Aegon ran away after Viserys died, because he did not want to be king, but Alicent and Otto sent out search parties to find him.
The House of the Dragon series has many of the same features as Game of Thrones, but it focuses on a new struggle for the Iron Throne.
When this conflict starts to play out, Aegon runs away, because he does not want to be king even though Alicent and the council have decided that he will rule over the Seven Kingdoms.
What happens in the first season of House of the Dragon?
The House of the Dragon series follows the events of the George R. R. Martin novel called Fire & Blood, which serves as a historic narrative of the events following the Targaryen Conquest.
The events in House of the Dragon take place about 200 years before the beginning of Game of Thrones.
Fortunately, the show has the same look and feel as the original Game of Thrones series, but it features a unique struggle for power and control of the Iron Throne, from the perspective of the conflicting members of the House of Targaryen.
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House of the Dragon: Why did Aegon run away?
The bubbling conflicts and struggles between the various members of the Targaryen extended family finally erupt close to the end of the show’s first season.
This is due to the fact that King Viserys I Targaryen passes away, and although he has spent most of his life hailing his oldest daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, as the future heir of his throne, his widow, Alicent Hightower decided that their son Aegon should rule from the Iron Throne.
It was also revealed that the Green Council also always planned that Aegon would become king after Viserys’s death. However, panic quickly set in when Alicent and Otto could not find Aegon after the council meeting took place.
Although Alicent and Otto each have their own motivations for searching for and finding Aegon and they set off to this independently, it is revealed that Aegon has run away to Street of Silk to go carousing.
When he is confronted later on by Aemond, who is part of the search party assembled by Alicent to return Aegon to her, it is revealed that the true reason why he ran away is because he has no real desire to become the king.
This is confirmed when Aegon asks Aemond to run away with him and later confesses to Alicent that he knew that Viserys never wanted him on the throne.
Although it is clear that Aegon would rather run away from his family than become the king, he is eventually taken back home to Alicent, where further plotting and scheming ensues.
Why do Alicent and Otto Hightower want to find Aegon so badly after he runs away?
Besides the obvious fact that if the news of Viserys’ death was to spread through the kingdom, this would place Aegon in some serious danger of being attacked by one of Rhaenyra’s allies, Alicent and Otto each have their own individual reasons for searching for Aegon. Especially since the council has chosen Aegon as Viserys’ successor.
The reality is that Alicent does not want to see Rhaenyra killed, even if she is a possible threat to Aegon’s reign power. However, Otto wants to get rid of her in order to secure the House of Hightower’s power for good.
Who finds Aegon after he runs away?
Once they realised that Aegon had disappeared, Alicent and Otto both sent out separate parties in search of Aegon. Otto sent his trusted emissaries, Arryk and Erryk Cargyll in search of Aegon and Alicent sent Criston, who was joined by Aemond.
Although the twins ended up finding Aegon first, they did run into Criston and Aemond and a fight between the two groups ensued later in the episode, but in the end, Aemond and Criston were victorious as they took Aegon back to Alicent.
What happens after Aegon returns to the Castle?
Even though Aegon is so reluctant to be king and he even ran away to avoid this, Alicent and Otto are hell-bent on advancing their own agendas for the way that Aegon should rule the Seven Kingdoms.
Otto organised that the various well-known lords and ladies swear their allegiance to Aegon and those that did not were taken away to an unknown fate.
Alicent, on the other hand, went to see Princess Rhaenys to gain her support. Although it is not clear how this will all play out in the end, it is evident that the scheming and plotting will continue, regardless of who is on the Iron Throne.