Helaena’s Fate Takes a Dark Turn: The Shocking Season 3 ‘House of the Dragon’ Twist That Will Leave Fans Reeling
As a result, House of the Dragon risks undercutting the full force of Helaena’s end, one of its most powerful, heartbreaking scenes.
(This article contains mentions of suicide.)
Perhaps the most devastating scene in season 3 of House of the Dragon is a victim of the weaknesses in Helaena Targaryen’s narrative, especially in her connection to Dreamfyre. As the show digs deeper into the layers of dragon/rider relationships – arguably the central theme of the show – it has mostly succeeded by digging deep in showing the connections of Rhaenyra and Syrax, Daemon and Caraxes, and Aemond and Vhagar. But not all Targaryens are similarly addressed.
Indeed, although all the Targaryens frequently reference their dragons, it’s surprising how readily Helaena Targaryen’s ownership of Dreamfyre, the world’s largest and oldest dragon, simply goes unmentioned. Riding Dreamfyre all the way to Driftmark and back, to attend Laena Velaryon’s funeral as a child, Helaena’s interactions with her dragon, with whose every heartbeat mine was perfectly aligned, were largely absent.
Now that an emotionally charged dragon scene told in the pages of George R R Martin’s Fire ̴ ̴ electric words only; the dragon itself, with its fiery breath, could scarcely be described house of the Dragon from Fire ̴ is anticipated to be adapted into House of the Dragon season 3, the show’s neglect of Helaena and her bond with Dreamfyre is particularly disheartening.
Dreamfyre & Helaena’s Biggest HOTD Season 3 Scene Will Be When She Dies
Helaena’s Biggest Moment With Dreamfyre Won’t Include Riding Her Into Battle
Related
Who Is Dreamfyre? Helaena Targaryen’s Dragon’s History, Power & HOTD Future Explained
Dreamfyre was mentioned in the finale of season 2 of House of the Dragon. This is what we know about Helaena Targaryen’s dragon before – and during – the Dance.
Not every dragon gets a gentle or sentimental death. Dreamfyre, left all but dead by Helaena’s passing, expires only a couple of weeks later, in the fourth episode of the Dance of the Dragons. Helaena’s death provokes King’s Landing into the aforementioned devastating riot of the Storming of the Dragonpit. Smallfolk swarm the Dragonpit, storm the four dragons corralled there and kill all of them. Dreamfyre manages to snap the chains on her, kill a good amount of her human attackers, and race across the pit only to crash into the vaulted dome of the Dragonpit, tear it down, and macerate herself and dozens of others in the Dragonpit.
Helaena & Dreamfyre’s Death Scene Will Repeat A Tragic HOTD Season 1 Rhaenyra Moment
House Of The Dragon May Reuse The Quick Cuts Between Rhaenyra & Syrax
Custom image by Yailin Chacon
The show’s editors will probably replicate that trick for free when depicting the gruesome reaction of Dreamfyre to Helaena’s death in S3, as it did for a Rhaenyra Targaryen scene in season 1 that was no less powerfully affecting. When Rhaenyra, bound to spend her pregnancy in exile away from her own base, gave birth to a premature daughter, Visenya, before Rhaenyra was ready, House of the Dragon’s season 1 finale cut between shots of Rhaenyra and Syrax in pain and screaming. When Rhaenyra squealed as she birthed Visenya, the dragon could be heard screaming inside her chains in the pits of Dragonstone as Syrax felt her rider’s pain.
Although Dreamfyre had already mourned the loss of her first rider – she had carried Queen Alysanne Targaryen when she died from illness – presumably that experience wasn’t nearly as visceral as having to feel her second rider brutally kill herself.
House of the Dragon will likely sustain this gag for Helaena’s grisly upcoming death; as the Queen draws near to the window and falls backwards, House of the Dragon will likely intercut Dreamfyre and the Queen, while the Targaryen dragon might be growing increasingly anxious with each passing second. Dreamfyre had experienced one draconic rider’s death when Queen Alysanne Targaryen, the first queen he caparisoned, died of illness. But it was hardly as personally fraught an experience as sensing the approach – and full-blown, cartographer-collar-snapping feeling of your draconic rider committing suicide by leap.
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It Would Change Everything’: House Of The Dragon Now Officially Makes The Most Heartbreaking Targaryen Death Harder To Take
The sorrow of learning an upcoming Targaryen death in House of the Dragon season 2, revealed by Helaena Targaryen’s visions of the future, is amplified by this knowledge.
With few exceptions, the dragons in House of the Dragon tend to die before their Targaryen riders, or both will die at the same time. Syrax dies after the riots at King’s Landing before Rhaenyra is killed by Aegon; Vermax is killed at the Battle of the Gullet just before Jacaerys dies in the battle; Moondancer dies fighting Sunfyre in battle with Sunfyre, and while Baela and Aegon survive only with injury, but together with Sunfyre who dies of his wounds shortly before Aegon is being poisoned; Vhagar and Aemond and Daemon and Caraxes all die in the same battle, one of them over the God’s Eye.
Addam of Hull and Hugh Hammer both are dead before their dragons in the Second Battle of Tumbleton.
House Of The Dragon Made A Mistake By Ignoring Dreamfyre & Helaena’s Bond
Dreamfyre’s Response To Helaena’s Death May Not Have As Great Of An Emotional Payoff
In Alicent, we saw the first hint of the emotional nature of a rider’s relationship to a dragon with the death of Laenor Velaryon’s horse Emerald. While that bond didn’t notch the same intensity as the response of Dreamfyre, which is shown to be one of the biggest emotional reactions to any dragon’s loss of rider in the entirety of Fire ̷& ̷Blood, it was still disappointing that House of the Dragon didn’t spend more time on their bond. It should have shown young Rhaenyra’s love for Syrax and her connection to her dragon to better highlight the bond she shared with her dragon during the season 1 finale’s birth scene, so it was doubly disappointing that House of the Dragon hasn’t spent the time on the same strong bond between Helaena and Dreamfyre.
| Dragon | Rider In HOTD |
|---|---|
| Syrax | Rhaenyra |
| Caraxes | Daemon |
| Vhagar | Aemond |
| Sunfyre | Aegon |
| Dreamfyre | Helaena |
| Vermax | Jacaerys |
| Moondancer | Baela |
| Tyraxes | Joffrey |
| Stormcloud | Aegon the Younger |
| Tessarion | Daeron |
| Seasmoke | Addam of Hull |
| Vermithor | Hugh |
| Silverwing | Ulf |
| Sheepstealer (presumably) | Rhaena |
The fact that Helaena jumps into Daemon’s vision during the Season 2 finale of House of the Dragon raises this question of whether she is a skinchanger – and this could have led the show to embark upon a completely different, unexpected storyline with Helaena that might have cast her in a completely different light as a bond-rider. In a Bran-type warging into Summer manner, House of the Dragon might have used Helaena’s rider bond with Dreamfyre as an opportunity to emphasise Helaena’s astral power and the significance of her psychically connected relationship with a powerful beast that’s part of her family’s rider bond. But it’s a bit too late at this point to begin this journey since Helaena’s untimely demise arrives rather in the early part of House of the Dragon’s timeline.
Related
Is Helaena The Three-Eyed Raven? Her Dreams, Powers & Possible Bran Stark Connection Explained
House of the Dragon’s Helaena Targaryen described the visions as ‘dreams, whispers’ in coded cryptic language that confirmed her as a dragon dreamer, and her visions tied back into the Three-Eyed Raven.
Consequently, House of the Dragon lacks a significant emotional cost from Helaena’s death without the context of her relationship with Dreamfyre If House of the Dragon does what we assume it will and reveals that Helaena did not often see Dreamfyre despite being so near to the Dragonpit, then it can feel somewhat jarring that we see such an emotional response invoked from her dragon. Even if there are other ways that we could imagine Helaena communicated with Dreamfyre, not really making much of a bond between Helaena and her dragon might pull part of the emotional punch from Helaena’s death scene in the series.
House of the Dragon
Set 172 years before the start of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon follows the origins of the only dragonlord family to survive the Doom of Valyria: the Targaryens. The award-winning HBO spinoff television series starred Australian actress Milly Alcock then English actress Emily Carey for the younger versions of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, and later swapped them out for Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who play older versions of the same characters. Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen also stars, along with the late English actor Paddy Considine as Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys Targaryen.
Game of Thrones
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George R R Martin’s fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire – better known to many as the multimedia franchise Game of Thrones – began with the television show. The HBO series Game of Thrones, which ran for eight seasons, spun off of A Song of Ice and Fire, not vice versa. And then, following the fan-outrage fuelled division that ensued after the trade-show epic silliness of the last season of Game of Thrones, the franchise launched its first prequel series, House of the Dragon. House of the Dragon also got very good reviews.
You’ve perfectly captured the tragedy of Helaena’s story. The lack of depth in her bond with Dreamfyre really does diminish the impact of her death.
This article highlights what I’ve felt all along – Helaena’s connection with Dreamfyre was a missed opportunity. Her death could have been so much more emotionally resonant.
It’s so disappointing that House of the Dragon overlooked such a crucial relationship. Helaena and Dreamfyre deserved more screen time.
The parallels between Helaena and other Targaryen riders are fascinating. I wish the show had explored her bond with Dreamfyre more deeply.
I agree with your analysis. The emotional weight of Helaena’s death was severely undercut by the lack of development in her relationship with Dreamfyre.
I agree with your analysis. The emotional weight of Helaena’s death was severely undercut by the lack of development in her relationship with Dreamfyre.
I hadn’t realized how much was missing until I read this. Helaena’s story could have been one of the most powerful arcs in the series.
Thank you for shedding light on this issue. The show could have made her death even more tragic by exploring her bond with Dreamfyre.
This article makes me appreciate the depth of George R.R. Martin’s world even more. The show missed a golden opportunity to flesh out Helaena’s story.
House of the Dragon has done many things right, but neglecting Helaena’s connection to Dreamfyre was a significant misstep.
I hope the showrunners take note of articles like this. There’s still time to correct the course in future seasons!
This was a great read. The emotional potential of Helaena’s story was immense, and it’s a shame it wasn’t fully realized on screen.
You’ve articulated something that’s been bothering me about Helaena’s portrayal. Her bond with Dreamfyre should have been central to her story.
The comparison to Rhaenyra and Syrax’s bond makes it clear how much was lacking in Helaena’s arc. It could have been such a powerful narrative.
I completely agree with your assessment. Helaena’s death felt rushed and lacked the emotional depth it could have had.
This article really makes me think about how important dragon-rider relationships are to the series. Helaena’s story feels incomplete without it.
It’s heartbreaking to think about what could have been. Helaena and Dreamfyre had so much potential that was left unexplored.
This piece is a reminder of how crucial every detail is in storytelling. The show missed a chance to make Helaena’s death even more impactful.
I’m so glad someone finally pointed this out. Helaena’s bond with Dreamfyre was barely touched on, and it really weakened her story.
This article is spot on. The emotional punch of Helaena’s death was dulled by the lack of focus on her relationship with Dreamfyre.
A great analysis! The neglect of Helaena’s bond with Dreamfyre is a glaring flaw in an otherwise well-crafted show.