaena’s dragon) as well as the scorpions around King’s Landing. Granted, Aegon isn’t exactly a skilled warrior and I don’t recall whether we’ve actually even seen Halaena on her dragon. But they still would have been outnumbered while trying to take on Vhagar.

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Vermithor (the wild dragon that Daemon approached last season)

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This is getting into the weeds but technically Vermithor isn't a wild dragon, just an unclaimed one. Vermithor was Jaeharys I's dragon and hasn't had a rider since his death but he still lives on Dragonstone. I think? I would assume if it lived in the dragon pit in King's Landing that the greens would claim it, or at least try to.

The wild dragons, on the other hand, have never taken a rider. I think there are 3 known wild dragons and one of them is as big as Vhagar.

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The dragons dying was much more painful to watch than Rhaenys and Aegon.

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The dragons are supposed to be very intelligent too. Makes me wonder why they choose who they choose... did Vhagar choose Aemond because he saw him as vulnerable in that moment and knew he needed the biggest dragon to protect him? Rhaenyra and her dragon mourning their children's death at the beginning of the season showed they might have similar temperaments. Caraxes and Daemon both seem to be strong willed and great fighters.... Caraxes pound for pound might be the most formidable dragon of them all I think.

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This was no Battle of the Bastards, Hardhome, or Winds of Winter

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Maybe you don't have any knowledge of the story other than the show but I think some of the shock and awe is taken away because this story is "complete" and the outcomes are known. Meaning no one knew what would happen at the BoB but some/if not most knew or at least had an inkling of the outcome of Rook's Rest.

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Something I don't think I've seen discussed here much, but my wife and I talked about is that the Princess is old. Not just is she old, but she has seen and been through some shite in her life. Just before this she came face to face with hard confirmation of her long suspicions that her legitimately beloved husband had fricked around on her like every other Lord in the kingdom.

She was tired. Tired of the fighting, tired of men, and tired of just l, we'll, life.

Ol' girl decided that for better or worse, she was not going to come back from Rook's Rest. She was ready to die on her sword in the only way she knew how - by fire and blood. If she took out Aemond and his monstrosity in the process, then all the better, but this was going to be her last ride one way or another.

I suspect after all the years, Meleys didn't really want to go along without her. They clearly had a stronger bond than just your typical rider and dragon. Meleys was just fine to go along one last time.

In the end, The Queen Who Never Was may have been the best of all the Targeryans. She was wise, tempered, but still embraced the fire and blood of Old Valeria. She was a warrior.

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This is my take on the situation. I posted it in the Spoilers thread but the post doesn't contain anything other than observations based on the show itself. I changed my wording a bit to fit better with this conversation:

The show runners have made Rhaenys look like a poor war tactician the entire show so it adds up as logical for her to take the risk of going back to fight Vhagar. While she has shown to be capable and competent in many aspects of ruling and decision making, every choice she has made regarding the war has been a bad one. Doesn't mean she is a dumb person but some generals are good war time generals while others are good peace time generals. Not many are good at both.

Bad decisions:

1) Not killing the greens when she busts throughthe floor.
2) Not going with Daemon to kill Vhagar before the ground war even started.
3) Not retreating once she saw Vhagar.
4) Not retreating once she injured Vhagar and had a second chance to escape.

She is smart in a lot of ways, just not the strategic planning/decision making of war. She passed up multiple opportunities to press an advantage but decided to throw her chips in the middle despite her hand not having the best odds in the moment.

Another theory I have is that maybe she thought she really injured Vhagar and was just going back for the kill shot, Maybe she didn't think the old botch would still be able to fly but didn't want to give her a chance to heal either. That at leats makes sense from a logical standpoint.

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1) so when they fly off to other castles/etc, where do they park the dragon?

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The Dragon Pit

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2) what does the dragon do while the rider is wandering castles, sleeping, having visions, etc?

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Eats and sleeps

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3) who feeds the dragon?

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They have servants that bring them food

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4)) when they are giving commands while airborne, how can the dragon hear them? they are flying many dozens of miles per hour...

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They're seated right behind their “ears”.

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5) how the frick is the rider holding on when the dragon is pulling 2G's in a nosedive?

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Theyre strapped on using a saddle

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6) how is the rider able to see below them if the dragons are so big?

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Just like pilots in airplanes do. They can’t look under their feet but they can see what’s below them. Especially if they are turning