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‘They are dragons. They can never be tamed’: Game of Thrones quote comes back to haunt Aemond in House of the Dragon

Viewers are making the same joke about Daenerys Targaryen after the show’s finale

Annabel Nugent
Tuesday 25 October 2022 11:13 BST
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House of the Dragon episode 10 trailer

House of the Dragon fans are all drawing the same comparison to Game of Thrones over its explosive season finale.

HBO aired the 10th and final instalment of its GoT spin-off series on Sunday (23 October).

*Spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 10 below – you have been warned*

After Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) learns that Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) has been named King following the death of King Viserys (Paddy Considine), she begins to recruit allies who believe in her claim to the throne.

In the hopes of getting House Baratheon on her side, she sends her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) to Storm’s End with his dragon Arrax.

When Lucerys arrives, however, he sees that Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is already there hoping to secure Baratheon support for his newly crowned brother Aegon.

Things get out of hand when Aemond tries to take revenge on Lucerys for taking his eye out years before. After Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans) tells him not to fight on his land, Aemond takes his battle to the skies.

In the middle of a storm, Aemond and his dragon Vhagar chase after Lucerys who is on his much smaller dragon Arrax.

In the last moment, however, Aemond indicates that he just wanted to scare Lucerys as opposed to doing any real damage. It is too late, though, and Vhagar disobeys Aemond by ripping Arrax in half, sending Lucerys falling from the sky and killing him.

It is a turning point for Rhaenyra, with the death of her son prompting her turn from a diplomat to a vengeful queen.

(Twitter @oochotd)

Following the release of the season finale, a joke comparing the climactic moment to the end of Game of Thrones has gone viral.

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In the much-derided eighth and final season of GoT, the once compassionate Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) veers more and more into villain territory. Her transformation is arguably complete when she and her dragons brutally attacks all of King’s Landing without a thought for any innocent civilians.

In a post that has since gone viral, the Twitter account @oochotd [Out of Context House of the Dragon] jokingly blamed Daenerys’s actions on her dragon Drogon, taking inspiration from the way that Aemond’s dragon Vhagar disobeyed him and attacked Arrax, killing Lucerys too.

“Daenerys is innocent! It was Drogon!” reads the post alongside two images taken from Daenerys’s attack on King’s Landing with fake subtitles from Daenerys trying to tell Drogon to stop.

She had previously been told by Ser Jorah Mormont while her dragons were still young: “They are dragons, Khaleesi. They can never be tamed... not even by their mother.”

House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condol has defended Aemond following his actions in the finale.

Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen (Ollie Upton / HBO)

This particular plot twist was foreshadowed by Viserys (Paddy Considine) in a conversation with a young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) featured in the show’s debut episode.

The finale also featured another callback to episode one – namely the note handed to Rhaenyra by Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). Another Easter egg that fans found was the dragon song that Daemon sings to Vermithor, which has prompted calls for writers to release the lyrics.

Elsewhere, the episode cleared up a recent controversial plot point that angered many fans, and left people feeling “traumatised” with yet another harrowing birth scene, which eagle-eyed viewers noted was accompanied by a disturbing yet significant detail.

You can find the biggest talking points from the episode here.

House of the Dragon concludes on Monday 24 October at 9pm on Sky Atlantic. The whole season is available to watch on NOW.

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