‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 6: 5 Things You May Have Missed, From Helaena’s Prophecy to Aegon Masturbating in Tommen’s Room

While we might not get to hear her gosh darn name, we do get to meet Helaena Targaryen in last night’s episode. Sure, we saw her as a squalling infant in the last two episodes, but in just a few lines of dialogue, House of the Dragon arguably told us more about the mysterious Targaryen princess’s personality than all of Fire & Blood.

We first meet the tween as she’s playing with some kind of Westerosi centipede. Alicent lovingly puts up with her quirky daughter’s hyper-fixated interest in the insect, asking questions about the animal’s nature and Helaena’s theories about why she thinks the bug is blind.

The quiet, calm moment is shattered when an upset Aemond (Leo Ashton) bursts in to tell Mom how his big brother and dark-haired nephews bullied him in the Dragonpit. Alicent tries to comfort her son, telling him that one day he will have a dragon. Helaena murmurs under her breath, “He’ll have to close an eye.”

Non-book readers and spoiler-phobes, you might want to skip ahead to the next heading!!!

I’m warning you!

HOLY MOLY, HELAENA TARGARYEN HAS THE SIGHT.

Whether she’s a dreamer like Daena Targaryen or has the greensight of Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) or Jojen Reed (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) isn’t clear. What is obvious, though, is this Targaryen princess has the gift of foresight. Aemond will have to “close” one eye to claim his dragon.

If Helaena has the gift of prophecy, it totally reframes her story. How much will Helaena foresee? And what how will she handle that dark knowledge?

In House of the Dragon Episode 4, Viserys has a laugh at his young wife’s expense when she suggests the newly-returned Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) might want to view some new tapestries. The thing is…those tapestries might not be as lame as Viserys and Daemon’s heckling suggest.

For weeks now, you might have been able to see some wildly pornographic tapestries on the walls in the Red Keep. Multiple figures are engaged in orgiastic activity.

These wall-hangings certainly do not appear in the castle during the era of Game of Thrones, suggesting these are House Targaryen’s idea of home decor. Do they come from Old Valyria? Or some other era in the family’s creative journey to self-expression?

The Red Keep is a castle that was built in the early days of House Targaryen’s rule in Westeros and eventually inhabited by the likes of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and their kids. It seems that one of Cersei’s children got to inherit the same bedroom that Prince Aegon Targaryen slept in during this time in history.

Yup, that appears to be horny teen Prince Aegon jerking off from the same window sweet King Tommen would one day walk out of to die by suicide. (Though we suppose it’s possible it’s another room with a similar window treatment.)

It’s maybe worth noting that the reason Tommen died was because his mother was so preoccupied with her own quest for vengeance, she didn’t go to comfort her own child in the aftermath of blowing up the Sept of Baelor.

Alicent, on the other hand, fully charges in to “mother” her teen son in the extreme. It’s not the masturbation that bothers her, but Aegon bullying his little brother. She also uses this moment to very passionately explain why the family needs to stick together to prepare to take on Rhaenyra’s succession.

Now there is a weird, meta, extra Easter egg here. Young Aegon is played by Ty Tennant. He is the son of Doctor Who star David Tennant and grandson of another Doctor Who star, Peter Davidson. Matt Smith, the actor who plays Aegon’s uncle Daemon Targaryen, got his big break also playing the Doctor in Doctor Who. So maybe there’s a genetic connection between Old Valyria and Gallifrey.

We’ve heard a lot of gossip about the oldest living dragon, Vhagar, in House of the Dragon. She’s the biggest dragon alive. She was originally the dragon of Aegon the Conqueror’s sister-wife Visenya. She’s been super lonely since her last rider, Viserys and Daemon’s father Baelon, died. At long last we get to meet her.

Little Laena Velaryon claimed Vhagar as her own dragon when she was 15 years old. Now she flies her beloved dragon with husband Daemon (and his dragon Caraxes) hither, thither, and all over the world.

What’s incredible about Vhagar’s introduction is the sheer size of the dragon in comparison to Caraxes. The rumors were 100% correct: she is a big girl.

Vhagar is also a fiercely loyal dragon, as is clear when Laena begs her dragon to end her life in a fiery way. At first Vhagar refuses. Only when she locks eyes with Laena and sees the sorrow of the dying mother does she gift Laena a dragon-rider’s death.

Helaena Targaryen wasn’t the only character who foresaw doom in this episode. Ser Harwin Strong may have foreshadowed his own death when he said goodbye to Rhaenyra and their children. While bidding the baby Joffrey adieu, Ser Harwin says, “I will be a stranger when we meet again.” Now, he’s clearly saying the kid won’t remember him, but there’s a darker meaning to that phrase within the world of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Most of Westeros worships the Seven, a god that is split into seven incarnations: Father, Mother, Smith, Warrior, Maiden, Crone, and Stranger. The Stranger is the part of the deity that represents death. In fact, Arya Stark is told in the books that the Stranger is the same god as the Many-Faced God and the god Syrio Forel calls “Death.”

So when Ser Harwin says that he’ll be a “stranger,” there is a darker, double meaning to his comment. To welcome the Stranger in Westeros is to embrace death. The fact that Ser Harwin says he’ll be a stranger next time they meet is, uh, entirely correct. Because he’s now dead.