Emma D’Arcy Returns To ‘House of the Dragon’ With One Line

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1.

The big picture

• Emma D'Arcy gives a captivating and largely silent performance
  House of the Dragon
  Premiere of the second season.
• Rhaenyra Targaryen's pain takes a palpable physical toll, with D'Arcy conveying raw vulnerability.
• Rhaenyra's grief humanizes the true cost of the Dance of Dragons and rationalizes her future decisions.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) says just four words House of the DragonPremiere of the second season. One might assume otherwise, given D'Arcy's devastating performance, but one line: “I want Aemond Targaryen” – is all they need. D'Arcy's abilities aren't a surprise after Season 1; after all, he is D'Arcy, the star performer behind HBO game of thrones prequel series, which concludes the first season with a simple, silent and surprising plan. Rhaenyra, with her back to the camera, doubles over after learning of her son Lucerys Velaryon's (Elliot Grihault) death. He can barely stand through the pain throughout his body before turning to release a livid stare into the lens. No words are needed to understand Rhaenyra's fevered desperation.

Two years later, D'Arcy inherits dragonSophomore release with an equally captivating extension of this grief. It is an impressive feat and an intimidating challenge; a silent character is one thing, but conveying the subtleties of unfathomable pain within that silence is another. A lot of people feel sorry for Lucerys throughout Episode 1, but in a world made up of characters that range from morally gray to bankrupt, no one in Westeros is more human than Rhaenyra, a heartbroken and bewitched mother facing her worst nightmare of the parents, and forced to face whatever comes next. next How do you process a world-shattering loss, protect your surviving family, i prevent the kingdom from imploding? For once, prophecies and dragons don't matter. D'Arcy's performance humanizes the true cost of the civil war: the weight of pain, something that is all too familiar to everyone.

How does “House of the Dragon” season 2 begin?

in many ways, House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 1, titled “A Son for a Son,” is the calm before the irreconcilable storm. Until those last cataclysmic minutes with Blood and Cheese, showrunner and co-creator Ryan CondalThe 's script sets up the moving chess pieces for upcoming events. Except, no one on Team Black can act with Rhaenyra and her dragon looking for Lucerys. The first of her name, the queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the first men: the titles fall. Rhaenyra is a mother first, the crown and kingdom meaningless; she cannot continue until she knows unequivocally that her son is dead. He burns himself to pieces doing so, until a lone dragon wing and Lucerys cloak come ashore in a fishing net. And with closure comes the loss of all hope.

“A Son for a Son” tasks Emma D'Arcy with the unenviable task of conveying immense emotions on a formidable scale. It wouldn't be easy even if they had a prolific dialogue. However, D'Arcy embodies Rhaenrya's pain as something physically destructive. Those who know trauma understand how it spreads through the body. The loss of her son is a profound catastrophe that wreaks physical havoc on Rhaenyra. This visceral gravity is woven through D'Arcy's frame. Rhaenrya stands upright overlooking Storm's End, but not tall. His empty eyes stare into a middle distance that is technically an endless abyss; Rhaenyra is worlds away. The character's dirty cheeks and disheveled hair attest to his anguish, but D'Arcy's electrifying face, all angles, agony and microexpressions, sells the effect. Rhaenyra Targaryen is sick and tired of bones even before she finds Luke's remains.

Emma D'Arcy makes Rhaenyra's grief physical

When Rhaenyra learns the truth, she must face reality. The emotional grip he has been holding back breaks. Pain kills him as he sinks to his knees, his hands caressing Luke's clothes. She does not cry out in agony, a choice that is all the more forceful because of its honesty. D'Arcy's wordless sobs are gratifying just for their raw vulnerability; it feels like the pain is exorcising Rhaenyra's soul. Lucerys is Rhaenyra's third consecutive trauma in a few days. It follows the death of his father, King Viserys (Paddy Considine), and her dead daughter, the latter lost in an excruciating miscarriage. Rhaenyra the human hasn't had time to double back before Lucerys, her gentle boy, dies during what should have been a safe diplomatic mission. What words could adequately express this despair?

There are rarely bright spots within the well of grief. However, Rhaenyra's grief is not lonely. His reunion with his firstborn, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett), formally begins. Jacaerys approaches his mother like a soldier in the service of his monarch. A speechless Rhaenyra, who met a dull-eyed composure when she heard the approaching footsteps, allows him the deference. Once his voice breaks with tears, she instantly pulls him into her arms. Jace is a son who needs his mother, and Rhaenyra is a mother who needs her family. Grieving and comforting, they cling to each other. All Emma D'Arcy has to do is lift her frail body and cradle her co-star's head.

Rhaenyra Is a Grieving Mother in 'House of the Dragon' Season 2

The world does not stop at pain. Whatever happens, the responsibilities of life are performed for the living. We force our bodies to continue because, quite simply, we are required to move. In Rhaenyra's case, she wears a crown and commands armies. Return to Dragonstone with a mech ride; his feet know where to go even if the rest of his lies are broken. Face red and eyes bloodshot, he waits for updates from the war council before dismissing the objective strategy with a shake of the head. Rhaenyra's one sentence, her demanding head of Aemond, emerges like four punches. Closure has not redirected her trauma to any purpose except a mother's justice. And though Rhaenyra is fueled by the distilled fire of vengeance, she is exhausted.

Do these four words mean Rhaenyra is asking for blood and cheese? No. Her husband, the troubled Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), takes his wife's anguished declaration as permission to act. Whether he wants to kill Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), who might rightly be assumed to be a Targaryen, or invoke whatever just punishment Westeros can conceive, is a mother facing a cruel tragedy. Once Rhaenyra sacrifices Lucerys cloak to the flames of her impromptu Targaryen funeral, his face fills with concentrated rage like wet cement poured into a mold. His call for Aemond's head is felt in grief; forward, everything is provoked by fury.

Emma D'Arcy's nuanced performance keeps Rhaenyra human

Regardless of her intentions, Rhaenyra's four-word statement acknowledges her darker side, a facet of her character. House of the Dragon had little reason to explore until now. In the later show of the episode, Emma D'Arcy says that Rhaenyra's statement is a confession. Rhaenyra meets Daemon's eyes and recognizes their shared vengeful urges. Years ago, Rhaenyra declared that she and Daemon were “always meant to burn together.” The flames of his youth, once extinguished, have roared again. But in structuring Rhaenyra's episodic arc around her grief, “A Son for a Son” never lets us forget what awakened her darker side: that Rhaenyra Targaryen is a human broken by grief. The result is both cute and heartbreaking, exploring the fallout promised by Season 1's final shot and letting D'Arcy properly wonder down new avenues. Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen is human because Emma D'Arcy's spirit makes her.

New episodes of House of the Dragon The second season premieres Sundays on HBO and Max.

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