House of The Dragon Civil War: All You Need To Know

HOTD episode eight ended with a lot of open ends. Who will be the heir, Rhaenyra or Aegon II? Civil war is here to come!

By Pratyush Singh
October 12,2022
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Family infighting is quite common in the universe of Game of Thrones, and House of the Dragon (HOTD) will be no different. HOTD Episode 8, Lord of the Tides, ended with the death of King Viserys and, more importantly, Alicent believing that Viserys wanted to name their son Aegon II Targaryen as heir. This will most definitely wage a civil war between Alicent Hightower and her stepdaughter Rhaenyra Targaryen, who are around the same age and were quite good friends in adolescence (that is so George R. R. Martin).

Many fans believe that episode nine of House of the Dragon will be a battle episode, which may very well be the civil war that episode 8 left us with. Here’s what you need to know before that happens.

Who Is On Whose Side

HOTD Civil War
HOTD Civil War

By the looks of it, we have two sides forming in HOTD, one led by Otto Hightower and the other led by Rhaenyra Targaryen. You could say that Alicent Hightower and Daemon Targaryen are counterparts of Otto and Rhaenyra, respectively.

On one side, you have Alicent Hightower with her firstborn son Aegon who she believes to be the king now that Viserys is dead. Otto Hightower, her father, is also on her side, leading their side. He has always wanted to see Aegon on the iron throne, which he revealed to Alicent in episode 7. Maybe that’s why Otto wanted Viserys to marry Rhaenyra and baby Aegon. In this way, he was looking to get Aegon on his side later and have more control of things. Our new one-eyed beast, Aemond Targaryen, equipped with a kickass eyepatch, and the world’s largest dragon, Vhagar, is also on Alicent’s side. He will be the most valuable asset for the Hightowers in the fight between the dragon riders in the sky, or as the books would say, ‘Dance of the Dragons’.

Apart from the family members of Otto and Alicent, Jason Lannister would take their side, as it has been a tradition of House Lannister to side with the crown. Tywin Lannister sided with usurper Robert Baratheon. Still, he also wed Cersei to King Robert and sided with the crown. Most houses will side with the crown as nobody likes to lose.

On the other hand, Rhaenyra has her dragon Syrax and her husband, Daemon Targaryen, along with his dragon Caraxes. Rhaenyra’s bastard son (whoop! Better not say it) Jacaerys also has a dragon named Vermax, and her second-born Lucerys rides the dragon Arrax. Daemon also took three of Syrax’s eggs and has kept them in warm keeping. These eggs may hatch, and Rhaenyra’s side will have too many dragons to handle.

House Velaryon may not stand with Rhaenyra, as there is already a natural-born Targaryen sitting at the iron throne (if Alicent’s son Aegon becomes king) and also because Daemon chopped off Vaemond Velaryon’s head in episode 8. Either way, the Hightowers seem to have the upper hand in support.

When Will The HOTD Civil War Battle Happen?

House of the dragon civil war
House of the dragon civil war

It is hard to say when the main battle that all HOTD fans are waiting to see, the dragon fight in the skies, will happen, but small-scale combat may be seen in next week’s episode. It has always been the tradition of the Game of Thrones family to make the ninth episode of every season the show stopper, and the way episode eight ended, the build-up has already happened.

We will certainly have an intense scene in the courtroom when Alicent announces that King Viserys told her that he wants their son Aegon to be king after Viserys’ death. Some people may draw their swords, and Ser Criston Cole will be one of them, as we have seen in the preview of HOTD episode 9.