'House Of The Dragon' Season 3 Episode 2 Ending Explained: Is Otto Hightower Dead?

The ending of House of the Dragon Season 3 episode 2 was about Rhaenyra and Daemon storming the Red Keep and taking the throne. Once the Battle of the Gullet ended, Baela and Moondancer returned with Jacaerys’ corpse, causing Rhaenyra to crumble. As she mourned the death of her son, a bunch of things happened. Firstly, after a long search, Corlys was finally found. Since he had lost most or all his riches, as High Tide had been burnt to a crisp by the Triarchy, he assumed that he had nothing but his name to give to Alyn and Addam. And he was glad to find out that that was more than enough for his bastard sons. Lady Jeyne refused to give shelter to Rhaena and Sheepstealer; she just told her to take her dragon and use any part of the Vale, except for the Eyrie, to survive. Daemon’s party with the Winter Wolves came to a halt as he got word of Jacaerys’ death and returned to Dragonstone. He told most of his men to march towards King’s Landing and sent the rest to Harrenhal to guard it. Before leaving, he had a falling out with Alys, as she was miffed at the fact that she didn’t have Harrenhal to her name despite helping out Rhaenyra. Aegon and Larys managed to escape the clutches of their captors and hike to Rook’s Rest. Jasper was arrested for sexually assaulting Alicent after he learnt from Rickard that she was handing King’s Landing over to Rhaenyra on a golden platter. Speaking of Rhaenyra, once she learnt from Daemon that Aemond had taken Vhagar and flown off to Harrenhal, which prompted Criston and his men to march in that direction, she got out of her bed and took to the skies with Daemon, Hugh, Ulf, and their respective dragons. What happened next? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Aemond and Vhagar didn’t beat around the bush, laying waste to Harrenhal, burning everything and everyone before them. But then Aemond dismounted Vhagar, let her do her thing, and started slashing down some of the soldiers garrisoned there. He reached the dining hall and found himself face to face with Simon, Germund, and Paxter. He asked Simon to bring Daemon to him because, technically, he was the one who had secured the Blacks’ allegiance to them. When he learned that Daemon wasn’t there, he asked Simon to draw his sword so that he could take the castle properly. Simon admitted that he hadn’t wielded a sword in the last few decades, and he had no intention of starting that practice at his present age. He pointed out that Aemond had taken the castle already, and there was no need for any more bloodshed. Simon said that in a really grandfatherly way; as if he understood the fire that was raging within Aemond and wanted to cool him down before he did something unnecessary. How did Aemond respond to that gesture? He stabbed Simon to death. That enraged Germund and Paxter and, although they weren’t great fighters, they attacked Aemond and died. Before getting hacked to death though, Paxter managed to stab Aemond in the back. Initially, Aemond didn’t mind it, and he began approaching Alys with malicious intent. However, the bleeding became profuse, causing him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground. So, I think the most obvious question everyone must be asking is whether or not Aemond is alive. 

Well, if you have seen the main trailer for the show, you’ll see at least 3 shots of Aemond in Harrenhal, which means that Alys is gonna nurse him back to health. But is this injury gonna change him in some way? When Aemond lost his eye, he became this tornado of Oedipus complex, rage, and hubris. With Vhagar as his dragon, he felt invincible. That was certainly part of the reason why he chose to dismount Vhagar and deal with some of the soldiers himself, instead of, you know, letting Vhagar do all the heavy-lifting. He wanted to prove to the inhabitants of Harrenhal, and maybe even to himself, that he was more than his dragon. Sure, he was a great swordsman, but he wasn’t made of dragon scales, and his armor was penetrable. However, his ego went to his head, he threw caution to the wind, and began swinging his blade. As mentioned earlier, Simon didn’t just offer him an alternative to bloodshed, but a pathway to soothing his soul. If he hadn’t killed that unarmed old man, he wouldn’t have irked his sons, Paxter wouldn’t have stabbed Aemond, and he would have taken Harrenhal without any injuries. Moreover, once he got word that Rhaenyra was taking King’s Landing, he could have boarded Vhagar and maintained the Greens’ hold on the throne. Now, he has to recuperate there and take a new approach towards overpowering the Blacks. Also, is this injury going to tone down his arrogance a bit? I doubt it, but I believe that he’s gonna improve himself as a swordsman so that he’s never stabbed in the back again.

Alicent held up her end of the deal, as she convinced most of the armed guards of the Red Keep to let Rhaenyra and her crew enter King’s Landing without any hiccups. Some of the soldiers, Rickard, and the Kingsguard offered some resistance when Rhaenyra and Daemon made their way to the throne room (Hugh and Ulf stood guard outside the Red Keep). But when Luthor and the Gold Cloaks stood behind Daemon and Rhaenyra, the Kingsguard surrendered, and Rickard was dragged away to the prison. And just like that, a path to the Iron Throne was cleared for Rhaenyra. But that wasn’t enough for Rhaenyra. She needed to slaughter Aegon before sitting on that highly-coveted seat. Orywle informed Daemon that Aegon was gone, he swore fealty to Viserys’ daughter, and pointed him in Otto’s direction. Daemon dragged Otto to the throne room for his beheading. Now, by this time, the elite and some of the commoners of King’s Landing had gathered in the throne room to witness this change of guard. If that hadn’t happened, maybe Rhaenyra would have taken a bloodless passage to the throne. However, since there was a crowd waiting for her to christen the new future of the Seven Kingdoms with the blood of someone, anyone, from the old regime, Rhaenyra was lowkey forced to kill Otto. She got the job done with great regret and two swings, while Daemon killed Jasper. The blood from Otto’s body covered the sole of Rhaenyra’s boots, thereby marking every step she took towards the throne. Once she sat there, it seemed like she had kinda gotten over the horrifying deed that she had just performed, but then, in the ending of Season 3 episode 2, Alicent and Helaena were brought to the throne room (they were fleeing King’s Landing). 

Reality set in for Rhaenyra again, as she looked at Alicent and realized that she had slaughtered her best friend’s father to satisfy the crowd that had gathered there, and to make her ascension feel momentous. Alicent truly had done everything in her power to make sure that Rhaenyra became queen with the least amount of trouble. Alicent had made a lot of mistakes, thereby leading to the events of the last 2 seasons, and she had more than atoned for it. I guess she had assumed that if she handed the throne over, she could go back to being chums with Rhaenyra; you know, long-distance. But then Rhaenyra went ahead and killed Otto. Her team also killed the guy who tried to rape Alicent, but I think Otto’s death overshadowed that righteous act. After this, Alicent is definitely gonna start plotting against Rhaenyra in order to prove that she’s unworthy of the throne. However, who’s she gonna replace her with? Aemond? Definitely not. Aegon? Nope. Daeron? Maybe. Helaena? She did call her “The Queen”; so she’s definitely up there. What about her brothers? Gwayne and Ormund (?). Well, if it’s between them, my money is on Ormund. In addition to all that, I have to draw a parallel between episode 2 of Season 3 and episode 6 of Season 1. Right after giving birth to Joffrey, Rhaenyra had to walk all the way to Alicent’s room as blood was dripping down her feet, creating bloody footprints all over the castle, and underscoring the fact that she was under Alicent’s thumb. All these years later, Rhaenyra is again leaving bloody footprints (due to Otto’s blood on her boots) in the castle, but this time she is on top and Alicent is under her thumb. Whether or not this dynamic will change again is something that remains to be seen. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the ending of this episode. Let me know your opinions on the same in the comments section below.