‘House of the Dragon’ just dropped a bombshell that changes what we know about the Dance of the Dragons

Warning: This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon episode eight.

The retcon continues and House of the Dragon episode eight has dropped perhaps our biggest bombshell yet that will change the way that fans think about the Dance of the Dragons.

Before we hop into the revelation that took place at the end of episode eight, this is your final spoiler warning. Below we will be discussing major plot points from the episode so be sure to proceed with caution.

During the final scene of the episode the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy comes up once again and now we know that it was seemingly the catalyst that inspired the Dance of the Dragons to come.

In this scene, King Viserys is on his deathbed and in a bout of confusion he believes that he is speaking to his daughter Rhaenyra about Aegon the Conquerer’s prophecy, but instead, it is Alicent that hears his words. As he speaks to Alicent about Aegon and his prophecy, instead of realizing he is speaking of the Conquerer, she believes this is Viserys sharing his wishes for their child Aegon to become the prince that was promised and in turn, take the throne in place of Rhaenyra.

Of course, this isn’t what he meant with his words but hearing it appears to have undone all of the progress that Rhaenyra and Alicent have made in rebuilding their relationship during episode eight.

These words are not mentioned in the source material for the show George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, but given that the book is a historical retelling having them in the show doesn’t technically alter any of its events. Martin is also a writer and producer on the series so it would seem he had some say in including this connection to the prophecy.

Now that the King is dead we’ll get to see the full extent of how these words uttered by the king shake up the world of Westeros and kick off the Dance of the Dragons.