House of the Dragon ‘s best military mind is also one of Westeros’ hardest-to-read characters, as evidenced by the closing moments of Sunday’s episode. First, Aemond gave his dragon, Vhagar, the dracarys command — aka “burn it with fire! — when both Rhaenys (the enemy) and his brother, Aegon (not the enemy), were in his path. Then, after Aemond and his dragon, Vhagar, had finished off Rhaenys and her beast, Meleys, Ser Criston Cole found the one-eyed prince standing near his unconscious brother, looking very much like he was about to end his life for good. ( Read a full recap here .)
Naturally, we wanted to talk about it with Ewan Mitchell, who plays Aemond. Happily, he obliged. Read on for his thoughts on the hour as well as to find out to whom he’s referring when he says “I can’t wait for people to see how that relationship changes.”
TVLINE | Let’s talk about the differences in the face that Aemond makes after what happened with Luke in the first season, and the one he makes after what happens with Aegon and Rhaenys in this week’s episode. He seems so self-assured, proud, accomplished. EWAN MITCHELL | Yeah, he’s composed. Yeah.
TVLINE | Versus how stricken he seemed after Lucerys’ death. So talk to me about how both deaths have affected him. What you see at the end of Episode 4 was very much intentional. He’s very composed in that moment, and he’s very assured with what he did. Whether or not he believed that Aegon was just collateral in that moment is another thing. Maybe he didn’t intentionally burn Aegon in that moment, or he didn’t plan to, because Rhaenys was always there.
But it raises the argument or whether or not [Aegon] was just collateral and he was in the way… The first time he does it, it was a mistake. He let the emotions get the better of him. What you see at the end of Episode 4, it makes me think that Otto Hightower’s words rang true at the beginning of Season 2, you know? “You must get a grip on your emotions, Aemond.” And maybe he did, a little bit.
TVLINE | Aemond has always been a strategic thinker, but it feels like we’re hearing more of what he thinks this season. Do you think he’s becoming more emboldened? I think that’s a good question. Aemond is that character who you don’t know what he is thinking. He could be looking at someone, thinking about how he wants to cook them a nice meal and take them on a date. Or he could be looking at them, thinking about how he wants to cook them and take Vhagar on a date. You don’t know what it is, but you do know that he is thinking behind his eyes. The cogs are turning.
He’s not just a mindless psychopath, and like you say, he is very calculative. So much of those first four episodes of Season 2, he almost operates from the peripheries. No one really knows where he is — even the viewers. You don’t know he’s going to spring up in the brothel , and so, he does. He keeps the audience at a distance, and it is interesting exploring and seeing more and more of him as the episodes roll out.
TVLINE | Is there any remorse going on inside him when Rhaenys goes down, or is it just purely “This is the enemy, and I’m taking her out?” I think if there is, he certainly will never show it, or at least he won’t let anyone see it. I think that the image that Aemond has cultivated between Episode 7 and 8 of the first [season], not only is he physically in a very different place, not only psychologically, but he’s very much developed this tough exterior that in part stops him from feeling like he did as that neglected boy ever again.
In Aemond’s world, love is weakness, and passion is weakness. And so it’s that argument of whether or not love trumps duty or duty trumps love, but in Aemond’s world, he cannot be seen as weak at all costs. I think that’s one of the most fascinating aspects of playing the character. There is this veneer that he possesses that protects himself, which ultimately stems from insecurity, but he keeps it, and he doesn’t want people to see what is underneath, if it is still underneath there — which it is.
TVLINE | I have no idea where the show is going next, but Aemond is on a path now at this point in the book Fire & Blood . In the show, how long do you think he might have been waiting for something like this and/or orchestrating something like this? Has it been in the back of his mind for a while? Is this an opportunity he suddenly grabs onto? That’s exactly it. He picks his moment, you know? Like I said, the first four episodes, he’s operating from the peripheries. You get a sense of that, and during the… what we call the “shadow council” scene, Aemond and Cole in Aemond’s chambers. They’re very similar-minded.
They believe that war is inevitable, and they have a plan that they will manipulate the small council to suit their needs and to suit what they want and shape the direction of where they want to take the war. And Aemond, he’s waited patiently. He’s had to pick his moment, similar to the banquet table in Episode 8: He waited before the king was gone to make fun his nephews.
TVLINE | You bring up Cole. It’s not lost on me that they have a plan in this episode, and then Aemond just kind of does what he wants to do. He does not leap into action when the signal is shot. No.
TVLINE | How much should we read into that about the strength of his alliance with Ser Criston? I mean, that’s the question of where his true loyalties lie. We genuinely do not know what he’s doing it for or how far he’s prepared to go — and he’s gone pretty far, so far. You’ve got Aegon, who said himself he has no wish to rule. You can see how that is lucrative to members of the small council: someone who doesn’t have ambition.
But you couple that with the fact that Aemond, someone who you could argue has an ambition, who you could argue has a political agenda — that might be something a little harder for the small council to control. I think Aemond and Cole, they’re very aligned most of the time. But I can’t wait for people to see how that relationship changes.
What’s your read on Aemond’s real motivations in Episode 4? Hit the comments with all of your thoughts!
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