This article contains spoilers.
If Aemond’s away, and Aegon’s missing, then who’s sitting on the Iron Throne? In House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2, we finally see Rhaenyra maximizing her queen card and making a move towards the throne as its rightful heir.
The episode, entitled “Queen’s Landing,” starts with the body of Jace (Harry Collett) being brought in after the Battle of the Gullet. As the battle’s survivors arrive at Dragonstone, Baela (Bethany Antonia) somberly declares that they’ve won. As Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) grieves and lashes out, Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) returns to the Vale seeking asylum, but Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin), who had taken her in as a ward, rejects her. Daemon (Matt Smith) also returns to Dragonstone and finds out Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) was seen flying out to Harrenhal, which means that King’s Landing is free for the taking.
“The boys who clung to me, who hid their little faces in my skirts, dead, so that I may sit upon a throne of swords,” Rhaenyra says.
“Will you let them die in vain?” Daemon asks.
At King’s Landing, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) is confronted by Lord Jasper (Paul Kennedy), who tells her she knows about the affair she had with Ser Criston (Fabien Frankel) and that she asked the Gold Cloaks (the city watch) to surrender the city to Rhaenyra. He assaults her, but her guards come to arrest him. As he’s taken away, he tells Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) that Alicent is a traitor.
Back in Dragonstone, Rhaenyra, wearing eyeliner, prepares to fly out to King’s Landing with Daemon and the illegitimate Targaryens (also called the dragonseed). Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) hands her a crown and tells her to “remember which one of us has been faithful,” implying that Daemon isn’t fully back in the queen’s good graces and cannot be trusted.
As they get ready to leave, Daemon reminds the Dragonseeds that after they take over King’s Landing, they should return their attention to Vhagar. “All must proceed according to plan,” he says. What plan, Daemon?
Aemond arrives at Harrenhal and kills its castellan, Ser Simon (Simon Russell Beale), and the rest of the garrison. The witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), whom Daemon had dismissed as a “midwife,” finds him bleeding.
Team Black Takes Over King’s Landing
The dragons arrive at King’s Landing, where Alicent and Helaena (Phia Saban) are getting ready to flee. Outside, the Gold Cloaks put down their swords and bend the knee, but inside, guards try to attack Rhaenyra and get killed instead by Daemon. In the throne room, they’re confronted by more of the Green guards, but the Gold Cloaks come in. Ser Luthor (Tom Cullen) says the city watch still regards Daemon as their commander and Rhaenyra as their queen. The Green guards put down their swords.
Daemon invites Rhaenyra to take the Iron Throne, but she says, “Bring Aegon the usurper to me.”
Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), as we know, fled King’s Landing in the last episode with Larys (Matthew Needham) and was captured by soldiers allied to Rhaenyra. But in this episode, they’ve managed to flee from their captors once more. Orwyle lets them know that Aegon is no longer at the castle, and swears his loyalty to Rhaenyra, offering the head of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) — Alicent’s father, Vicerys’ former Hand, and the mastermind behind Aegon’s ascension to (or usurpation of, depending on which side you’re on) the throne.
Daemon finds Otto in the dungeons and brings him to Rhaenyra. She hesitates to kill him, until he says, “Let Daemon do it. Spare me at least from being hacked at.” Her allies, who have been freed from prison, watch as she swings the sword, which first falls below his nape, before she finally cuts his head clean off. Jasper is also executed by Daemon.
She finally takes the Iron Throne, and as she does so, Alicent and Helaena are escorted in.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is available for streaming on HBO Max.
Frequently Asked Questions
In House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2, Rhaenyra flies to King’s Landing with Daemon and the Dragonseeds after Aemond leaves the city for Harrenhal. The Gold Cloaks bend the knee, Rhaenyra executes Otto Hightower, and she finally claims the Iron Throne — with Alicent and Helaena escorted in to witness.
In Season 3, Episode 2, Rhaenyra claims the Iron Throne after the Gold Cloaks surrender King’s Landing to her. She first demands Aegon be brought to her before sitting, and only ascends after executing Otto Hightower, the principal architect of Aegon’s original claim.
Otto Hightower is executed by Rhaenyra in Episode 2 of Season 3. Found in the dungeons by Daemon, Otto is brought before Rhaenyra, who hesitates until his final provocation prompts her to behead him herself, a deliberate act of justice that precedes her sitting on the Iron Throne.
Aemond flies to Harrenhal, kills its castellan Ser Simon Strong and the garrison, and is found bleeding by the witch Alys Rivers. His departure from King’s Landing is what creates the opening for Rhaenyra to take the capital unopposed in “Queen’s Landing.”
The title inverts “King’s Landing” — the city’s name — to signal Rhaenyra’s arrival and claim of power. It frames the episode as the moment the queen’s war effort culminates in possession of the capital, marking a decisive shift in the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.
