'House Of The Dragon' Season 3 Final Trailer Breakdown

It is said, “there are no real winners in war.” Those who survive are merely alive. And that’s gonna be the tragedy of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, who will win the throne, but will lose everything in the pursuit.

Spoiler Alert

The final trailer for House of the Dragon Season 3 opens with Daemon Targaryen punching an enemy with his bare hands on the battlefield, or at least what seems like the devastating aftermath of a huge battle. However, I think this is one of Daemon’s visions in Harrenhal, because the third season is majorly gonna focus on the Battle of the Gullet, the Butcher’s Ball, and the Battles of Tumbleton, and according to the book, Daemon doesn’t physically engage in any of these battles. Though it could be possible that this shot is from the Fishfeed (due to the presence of the archers) fought on the western shore of the Gods Eye. Daemon has been strategically involved in laying siege to the Riverlands (taking it back from the Greens), so it could be possible that he was either present on the battlefield during the Battle of the Fishfeed, or another prominent battle on the Riverlands. Next, we get the shot of the Battle of the Gullet, with the dragons of Team Black attacking the Triarchy’s fleet. However, this victory comes at a huge cost, setting in motion the events that will push Rhaenyra to the brink of madness, and bring her to King’s Landing to seize it with an iron fist.

In the next shot, we see 4 dragons flying above the wreckage of the Battle of the Gullet, and arriving at King’s Landing shortly after, with Alicent’s voiceover overlapping the sequence, warning her son, Aemond, that Rhaenyra is coming, and he is no longer safe in the Red Keep. It’s possible that Alicent either knows about Rhaenyra’s arrival, because of their deal in the previous season, and may have helped Rhaenyra to take over King’s Landing, or it is one of Helaena’s visions that warns them of the impending doom. Whatever the case may be, before Rhaenyra and her dragons arrive, Aemond escapes on his dragon, Vhagar, and leaves for Harrenhal, as he knows that he won’t be able to face Rhaenyra’s dragonfleet with a single dragon on his side.

Moving forward, we see a shot of Ormund Hightower (the nephew of Alicent’s father, Otto Hightower), one of the strongest military commanders fighting on the Greens’ side, preparing his army for the Battle of Tumbleton. In the wide shot, we can also spot a cobalt blue dragon, Tessarion, that belongs to Alicent’s youngest son, Daeron, who is finally going to make an appearance in the show. At the time of the battle, he’s 15 years old.

In the next shot, we hear Rhaenyra’s voiceover, and we hear her planning to secure the city (King’s Landing) without further bloodshed. It’s possible Rhaenyra (on Dragonstone) is trying to convince her advisors, especially Daemon, to use their dragons to instill fear in the Greens and their army, so that they give up the city without a fight. You see, Rhaenyra doesn’t want to spill more blood than she needs to to get what’s rightfully hers, but like I said earlier, there’s no war without blood. In the next few shots, we see Rhaenyra’s hand, Daemon, and Team Black’s Dragonseeds, Ulf White, Hugh Hammer, and Addam Velaryon, in King’s Landing, slaying men, bringing down the Greens’ banners, and burning down everything that belonged to her enemies. Their actions suggest that the spilling of blood is inevitable, which is also backed up by Lord Corlys’ line of dialogue (spoken to Daemon), that the Queen has many dragons on her side, but her subjects do not feel safe under her reign. Corlys’ line underscores his own dilemma, as he may have lost everything in the Battle of the Gullet, and doesn’t think that dragons are the solution to winning this war, because you see, when a dragon attacks, it burns down everything in its way. The creature of chaos doesn’t concern itself with whose side those feeble men on the ground are fighting for.

In the next few shots, we see Rhaenyra’s dragons flying over the city and terrorizing the common folk, leaving them with no option but to escape King’s Landing for the sake of their survival. In one of these shots, we see Alicent trying to flee with her daughter, Helaena, and her newborn; however, the later shots reveal they didn’t make it too far, and the guards end up bringing them back to the Red Keep where Rhaenyra hold them captive to have some leverage until the war ends. We see Alicent standing in front of Rhaenyra inside the Red Keep, which most likely happens after Alicent and Helaena have been captured. Alicent says, “I see you (Rhaenyra) have been merciful,” though I am not sure if she’s saying this sarcastically, or if she really meant it. This is a bit tricky, because if Rhaenyra has captured Alicent, as well as her daughter and grandchildren, then she will definitely try to keep Rhaenyra calm and not rub her the wrong way, because if she does, she will not hesitate to kill all three of them. But if she really means those words, then her stance is going to change very soon, as in order to avenge her loss, Rhaenyra is going to make everyone suffer. And to be honest, it’s not entirely her fault, it’s just the circumstances and the nature of war that she cannot run away from. This is what Alicent means when she says, “But the crown is a weight that crushes,” because it will make Rhaenyra do things that spell death to all those involved in this war (including her own loved ones), because war and ambition spare no one. We see Rhaenyra lying wide awake on her father, King Viserys’ bed, with shots of dead bodies overlapping the sequence. It seems like the horrors of the war have already taken a toll on Rhaenyra’s sanity, as she struggles to close her eyes for even a second.

During this moment of panic on the street, one can also spot Hugh Hammer’s wife, Kat, trying to leave the city, which she and Hugh had initially planned to do in the previous season, before Hugh was made a Dragonseed. In the next shot, we see Vhagar burning down everything in Harrenhal, with Aemond slaying people in cold blood. It’s likely that in the absence of Daemon (who’s helping Rhaenyra take over King’s Landing), Aemond has seized Harrenhal, as it’s an important strategic foothold for the upcoming battle. Rhaenyra’s mistress of whisperers, Mysaria, also makes a brief appearance inside the Red Keep.

Then enters the master strategist, Ormund, again. He’s possibly going to be the Blacks’ worst nightmare, as he is planning something really sinister from the shadows. From the trailer, it looks like Ormund’s grand plan is to expose Rhaenyra’s weakness and turn the common folk against Rhaenyra, so that they are convinced she’s not fit to rule. On the walls of King’s Landing, we see “Queen of Bastards” graffitied, a phrase that has been popularized by the Greens to defame Rhaenyra, because her two first-born children had black hair. I guess this infuriates Rhaenyra even more, and in a fit of anger, she makes reckless decisions that sabotage her cause further. She tells Lady Baela that her enemies have been allowed to muster their strength for far too long, and now it’s time that they witness her fury.

The next section prominently centers around the conflict between Daemon and Aemond in the Riverlands. Aemond is conspiring with Alys Rivers to engineer Rhaenyra’s downfall, with the aim of raising “their” (his and Alys) own throne. He is probably talking about either creating their own kingdom or putting their child on the Iron Throne. You’ll likely remember, Aemond has always been the most ambitious of all Alicent’s children, and has his eye set on the throne, but because of primogeniture, the crown went to the eldest, Aegon II, who, according to Aemond, never truly deserved to sit on the Iron Throne. Before moving on to Daemon, we get a glimpse of the Winter Wolves, preparing for the fight at Tumbleton, where they’ll come in direct conflict with Ormund’s army. And finally, we come to Daemon, who, being the hand of the Queen, is strategizing Rhaenyra’s every move. Daemon says, “in a war, all suffer,” possibly contradicting Rhaenyra, who doesn’t want to spill any more blood to achieve victory, but Daemon, being a realist, knows that in war, one loses more than they actually win. Over the next few shots, we see Daemon arriving at the Riverlands and standing in a tent with Alysanne Blackwood (an important member of House Blackwood), possibly planning to take back Harrenhal from Aemond and his allies. Next, we get a number of fast cuts from different battles, ships burning down in the Battle of the Gullet, Winter Wolves charging in the Battle of Tumbleton, archers attacking the enemy in the Riverlands. We also get a short glimpse of Criston Cole, who was separated from Aegon II after the battle of Rook’s Rest, and has been wandering around ever since, living in hiding.

Next, we see Rhaenyra removing the cloth from her father, King Viserys I’s miniature model of Old Valyria, which is somehow still in a pristine condition. Maybe sometime after taking over King’s Landing, Rhaenyra had this model repaired to preserve her father’s memories. Remember, she doesn’t have many souvenirs of him, except for the crown she had taken before escaping King’s Landing in the previous season. Viserys’ Valyrian steel dagger, which has been passed down through generations, has also been taken by Aemond, and Rhaenyra might well be searching for it, because she knows the history behind it. Once again, we get a shot from Dragonstone, which happens before Rhaenyra arrives at King’s Landing, calling out to her generals that they have betrayed her queen. It’s possible she is grieving her personal loss(es) in the Battle of the Gullet.

In the next section, Rhaenyra, completely broken down, asks her commanders and generals to bring Aegon, the usurper, to her. As you might be aware, Aegon isn’t dead, he’s still alive, but bed-ridden. In the previous season, Aemond betrayed his brother, and unleashed Vhagar’s dragonfire to burn Aegon and his dragon, Sunfyre, during the Battle of Rook’s Rest, leaving Aegon and Sunfyre’s fate hanging by a thread. As it turned out, Lord Larys managed to save Aegon and bring him to safety. In the final seconds of the trailer, we see Aegon back on his feet, suggesting he’s recovered from his wounds, which means he remains a threat to Rhaenyra’s reign, if he somehow manages to take back King’s Landing, which I don’t think he can manage without his dragon. The trailer doesn’t reveal whether Sunfyre is alive or dead, though we see a glimpse of a dragon breathing fire inside a dark tunnel, which could be Sunfyre, though we’ll have to wait and find out.

The final trailer once again gives us various shots of different battles that season 3 is going to cover, however, one of the most important shots in this sequence is of Jace trying to dodge a grappling hook on his dragon, Vermax, before the screen fades. The book readers know that this is gonna be the most tragic sequence of the entire season, and probably will take place over the first two episodes of season 3, setting the tone for the rest of the story. Over Rhaenyra’s close-up shot, we hear Alicent’s voiceover, as she taunts Rhaenyra that she warned her it would come to this, possibly referring to the fact that Rhaenyra will turn into a tyrant, a cruel destroyer, after suffering one tragedy after another, and it’s the common folk who will have to pay the price for her loss. Well, I suppose I covered most of the prominent shots of the House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer, but if you have any other questions or suggestions, feel free to drop a comment below.