House of the Dragon’s second season has officially ended. The eighth and last episode saw the final pieces put in motion that should see theTargaryencivil war kick off in earnest.
Rhaenyra has a plan to take King’s Landing, the Greens have a naval answer to the Sea Snake, Daemon has finally got an army, and the Winter Wolves have crossed the twins into the Riverlands. Of course, all of this came after a second season that featured little action, with onedragon battle, and not much else. Some of the show’s most important characters spent the entire eight-episode run secluded in castles repeating the same conversations.
Now, we’re left waiting for what will likely beanother two yearsbefore we finally get to see the Green’s and Black’s finally begin their war for the Iron Throne in season three. While a lot has changed in season two, we’re ultimately left with the same promise we got at the end of season one: The Targaryen civil war is really starting now. It’s hard to imagine the next season not fulfilling some of the action teased at the end of the finale with the House of Dragon fandom’s response to season two.
It’s never good when you’re getting season eight-level Game of Thrones comparisons. This season was filled with exposition, but if you weren’t hyper-focused on every conversation occurring in dimly lit castles, you might’ve missed important details that were touched on in the season two finale. That includes the info-dump montage to close out the episode, featuring multiple Green and Black forces moving into position for a fight.
The show may not have done a great job explicitly laying out the state of play for each army, but luckily, I know more about maps of Westeros than I do about the geography of North America, and can provide us with a complete breakdown of where House of the Dragon stands at the end of season two.
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King’s Landing
Rhaenyra is plotting to take the city
One of the biggest twists of season two’s finale was Alicent appearing in Dragonstone to meet Rhaenyra. She offers to turn King’s Landing over to the Blacks in return for Rhaenyra sparing Alicent and her daughter’s lives.
This plan shouldn’t involve much of a battle, but it also relies on Alicent having full control of the Greens' remaining forces in King’s Landing, Aemond and Vhagar being out of town, and Rhaenyra’s new dragon riders not screwing anything up (we’re looking at you, Ulf). This is also Westeros, where any plan that seeks to avoid bloodshed will cause twice as much of it. There’s another small problem for Alicent. As a part of her agreement with Rhaenyra, she agreed that her son, Aegon, would be killed for his attempt to usurp the throne. How will Rhaenyra react when she arrives in King’s Landing and sees that he has escaped?
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Criston Cole and the Hightower host taking on Daemon and his army of Rivermen
The most disappointing and flat-out boring plot of House of the Dragon’s second season revolves around Daemon Targaryen attempting to raise an army in the Riverlands at Harrenhal. He’s spent more time tripping on mushroom tea than talking with the riverlords this season, but nevertheless, he was still successful in uniting them to Rhaenyra’s cause. Daemon even ended up renewing his own allegiance to her cause thanks to a vision that featured White Walkers, Daenerys hatching her dragons, and Rhaenyra sitting on the Iron Throne.
Now he has to use this army to take on the Hightower host, led by Criston Cole, with Aemond and Vhagar likely to join them. If you’ll remember, earlier this season, Aemond ordered Criston to take the rest of the Greens' forces after the battle at Rook’s Rest and begin marching them towards Harrenhal, where they should meet up with Jason Lannister and the armies from the Westerlands.
Another factor that could come into play in the Riverlands is Rhaena’s attempts to mount the wild dragon in the Vale named Sheepstealer. If she’s successful, the Vale is close to Harrenhal and the Riverlands, meaning she might be able to quickly join the fight on the side of the Blacks.
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The Red Fork
The Lannister army meets the Winter Wolves from the North
This is where knowing Westerosi geography pays off. The Lannister army is marching down the river known as the Trident towards Harrenhal. We can actually see them approaching a location in the river known as the Red Fork in the montage at the end of the episode. Essentially, they’re approaching Daemon from the north, while Criston and his army approach from the south. While this sounds like a great opportunity to encircle Daemon, it’s actually leading the Lannister army right into Cregan Stark and his Winter Wolves as they make their way south after crossing the Twins in the season two finale.
If you’ve forgotten the Winter Wolves, it’s an army of aged Northmen who are heading south to fight the war rather than taking up food stores in the North with winter setting in. It’s one of the few armies that we have an idea of its size, as Cregan Stark promised Jacaerys Velaryon 10,000 men.
Blackwater Bay
The Triarchy versus the Sea Snake
Tyland Lannister’s attempts to gain the Triarchy as an ally took up a surprising amount of the season finale’s runtime. While it was a fun scamp into the world of Westerosi pirate culture, this kind of stuff probably would’ve been better received earlier in the season rather than taking up fifteen minutes of the final episode we’ll see for two years.
Still, Tyland, the Greens' master of coin, was able to close the deal and get the captain of the Triarchy’s navy, Lothar, to agree to sail against the Sea Snake in an attempt to break the blockade on King’s Landing. While that sets up what could be an intense naval battle, Tyland and the Triarchy might need to come up with a strategy for dealing with the dragons that will likely be supporting Lord Corlys' navy.
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What this means for House of the Dragon season three
All-hype, no pay-off?
This all sets up for what should be an action-packed next season of House of the Dragon, which is exactly how we all felt when we watched Vhagar devour Lucerys at the end of the season one finale. Part of House of the Dragon’s problem is its connection to Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones could thrive for entire seasons without action because the drama and dialogue were as pointed as the swords. House of the Dragon has rarely reached that height, and with fewer dragon battles and sword fights, it becomes more obvious.
Luckily for us, the third season has plenty of time to develop, with season three likely to premiere in the summer of 2026. A Game of Thrones fanbase that was already annoyed with the final seasons of the original show will likely be quite loud in airing their disappointments in season two, which should at least cause the showrunners to add more action to the next season of House of the Dragon. Of course, they could double-down and give us more of Alicent camping in the woods.
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