Spoilers for House of the Dragon will be found below.
This week’s House of the Dragon episode gave fans a return of the old Prince Daemon, who surprise-married Princess Rhaenyra in a Valyrian wedding. Yep, they’re proudly following in their most incestuous family tradition, and more than that, they’ve combined forces in light of the brewing Civil War. That would be the Targaryen side of the fam who isn’t the product of King Viserys I’s marriage to Alicent Hightower, who wore green as a declaration of war in the most recent bloodbath of a wedding for this franchise.
And as HBO showed in the Episode 8 preview, war is definitely on the horizon. Who made the biggest power move of the episode, though? That would be young Aemond Targaryen (played by Leo Ashton), who we first got to know while his siblings bullied him for his dragon-less status while gifting him a pig. Well, Aemond got a dragon in Episode 7, and as our own Jessica Toomer concluded in her weekly recap, this positions him as a “Contender.” Following Laena Valarian’s death, Aemond decided to step up and claim her dragon, Vhagar.
Now, there’s some contention out there about whether Aemond “stole” this dragon, but it truly seems like he tamed her with some “dohaeris” (instructing her to serve) before taking his very first ride. Yes, he then got the holy hell beaten out of him and Aemond lost an eye as a result, but he was fine with this result because, hey, he has a dragon. Even more than that, Vhagar is now part of Team Hightower. Given that she’s the biggest dragon in Westeros, that’s quite an asset. Also, one has to admit that Aemond looked pretty darn cool on his ride, even if not everyone is a fan of the “rugrat.”
Leo Ashton absolutely killed it as Young Aemond. His claiming of Vhagar is an all-timer of a scene.#HouseOfTheDragon
— Lord Travis (@ser_travis) October 3, 2022
https://twitter.com/ellemceebee/status/1576753981442838528
https://twitter.com/HouseOTDragonTR/status/1576754081510477825
So, there was no time to show Laena bonding with Vhagar and claiming her but you gon show us this little white haired rugrat Aemond claim her?!
Yk what that is…#HouseOfTheDragon#Vhagar pic.twitter.com/aBUey4ukxD— Quinny🦋 (@QuinnyTete) October 3, 2022
Aemond flying Vhagar for the first time was pretty sick ngl #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/SM59jhkqyW
— westerosies (@westerosies) October 3, 2022
https://twitter.com/PinkDreadd/status/1576794458061873152
Vhagar really activated some agressive instincts on Aemond, huh? She gave him the power he needed. This is what happens when you give an introspective Targaryen a huge dragon. #HOTD
— Balerion's favorite dragonkeeper (@conquerorscrown) October 3, 2022
what a powerful scene of aemond claiming vhagar pic.twitter.com/wW4y2iih9H
— Vasilisa (@vasilisonka) October 3, 2022
Aemond stealing Vhagar like:#HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/duPlVHCZtX
— Northern Platitudes 🦞 (@woman_composer) October 3, 2022
listen… it’s fuck aemond for stealing vhagar but you got to give it up to kid, you got to have big ass balls to steal a dragon #DemDragons pic.twitter.com/aPSUVMwq7I
— 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐄𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐄 🦅 (@ForeverSymone) October 3, 2022
Allow me to admire this breathtakingly exhilarating scene of Aemond’s first dragon ride. Vhagar is an absolute UNIT! Look at that wingspan! #HouseOfTheDragon #HOTD #HouseOfTheDragonHBO pic.twitter.com/Sws56pMOc7
— 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚊 (@djcaliphoria) October 3, 2022
The scene I'm most excited to watch of the next episode? Aemond bonding with Vhagar, this is gonna be magical and mythological, what dragon riders did for centuries since old Valyria was born, this is plain blood magic uniting them with these majestic creatures, just magical…. pic.twitter.com/WB9IQ0vllj
— MeraxesTargaryen (@MER4X3S) September 29, 2022
Here’s an intriguing theory: “maybe vhagar stole aemond did you ever think abt that.”
maybe vhagar stole aemond did you ever think abt that
— gigi (@bitchysansa) October 3, 2022
HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.