House of the Dragon Has Just Given Rhaena the Emotional Growth Arc We Need

Look, I definitely think that House of the Dragon messed up by changing Sheepstealer’s rider, but I’m here for the ride nonetheless.

Anything that delivers growth potential for Rhaena Targaryen is welcome, and it’s about damn time!

She’s spent two seasons moping about the lot she’s been handed, but now she gets a chance to grow emotionally as she deals with the aftermath of the House of the Dragon Season 3 Premiere.

Rhaena Needs to Deal With Her Mistake

There’s no doubt that Rhaena got her cousin killed during House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 1, and she nearly got her sister killed as well.

I won’t get into all the flaws in Jacaerys flying low, even though he had already noticed an issue with it earlier in the Battle of the Gullet.

The simple fact is that he wouldn’t have had to do that if it weren’t for Rhaena flying in on a wild dragon in an attempt to prove herself.

Now, Rhaena has to deal with the knowledge that she created the circumstances of Jace’s death. 

Had she just taken some time to work with Sheepstealer and really train with him, Jace’s death could have been avoided.

Others have had to live through these types of mistakes. 

We’ve seen Aemond deal with the mistake of getting Lucaerys killed during House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 10 — and yes, he did initially feel bad for not being able to control Vhagar during that stormy attack.

On A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Maekar has to live with Baelor’s death after hitting him over the head during the Trial of Seven.

While we haven’t had a chance to see what that means for Maekar, he did share his regret over his involvement.

It’s moments like these that allow characters to assess the decisions they’ve made and how they could have done things differently, and Jace’s death opens that door for Rhaena.

After all of this, it’s not like Rhaena can really go to Dragonstone with a dragon she can barely control. Rhaenyra is going to want her head for the death of her son.

So, Rhaena is on her own, which creates opportunities for her development, as she needs to become a hardened woman to survive.

There’s a Chance to Bond with Daemon

As soon as Daemon finds out that his nephew has been killed, he will want answers.

Only Jace saw that Rhaena was riding Sheepstealer. Baela never saw the person attacking her, so she probably thinks that the Greens have tamed a wild dragon.

As that message gets passed onto the rest of the Blacks, Daemon is sure to head out in an attempt to avenge the Crown Prince’s death.

It opens the door for a relationship between a father and a daughter to develop on House of the Dragon Season 3, one that Rhaena has been waiting for all her life.

Daemon effectively ignored the twin since she wasn’t a dragonrider, and that has stuck with her all her life.

As Daemon learns the identity of Sheepstealer’s rider, he’s going to be torn. He’ll want to avenge Jace’s death, but he’ll also want to protect his daughter.

On top of that, he’ll want to make sure Rhaena can tame her dragon better, despite knowing that the ability to tame a wild dragon is near impossible.

Not only can Daemon help with flying, fighting, and training, but he can also help Rhaena deal with the guilt that she’s sure to feel in the aftermath of what transpired. 

He’s made his own mistakes and poor decisions that have led to injury and time lost, and he’s had to harden himself to the world because of them. 

Rhaena can figure out how to shut down the grief and guilt so she can continue to fight for the Blacks and earn some forgiveness.

This is likely where “Nettles” comes into the story, as Rhaena is likely to adopt a new name and persona to handle this change in her character.

While I would love to see the real Nettles storyline play out, I’m ready to see where House of the Dragon Season 3 will take us for Rhaena.

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If that matters to you, I’d love to chat more with you about House of the Dragon and how you hope Rhaena’s story progresses. Sound off in the comments!