Earlier this year, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms injected fresh energy into Westeros, weaving a brutal yet wickedly amusing tale of a hedge knight who gets in over his head with some troublesome Targaryens. The outsider perspective showed viewers what it was like slogging around the realm as a regular person—though main character Dunk did pick up an important ally in the pint-sized Egg, real name Aegon Targaryen.
Another Aegon—this one from several generations earlier—returns to HBO when House of the Dragon season three kicks off, and Game of Thrones fans will swiftly be reminded of Westeros on a much grander scale. Unlike A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, House of the Dragon has a sprawling array of characters, many of whom are actively vying for the Iron Throne, as well as far-flung locations and the sort of budget that’s required when your story involves naval battles and dragons.
Despite the contrast, Game of Thrones fans will no doubt eagerly slip back into House of the Dragon mode; after all, season two ended with several cliffhangers. Season three will have to address those while ramping up to the show’s fourth and final season.
With that in mind, here are 10 important things to remember ahead of the season three premiere on June 21 on HBO.
1. The Triarchy and Team Green
In season two, Team Green reached a breaking point with Team Black’s blockade, which kept ships carrying food and other supplies from reaching King’s Landing. Green Council representative Jason Lannister (not to be confused with his identical twin, Tyland, who’s elsewhere on the map) sought an alliance with the Triarchy, a fleet of ships hailing from three of the Free Cities.
The Triarchy’s assistance comes courtesy of a hefty payment of gold—and is contingent upon Jason’s defeat of the Triarchy’s formidable Admiral Sharako Lohar in a mudwrestling match.
As season two ended, we saw the ships coming into position for the Battle of the Gullet, which we already know will be the major event that kicks off season three. House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has teased it as one of the craziest episodes of TV ever.
2. The Dragonseeds and Team Black
The fact that Westeros had more dragons flying around than Targaryens available to ride them became a major plot point in season two, as Rhaenyra set out to find anyone with “blood of the dragon” to join the cause. After (literally) burning through at least one noble who’d branched off the family tree, she turned instead to the realm’s vast crop of bastards. It took some wrangling, but three more dragonriders emerged: Ulf White (who rides Silverwing), Hugh Hammer (Vermithor), and Addam of Hull (Seasmoke).
At the end of season two, Team Green’s Aemond—who rides Vhagar, the biggest and fiercest dragon in Westeros—was made well aware of how outnumbered his side is. He was so furious and frightened that he immediately torched a village loyal to Rhaenyra in response.
3. Rhaena and the wild dragon
Rhaenyra tasked Daemon’s teenage daughter, Rhaena, with being a nanny/surrogate mother for Rhaenyra’s three youngest sons when they were sent away from Dragonstone for safety reasons. Rhaena would much rather be an active participant in the Dance of the Dragons, but she’s basically useless without a dragon of her own.
Equally resentful and determined, she takes it upon herself to chase after a wild dragon that’s been spotted in the vast wilderness of the Vale. At the end of season two, she finally found it.
4. Ser Criston Cole’s regrets
While season three’s big Battle of the Gullet will be fought at sea, there’s still a raging, dragon-fueled land war to contend with. In season two, we got a first taste of that at Rook’s Rest, which was devastating for both sides. Princess Rhaenys and her dragon both perished; King Aegon lost his dragon and barely escaped alive.
After witnessing this, Cole realized for the first time just how futile everything he’s gone through to this point has been: “The dragons dance, and men are like dust under their feet … we march now toward our annihilation.” His fight continues, but there’s a lot more doom infused into it now.
5. Two important visions
Across season two, Daemon spent his time causing chaos in the Riverlands and feeling the woozy effects of haunted castle Harrenhal and Alys Rivers, its resident witch. Fortunately for Team Black, not only did he manage to rally all the armies together, he also realized how important it was to support Rhaenyra rather than try to snatch the Iron Throne for himself.
That epiphany comes thanks to his vision of the future as predicted by early Targaryen ruler Aegon the Conqueror—the “Song of Ice and Fire” that encompasses the White Walkers and the rise of Daenerys Targaryen, as seen on Game of Thrones.
Queen Helaena Targaryen, married to King Aegon (who’s also one of her brothers), was also in Daemon’s vision. “You know what you must do,” she told him. This odd bridging of Teams Black and Green continues in King’s Landing, where Helaena informed another of her brothers, Aemond, that she won’t fly her dragon into battle with him.
She also revealed to him that she knows Aegon’s battlefield injuries are Aemond’s fault. What’s more, “Aegon will be king again … and you’ll be dead. You were swallowed up in the God’s Eye, and you were never seen again.”
It’s a little teaser for House of the Dragon fans to chew on—though as we’ve seen in the past, the show has been known to take liberties with George R.R. Martin’s source material.
6. Larys and Aegon’s road trip
After the events of Rook’s Rest, Aegon is brought back to King’s Landing with terrible injuries. But greater danger awaits him in the Red Keep, where Aemond will do just about anything to ensure his brother doesn’t recover and return to the Iron Throne.
Ser Larys Strong, Aegon’s crafty “Master of Whisperers,” uses his powers of persuasion to convince Aegon they should flee King’s Landing and, y’know, just lay low in Braavos until the Dance of Dragons blows over. As we saw at the end of season one, they managed to slip away undetected—but it surely won’t be long before their absence is discovered.
7. The Sea Snake and his sons
For years, Lord Corlys resisted acknowledging Alyn and Addam of Hull as his sons, even after his wife, Rhaenys—presumably the whole reason he wanted to keep his out-of-wedlock offspring secret in the first place—encouraged him to step up.
The events of season two suggested there might be some softening between Corlys and Addam, who takes on new Team Black significance when he becomes a dragonrider. But Alyn, still deeply bitter, is not about to accept Corlys as a father figure. Lucky for Rhaenyra, though, Alyn is still willing to flex his considerable seafaring skills as Corlys’ first mate, meaning these two are bound to have another conversation about their relationship eventually.
8. Where in the world is Lord Otto Hightower?
Midway through season two, the master manipulator and onetime Hand of the King was pushed out of his influential position in King’s Landing. He was later summoned back, but he never actually reappeared. Where did he go? He was languishing in an unknown jail as season two came to an end.
9. Alicent’s peace offering to Rhaenyra
Despite everything, there are still fragments of mutual understanding between Rhaenyra and Alicent.
In the season two finale, Alicent made a daring visit to Dragonstone—echoing Rhaenyra’s earlier stealth trip to King’s Landing—with a shocking proposal: she’d fix it so that Rhaenyra could take King’s Landing and claim the Iron Throne in the most peaceful way possible, with open gates and an absent Aemond and Vhagar.
She even acquiesced when Rhaenyra pointed out Aegon would have to die as part of this plan. It’s a great plan! Of course, House of the Dragon fans know it will never work out so neatly—too many things are already in motion—but at least the former besties gave it a try.
10. And these other key pieces!
There’s a rapid-fire montage at the end of season two that shows various armies on the move. The Lannisters are heading to the Riverlands, toward Harrenhal. The Hightowers approach the Reach, with Daeron Targaryen (Alicent’s youngest son, whom we’ve yet to meet on House of the Dragon) flying his dragon, Tessarion, overhead. There are also the Winter Wolves—an army of “2,000 gray beards” that pledged to help Rhaenyra in the season two premiere—stomping their way from the frozen north.
Add that to the rival fleets priming for the Battle of the Gullet and more dragons joining the fight than we’ve ever seen on-screen before. Death, destruction, and Olympic-level plotting and scheming will surely boil over when House of the Dragon returns June 21 to HBO.
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