‘House of the Dragon’s Aegon Is an Awful King, but It’s Not Really His Fault

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

The big picture

• In
  House of the Dragon
  In Season 2, King Aegon II struggles to balance power and rule justly.
• Aegon is unaware that his own family is conspiring against him and is naive as a king.
• Aegon's inexperience and lack of trusted advisors hamper his rule and his father is mostly to blame.

At the premiere of the second season of House of the Dragonwe get our first look at Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) tenure as king, which has had a difficult start. Despite the Alicent (Olivia Cooke) insistence that Viserys (Paddy Considine) the first-born son will be named heir to the throne according to her final wish, now that the deed has been done, she and Otto (Rhys Ifans) begin to realize that it may be difficult to control during such a crucial time for the Seven Kingdoms. King Aegon II is still quite young and therefore impulsive, proud, and still getting the hang of the novelty of being king, but when it comes to his actual duties as king, he hasn't quite figured out how to behave yet. . That's not entirely his fault, though. Aegon's only point of reference for leadership was his father, King Viserys, a peacetime king, while Aegon faces an impeding war against the Blacks. He flaunts his power and revels in the idea of ​​using it to ruthlessly take down his enemies, but he also seeks to protect the interests of the people, though he is finding it impossible to do both.

Aegon's only point of reference is King Viserys

During his time as king, Viserys presided over a largely peaceful kingdom, and the most pressing matters he had to attend to came from his own family, namely his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and his brother Daemon (Matt Smith). In some ways, Viserys could be considered a decent role model, thanks in large part to the vulnerability Paddy Considine brought to the role, but we also can't look past the many mistakes Viserys made as king. Despite his good intentions, he had questionable political acumen and was too dependent on his hand, Otto Hightower, and could be easily swayed. His weakness for Rhaenyra blinded him to the political implications of inheriting the throne after her death and the risks posed by his two obviously illegitimate children.

Growing up, Aegon did not take his position as heir to the throne very seriously considering he was already betrothed to Rhaenyra, although Alicent insisted that this would not stand. Compared to his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Aegon was not very interested in being king and much he preferred to take advantage of the privileges that his status granted him than the responsibilities he would potentially have as a future king. But once he placed the crown on his head and tossed Blackfyre into the air to a chorus of cheers from the townspeople, he figured this whole Lord of the Seven Kingdoms thing wasn't so bad after all . As a king, he likes to exert his power over others in the knowledge that they cannot challenge him. We see this on full display when he brings his first-born son, Jaehaerys, to the first small council meeting of season 2, which creates nothing but distractions. Almost quite Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) to get down on his knees so Jaehaerys can ride him as a pony, but Alicient goes into mother mode and asks him to remove him.

We see a different side to Aegon's sensitivity as a king when it comes time to listen to the pleas of his people. Viserys' pleasant tendencies begin to show in his son, who tries to appease the petitioners and approaches them with compassion, recognizing their importance to the kingdom's survival in the coming war. This is also where his naivety becomes apparent. When a farmer approaches him about the Crown taking a tenth of his sheep to feed the dragons, Aegon immediately sees the problem and, to the farmer's relief, says he will return them. Otto has to step in to remind Aegon that it's not that simple and explains that if he returns one farmer's herd, he'll have a dozen more at his feet begging for the same treatment. When Hugh the Hammer (Kieran Bew) approaches the king to pay the smiths before they begin their work, Aegon promises to pay them and “pay them well”. When Otto starts to make his way to advise him otherwise, Aegon states forcefully: “Our victory depends on the efforts of the little people,” which sends Otto back down the stairs without another word.

Aegon's family is conspiring against him

Not only does King Aegon II face an impending war against The Blacks, but members of his own family who want to usurp him. Like Daemon, Aegon's younger brother Aemond has severe second son syndrome and is more interested in jumping straight into violence without any war than trying to avoid war through diplomacy. We even see him cheating with Ser Criston (Fabian Frankel), who agrees that a dragon war is inevitable. Aemond doesn't trust his own mother and grandfather, and rightly so, as Alicent and Otto have plans of their own.

After the little council meeting, Alicent and Otto discuss their intentions and what exactly is the desired outcome of this conflict with Rhaenyra. Alicent reminds his father of the influence he has over Aegon and Aemond and asks him not to lie his voice at the small council meetings. They both want the same thing: for Rhaenyra to bend the knee and allow Aegon to sit on the Iron Throne in peace, but if Otto continues to publicly undermine her, he will lose any influence he has over his children. He also points out they just have to wait for Aegon to get bored with all the responsibilities of being king until they can pull the strings again.although both agree that violence is, at this point, inevitable.

Despite the Greens' insistence that Aegon be named the rightful heir to the throne in Season 1, once he's been placed on the Iron Throne, they're still not satisfied. Aegon now has a huge target on his back and no one he can really trust to advise him objectively.. While Alicent and Otto seek to control him, he also has Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) in his ear suggesting that he oust Otto as Hand of the King, presumably to name him in his place, and while Larys has shown loyalty to Alicent thus far, he can't be fully trusted either. With only a peacetime king to look to for inspiration, Aegon never had a chance to succeed with the battle of a lifetime looming.

House of the Dragon is available to stream on Max in the US with new episodes airing on Sundays.

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