House of the Dragon is full of b*stards, both literal and figurative, yet Aegon II is easily one of the show’s most hateable characters.
The latest Targaryen king is cruel, capricious, and greedy. During his brief reign, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) has managed to be everything a king shouldn’t be, and even his mother seems to find any time in his company as pleasurable as a wildfire enema.
Yet despite being an abusive narcissist, House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 has given Aegon some much-needed nuance that rounds out his character and makes him someone you can sympathize with (even if you can’t like him).
We’ve seen how Aegon’s inferiority complex runs deeper than the gold mines of Casterly Rock. He’s belittled by his own council, disrespected by his brother, and constantly reminded of his failings by his mother.
Aegon the Cruel
Wouldn’t you lash out if your supposed friends and family did nothing but undermine you? I’m not trying to excuse his gross and horrible behavior, but Aegon serves as a reminder that hurt people hurt people.
Yet, under the sadism and nastiness that define Aegon, there are glimmers of genuine humanity. There were two moments in the new episode that perhaps best captured this spirit.
The first was his smile when he was playing with Sunfyre, helping to understand the deep connection they shared. The second was when he saw Aemond riding Vhagar to his rescue, and for a brief moment, he believed he’d been saved.
Yet those two glorious moments were taken from him. Rhaenys and Meleys proved themselves to be the more skilled dragonriders, making quick work of Sunfyre, and, well, we all know what Aemond and Vhagar did.
All in all, Episode 4 left one with the deep impression that Aegon was someone to be pitied. A man out of his depth who’d never been prepared for any of this, desperate to prove himself but wholly unable to do so. It’s sad and more than a little pathetic, to be honest.
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Aegon the pathetic
This is a far cry from his characterization in Fire and Blood, the book House of the Dragon is based on, where he’s best described as ‘Diet Maegor the Cruel.’ Despite suffering the same fate in the book, he remains greedy and bloodthirsty throughout, more of a caricature than a character.
Even George RR Martin has admitted he considers Aegon a bad guy. In a recent post on his Not a Blog, he wrote, “Tom Glynn-Carney brings Aegon alive in ways we have not seen before; he’s more than a villain here; he shows us the king’s rage, his pain, his fears and doubts, his humanity.”
You’ll notice Martin makes no bones of the matter. Before watching Glynn-Carney play the character, he considered the Green king the villain of Rhaenyra’s story and the central antagonist of the Dance of Dragons.
Aegon the broken
It’s clever of showrunner Ryan Condal and his writers to give Aegon some nuance. After all, if they had written him as the pantomime villain of the books, there would have been no conflict or drama. We’d all be Blacks, praying for his downfall and Rhaenyra’s ascension to the throne.
Yet, in choosing to give the king some sympathetic qualities, the writers have made Aegon more complex and compelling. Yes, he’s a cruel usurper, but he’s also a deeply damaged person (and even more damaged now, thanks to Vhagar) looking for validation wherever he can find it.
Ultimately, the show’s attempts to make Aegon more sympathetic speak to the things that made us fall in love with Game of Thrones in the first place. Martin’s worlds are famous for having deep, multifaceted characters where even the most hated people have some degree of humanity.
Condal’s more nuanced and pitiful portrayal of Aegon then serves to improve House of the Dragon’s story and harks back to Martin’s writing style. After all, a story is only ever as good as its villain…
If you love Westeros as much as we do then check out our guide explaining the Seven Kingdoms. We’ve also got a piece breaking down everything you need to know about the new spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and written about how an Aegon the Conqueror show could reveal one of the Targaryen’s biggest secrets. Finally check out our list of all the new TV shows streaming this month.