House of the Dragon Season 2, episode 4, has left us with a lot of questions.
Is King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) dead? Did his own brother Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) mean to kill him? Will rival Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) ever stop wandering around Harrenhal and actually do something useful?
We’ve already dived into some of those, but now we need to turn our attention to another crucial question that could have major ramifications for the rest of the season: If Aegon is dead, then who takes over as ruler?
Does Aegon have an heir?
Yes, we know what you’re thinking: Why don’t Team Green just put aside all this silliness and welcome Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) back, if Aegon is out of commission? Maybe just wave the white flag and work out a deal? Well this is Westeros, unfortunately, and that’s about as likely to happen as Hand of the King Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) becoming a chill guy. Team Green is stubborn, Queen Dowager Alicent Hightower has already shown us that, so they’ll be looking to replace their fallen king with a new ruler of their own choosing.
So who’s it likely to be? Well first, a quick reminder of the Targaryen family tree: Aegon is the current ruler and is married to his sister (of course), Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban), with whom he has twins: a boy, Jaehaerys, who was murdered at the end of episode 1, and a girl, Jaehaera, who is still alive (the couple also have another child, Maelor, in the books, but showrunner Ryan Condal confirmed that he “does not yet exist on this timeline”).
Who’s most likely to become ruler if Aegon is dead?
Crucially, this means Aegon doesn’t have a male heir. We’ve already seen how reluctant the Targaryens are to crown a woman — through the Queen Who Never Was, Rhaenys (Eve Best), and Rhaenyra’s experiences — and we’d imagine they’d be even more reluctant to discuss still-very-much-a-child Jaehaera becoming ruler in Aegon’s stead.
So, who does that leave? Yep, you guessed it: the eye patch-wearing drama king himself, Aemond. It seems almost inevitable that if Aegon is dead, his younger brother will step into the role, given that he’s a) a fighter with proven battle experience, b) Team Green’s only dragon rider, and c) a close male relative of Aegon.
Things could be about to get even more dramatic around Westeros.
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
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