King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) might have survived the wounds he sustained during the Battle of Rook's Rest in House of the Dragon, but up until recently, the fate of his sweet puppy dog of a dragon, Sunfyre, has been less certain. In Episode 5, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) ambiguously describes Sunfyre as "long in the dying." Even into Season 3, it seemed like Sunfyre had succumbed to his injuries. When House of the Dragon delivered this twist, it was a surprising development for Fire & Blood readers. In George R.R. Martin's novel, the dragon plays a crucial — and horrifying — part in the Dance of the Dragons' resolution. Even if Sunfyre's death did end up becoming a sly misdirection on the series' part, that leaves the recorded particulars of Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) final confrontation open to change — but House of the Dragon has never been afraid to alter its source material.

How Does Rhaenyra Die in 'Fire & Blood'?

In Fire & Blood, after taking King's Landing, Rhaenyra begins a rocky rule as unrest brews among the smallfolk. In the show, this was shown to be done, in part, by Ormund (James Norton) and also due to a lack of gold and resources. Brokenhearted and penniless, Rhaenyra flees to Dragonstone. Her home proves to be even less of a safe haven: Ser Alfred Broome (Jamie Kenna), the same House of the Dragon knight who tries to sway Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) into stealing his wife's throne, has staged a coup on Aegon's behalf. Aegon, who escaped King's Landing with Larys (Matthew Needham), has been hiding inside Dragonstone for some time. After one final conversation between brother and sister, Sunfyre eats Rhaenyra alive upon Aegon’s command.

Collider · Quiz
Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell
Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.
🐺Stark
🦁Lannister
🐉Targaryen
🦌Baratheon
🌹Tyrell
QUESTION 1 / 8HONOUR
01
Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.
QUESTION 2 / 8STRENGTH
02
What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?
QUESTION 3 / 8LOYALTY
03
Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.
QUESTION 4 / 8ENEMIES
04
How do you deal with your enemies? A house's method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.
QUESTION 5 / 8RULE
05
What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.
QUESTION 6 / 8LOSS
06
You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.
QUESTION 7 / 8WORDS
07
Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.
QUESTION 8 / 8THE THRONE
08
The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.
The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…

Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don't. That's very much up to you.

Winterfell · The North
🐺 House Stark

Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.

  • You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
  • Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn't bend when things get difficult.
  • The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
  • You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.
Casterly Rock · The Westerlands
🦁 House Lannister

You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.

  • You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
  • A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
  • You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
  • The lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.
Dragonstone · The Iron Throne
🐉 House Targaryen

You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.

  • You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
  • Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
  • The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
  • At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.
Storm's End · The Stormlands
🦌 House Baratheon

You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.

  • Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what's behind it.
  • You value strength and straight dealing. You'd rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
  • The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
  • The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.
Highgarden · The Reach
🌹 House Tyrell

You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes.

  • Growing strong is your house's motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
  • You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
  • The Tyrells fed King's Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
  • You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.

Fire & Blood's account matches the little history tour Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) gives Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) in Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 4. "Rhaenyra Targaryen was murdered by her brother, or rather, his dragon," Joffrey gloats. "It ate her while her son watched." But given the current condition of Sunfyre and Aegon, and the fact that he is currently at Harrenhal with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Alys (Gayle Rankin), Rhaenyra's fate might be quite different from what the Westeros history books say it is.

What Could This Change Mean for 'House of the Dragon's Ending?

Since Fire & Blood was written by Maesters biased toward Team Green, perhaps they fictionalized Rhaenyra's death into over-the-top propaganda designed to boost Aegon's grandeur. Maybe they softened the truth to conceal something even more hideous. What's more likely is that there will be a larger gap between the time that Aegon arrives at Dragonstone and when Rhaenyra finds him there. The show has already reworked the timeline, so it's very possible Rhaenyra could still end up dying as she did in the books. Or, perhaps showrunner Ryan Condal and his fellow creatives have something else up their sleeve for how they want to wrap up the final part of the story. After all, the son that watches Rhaenyra die is not Joffrey but her firstborn son with Daemon, Aegon (yes, another one), and we saw that Aegon and Viserys (yes, also another one) had been spirited away to Essos in Season 2.

When directly asked about Aegon's next moves, Condal's answer avoided any spoilers:

"We don't know when Aegon took up at Dragonstone, only that he did... eventually. Part of the fun of him disappearing from the book narrative (with Larys) is that he could have gotten up to quite a bit of mischief while Rhaenyra and Daemon were busy and all the eyes of history were looking elsewhere."

Considering how much the show has already deviated from Fire & Blood, specifically when it comes to Aegon and what happens at Harrenhal, it's very likely the "bit of mischief" will play out in the early episodes of Season 3 before the grand finale. In Fire & Blood, Sunfyre's wounds never fully heal, but he stays alive and kicking long enough to conclude Rhaenyra’s tragic story. While the rough outline of her death still seems to be in place, the circumstances have certainly completely changed.

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House of the Dragon
TV-MA
Drama
Action
Fantasy
Release Date
August 21, 2022