Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond Targaryen in “House of the Dragon,” has reacted to the final battle of episode 4 of season 2, and explains his character’s motivations.
The Targaryen war escalates in the latest episode of House of the Dragon. Episode 4 of season 2, released online on Max in France on July 8, 2024, reshuffles the cards of the confrontation with the first battle scene between several protagonists of the plot. Warning, the following contains spoilers. In this finale, Ser Criston Cole’s army lays siege to Firerest, the home of one of Rhaenyra’s allies. Upon learning of this, Rhaenys decides to fly away on her dragon, Meleys, to bring him reinforcements. It was actually a trap, as Aemond waits with Vhagar, with the intention of killing one of Rhaenyra’s dragons.
But that’s without counting on Aegon who decides to join the fight with his own dragon, disrupting the plan of his brother and his Hand. The consequences of this battle are logically dramatic: Aemond causes the fall not only of his brother, but also of Rhaenys. The latter dies, while the final scene sees Alicent’s one-eyed son contemplate his brother, lying unconscious on the ground, sword in hand, before being interrupted by a Criston Cole desperate about the turn of events.
This episode finale leaves many questions hanging for fans: Did Aemond want to kill his brother, or was it an accident? What does this scene mean? During a virtual round table, in which Linternaute was able to participate just before the broadcast of the episode of House of the Dragonactor Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen) gave his thoughts on this battle. After this one, in fact, he believes that “Aemond knows that there is no going back.”
The 27-year-old actor first explained that this trap was set up in the first episode of this season 2, during the scene where we see Ser Criston Cole and Aemond preparing a battle plan one-on-one. Ewan Mitchell details: “Cole mobilizes his troops from King’s Landing and raises an army in all the villages, until he reaches Fire’s Rest. The idea was that Aemond would provide air support, basically. In the last episodes, we see Aemond and Cole manipulating the council to get what they want, because they believe that war is inevitable and they want to keep control.” So everything led to this battle.
But, as we have seen, the plan does not go as expected. “Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) launches himself into a battle that he does not fully understand, he is not really aware of what the dragons are capable of. Aemond, yes.” He thus praises the “different facets” of this character, “who realized very early on that to get what he wants, he had to go get it himself. He has a lot to prove.”
“We don’t know what he thinks”
But did Aemond foresee the dramatic conclusion of the confrontation? “What I like about this episode is that we wonder if he knowingly wanted to eliminate Rhaenys and Aegon at the same time, or was Aegon simply in his way?” The answer therefore remains unanswered. And what is Aemond’s objective in the last scene, as he approaches his brother lying on the ground with a sword in his hand before being interrupted by Ser Criston Cole? Let us recall that in the novel, Aegon is seriously injured but still alive following this confrontation.
Ewan Mitchell prefers to keep his character’s intentions a mystery: “I chose to play Aemond this season with the idea that we never really know what he’s thinking. That’s what I find fascinating about this character: we don’t know what he’s thinking or what he’s going to do when he’s standing over Aegon’s body at the end of episode 4. And if I gave the answer, people would stop wondering.” It’s up to fans to form their own theories now, while waiting for the next episode of House of the Dragon.