In One Line, ‘Home of the Dragon’ Simply Quietly Retconned the Complete Plot of ‘Sport of Thrones’

Rhaenyra Targaryen is nearly fed up. The fort she lastly conquered in the beginning of Home of the Dragon season 3 has turn out to be extra like a jail the place she’s compelled to babysit her political rivals, cover from her enemies, and subject complaints from the native commonfolk whereas they insult her behind her again. However Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is aware of she was born for greater than this. She was meant for greatness — a perception that was handed down by her father after which bolstered by a witchy prophecy seen by her husband/uncle Daemon (Matt Smith).

So when all that simmering battle lastly involves a head in Home of the Dragon’s season 3 finale, Queen Rhaenyra fits up for battle and declares to her troopers: “I’m The Prince That Was Promised!”

It is a highly effective second charged with tragic irony (Sport of Thrones followers know the true id of Azor Ahai, and e-book readers understand how Rhaenyra’s story will finish), but it surely additionally raises one other query: Does anybody else in that scene even know what Rhaenyra is speaking about?

As we discovered in Home of the Dragon season 1, The Prince That Was Promised is a secret prophecy handed down from one Targaryen king to the following. Aegon the Conqueror knew {that a} savior from his bloodline would ultimately save Westeros from an excellent higher risk within the type of the White Walkers, and shared that info along with his bloodline. (The equal Azor Ahai fantasy is extra well-known in Essos, whereas a handful of maesters finding out outdated Valyrian texts could have additionally come throughout this info over the ages, however that is about it by way of who is aware of the prophecy.)

The purpose is, the idea of the Prince That Was Promised will not be widespread data in King’s Touchdown, so when Rhaenyra shouts it angrily in entrance of her military, they possible don’t know what she’s speaking about. Even in Sport of Thrones (set 200 years later), it is a comparatively unknown idea amongst most residents of the Seven Kingdoms; whispered often between characters, however not often spoken about in informal dialog. Nonetheless, it is attainable that this one scene might subtly change our understanding of how the individuals of Westeros relate to the prophecy.

If Rhaenyra was boasting about being The Prince That Was Promised in entrance of dozens, if not tons of of individuals, meaning the key is basically out. After all, no person else has the precise context of what meaning or why it issues, but when the phrase was handed down and unfold over the next two centuries, it could imply that by the point Sport of Thrones began, the prophecy had expanded far past the Targaryen line of succession. (More and more widespread rumors of ice zombies from past The Wall in all probability additionally helped gasoline the collective hope for a prophesied savior.)

Total, whereas this one small scene both reads as indignant saber-rattling or tragic foreshadowing within the second, what’s actually attention-grabbing about Rhaenyra’s proclamation on this episode is the way it adjustments our understanding of what the remainder of Westeros is aware of concerning the prophecy of The Prince That Was Promised. Up up to now, it was a well-kept Targaryen household secret, however after this, the key is out. And which may assist set in movement lots of the different consequential choices that convey the story from this specific second in Home of the Dragon during to the top of Sport of Thrones.

Home of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max.