Why Was That Particular ‘House of the Dragon’ Castle So Important to Aemond?

One of the first scenes in House of the Dragon’s newly-released season finale, “The Queen Who Ever Was,” shows Ewan Mitchell’s Prince Aemond Targaryen on top of his fearsome dragon Vhagar, overlooking a castle the two have clearly just set fire to.

Spoilers for the season 2 finale of House of the Dragon, “The Queen Who Ever Was”

In the scene, we can hear the cries of anguish and pain coming from inside the castle as the flames consume it before the Prince Regent and his dragon fly away to return to King’s Landing.

We learn later in the episode that the place Aemond flew to is Sharp Point, which clarifies where exactly he was back during that opening scene but that doesn’t really shed any light on why he would go and burn a relatively minor castle.

What is Sharp Point?

Sharp Point is a smaller keep along the Gullet, the stretch of water that “separates” Blackwater Bay—where you can find King’s Landing—and the rest of the Narrow Sea. Dragonstone and Driftmark are both located in the Gullet, which is also where the infamous blockade of Velaryon ships that has been mentioned in several episodes of this season of House of the Dragon is currently at anchor.

Sharp Point, whose most prominent feature is its great watchtower, which we kind of saw also in “The Queen Who Ever Was,” is the seat of House Bar Emmon—a minor house from the crown lands that is sworn directly to Dragonstone rather than King’s Landing, same as the Velaryons are, probably due to their geographical vicinity to House Targaryen’s ancestral seat rather than the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. The Bar Emmons were actually among the first supporters of Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya during the Conquest and are now firmly backing Rhaenya’s claim.

But is Sharp Point of any particular importance?

The fact that Sharp Point is a stronghold of the Blacks must have definitely influenced Aemond’s decision to unleash Vhagar on it, but considering its minor role in the grand scheme of the war it’s not like Aemond made a tactical decision in taking it out—there was no army being amassed outside its gate, nor was destroying Sharp Point instrumental in breaking the blockade that is currently starving the capital.

Let’s go back to that geographical vicinity, though, and the way the show’s previous episode ended. Aemond and Vhagar chase Silverwing and her new rider Ulf back to Dragonstone, where he realizes that Rhaenyra now has three more dragons on her side. Now, Aemond knows his own family tree—more like family circle, really—pretty well so he realizes that it’s not like these new riders actually “belong” to House Targaryen.

So he’s been scorned, mocked, and humiliated not only by the half-sister he has pretty much spent his entire life hating or being taught to hate but also by three people he would very much consider “nobodies” and unworthy of claiming dragons in the first place. And considering how Aemond isn’t exactly the most well-adjusted person in Westeros, it wouldn’t be too much of a leap for him to take out his anger on innocent people whose only crime is to live within or in the vicinity of an ally of the Blacks. 

Alicent herself tells him so—she might be in denial about a great number of things, even though we see her finally and beautifully embrace reality in this final episode, but she knows very well who her sons are. Aemond’s reaction to Alicent’s verbal lashing—in a brilliant, brilliant acting moment by Mitchell—tells us that the Queen Dowager was spot on. He did feel emasculated and disempowered, because not even Vhagar could take on four grown dragons and come out of it unscathed, and he burned thousands of smallfolk for it simply because he felt like he could. What else is there to say but Targaryen entitlement?