The Gothic Reboot of Helaena + Aemond | House Of The Dragon Season 2 Explained

[@gorbage_raccoon]

I'm not gonna lie, I've never been a big fan of "romantic" Helaemond, but I find the idea of Helaena and Aemond being dear to each other (as siblings, in the non-Targaryen way) appealing. Afaik even the actors confirmed "their" characters had "affinity". I don't understand the reason behind the showrunners' decision to heavily romanticize this creepy ass relationship with the woman who had been paid to SA him when he'd been just 13... I have recently learnt a recent interview, Geeta Patel confirmed Helaena was the only person Aemond was truly vulnerable with. It's such a pity we've never seen their special bond on-screen... I hope in season 3, we will see more interactions between Helaena and Aemond.

[@JoeUchiha-gs5ru]

I agree

[@rahmatmanurung8133]

The difference between Madam and Helaena: Madam Silvy only gave him responses he wanted to hear for comfort while Helaena made him to confront his mistakes.

[@gorbage_raccoon]

@@rahmatmanurung8133 that's fair! Honestly, Aemond knowing his fate from Helaena is such a signifcant change of the source material! Iirc in FnB, Alys likely made Aemond believe he would slay Daemon... But kinda forgot to tell him he would die in the battle above the God's Eye, too 😁

[@rahmatmanurung8133]

@@gorbage_raccoon I actually prefer the way Helaena dealing with Aemond. I am curious and want more of their scenes together, the interaction in daily life before things messed up. I hope Helaena will change her mind and come eventually with Dreamfyre to Harrenhal at least to stop him killing more people. The spoiler from Helaena made me think they will probably change a bit about the battle on God's Eye.

[@gorbage_raccoon]

@@rahmatmanurung8133 Yeah, I also hope Helaena could change her mind and decide to take a more active part in the civil war. I believe a princess brought up in the quasi-Medieval Westeros must be familiar with stuff like knightly code and in my view, it is really weird Helaena doesn't associate warfare with defending the innocent... Like her own little daughter. Technically speaking, we didn't see Aemond leave KL in the season finale, so maybe the very first episodes of season 3,will take place in the capital? After all in the books, Prince Regent was still in KL when battles of the Gullet and Honeywine happened. AFAIK the actors and, most importantly, the showrunners confirmed Aemond believed Helaena, so it would be reasonable for him not to rush to meet his death in GE :D. Not to mention the fact that a dragon dreamer could make a really fine advisor :o

[@rahmatmanurung8133]

In season 1 I only thought "oh these two Targaryne siblings are cute on screen" with them just standing next to each other 😂 and now in season 2 their relationship become dark and interesting to me also made me curious what will happen in season 3? Hopefully some flashback a bit and hopefully Helaena will change her mind and come with Dreamfyre eventually at least to stop him killing more people. I really like what director ep 8 Geeta Patel commented about Helaemond dynamic.

[@nonome8206]

Honestly I thought they were going to have them have some romantic tension and have him father Maegor but pass it off as Aegons for appearances. I wonder if theyll do that or if that plot point is totally dropped

[@OpeningsOpenings]

Yeah to me they abandoned the idea of closeness between Heleana and Aemond completely this season and they didn’t give quite enough seed for it last season for it to have been missed this season. It next season they suddenly go there AFTER he’s threatened her like this and she’s outed him - it will make absolutely NO sense. They should just let him be seduced by Alice Rivers and leave the Healaemond romance sub story behind

[@gorbage_raccoon]

Frankly speaking, I don't consider the Alys ans Aemond subplot as romantic. Especially given in the books, she's his war prize, a literal object Aemond could use as he pleases. I loved how the FnB Alys reclaimed her agency sending the man who had slaughtered her entire family and made her his bed slave to his death 😁. Imo the show Alys is gonna torture the shit out of Aemond and I am here for it.

[@OpeningsOpenings]

I mean I totally agree but when I say seduced by Alice I don’t mean to imply romantic. Seducing in her case was meant to be taken as strategic More of an empowered stance than making her a victim of Aemond. I see her seducing as she did with Daemon

[@SuperARCANGEL0]

They abandoned alot of things in this season....

[@FeyFire]

I agree, helaemond is more about vibes but they kinda shoved it right into our faces. I don't think Helaena should have confessed her visions to him. It would have left more of that subtextual anguish that they are built upon. I don't hate creepy pining Dracula/Vlad/Hades - Aemond, but the brothel Madam kinda milked that energy from him...

[@gorbage_raccoon]

​@@FeyFire honestly, I was surprised to learn the Madam randomly turned out to be Aemond's confidante and comfort person. Such a weird choice, if you ask me. When se2 final trailer was realeased, I legit believed Heleana was the mysterious lady holding Aemond. I thought he was just back from Storm's End and had just told his sister Helaena, who allegedly knew the past and the future, what had happened to Luke.. Aemond's shirtless was strange, I admit, but I thought he simply stripped off his drenched shirt and Helaena simply prioritized comforting her brother over the so-called modesty and decency. I'm really curious how the Aemond and Helaena dynamics are gonna be portrayed in season 3.

[@bananapuding866]

i don't ship them neither do i find their connection romantic but i do like their dynamic and i drew a lot of parallels between show helaemond and christopher and cathy from flowers in the attic, mainly with their characterisation and the inbred generational curse put on them.

[@NYCfrankie]

I really dislike that they have aemond betray aegon i get y they did it but there is no hint of this in the books actually in the books and show family and duty are clearly very important to aemond now yes even in the books there is a hint aemond believes that he's more suitable for rule but in the books it's pretty clear to me that once aemond had become older that he would have become aegons hand and i just don't see aemond trying to kill his brother because he laughed that he was still sleeping with the first women aegon brought him to and asks he fucked her like a hound the story now is basically aemond vs everyone and alicent ready to allow the death of aegon by Rhaenyra and sentencing aemond her brother and cole to death by betraying their plan to Rhaenyra its all just ridiculous

[@sophiapsyche]

ridiculous is the perfect descriptor for this season

[@Obengh]

the mess that was season 2 puts it beyond analyzing, fun vid tho

[@sophiapsyche]

i think it was a very interesting choice to make Helaena a dreamer because in the book she 10000% is not nor is Viserys or Aegon

[@flux.aeterna]

I haven’t read Fire & Blood proper but I know it’s framed as a historical account of the dance of dragons - would the maesters / scribes have any way of knowing of the Targaryen dreamers? And if they did, would they lend it credence or dismiss it as fantasy when trying to create a historical account?

[@sophiapsyche]

@@flux.aeterna the dance was written mainly using 3 accounts. 1. Mushroom who was a jester and mainly regarded as having the least accurate and most embellished details. 2. Grand Maester Munkun and 3. Septon Eustace. Mushroom and Septon Eustace were there during the dance in kings landing or dragonstone and Septon Eustace account is generally received as the most accurate. There isn’t too much mention of Helaena in the book other than that she was plump, pleasant, would make a good mother, and went mad with guilt and grief after Blood and Cheese and eventually committed suicide. I personally think that if GRRM intended her to be a dreamer he would’ve mentioned it even as a rumor or in passing in the book. It’s possible I suppose but I don’t really think so.

[@Hannah-mu1uj]

The dark romance between Maegor and … a lesbian? I’m guessing you meant that in a capital R romantic way lol

[@Alejojojo6]

She was bi, after all she married Aegon and had 2 daughters.

[@sophiapsyche]

@@Alejojojo6 that’s true she did marry aegon and had twin daughters but I always kind of thought that it was out of duty. Her only true love interests in the book were female besides Androw Farman but….. that did not end well lol. It’s subjective, but I always got lesbian vibes from Rhaena

[@DNotzz]

Spoilers from F&B. I think it’d be neat that instead of Heleana jumping form a tower, she climbs in Dreamfyre, has her take her up, and then leaps from her back. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic but it seems like a change they would make!

[@persephone342]

I doubt she dies. She’s has a greater role yet to fulfill. Or, she could kill herself. They could go either way.

[@Chinchilla2310]

I have a weird feeling her suicide is going to coincide with Daemon/Aemond’s death at the gods eye. As they fall to the water, she falls to the spikes below.

[@M0joPin]

The show already doesn't have the budget to show off the Green dragons (Dreamfyre is non-existent, Sunfyre has one minute of screentime, Tessarion is a recolor of Arrax's model). With season 2 being a flop that it is, I'm sure HBO will give them even less money for season 3 and 4. We will never see Helaena on dragonback, I'm afraid :/

[@Alejojojo6]

I heard this somewhere else and it's a rumor on how they are going to do her death. Personally I think im okay with it. We will see her on dreamfyre which is all I want to see.

[@Alejojojo6]

@@Chinchilla2310 That would mean killing 3 main characters in a single episode. I mean, its cool but I dont think they would do that.

[@jesus85ize]

She doesn’t get with Aemond. Aemond is having an off screen affair with Alyson Rivers (the witch) acting as a double agent of sorts. Although it seems that she’s an indirect consultant for Daemond she’s really feeding information to Aemond. They will probably have a side episode of how they met or how they conspired together whatever which way the show takes it. The fact is, Aemond was already at Harrenhall before Damon took it. More than likely it was a connection with Laris clubfoot. However, the whole thing with Aegon flipping out about Daemond taking Harrenhall did you notice Aemond gave it no mind? It all started after his disconnection with his first, the prostitute that his brother humiliated him etc in favor of the squire. I feel they will have some sort of backstory about how they met. Although Allison Rivers is a witch, her and Aemond connected somehow. This is why Aemond seems to be diverting away from Harrenhall, learning about what Daemond is doing. Another telltale sign is when she said “you will die here”. Another telltale sign is that she stopped him from leaving like twice. Even talked herself into being his consultant of sorts. She’s basically feeding the enemy all of his planning or whatever she sees him do she is sending a raven to kings landing. This is why Aemond is kind of cocky and has a “I know something that you don’t” type of attitude

[@anamariecameron7874]

😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@crazywomancreek1]

The inbreeding theme is creepy.