Rhaenyra was pretty clear with what she wanted to happen after the season 1 finale of House of the Dragon. She wanted justice for her son, Lucerys Velaryon. Yet somehow, by the end of season 2’s first episode, we are left with a series of men misunderstanding what she wanted.
We saw in the return of House of the Dragon that Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) wanted to hold one person responsible for the death of Lucerys: Her brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). Lucerys died because of Vhagar, Aemond’s dragon, and Rhaenyra wanted revenge on him. She literally said she wanted Aemond and yet somehow, that information was not heard by Daemon (Matt Smith).
Not to defend Daemon but he is someone who was trying to make Rhaenyra feel better about what happened to her son. Their family was hurting and he heard what he wanted to hear. Granted, he did say to Blood and Cheese that it was a son for a son. But he did not mean in the way that they took it. They took it to mean any son of Team Green would do and the game of telephone ended horribly. I have to believe that Daemon thought “Well, if they kill Aegon even better” and not “Let’s kill that little baby asleep in its bed.”
It didn’t matter if Rhaenyra herself told Blood and Cheese to only kill Aemond, I think they would have just done whatever they wanted to anyway. But seeing the trickle down of what she wanted to what Daemon requested and so on was … eye-opening.
This situation went from bad to so much worse and all because these supposed supporters of Rhaenyra could not bother to even listen to her when she made one request.
Men in Westeros really hear whatever they want
Many of us know this situation well. Well, not specifically but the idea of it. We know how men function and they will hear what they want to do and go for it. Rhaenyra would not have been more clear in what she wanted. How Daemon heard “I want Aemond Targaryen” and said “Actually any of them will work” and then Blood and Cheese said “Kill the infant” will never make sense to me.
To be clear: She said literally only this the entire episode and somehow all the men around her thought any little blond boy can die and their work is done.
In what world was “I want Aemond Targaryen” heard as “go ahead and kill a baby”??!??! It’s not like they even rhyme. Sure, there is some deeper thing we can unpack here but it really is simply a reality that women experience daily. Do men actually listen when we speak? If Rhaenyra is an example … no they do not.
