House of the Dragon’s Best Characters Don’t Live in Castles

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As House of the Dragon ambles into the back half of its third season, a clear divide has emerged between the characters living on the bleeding edge of survival and those enjoying the comfort and protection of the castle.

For those on the outside, living in the wilds of Westeros forces them to confront the reality of who they are, while those still in the castle are insulated from the consequences of their decisions and don’t need to grow or change.

That divide is how the writers have consistently underserved their central characters and failed to realize the series’ full dramatic potential.

Aegon has the steepest rise and fall of any HotD character, and it's fascinating to see his evolution from callow cruelty into something far more sinister.

As king, Aegon had others carry out his dirty work for him. He was happy to hurt others, but always stayed one step away from the actual violence. 

It’s true that he charged into the fray at the Battle at Rook’s Rest, but that was a drunken, impulsive decision, driven by wounded pride. A reflex, rather than a deliberate choice. 

Wandering the hinterlands of  Westeros, powerless and alone except for Lord Larys Strong, he embraces a new level of brutality when he slaughters Janos while hissing at him that his proper title is ‘Your Grace’.

As an outcast, Aegon’s become far more malevolent and willing to kill by his own hand.

When Lord Strong rightfully called him out as a terrible man, it didn’t cause him to reflect on who he’s become, but instead to double down on it. He was always cruel, but now he’s become ruthless and willing to assert his authority through personal violence. 

Aegon’s arc is not one of growth, but of descent, and so much of it is driven by the decisions he was forced to make after fleeing the castle. 

Ser Criston Cole is also an outcast within his own kingdom, but his exile has driven him deep into a hatred for himself, rather than others. 

Through three seasons, Ser Cole rose from a minor knight to a member of the Kingsguard, eventually becoming Rhaenyra ’s sworn shield and secret lover before switching his allegiance to Alicent and serving as the Hand of the King.

Bronn tips his helm to you, Ser Cole. 

However, unlike so many other characters in the Seven Kingdoms, who are motivated by their quest for power, wealth and revenge, Ser Cole now seeks something we haven’t seen before: martyrdom. 

While characters like Bronn and Littlefinger saw life in purely transactional terms, and felt no qualms about their numerous betrayals, Ser Cole always felt himself bound by his honor as a knight, and it destroyed him when he betrayed that honor by sleeping with Rhaenyra, whom he had pledged to protect. 

This set off a corrosive descent in his soul, because without his honor, he’s lost his identity. His courage as a warrior cannot offset the betrayal he feels he committed against himself. 

That’s why he doesn’t want to win a decisive battle; he wants to die in one.

It’s not that Ser Cole doesn’t have any other way out. Ser Gwayne Hightower offers to take him into the service of House Hightower, but after breaking his oath and watching his men die in dragonfire at Rook’s Rest, Ser Cole realizes that the service he’s dedicated his life to no longer has meaning.

Instead of rising to fight for his king, he convinces himself that self-loathing is a military strategy and leads his army through a hellish march to nowhere, so he can confront a vastly superior army and die in the battle. 

He lies to himself that he’ll be remembered as the realm’s greatest warrior, when the truth is he’s going to be slaughtered in a futile last stand he knows he can’t win. Rather than having songs sung in his honor, he will become one more knight among thousands who have fallen in war and become a feast for crows. 

That’s true drama. 

Now contrast that with Queen Rhaenyra and her royal court as they putter around the Red Keep, arguing over who is entitled to various castles and how they’ll rebuild the royal fleets. It’s not that she doesn’t have to make hard choices; it’s that her decisions exist in the abstract and she rarely feels their impact.

She commands a great army that she rarely sees to battle against lords she’s never laid eyes on. Her actions have consequences, but they are only experienced from a great distance. 

That may be why even as Rhaenyra ’s circumstances have changed, her character hasn’t. It's not to say she hasn’t been tested, but her most challenging decisions are usually tactical rather than personal, so the decisions she’s forced to make rarely cause any meaningful change in her as a person. 

The difference between taking action and giving orders is stark. For Rhaenyra to grow, she needs to experience the consequences of her own actions, just as Aegon and Criston have wandering the Seven Kingdoms. 

This divide between characters fighting for survival and living in the moment and those insulated from their actions might work, except that the castle-dwellers are the show’s main characters, at the center of every plot, while the outsiders sometimes disappear for entire episodes. 

House of the Dragon doesn’t lack for action and growth, but it’s the wrong characters who are experiencing it.