Warning: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 8.
The Dance of the Dragons has finally begun.
The bloodiest civil war in Westeros history, which fans know is set to devastate the Targaryen dynasty, just became a reality in the latest episode of House of the Dragon, as the Game of Throne prequel series went and delivered the development that readers of the source material have been waiting for. This is your last chance to avoid spoilers, people!
In episode 8, set seven years after the events of the previous installment, King Viserys (Paddy Considine) ultimately succumbs to his degenerative illness, thereby leaving the kingdom in need of a new monarch. Unfortunately, with all the confused talk of “The Prince That Was Promised” prophecy in his final moments, he’s unknowingly set his own family members against each other, and ultimately doomed his own bloodline.
But let’s set that aside for a moment to focus on a big question that fans have about a more intimate matter: just who is Viserys’ greatest love? The dying king initially confuses his wife Alicent (Olivia Cooke) for his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), but it’s unclear who exactly he believes he’s looking at before he shuffles off this mortal coil to meet the Many-Faced God. Is it his daughter, his second wife, or the late queen Aemma?
While discussing the ins and outs of this game-changing episode with Entertainment Weekly, director Geeta Patel was asked this question, and she admitted that she absolutely knows the answer as Considine revealed it to her on set. However, for the sake of ambiguity and to keep the fans guessing, she’s refusing to divulge the true answer. As she teased:
“Well, I’m not a fair person to ask because I actually had the luxury of having a conversation with Paddy and he whispered to me who he was thinking of. So I probably shouldn’t say it. I’ll let him say it if he wants to say it, but I had the same question, and that’s what I’m saying. It’s just the best part of my job. It’s so great just to be inside Paddy’s mind as he’s Viserys and to wonder, as well, which way is this gonna go?”
With Patel calling episode 8 “the calm before the storm,” get ready for some choppy weather to come to Westeros in the final two episodes of House of the Dragon season 1, airing Sundays on HBO.