Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 8 of House of the Dragon.In the first seven episodes of House of the Dragon, the writers carefully crafted a story with slow-building tension and nuanced character development. Years of resentment, fear, and anger had come to a point where war between the two factions of House Targaryen seemed inevitable — that is, until the dinner scene in "The Lord of the Tides," when the show had the audience believing against our better judgment that perhaps a different ending was possible. Then in the dying moments of the episode, not only the potential reconciliation but also the entire build-up of the previous seven was seemingly undone, when the show used the miscommunication trope to alter the motivations of Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and affect the future of everyone involved.
While everything started off friendly between Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent, it wasn't long before the choices the two made began to hurt their friendship, and push them further and further from one another. The separation between them soon became so great that Alicent truly believed that Rhaenyra would kill her children Prince Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Princess Helaena (Phia Saban), and Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) to secure her claim on the Iron Throne. All of these introductory scenes between the two were beautifully written and performed and left the audience able to understand how and why each of the women was ready and willing to pick up arms to defend their position.
In the most recent episode, Viserys (Paddy Considine) brings both sides of the brewing war together for a family dinner. Everything is going along just as you would expect from enemies forced to dine together until Viserys makes an impassioned speech for unity and setting aside old grievances, which seems to move Rhaenyra. Her respectful acknowledgment of Alicent's devotion to her father in her own toast, and Alicent's reciprocation felt like a re-kindling of their love for one another. When Alicent grasps her friend's hands and asks her to stay longer, Rhaenyra promises to see her children safely home to Dragonstone and return on Syrax to visit. It is such a tender moment between the two women, who have spent so much time apart and essentially alone, that it feels like a hopeful new beginning for them and the realm.
Earlier in the episode, Rhaenyra questioned her father about whether he truly believed in A Song of Ice and Fire prophecy. The belief is that a Targaryen must sit upon the Iron Throne and be able to unite the realms in order to combat the coming of a great darkness, the knowledge of which he passed on to her when he named her his heir to the Seven Kingdoms, just as the prophecy has been passed down from King to heir since the time of Aegon I's Conquest. This means that King Viserys and his heir are the only two souls alive who know of its existence.
Alicent cannot then be faulted when Viserys's addled milk of the poppy talk about how he does truly believe in Aegon leads her to believe that it is their son Aegon that he is talking about — that it is their son who is the "prince that was promised" and the one "to unite the realm." Of course, while the audience knows that he means his words for Rhaenyra's ears, it is Alicent who hears him say, "It is you, you are the one. You must do this," and just like that, the happy ending we knew better than to hope for is ripped away.
From the outset, House of the Dragon has been setting the stage for the civil war contained within the "dying of the dragons" chapters, which make up the largest portion of the source novel Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin. However, in the few moments between Alicent and Rhaenyra in this episode, it really seemed that all of their past bitterness and offenses were forgiven, and Alicent was willing to set down her weapons and accept Rhaenyra as queen. What is most frustrating about this new reality is that as the driving force behind Aegon's fight for the throne, Alicent has thrown out her motivations that were gathered over nearly two decades. Instead, she now seems to want to fight, and risk the lives of both her family and Rhaenyra's, over a few ramblings said to her in the dark by an obviously impaired man.
The miscommunication trope is common in literature, film, and television. It most often involves a character who eavesdrops on another and misinterprets what they've heard, or leaves before some crucial piece of information is revealed. As the audience is privy to the truth of the situation, they are forced to watch these characters suffer under their misapprehension. This is often a romantic situation, such as the one in the first Shrek movie when the titular ogre overhears Fiona and believes that she thinks of him as a monster. This miscommunication is typically resolved in the third act when someone (in the case of Shrek, Donkey) intervenes and enlightens both parties to the truth before everyone lives happily ever after.
The miscommunication in House of the Dragon will not be resolved so easily or so happily. There is no time left for Viserys to realize what he has said, and to whom, and to clear up the confusion. Alicent will no doubt go her entire life thinking that she is working to fulfill what she believes to be her husband's dying wish. This misunderstanding is more akin to one depicted in the Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet. When the vital information that Juliet plans to fake her own death is not communicated to Romeo, he kills himself, utterly heartbroken at the loss of his love, and then poor Juliet wakes to find him dead and actually kills herself. It seems that the result of Alicent's misunderstanding will lead to a similar tragic outcome. Everyone is going to end up dead, and the audience will be left feeling that if only one moment could be changed, everything could have been different.
House of the Dragon premieres new episodes weekly every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.