You know, maybe everyone should have listened to Aegon when he first told us who he was. When Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) staged her coup to install her son as king in Season 1 of “House of the Dragon,” the young heir got drunk in an attempt to avoid his fate. Much to the amazement of his younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), he admitted that he had no taste for power and no interest in taking over the realm. That unwillingness to serve has since blossomed into an outright unfitness to rule, as Season 2 has emphasized time and time again. This began with Blood and Cheese murdering his young son and heir Jaehaerys and his horrific decision to have all of King’s Landing’s ratcatchers hanged, turning public opinion against him during what should have been his most sympathetic moment. Not to be outdone, he banished Otto as second in command and was left deprived of the only voice of reason in King’s Landing.
But all of that pales in comparison to what truly drives Aegon down a path of self-destruction. We see this final straw earlier in the episode, when his previous humiliation of Aemond in a brothel comes back to haunt him. While they’re in a Small Council meeting to discuss their military strategies, the king’s lack of experience is further exacerbated when Aemond intentionally leaves him in the dark about his and Criston Cole’s (Fabien Frankel) plans to take Rook’s Rest. Weakened and embarrassed in front of his closest advisors, Aegon turns to his mother Alicent. “They don’t care what I think,” he complains. Instead of sympathy, though, he receives a harsh rebuke for his many failings: “Just do what’s needed of you: nothing.”
So naturally, that’s exactly the opposite of what it does.
