House of the Dragon deviates from the book source more often. However, they have changed the fate of a dragon so much that the original ending of the story is no longer possible.
Already in season 2 of House of the Dragon, the first dragons had to meet their demise. In the Battle of Crow’s Rest, Rhaenys and Meleys faced Aemond and Vhagar. But a third dragon also participated in the fight:
Sunfyre and his rider Aegon II, the usurper of a king. Ironically, Aemond and Vhagar are the ones to confront him, despite being on the same side. Aegon is disfigured and Sunfyre is left dying.
Now in season three, Sunfyre has already been mentioned several times. If we are to believe observers like Daemon, the still young dragon is dead. But that would completely change the ending of House of the Dragon.
If Sunfyre is dead, it drastically changes the ending of House of the Dragon
In fact, it is Sunfyre who at the end of the war between Aegon II and Rhaenyra devours her and leads to her premature end. Rhaenyra flees back to Dragonstone after the storm on the dragon pit and the loss of her own fire-breather Syrax.
However, Aegon II, still severely disfigured, along with the also injured Sunfyre, is hiding there. Brother and sister have one last conversation, which is almost civilized. Then Aegon commands Sunfyre to kill Rhaenyra. The dragon hesitates at first but then does as commanded. And this is seen by Rhaenyra’s very young son Aegon, who is traumatized for life afterwards.
Thus, Rhaenyra seemingly loses the war for the most uncomfortable chair in the world. Aegon II returns to King’s Landing and is soon poisoned by his own advisors. What follows is the grand appearance of Cregan Stark, who, as originally agreed with Jacaerys Velaryon in season 2, marches south with his army.
Cregan ensures law and order in King’s Landing with rough methods and helps Rhaenyra’s son Aegon ascend the throne as Aegon III, who is directly married to Jaehaera Targaryen – the daughter of Aegon II and Helaena Targaryen. Thus, the rival bloodlines are united once again.
However, since Aegon III has seen a dragon devour his mother, he has a fear of the symbol of his house. In the books, Rhaena, the daughter of Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon, has a freshly hatched dragon named Morgen at the end of the war. Aegon does not want him near him at all.
During the reign of Aegon III, dragons hatch from their eggs less and less. After a failed brood, which also harms a baby, the king ends the tradition of placing eggs in the cradles.
In the year 153 after the conquest, the last dragon dies during the reign of Aegon III. At least he is the last dragon until Daenerys returns to Westeros many years later with Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal.
This ending is no longer entirely possible if Sunfyre died in Crow’s Rest. This naturally opens up other possibilities for the finale, which could give the black queen a gentler end. But is Sunfyre really dead?
Daeron is an imposter and Sunfyre is not dead
In fact, I do not believe that Sunfyre is really dead. There are two storytelling reasons for this. Number one is that in season three, it has already been emphasized multiple times how dead the dragon really is. In three of the four episodes so far, it is said that Sunfyre is rotting.
In episode four, Aegon II and his loyal
advisor Larys Strong finally make it to Crow’s Rest, and we see the lifeless body of Sunfyre. However, the remains of Meleys are also shown. The latter seems to be much further along in the rotting process than Sunfyre.
Aegon II himself says that his dragon is still alive. Who knows better than the rider connected to the beast?
The series’ repeated emphasis that Sunfyre is indeed dead tells us one thing: The creators want us to think that the fire-breather no longer lives and the ending is suddenly open.
Moreover, there is the confusion tactic with Alicent’s youngest son Daeron Targaryen. The actor was already known for a long time and appeared directly in episode one as a brown-haired page of Ormund Hohenturm. In episode three, however, Ormund handed Daemon a platinum-blonde boy, who turned out to be an imposter.
Because we viewers are continually told Sunfyre is dead, combined with the switcheroo with Daeron, I believe that the creators just want to mess with us all. They probably hope to convince enough fans that House of the Dragon ends differently than in the source material. Which could lead to a big Oh wow
from the community when Sunfyre turns out to be very much alive and hungry for queens.
I actually belong to the faction of people who naturally hope for a different ending. Rhaenyra just wanted to fly around the world with Alicent as a teenager and only eat cake. I would wish that for her. I just don’t believe in a happy ending for anyone in this series.
But what do you think: Do you believe Sunfyre is really dead and am I attributing too much calculation to the creators? Or are you on my side and firmly convinced that everything will happen as written? Please leave your opinion in the comments. And if you want to know where Aegon and Sunfyre rank on the scale of dragon riders, you should read here: The 10 strongest dragon riders from the universe of House of the Dragon in the power ranking
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