Watching House of the Dragon is playing a game of contradictions.

You want to see cool fantasy warfare, even though you don’t want to see your faves fight and potentially kill each other (though someone needs to do something about Aemond). You want to root for the good guys, even though it’s tough at this point to defend one above the other (this season has been maybe too biased towards Rhaenyra, but that’s all about to change). And you want to see the dragons, even though you know that every one of them that accepts a rider is dooming itself.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

In the penultimate episode of the season, we get plenty of dragons, as House Targaryen enters the beginning of the end of their dynasty.

After confronting a bewildered Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) and easily gaining his allegiance as well as a new rider for Seasmoke, Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) confidence in her dragonseed theory is renewed, with some caveats. Addam is lowborn, and claims he doesn’t know his heritage. The Black Council is decidedly against allowing just anyone (read: non-nobility) to ride a dragon, and so is Jacaerys (Harry Collett).

He rightfully observes that allowing common folk the use of dragons undermines the Targaryens’ divine right to rule Westeros—and, not for nothing, it undermines his own claim. His possession of a dragon confirmed him in the eyes of everyone else as Rhaenyra’s heir. If anyone can do it, the Harwin Strong rumors might keep him from the throne.

Nonetheless, the situation is desperate, and Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) convinces Rhaenyra to ditch the........

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