House of the Dragon Season 2 Ending Explained: The Major Season 3 Battles to Come

This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 and details from Fire & Blood that could spoil House of the Dragon season 3.

Did you find yourself a little disappointed with the House of the Dragon season 2 finale? You weren’t alone on that front.

Season two’s final episode appeared to stop just short of some real action. While Daemon resolved his family issues and Rhaenyra and Alicent resolved…whatever it is they have going on, the Dance of the Dragons civil war appeared to be stuck in a holding pattern on House of the Dragon.

Still, the final five minutes of the season 2 finale do act as a sort of sizzle reel for the action to come in season 3 as we see several armies and navies advance across the Westerosi landscape to parts unknown (all scored by Ramin Djawadi’s spooky piano, of course). With that in mind, let’s take stock of all the various factions on the board, where they might be heading, and what battles they will undoubtedly get into whenever the Game of Thrones prequel returns.

What Are Hugh, Ulf, and Addam Suiting Up For?

Last we heard, Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) instructions to her new dragonriders Hugh (Kieran Bew), Ulf (Tom Bennett), and Addam (Clinton Liberty) were to fly to Green strongholds of Lannisport and Oldtown to wreak fiery havoc. Of course, plans change quickly in wartime and Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) de facto surrendering of King’s Landing may have changed their course of action.

If we go by the timeline in Fire & Blood, the dragonseeds’ next destination should be the skies over the blockaded Gullet for one of the war’s bloodiest battles known as “The Battle of the Gullet.” Read on to the Velaryon and Triarchy portion of this article to find out more about that.

Where Is The Hightower Army Going With Daeron and Tessarion?

Earlier in this episode, we hear that Daeron Targaryen’s young dragon, Tessarion, has taken to wing. In the final moments, we finally get to see what the gorgeous blue dragon looks like in action as he flies above a massive Hightower host. Daeron is undoubtedly up there with Tessarion as well, though the show has not officially cast him.

The Hightower swords, led by Ser Otto’s older brother Lord Ormund Hightower, are marching northeast toward King’s Landing to join King Aegon II’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) war effort. Unfortunately for Ormund, Daeron, and the Hightowers, they will encounter many setbacks and skirmishes on their way. The Hightowers are not the stewards of The Reach, that honor belongs to House Tyrell. As such, the region is not unified in support of King Aegon II. House Beesbury and House Tarly stand in opposition to the Hightowers and they will harass them as they march across the Reach, culminating in the Battle of the Honeywine.

Did The Starks Make It Across The Twins?

Jacaerys Velaryon’s (Harry Collett) negotiations with House Frey paid off and Lord Cregan Stark’s (Tom Taylor) host of whitebeard soldiers has successfully been granted access to The Twins, cutting their travel time down to King’s Landing significantly. Here’s the thing about Westeros though: it’s big…like really big. Lord Cregan’s old men, led by Roderick Dustin, will be around to help out in the Riverlands in season 3 but any Stark reinforcements won’t turn up in the story until much later on.

Where Are Lord Jason Lannister And His Lions Bound For?

Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall), Lord of Casterly Rock and all-around ass, was adamant that he wouldn’t move his Western army until Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) provided aerial support with Vhagar. Well, Aemond’s indiscriminate torching of Sharp Point, the seat of House Bar Emmon, appears to have convinced Lord Jason to get rolling. Jason’s formidable host of a thousand knights and many thousands more men-at-arms is en route to the Riverlands to crush Prince Daemon’s newly-gained Rivermen allies.

What’s Next For Daemon and the Rivermen?

Fortunately for Lord Jason Lannister, the Westerland soldiers won’t find Daemon or his dragon Caraxes in The Riverlands. Daemon and Rhaenyra have a bigger prize than Harrenhal in mind: the Iron Throne. Unfortunately for Jason and the Westermen, the Rivermen who Daemon left behind are more than capable of repelling invaders. The Westerland and Riverland armies are set to meet in a series of battles, the most notable of which is the Battle at the Red Fork.

Will The Triarchy and The Velaryon Fleet Cross Paths?

OK, here’s the big one, folks. Just as House of the Dragon season 2 opened with a major moment from Fire & Blood in the form of “Blood and Cheese,” so too is season 3 likely to open with a long-awaited event from the book: The Battle of the Gullet. Of all the battles waged in the Dance of the Dragon, the Battle of the Gullet might just be the biggest and most destructive.

The Gullet is a stretch of water in The Crownlands that separates the islands of Driftmark and Dragonstone with Massey’s Hook (an eastern peninsula of Westeros). Due to its narrow features, the Gullet has been where House Velaryon has instituted a naval embargo of King’s Landing on behalf of Queen Rhaenyra. Lifting that embargo is of the utmost importance to the Greens and now that Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) has secured the help of the Triarchy’s ships, they have the means to end it.

Whether they realize it or not, Ser Tyland, Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn), Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), and Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) are all destined to end up in this major naval catastrophe soon. If the show follows the book, the battle will grow so big that four dragonriders from the Blacks will have to intervene. There will also be a major character death to contend with. Read the Wiki of Ice and Fire entry if you want to know who.

Is That Rhaena’s Dragon?

It would appear so! Much to some fans’ consternation, Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) is on the verge of taking a beloved book character’s place. In Fire & Blood, a lowborn girl named Nettles bonds with a dragon called Sheepstealer on Dragonstone and becomes one of the Blacks’ dragonriders.

The reason why it seems as though Rhaena has borrowed Nettles’ arc is that book Rhaena doesn’t claim her dragon until much later on, when one of the three dragon eggs she brought to the Vale hatches and out comes her bonded dragon, Morning. Whether this wild dragon in The Vale will be known as Sheepstealer or Morning remains to be seen.

Where Is Larys Taking King Aegon II?

This is an area where House of the Dragon gets to be a little creative. All that is known about King Aegon II’s whereabouts in the historical record is that Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) smuggled him out of King’s Landing before it fell to the Blacks. Where he’s being hidden is anyone’s guess. He will, however, eventually pop up again in a very unexpected location near war’s end. Check out the Wiki if you want to know where.