“That’s an absolute kamikaze mission”: ‘House of the Dragon’ Star Eve Best Reveals Rhaenys Knew She Wouldn’t Survive the Battle at Rook’s Rest
- The Dance of the Dragons has officially commenced in House of the Dragon Season 2.
- Eve Best revealed that Rhaenys Targaryen deliberately takes the first blow during the Battle at Rook's Rest.
- Best has claimed that using dragons in the show is the same as using nuclear weapons in a war in the real world.
House of the Dragon is currently gracing the screens of millions with its sophomore season. The Game of Thrones spin-off series is officially seeing the commencement of the Dance of the Dragons with the most recent episode.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, a key member of the Black team went down in this new episode. She was more than just a team member since she was also Rhaenyra’s prime advisor.
Eve Best, who portrays Rhaenys in the show, recently admitted the Princess knew that she and her dragon Meleys’ story would end if she were to take on Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) on Vhagar.
[Spoiler Alert]
House of the Dragon Star Claims Rhaenys Knew What Fate Had in Store for Her
The House of the Dragon is set almost 200 years before the events of the Game of Thrones and sees House Targaryen, the ruling dynasty of Westeros, get embroiled in a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons over the succession to the Iron Throne following the death of King Viserys I Targaryen.
The devastating war began in the fourth episode of the show’s second season The Red Dragon and the Gold with the battle for the Rook’s Rest, a small and nondescript castle at the coast of Westeros. While the winning prize may not be a lot, those fighting the battle were certainly important.
Eve Best has now revealed that Rhaenys, who has always been against using the dragons, deliberately turned on Aemond and Vhagar despite knowing how it would end. In an interview with Variety, Best said:
So for her then to say, “I will be the one to do this,” she knows that there’s no living after that. The choice to go, that second return to plunge in with Vhagar — that’s an absolute kamikaze mission.
Rhaenys volunteered to fly with her dragon on behalf of her daughter-in-law Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) when the Green team’s army showed up at the castle’s gates. She is ambushed by Prince Aemond and his brother King Aegon II and ultimately loses her and Meleys’s lives after turning back on Aemond on Vhagar, the oldest and largest dragon alive.
Eve Best Likened the Dragons in the Show to Nuclear Weapons in the Real World
It is no secret that Rhaenys had been trying to stop the younger generation from starting a war involving the dragons for the longest time. Even at the end of Season 1, the Princess consciously decides against starting a war. Reflecting on Rhaeny’s point of view, Eve Best said:
The point is, ultimately, whatever we feel, however attached and however devastated we may be, the bigger picture is we must not send dragons into war, we must not go nuclear at all costs.
Best also said that perhaps Rhaenys decided to go first instead of Rhaenyra because she did not want the latter to feel the weight of whatever was awaiting them at the end of the Dance of the Dragons. She could have escaped the battle but chose not to because she felt that was the right thing to do.
House of the Dragon is available for streaming on HBO.
