In House of the Dragon, Rhaenys seems like she might burn Alicent, Aegon, and the rest of their family, but lets them live likely for a combination of personal and political reasons.
House of the Dragon takes place in a period where there is a great calm throughout the Seven Kingdoms, but conflicts within the House of Targaryen threaten to disrupt this peace.
This conflict finally comes to a head in the ninth episode when Rhaenys interrupts Aegon’s controversial coronation and perplexingly lets the Hightower family live, likely for a multitude of her own reasons.
What is the first season of House of the Dragon all about?
The first season of the House of the Dragon series is set about 100 years after the Targaryen conquest and takes place in a period of great peace and prosperity within the Seven Kingdoms.
At the same time, the House Targaryen is at the height of its power atop the Iron Throne with more dragons than they have ever had before.
Although it seems like everything should be perfectly fine, much of the screen time in this first season focuses on the increasing tension between the Targaryen family as they each try to stake their claim to the Iron Throne.
House of the Dragon: Why did Rhaenys let them live?
The conflict between the members of the extended Targaryen family finally bubbles over near the end of the first season, in the ninth episode.
In this episode, King Viserys I Targaryen dies and Queen Alicent Hightower places her own son, Prince Aegon Targaryen, on the Iron Throne.
This is despite the fact that while Viserys was alive, he always intended to place his eldest daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen on the Iron Throne. However, all does not go to plan for the Green Council and Alicent’s family.
At the end of the episode, Rhaenys Targaryen bursts into Aegon’s coronation on the back of her dragon Meleys and for a moment, it seems like she will burn Alicent, Aegon, and the rest of the family on the spot, but she restrains herself and simply takes off.
Rhaenys is a complex character and her reasoning for letting the family live is likely just as complicated.
The main reason is that Rhaenys knows that although killing Alicent and her family seems like it would end their reign of power for good, it will most definitely kick-start a civil war and dealing the first blow in this war will result in a lot of death and destruction.
Killing everyone on the stage also means that Rhaenys would be branded a kinslayer and this could lead to a curse that stretches over generations for her family.
It is also very clear that after their conversation in the previous episode, Rhaenys respects Alicent as a mother and just cannot bear to burn another mother who would step in front of her child to protect him in that moment.
Why is there conflict between the Greens and the Blacks?
The fight for power and the inheritance of the Iron Throne between the Targaryen siblings is split into two main clans, the Blacks and the Greens.
The Green Council, led by Alicent Hightower and Otto Hightower, work quickly after King Viserys’ death to secure Aegon’s place on the throne as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms in this episode.
They justify this decision by referring to some of Viserys’s last incoherent ramblings just before his death, but it is quite evident that they just do not want Rhaenyra to be queen because she is a woman.
Thus, the Blacks, who mainly comprise Rhaenyra and Daemon, want to see Rhaenyra instated as the rightful heir to the throne, while the Greens, headed by Alicent, Otto, and the rest of the council, want to crown Aegon.
Why would Rhaenys hold back from dealing the first blow in a civil war?
From Rhaenys reaction just after she took off at the end of the episode, it is clear that she had all of the power and ammunition to not let Alicent and her family live if she so chose.
However, the writers of House of the Dragon have explained that Rhaenys cannot be the one to start the war between the Blacks and the Greens by dealing this first blow, because she doesn’t feel like it is her battle to fight.
Where does Rhaenys go after she decides to let them live?
It is very likely that Rhaenys flees to Dragonstone when she takes off from the coronation, since Rhaenyra, Daemon, and their children are already making their way there, and they are unaware of Viserys’ death at this point.
Rhaenys will likely go to Dragonstone afterward to inform them of what has happened.