Episode 9 of Home of the Dragon validated our worst assumptions about Queen Alicent. Sadly, Alicent believes King Viserys’ dying want was to have their son Prince Aegon succeed the throne. Actually she ought to take note of all of Viserys’ phrases, as an alternative of listening to what most closely fits her household over at Home Hightower.
Let’s focus on every thing that is been stated about King Viserys’ prophecy and the way it’s affected Alicent within the spoiler-packed part beneath.
Warning: Spoilers forward.
King Viserys when he was alive and largely properly.
{Photograph} by Ollie Upton/HBO
What precisely is the prophecy (half 1)?
All the way in which again in episode 1, King Viserys passes a household secret onto his daughter Princess Rhaenyra — a doomsday prophecy telling of the tip of males. Let’s break down what Viserys says:
“Our histories… they inform us that Aegon regarded throughout the Blackwater from Dragonstone, and noticed a wealthy land ripe for the seize. However ambition alone isn’t what drove him to conquest. It was a dream. And simply as Daenys foresaw the tip of Valyria, Aegon foresaw the tip of the world of males.”
Aegon refers to Aegon the Conqueror, the primary Lord of the Seven Kingdoms in Westeros. He was the founding father of the Targaryens’ ruling dynasty over Westeros however, as his prophecy reveals, he additionally wished to unify the land in opposition to a standard enemy. His prophecy is not to be dismissed, as a result of earlier than him a Targaryen, Daenys the Dreamer, had an accurate prophetic dream of Valyria’s destruction by fireplace. And 12 years later, Valyria — the capital of the Valyrian Freehold, a big civilization in Essos dominated by dragonriders — was certainly destroyed by an unexplained cataclysm.
Viserys instructed Rhaenyra:
“‘Tis to start with a horrible winter gusting out of the distant north. Aegon noticed absolute darkness using on these winds. And no matter dwells inside will destroy the world of the dwelling. When this Nice Winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros should stand in opposition to it. And if the world of males is to outlive, a Targaryen should be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen, robust sufficient to unite the realm in opposition to the chilly and the darkish. Aegon referred to as his dream ‘The Tune of Ice and Hearth.'”
As we noticed in Recreation of Thrones, this prophecy of a horrible winter comes true. An undead military of White Walkers threatens to carry a Lengthy Evening over Westeros. It is the obligation of each Targaryen king (or queen) to move the key prophecy on to their inheritor in order that at some point all males can unite to struggle the “chilly and the darkish.”
“This secret… it has been handed from king to inheritor since Aegon’s time. Now you will need to promise to hold it… and defend it.”
Alicent and Rhaenyra’s friendship briefly seems to be on the mend.
HBO
What precisely is the prophecy (half 2)?
In episode 3, on the nice hunt, a drunk Viserys reveals that at one stage he had his personal prophecy, however he misplaced religion in it. He tells Alicent that he named Rhaenyra his inheritor “out of affection. As a result of I now not believed…”
He does not end the sentence however goes on to discuss how there have been many dragon riders in his line, a couple of of whom have been dreamers, aka prophets. He then describes what he himself has dreamed:
“When Rhaenyra was a toddler, I noticed it in a dream … A male babe was born to me carrying the Conquerer’s crown. And I so wished it to be true, to be a dreamer myself. I sought that imaginative and prescient once more, night time after night time, nevertheless it by no means got here once more. I poured all my thought and can into it. And my obsession killed Rhaenyra’s mom.”
This might clarify why Viserys was prepared to sacrifice his love, Aemma, throughout childbirth — he believed his son could be born wholesome. Viserys additionally tells Alicent:
“I assumed Rhaenyra was the way in which out of my abyss of grief and remorse. And naming her inheritor would start to set issues proper … I by no means imagined I’d remarry… that I’d have a son. What if I used to be improper?”
Viserys’ doubt in his resolution to make Rhaenyra an inheritor, in addition to his prophecy that he would at some point have a son carrying a crown, offers Alicent much more motive to imagine their son Aegon is the rightful inheritor to the throne.
What does Rhaenyra ask Viserys in episode 8?
It is 20 years on from the occasions of Home of the Dragon, episode 1, and lots has occurred. Rhaenyra has a brood of kids and a brand new husband in Daemon, her uncle. She visits her father, Viserys, one night time, realizing he is in all probability going to die quickly. She’s hoping to get some solutions about their mysterious household secret earlier than it is too late.
“‘The Tune of Ice and Hearth.’ Do you imagine it to be true?”
“Aegon’s dream.”
“You instructed me it was our obligation to carry the realm united in opposition to a standard foe. By naming me inheritor you divided the realm.”
Viserys is so out of it, drugged up on anaesthetic milk of the poppy, that he cannot reply whether or not he thinks Aegon’s prophecy, the Tune of Ice and Hearth, will come true.
What does King Viserys inform Alicent?
As an alternative, the night time afterward, Viserys unintentionally offers his spouse Alicent his tackle Aegon’s prophecy.
In a haze, on his deathbed, Viserys begins by apologizing. “I am sorry. I am sorry.” That is presumably an apology for forcing Rhaenyra, whom he thinks he is speaking to, into taking over every thing that comes with turning into the Targaryen inheritor, together with bearing the household secret.
“However you wished to know… if I imagine it to be true.”
Alicent, after all, has no thought what Viserys is speaking about.
“Aegon,” Viserys says.
“Our son?” asks Alicent, referring to her and Viserys’ firstborn, Prince Aegon, who was discovered to have raped a younger servant in episode 8.
Viserys shakes his head — he is after all referring to Aegon the Conquerer. “His Dream. The Tune of Ice and Fi — It’s true. What he noticed within the North. The Prince That Was Promised.” The Prince is a reference to the inscription on Aegon the Conquerer’s dagger: “From my blood come the Prince That Was Promised and his would be the Tune of Ice and Hearth.”
Alicent nonetheless thinks Viserys is speaking about their son Aegon — not Jon Snow, aka one other Aegon Targaryen, aka The Prince That Was Promised.
“The Prince,” Viserys continues. “To unite the realm in opposition to the chilly… and the darkish. It’s you. You’re the one. You should do that.”
What is going to Alicent do with the prophecy?
Episode 9 confirms that Alicent believes Viserys is asking her, his spouse, to make sure their firstborn Prince Aegon inherits the Iron Throne — over the named inheritor Princess Rhaenyra. It seems like Viserys is telling Alicent she is “the one” to make sure it will occur; that the “Prince That Was Promised” comes from her line. This is not the case, although: Viserys thought he was speaking to Rhaenyra.
“I noticed him final night time, earlier than he … he instructed me he wished for Aegon to be king,” Alicent tells her father Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King. “It’s the fact, uttered along with his personal lips, his final phrases to me and I used to be the one one to listen to it. And now he is useless.”
Little did Alicent know Otto and different members of the Small Council had been plotting to put in Aegon as King all alongside. To her credit score, Alicent refuses to assist her father’s plan to kill Rhaenyra, regardless of that being the one strategy to actually snuff out any counterclaim. Besting her father within the sport of thrones, Alicent takes management for as soon as and says she’s going to current Rhaenyra truthful phrases she will settle for with out disgrace.
“My husband would have desired this mercy to be proven to his daughter.”
However Alicent was making ready her eldest son Aegon for a struggle over succession. In episode 6, Alicent warns Aegon that at some point he’ll need to struggle Rhaenyra for the throne. Whereas Aegon would clearly favor a life away from royal duties — indulging in varied salacious actions, together with a toddler preventing ring — he appears to relish the applause of his topics in King’s Touchdown, throughout the crowning ceremony contained in the Nice Sept.
Aegon acts like a small youngster. He craves the love of his father, who selected a girl to inherit the throne over him. He needs love from his mom too, although she’s been onerous on him. She’s been attempting to whip him into form for kingly duties. Perhaps he’ll settle for his new place as king in any case.
The factor is, Rhaenyra and Daemon even have a son named Aegon — their firstborn youngster, a child launched in episode 8. The 2 Aegons may doubtlessly be pitted in opposition to each other. As episode 7 confirmed, Alicent is prepared to turn into violent if it means defending her youngsters.
How is the catspaw dagger related?
In episode 1, you might need seen Viserys absentmindedly touching an ornate dagger he carries on his belt whereas he tells Rhaenyra in regards to the prophecy. This dagger once more seems in episode 8, beside Viserys’ deathbed when he talks in regards to the prophecy as soon as extra.
Viserys explains the origins of the dagger in episode 4. He tells Rhaenyra that the dagger “as soon as belonged to Aegon the Conquerer. It was Aenar’s earlier than that. And earlier than that… it’s troublesome to know.” Every little thing’s related! Aenar Targaryen was Daenys the Dreamer’s father, whom she satisfied to maneuver away from the Valyrian Freehold after having an accurate prophetic dream of the Doom of Valyria.
Someplace alongside the way in which, this particular dagger landed in Aegon’s equally prophetic arms. The dagger is comprised of Valyrian metal, crucially one of many few identified substances that may kill White Walkers. It performs an enormous half in making Aegon’s want to stop the tip of males come true.
In Recreation of Thrones, the dagger was first utilized in an assassination try on Bran Stark (an murderer is called a “catspaw“). Within the last season, Arya kills the Evening King utilizing Aegon’s dagger, stopping the undead from “erasing the world” as Bran explains in season 7 on the Evening King’s motivations.
Who’s the Prince That Was Promised?
In episode 4 of Home of the Dragon, Viserys says that, earlier than Aegon’s dying, the final of the Valyrian pyromancers hid “his track” within the metal. Rhaenyra reads the inscription, seen when the blade is heated in fireplace: “From my blood come the Prince That Was Promised and his would be the Tune of Ice and Hearth.”
As we uncover in Recreation of Thrones, the Prince That Was Promised is Jon Snow. Jon’s true title and royal lineage — his mother and father are Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen — are hidden to guard him from these searching for to annihilate all Targaryens. Jon helps fulfil Aegon the Conquerer’s dream by making an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen in opposition to the White Walkers. Changing into a dragonrider, Jon helps defeat the Evening King within the Battle of Winterfell, the White Walkers turning into extinct for good.
