The Cage of Fire: How Power Shaped Rhaenyra’s Fate | House of the Dragon | HBO Series
I’ve been thinking a lot about how power moves through people — not just in Westeros, but in the real world. The way it twists love, loyalty, and survival into strategy. “House of the Dragon” isn’t just a story about dragons or thrones; it’s about how people are shaped by the systems they’re born into and how they fight, quietly or loudly, to live within them. This piece is me tracing those threads — especially the ones that lead to Rhaenyra Targaryen’s death.
I wanted to keep this blog post separate from another I wrote: How Misogyny Forged the Dance of the Dragons | House of the Dragon Series.
💬 0 🔁 1 ❤️ 2 · How Misogyny Forged the Dance of the Dragons | House of the Dragon Series · After a long time—and two seasons later—I decid
In that piece, I mostly wrote about who ignited what befell the demise of Rhaenyra Targaryen — Ser Otto Hightower. I explained that Alicent was a chess piece on a board her father had set from the very beginning, even orchestrating the friendship between Rhaenyra and Alicent. It doesn’t need to be said explicitly, but that’s what it insinuated. Otto had served three kings, and he always had his daughter with him. It benefited him to have her there because she could be used for whatever purpose he needed. It didn’t matter if Rhaenyra was a boy or a girl — a girl equaled close friendship; a boy would have equaled Alicent enticing him to marry her.
I’m training my mind to think like Otto — to imagine what might have been brewing in his mind. He may have loved his daughter, but his eyes were set on putting his lineage on the throne.
When you understand the core of the Game of Thrones universe, it’s about who’s strategic enough to get what they want and survive the several moves of different players on the board. It’s about who has the upper hand to manipulate pieces on the chessboard. It means you have to foresee everyone else’s moves and make decisions several steps ahead — collecting information, creating relationships with people who can get that information, and most of all, doing the unspeakable.
Game of Thrones is the concept of a bloody play of chess. It’s politically heavy and reflects a lot on the structures of our world — who makes it to the top and who survives or dies. The author of the universe just wrote in the Night King and the undead as something to worry about, but they don’t have much to do with the core of the story, which is the strategic power play to gain control. The Iron Throne is the symbol of power — the object many players pursue. Those who sit on that throne are not guaranteed healthy, wonderful lives. Plenty of characters say it: “It’s a burden.” Being even adjacent to the throne means the risk of death. Rhaenys said it to her husband, who was stuck on her being the rightful queen that was denied. Rhaenyra said it too, crying to her father.
First, I need to address something important because I’m aware of how people can misunderstand the intention of the story — they place their own story on top of it to make it make sense to them. But I’m going to write it plainly: House of the Dragon is a witness to the different accounts and decisions that led to the brutal death — or should I say, the execution — of Rhaenyra Targaryen. The end goal of this series is Rhaenyra’s death, not her success. Her death. When I entered this series, I had that at the forefront. I am witnessing and putting together the pieces the writers are giving us through the characters’ decisions and actions that lead to Rhaenyra’s death — meaning who was directly and indirectly involved in steering her toward that fate.
What makes it heartbreaking is that almost everyone in the series is steering Rhaenyra to her death. Almost every person she loves, loved, or trusted has led her there — along with her children. Very few who tried to guide her wisely survived.
Rhaenys said that Rhaenyra shows great restraint throughout the usurpation of the throne and being betrayed by Alicent and the council. She convinces her husband to stick with Rhaenyra, and she stands by her proudly because restraint is strength — not resorting to bloodshed right away or using dragons, which would lead to bone and ash.
People mistake kindness and restraint as softness. That’s not softness. Why? Because it’s so easy to act without thinking. It’s easy to take revenge. It’s easy to commit violence. It’s challenging not to — especially in that world, where if you don’t, it means your death or worse, your enslavement.
Alicent was the epitome of softness and everything feminine in that world — compliance, politeness, submissiveness, obedience. Yet she was quick to have a child’s eye removed because her son was entitled enough to steal a dragon during the days of mourning, and he would have seriously harmed those girls if Jace and Luke hadn’t intervened. He later used that same dragon to kill Luke. Alicent even cut Rhaenyra’s arm because Rhaenyra wasn’t going to let anything happen to her son. The problem with that scene is that everyone was just watching. They didn’t stop what was happening until it was done. Why does that matter? It shows that those two women are on their own — no one will intervene.
There’s no such thing as hardness or softness. If you are soft, you die because you are naïve. If you are too hard, you risk being emotionless, which leads to your downfall anyway. It’s all performative. They were taught to be this way. “Malleable” was the word Alicent used when it came to her son Aegon’s actions. Malleable means they can still be manipulated and steered in the direction they want him to go. It means you can create a framework for them that’s constructed and not real — because the goal is control.
Society and civilization in general are a work of fiction — layers of systems, infrastructure, and ideas. Even money isn’t real; it’s a trust that it has collective value. Alicent is aware of this because it was done to her. Her father groomed her into her position in life, and she’s doing the same to her children.
Rhaenyra Threatens Tradition
Rhaenyra — people miss the point entirely of what the TV series is showing. Through the dialogue, she is a threat to tradition. She’s a threat because she does not represent the traditional values of a lady in that world. It’s not the incestuous part of her marrying her uncle, Daemon; it’s the fact that she wants the same privileges men are given. She doesn’t want to be shamed and scrutinized for her actions and choices in life. She says to Daemon that the life of a man is different — women receive consequences for living boldly.
People miss the part of her holding the sword and speaking about it, imagining that if she were born a boy, a sword would have been placed in her hand the moment she was able to hold one. She even almost walked out holding the sword until Mysaria reminded her that she was still holding it. Yes, she dresses finely, but she also smiled and laughed when she disguised herself as a boy while going out with her uncle into the city. She wants to live boldly, without the consequences that come with being a lady.
The discussion of being a girl and her desire to have boy privileges happened with her father, Viserys, and he had to remind all of us that Rhaenyra wasn’t born a boy — she’s a lady. Meaning, she has to play her role, or there will be consequences. And in that universe, those consequences are exile, shame, and even death for a highborn.
There are so many details about Rhaenyra that get forgotten and overlooked because she chose to play her role. Instead, she played it on her own terms and married someone who would allow her to live her life covertly — and that was her lavender marriage. She knew her cousin was into men, and she didn’t judge him for it. I could tell they were friends — probably best friends — because they shared secrets and both wanted to have what they desired.
A lot of marriages in history were like that. Lavender marriages have been around for a long time, and some still practice them today because society only likes hetero-looking, traditional-style marriages. You are rewarded for following that script. It was designed that way.
So, when I watched those episodes, I saw it as her finding loopholes in the cage she’s stuck in — and it worked out for both of them. However, when House Strong was killed, Rhaenyra had to choose yet again. Daemon lost his wife, and she still desired him and even loved him because he was her favorite uncle. And he’s not just any person — he’s a skilled warrior who can protect her. So, they came up with the plan to fake Laenor’s death, which benefited him so he could be free and live his life as he pleased as a gay man.
Alicent even said Rhaenyra has a queerness to her. Queerness just means not conventional. So, insinuating that Rhaenyra is traditional in any way means they’re not watching the same series I am — or listening to the characters describe her. In fact, they’re telling a different story in their heads. That means they’re rewriting the story in their minds because they can’t process what’s really going on with the characters free from their lenses and filters.
I’m viewing from the lens that Rhaenyra is going to die. Her fate is sealed in my mind. And I understand how rigid societal frameworks can be — to the point that all they see is either/or.
A lot of viewers do not have a skill for nuance. Nuance, in terms of characters or people, leads to being free from binary thinking. Then you view every character as a spectrum versus good or evil or even gender roles or gender misconceptions. Everything about the Game of Thrones universe is a display of taboos and challenges ways of thinking — but with violence, a bloody spectacle, and a lot of sex and skin. It happens in reality, but we choose to ignore it. We justify it, or we think it doesn’t exist today. That’s technically called tunnel vision — where you’re blind to your peripherals. Whatever you don’t see or don’t see clearly enough, it doesn’t exist, even though it does.
Rhaenyra’s only marriage that was legit was with Daemon. But that doesn’t mean it was the best choice. As I mentioned in the beginning, these are choices that lead to her death. That means her choice to trust and love Daemon led to her demise — and it did.
Alicent learned early on to never say things loudly for others to hear, because the one who did… it led to House Strong being murdered. When Rhaenyra found the remnants of Luke’s dragon and his cape, she said loudly that she wanted Aemond. And Daemon took it upon himself, without discussing it with Rhaenyra, to use Mysaria — aka The White Worm — to hire people to kill Aemond. However, that’s not what happened. The people he hired couldn’t find Aemond and instead killed a little boy — the only son of Aegon.
This was used against Rhaenyra. And Rhaenyra, as a mother herself, was horrified by what transpired. The boy was her nephew. And Daemon sat beside her, smiling — no remorse, just sitting quietly, grinning. He didn’t ask for that to happen, but he wasn’t displeased about it. Rhaenyra had every right not to trust Daemon after that, because Daemon still doesn’t understand the consequences of what happens to women.
Daemon wants to be king. He corrects people when they refer to him as prince or as consort of the Queen. Yes, he learned his lesson through visions, but the damage was already done — the day he took Rhaenyra out into the city when she was a teenager and into a brothel. She got so enticed by it that she seduced Ser Criston Cole into her bed. If she had just not received that message and left, she would not have instigated anything.
I like Rhaenyra as a character. That’s why I correct any misconceptions placed on her through these blog posts. This is not the rise of a successful ruler who’s going to gain everything. No — quite the opposite. She loses her life and some of her children. And the people who help her lose their lives too in the process.
Rhaenys’ death hit me so hard because she could’ve left. The moment she took down Aegon’s dragon, she could have left to regroup and strategize on how to take down Aemond’s dragon — but no. Her kin were being attacked. And she was still a princess and the queen that never was. She chose to be there for her people until it ended her life and her dragon. That was the strength of a queen who should have been.
Rhaenyra wants to be the same. She wants to fight her own battles, but she’s not allowed to. Why? Because she is the Queen who has to be alive long enough to claim the throne. We know that never happens. We are just witnesses to everything that led to her not surviving.
Rhaenyra represents the woman whom everyone underestimates. She remains kind, even though it leaves her open to being cut. She shows restraint because violence is easy.
Alicent already let her mask slip. Rhaenyra called her out on it. Is it exhausting to cling to such righteousness? That is Alicent as a whole. She clings to it like it's sacred. Because if she doesn’t, she has to face all the suffering, the sacrifice she made that was for nothing. She was just a piece in the game of power and male dominance that her father orchestrated for her family.
Rhaenyra made bad choices as well; all had consequences. They led to other people dying. She learned the same lesson as Alicent: never allow yourself to speak your pain loudly to others, because it gets used. That’s because Rhaenyra, just like Alicent, surrounded herself with the wrong people. And Alicent can’t remove those people because she put herself into a dangerous position as Queen — and for stealing the throne.
Rhaenyra made the mistake of trusting and marrying Daemon without safeguards — meaning she had to remove all blindness to who she surrounded herself with. She would have learned a lot from Lady Olenna Tyrell, aka the Queen of Thorns. Olenna said out loud how incompetent and unwise her son and husband were. She’s the one who kept the family afloat and somewhat safe. She wanted to keep her grandchildren safe. She tried her best to make their futures look bright.
Her worst mistake was having her granddaughter get near the Iron Throne and her grandson. That woman may have appeared cold, but she loved her grandchildren. She would kill for them — and she did. She had Joffrey killed. She knew her grandson was into men, and she didn’t care. She wanted to keep him safe. She burned through any means possible to save her grandchildren, and it failed. It wasn’t enough.
Rhaenyra did create a connection with Mysaria, which helped to a degree. But we know it’s not going to be enough. We know everything from this point toward the goal will not be enough.
I laughed throughout season one when Alicent was so pissed that her husband wouldn’t accept that Rhaenyra’s kids were bastards. Why do I laugh? Because I put myself in the mind of Viserys in those moments. The man doesn’t care if his grandkids are bastards or not. He’s a family man. Throughout the entirety of his arc, he’s devoted to family. He loved his children and grandchildren. Even after all the discourse, he loved his brother Daemon. He loved his daughter so much, he made her heir — and it wasn’t on a whim forced by the council. He talked to his daughter and revealed the secret prophecy to her.
The Seven Kingdoms needed to be united for the winter that would come — and they weren’t. But Death, aka the Many-Faced God, sent his assassin, Arya Stark. She was a loophole when the Seven Kingdoms couldn’t unite, and the promised king couldn’t fulfill the prophecy. Jon Snow was never meant to kill the Night King — it was always Arya. Melisandre revealed it while looking into Arya’s eyes and talking about the different colored eyes looking back at her. All will be shut forever.
But back to not caring whether Rhaenyra’s kids were bastards — Viserys didn’t care.
And the same for Rhaenys. That woman didn’t really care. She told Luke, playing the fantasy, that he had Baratheon blood in him before he flew off as an envoy. These are characters who know exactly what’s going on. To them, it doesn’t matter. That’s the part that makes me laugh. They know, but they still choose to love and protect those kids and continue that narrative.
I’m reading between the lines with these characters. That world lives unconventionally — like its own crown to the story.
I like Rhaenyra as a character because I know she is working within a rigid framework, trying to live a fulfilling life in the best way she can. With her father’s death, she inherited her own demise, because the motion was set forth the day her father named her heir. But it was a duty — because of the prophecy. The prophecy her father feared. He made a decision based on that fear. The goal was to have peace and a united nation, but it fell apart because of who he surrounded himself with — people who had their own goals and didn’t know about the prophecy of the winter that would annihilate the world.
I’m going to be honest — I know the story has to have Rhaenyra die. The best choice would have been for her to give up the right to the throne and take the deal Alicent offered. It would have meant the safety of her family and herself. She could’ve revealed the prophecy to her family and children and created a new path to preparing for the winter without the power of the Iron Throne. But that’s not Rhaenyra’s story. Her story leads to her death.
When I think about Rhaenyra, I don’t just see a queen or a tragic figure — I see someone trying to live freely inside a world built to cage her. Every choice she makes, every mistake, every act of defiance feels like a heartbeat against that cage. And maybe that’s what makes her story so haunting. It’s not just about her death; it’s about how she lived, knowing the game was rigged from the start.