House of the Dragonis a unearthly show , filled with shadowy prophecies and long , mussy family unit trees . complicate things further is how the show’ssource fabric , Fire & Blood , is told from a historiographer ’s perspective a hundred year after the fact . The narrator does n’t know for sure everything that happened , which means there are so many opportunities for the showrunners to throw in surprise reveals that could eventually count asfan canon .

The show ’s perpetual originative liberties make things even wilder : Some things have been changed so much that not even the unreliable storyteller element from the Holy Scripture could fully excuse the deviations . The upshot is a show where almost anything could chance , with a fandom that ’s been given full license to let their imagery course fantastic . out front , you ’ll findlotsof raider , but also 10 of the show ’s most exciting , prominent fandom possibility so far .

Warning : There are many spoilers forwards about Fire & Blood and the serial .

Here be dragons … and spoilers.

There’s a Grand Maester conspiracy to undermine the Targaryens from the inside.

The particular ofthis theorytend to vary from fan to sports fan , but one thing is clear : House Hightower — to whichAlicent(Olivia Cooke ) andOtto(Rhys Ifans ) belong — controls Oldtown , the city where theCitadel , where the maesters are trained , is located . ( Maesters are student and healers , often from stately parentage , who serve the lords and noblewoman throughout Westeros . )

While it ’s pretty apparent that the Hightowers have ulterior motives throughout the event ofHouse of the Dragon , it ’s easier to lose the potential ulterior motive ofFire & Blood’snarrator himself , Archmaester Gyldayn . The Archmaester ( along with the rest of the maesters ) is often accuse by devotee of being anti - Targaryen , anti - dragon , and anti - magic in general , even years after the events ofFire & Blood(and thus , the age of dragons ) have occur . fan have present this as one of the many signs that the maesters of Oldtown are actually secretly connive and plotting against the Targaryens , and potentially may have evenpoisonedthe family ’s last remaining dragons , as a room to take forth their office . Some believe this conspiracy is the tangible reason why the Targaryens slowly continue to reject after theDance of the Dragonswraps up .

Season 3 will introduceDaeron Targaryen , Alicent ’s third son with King Viserys , who was essentially raised by the maesters of Oldtown . It means the show might have the chance to shed some proper twinkle on this hypothesis once and for all .

Rhys Ifans in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Laenor Velaryon will return.

One basic pattern of any fandom is that unless a eccentric has been undeniably killed on - screen , fans will always suppose about their survival of the fittest and possible return . Folks do n’t like ambiguous loose end , which is why some sports fan still importune that Syrio Forel fromGame of Thronesisstill alive , even to this day .

The same applies toLaenor Velaryon(John Macmillan ) , Rhaenyra ’s first married man , who faked his dying in Season 1 and fled to Essos . This is as close to a happy ending as any lineament inHotDis potential to get , but is it really the last we ’ve seen of him ? Although fansinitially speculatedhe’d return key as a sort of streamlined variation ofAddam of Hull(which did n’t materialize ; Clinton Liberty plays the use ) , there ’s still an opportunity for Laenor to return to the story in some mental ability . If he does , it willlikelybe through some sort of interaction with Addam ’s brotherAlyn(Abubakar Salim ) , who share Laenor ’s love for the sea .

Daemon survives his climactic battle with Aemond.

like toLucerys Velaryon ’s death in Season 1 , the death ofDaemon Targaryen(Matt Smith ) in the volume is technically never confirm on the page . The soundbox of Aemond ( Ewan Mitchell ) , his dragonVhagar , and Daemon ’s dragonCaraxesare all discovered after the battle , but Daemon himself is never notice .

Westerosi historian assume he must have give-up the ghost , but until buff get prescribed confirmation , who ’s to say he has n’t gone the way of Season 1 Laenor , escaping Westeros to endure a peaceable life outside the burdensome plot of throne ? Even if Daemon intentionally abandoning his sons , Aegon and Viserys , and his daughters , Rhaena ( Phoebe Campbell ) and Baela ( Bethany Antonia ) , ishard for some fansto believe , it ’s possible .

Rhaenyra won’t become the Mad Queen on the show.

Assuming the show generally follows the book ’s upshot , Rhaenyra(Emma D’Arcy ) will successfully invade King ’s Landing early into Season 3 . However , this is n’t as exciting to Rhaenyra fan as you might gestate because the book adaptation of Rhaenyra quickly prove herself to be a mediocre queen . She ’s excessively paranoid , wreck with heartache over the deaths of so many loved ones , and seemingly unconcerned with the plight of the smallfolk . These flaw all lead to a violent riot in King ’s Landing , which results in thestorming of the Dragonpitand the deaths of many Draco ( include her own , Syrax ) , leaving her with no alternative but to flee and return to Dragonstone .

Her supposed cruelty and incompetence star to the smallfolk calling her “ King Maegor with Teats , ” a reference to aprevious Targaryen rulerfamous for his reckless brutality . But was that title precise , or was it just another case of the narration out to get her ? give how much kinder the show has portrayed Rhaenyra so far , many fans conceive the show will make her into a more sympathetic queen . She ’ll still in all probability be bad at the job , butfans suspecther worst offenses as queen will be drop or toned down .

Alys Rivers and Melisandre are possibly the same person.

preface in Season 2,Alys Rivers(Gayle Rankin ) is a cryptical witch who lives inHarrenhaland apply her discreet powers to kill a well - protected lord for Daemon ’s personal amplification . This plot line is intimate to buff of Melisandre ( Carice van Houten ) , who killed Stannis Baratheon ’s brother Renly in Season 2 ofGame of Thronesthrough a interchangeable brand of magical jiggery-pokery .

river ’s destiny is never fully excuse inFire & Blood , as the book ends before it can wrap her plot line up . This has led many fan tospeculatethat she never dies at all , that she will Harrenhal and does n’t return to Westeros until over a hundred years later , this time in the pretense of ared priestess . It ’s one of the least likely theories to add up truthful — many havecriticizedthe mind for making the world of Westeros feel a little too modest — but then again , wilder thing have happened inASOIAF .

Aemond and Alys’s kid is an ancestor of the Starks.

Another major outcome devotee can gestate in Season 3 isAemond One - Eye ’s sacking of Harrenhal . Shortly after take the castle , he gets seduced by Alys and make her his “ wife . ” The narrator ofFire & Bloodtakes this romance mostly at grimace economic value , but reading between the lines , it seems clean-cut that Alys in reality hates Aemond for demolish her home and kill her phratry members . She subtly direct him off to his death in theBattle Above the Gods Eyeagainst Daemon , and soon after , she becomesthe so - call up Witch Queen of Harrenhal . apart from her magical gifts , her young Targaryen son by Aemond becomes her main claim to power .

So , what happens to Alys and Aemond ’s son ? He is a character reference in the book , and some fanstheorizehe becomes the founder ofHouse Whent , a house of shadowy origins that has for the most part died out by the start ofA Game of Thrones . It stand for he ’d be a direct ancestor ofCatelyn Tully Stark , a Whent on her female parent ’s side . Jon Snow ’s underground Targaryen heritage was yield a lot of grandness throughout the original series , yet it ’s possible the rest of the Stark children have some dragon blood inside them , too .

Helaena’s death is fueled by revenge, not grief.

Another tragical moment we can expect on the show will involveHelaena Targaryen(Phia Saban ) . In the Christian Bible , she dies by self-annihilation after discombobulate herself out of a column windowpane about six months after Rhaenyra ’s military unit invade King ’s Landing . It ’s commonly take on ( by both reader and the characters in the book ) that she does the tragic act out of profound grief , still whirl over the demise of her eldest boy , Prince Jaehaerys , at the hand of blood line and tall mallow early in Season 2 . Well , that or she was murdered at the legacy of someone like Rhaenyra orLarys Strong(Matthew Needham ) .

Analternative theory , however , is that Helaena ’s end by suicide is far more deliberate and intentional than readers ab initio assumed . As TV Helaena ’s established as someone whocould see the future , what if she project herself off the pillar specifically because sheknowsthe damage it will stimulate for Rhaenyra , who ’s in control condition of King ’s Landing at the time ? This is a polar moment where Queen Rhaenyra ’s brief sovereignty seems destroyed from within , and it would be nerveless if the typically inactive Helaena got a chance to assist make it occur .

Nettles won’t be on the show, only Rhaena.

In the next-to-last sequence of time of year 2 , watcher watch asHugh the Hammer(Kieran Bew ) andUlf the White(Tom Bennett)—two men of lowborn parturition — each claimed a dragon , a exploit Addam of Hull had also achieved in the previous episode . The “ dragonseeds , ” as these men arecalled , are the unlawful offspring of Targaryens or those of inviolable Valyrian pedigree ( like the Velaryons ) . In Ulf ’s case , he claims on the show to be the cocksucker son ofPrince Baelon Targaryen , father of Daemon and King Viserys . Though it is n’t confirmed in the Holy Writ , the show also seems to suggestSaera Targaryen — Prince Baelon ’s disgraced little sister and a trueborn girl of the quondam King Jaehaerys ( who rodeVermithor , the Bronze Fury)—is Hugh ’s biological female parent , whichsome fansthink makes a lot of sense .

But they ’re not the only I who take a Draco . If the show were sticking to the rule book , an upcoming storyline would featureNettles , a lowborn bastard female child of strange lineage who mount a wild flying lizard ( Sheepstealer ) after smartly bring him lots of sheep , his favorite repast , and getting him to intrust her . Nettles join Rhaenyra ’s side of the war , and she and Daemon end up having a surprisingly sweet human relationship — although it ’s speculated that Daemon pop out cheating on Rhaenyra with her . Lady Mysaria ( Sonoya Mizuno ) sure seems to think so ; inFire & Blood , she persuades a paranoid Rhaenyra to govern Nettles ’s death because of it . ( Daemon turn down to comport the order out . )

It ’s beenall but confirmedon the show that Nettles ’s canonic role in the story will or else go to Rhaena , Daemon ’s 2nd girl from his second marriage toLaena Velaryon . This leads to one obvious , uncomfortable query : Will the relationship between Rhaena and Daemon become romantic ? Typically we ’d say no , as parent / child sexual love is the one class of incest that even the Targaryens are n’t cool with . Still , after Daemon’ssex dreamwith his mother , Alyssa Targaryen , earlier in Season 2 , we can no longer say for sure . fan can only hope that Daemon and Rhaena ’s relationship will be a bit more wholesome than the book ’s twin — and that the moment Rhaena eventually arrogate a dragon will be epic .

Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull in ‘House of the Dragon’

Rhaenyra won’t meet the same grisly fate she does in the book.

Fire & Bloodends Rhaenyra ’s journeying on a very tragic government note : After Daemon ’s death in the Gods Eye and the bacchanalia in King ’s Landing , she pull back back to Dragonstone , but she ’s in for a braggy surprise . Aegon II ( Tom Glynn - Carney ) , who flees the Das Kapital right before her initial invasion , finally reveals himself after over a year in hiding , and his forces take her captive . She ’s ultimately burnt alive and then exhaust by his dragon , Sunfyre , who somehow manages to make it to Dragonstone . And it all take place mightily in front of her own son , no less , who is drive to watch helplessly as his female parent gets devoured .

It ’s a pyrrhic victory for Aegon II , as therest of his short reignis pretty miserable — especially once Daemon ’s daughterBaelareunites on Dragonstone with her dragon , Moondancer , and remind him of the existent import of the crime syndicate ’s shibboleth . But that does n’t make Rhaenyra ’s horrific dying any less upsetting . In the show , however , Aegon casually mentions that Sunfyre pall in the Battle of Rook ’s residual , along withMeleysandRhaenys(Eve Best ) , the Queen who Never Was . It ’s technically possible he ’s exaggerating , or he ’s just vex his fact incorrect , but many fans have accept it as apotential signthat the show does n’t mean to give us the same endgame .

Perhaps theHotDwriters have listened to the feedback from Season 8 ofGame of Thrones , in which Daenerys Targaryen also seemed to “ go mad ” and was killed soon afterward , and make up one’s mind not to follow the same path . While that is howGeorge R.R. Martincloses out Rhaenyra ’s account in the source stuff , possibly they ’ll allow Rhaenyra to have a better conclusion or one that ’s not quite so stern .

Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and the dragon Caraxes in ‘House of the Dragon.'

The show takes place in an alternate timeline.

One of the most controversial moments in the Season 2 finale was the abbreviated coup d’oeil of Daenerys in Daemon’smystical visionat the   weirwood tree in Harrenhal . It ’s a mo that seemingly cement her as the prophecized Princess That Was Promised , which would be not bad and all … if not for how bitter many fans still are about how that taradiddle wrapped up onGoT.

But what if that ’s not how this story ends inHotD’stimeline ? Maybe this is the version of Westeros where thing go a lilliputian bit well for the female Targaryens ask , and where neither Daenerys nor Rhaenyra snap and need to be put out of their misery by the narration ? Or perhaps this show is creating itsown canon , disjoined fromGoTand perhaps evenASOIAF , in which Daenerys ’s gloaming from grace might be averted . give that George R.R. Martin still has n’t finished writingASOIAF , some even speculate that Martin could be modify his planned ending for the playscript ( and thatHotD ’s showrunners have intercourse something we do n’t on that front ) .

Of course , it ’s potential thatHotDwill finally stop in disaster , as that commonly is the George R.R. Martin way . But it ’s nice that there ’s still room for some fans to hope things will turn out differently . It might make it sting intemperately in the end if the hypothesis are haywire , but at least now , some of their doomed faves still have a scrap chance .

Harry Collett, Emma D’Arcy, Oscar Eskinazi in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Read More Fascinating Facts About George R.R. Martin andA Song of Ice and Fire :

Gayle Rankin in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Ewan Mitchell in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Olivia Cooke, Phia Saban in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Phoebe Campbell in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Tom Glynn-Carney in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'

Matt Smith in a scene from ‘House of the Dragon.'