Helaena outlines her family’s future with a prophecy about Aegon and Aemond in House of the Dragon season 2, including that Aegon will sit on “a wooden throne.” Alicent and Viserys’ daughter Helaena Targaryen has shown gifts of dragon dreaming ever since she was a child, with her visions becoming much stronger and clearer by House of the Dragon season 2’s ending. In addition to foretelling Aemond’s death, Aegon being king again, and a bigger “story” that cannot be changed, she powerfully begins appearing in other peoples’ visions, as she shows up during Daemon’s weirwood tree vision at Harrenhal.
When Aemond asks Helaena to fly into battle on Dreamfyre, she refuses and questions whether he’ll burn her like Aegon, elaborating that she saw Aemond burn and let Aegon fall at Rook’s Rest. Before Helaena warns Aemond about his own death in the Gods Eye, she tells him, “Aegon will be king again. He’s yet to see victory. He sits on a wooden throne. And you… you’ll be dead.” Helaena’s eerie prophecy aligns with the events outlined in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood book, including the detail about Aegon using a seat other than the Iron Throne.
Aegon’s Wooden Throne Is Likely His Litter After Breaking His Legs
Aegon Sits On A Wooden Chair Below The Iron Throne When He Returns To King’s Landing
Aegon is already broken and bedridden in House of the Dragon and, as Helaena predicts, his condition worsens later in the Dance of the Dragons. After Larys helps Aegon escape King’s Landing, he hides on Dragonstone and arranges a coup in which some members of Team Black switch alliances and help him take the castle. During the Fall of Dragonstone, Aegon flies on Sunfyre and fights Baela Targaryen on Moondancer, which culminates in Aegon jumping from his dragon and breaking both his legs in the fall. Subsequently, Aegon is unable to walk and is carried on a wooden litter.
Therefore, the “wooden throne” that Helaena foresees is likely the litter Aegon sits on after his legs are shattered. Further aligning with Helaena’s prediction that he sits on his wooden throne after he sees “victory,” Aegon is unable to climb the steps to the Iron Throne when he reclaims King’s Landing after killing Rhaenyra Targaryen on Dragonstone. Consequently, a “carved, cushioned wooden seat” is placed at the bottom of the steps to the Iron Throne, giving King Aegon II Targaryen his “wooden throne” from which he rules and holds court.
Helaena & Aegon Will Never See Each Other Again In House Of The Dragon
Helaena Dies Before Aegon Sees His Victory
While Helaena sees Aegon in her visions, the two siblings and husband/wife never physically see each other again in House of the Dragon. The last time Helaena and Aegon interacted face-to-face was likely when they silently stopped on the steps together after Prince Jaehaerys’ death. According to Fire & Blood, Helaena Targaryen tragically dies by suicide approximately six months into Rhaenyra’s rule at King’s Landing, with Aegon having remained at Dragonstone that entire time.
Aegon and Helaena seemingly have some affection for each other, even if they’re not able to express it. Indeed, Helaena’s visions actually speak to this, as the way she talks about Aemond trying to kill Aegon, and that the king will see victory, almost feels like she’s defending him (especially as she tells Aemond he himself will die). Aegon certainly hasn’t been a good husband, but that they never reunite after all their shared tragedies is a sad reality.
Helaena’s Prophecy About Aemond Will Also Come True
She Foreshadows Aemond’s Death In House Of The Dragon
As well as predicting King Aegon’s victory at Dragonstone and, subsequently, his wooden throne, Helaena also foretells of Aemond’s death in House of the Dragon. She tells him that he will be dead, and that he was “swallowed up in the God’s Eye.” The God’s Eye is a lake in the riverlands, on the north shore of which sits Harrenhal. And, as Helaena predicts, it is where Aemond is destined to die, as per Martin’s Fire & Blood.
Daemon goes out searching for [Aemond] and, eventually, it leads to the pair meeting in the sky near Harrenhal, in what’s known as the Battle Above the God’s Eye.
While Rhaenyra takes King’s Landing, Aemond takes back control of Harrenhal, before he and Vhagar go on a rampage through the riverlands, burning town after town and village after village. Daemon goes out searching for him and, eventually, it leads to the pair meeting in the sky near Harrenhal, in what’s known as the Battle Above the God’s Eye. It’s an epic clash as dragon fights dragon, and likely to be one of the most incredible spectacles the TV show has to offer.
It’s a brutal, visceral fight between two of Westeros’ most fierce warriors and their ferocious dragons, and the end result is death, death, and more death. Daemon leaps from Caraxes onto Vhagar, stabbing Aemond through his empty eye socket with Dark Sister, his Valyrian steel sword. However, both dragons and combatants are sent crashing down into the lake, and nobody survives. Helaena is absolutely right when she tells Aemond what will happen to him and that it can’t be changed, though it remains to be seen if it happens in House of the Dragon season 3.
Helaena Is Becoming Increasingly Powerful In House Of The Dragon
Her Dreaming Abilities Are Getting Stronger
Helaena’s prophecies about Aemond in the God’s Eye and Aegon’s “wooden throne” don’t just foreshadow future events, but highlight how much more powerful she herself is becoming in House of the Dragon. Helaena’s dreams and vision powers have been loosely defined, and while she has made prophecies, they’ve typically been vague utterances that even she herself doesn’t seem to fully understand, and certainly not the people she’s speaking to.
Helaena may well be aware of everything that’s going to happen, even her own death, which works to not only make her stronger, but even more tragic.
That’s very different in House of the Dragon season 2’s finale. Helaena appears to have a greater understanding of and control over her abilities. That she was in Daemon’s vision of Daenerys Targaryen, Rhaenyra, a White Walker, and more is also telling. It’s not clear how she did it, but it suggests she’s a more powerful dreamer than we’ve seen previously. Helaena may well be aware of everything that’s going to happen, even her own death, which works to not only make her stronger, but even more tragic.