House of the Dragon showrunner defends [spoiler] after ‘tipping point’ finale death scene

’Things got out of hand and out of control,’ Ryan Condal said

House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has defended a character following their actions in the finale.

Episode 10, which served as the last instalment of season one, was broadcast on Sunday (23 October), and set the wheels in motion for a showdown to come.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

In the hopes of recruiting allies and maintaining support from people who believe her to be the rightful heir to the throne, Rhaneyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) sends her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) to Storm’s End with his dragon Arrax.

Rhaenyra urges him to act as a diplomat. When he arrives, though, something is amiss and he notices Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is already there doing the bidding for his newly crowned brother. Aemond has long been seeking revenge on Lucerys, who cut his eye out years before. When he loses his cool and goes for Lucerys, Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans) tells him not to fight on his land.

Lucerys hurriedly leaves and flies away in the middle of a storm. Aemond chases him on Vhagar. But, in the last moment, Aemond indicates he just wanted to scare Lucerys, but Vhagar has other plans and rips Arrax to shreds, sending Lucerys falling from the sky and killing him.

It’s this act that sees Rhaenyra turn from diplomat to a vengeful queen, and will no doubt lead to the start of the civil war, named the Dance of the Dragons in George RR Martin’s source material, Fire & Blood. Due to this, viewers are referring to Lucerys’s death as a “tipping point” moment for the show.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Condal said: “Aemond is definitely not blameless in what happened to Luke. But Aemond was also a kid who was bullied and was made a mockery for part of his life for not having a dragon. Now he does, and he rides the biggest dragon in the world.

“I think he was showing his rival that he will not be intimidated and trifled, which is probably more in play there than trying to become a kinslayer – that would be very uncalculated and stupid of Aemond to do at the outset when the pieces are moving about the board and loyalties are being set and figuring out who is going to make marriage pact to guarantee whose army.”

Condal said that “for Aemond to launch nukes right out of the gate and go for an all-out dragon war would be very foolish, but that’s exactly what he ends up doing because things get out of hand and out of control”.

Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) becomes a kinslayer in the ‘House of the Dragon’ finale (HBO / Sky Atlantic)

“It’s a complex scene,” he added, stating: “Aemond is not blameless, but he’s also not a psychopath without a logical line of thinking.”

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).

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.

The series, which has been renewed for a second season, is available to watch on NOW. Find the biggest talking points from the episode here.