House of the Dragon episode seven spoilers follow.
Once again, House of the Dragon brings the drama.
Laenor's great escape had plenty to contend with – Aegon's receiving a cousin-nephew beatdown and Rhaenyra's sexytime with Uncle Daemon (Matt Smith). That said, it did stand out for a number of reasons. Not least because it's an LGBTQ+ win for the franchise given its tricky past with homosexual love stories.
This week, we saw Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) help her husband fake his own death so that he could run off into the sunset with his lover Qarl Correy (Arty Froushan).
It was not a completely selfless act, of course. The Queen in waiting wanted Laenor (John Macmillan) out of the way so that she could further secure her claim to the throne while also finding a way to legitimately boink her uncle Daemon through holy matrimony.
Still, it was a win for the forlorn Velaryon who has, quite understandably, been a little down in the dumps since his lover Joffrey's face was bashed in by Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) some 10 years ago.
While this romantic ending appears to go some way towards making up for how the Game of Thrones universe has treated its queer characters in the past (Renly Baratheon, Oberyn Martell, Joffrey Lonmouth…), we can't help but feel that Laenor's story isn't quite over.
The books that inspired the television series featured a different ending for our king consort, and that means the door is still open.
In George RR Martin's Fire and Blood, Laenor and his lover do not stage a pretend duel in which the Driftmark heir 'dies'. Instead he is actually fatally wounded after an altercation with Qarl at a fair at Spicetown.
While the details are threadbare, Martin's 'history' says several witnesses attest to the fact that Qarl killed Laenor, with his death being put down to a lover's tiff. It was believed that Qarl became jealous of Laenor's new friendship with another, younger man, which resulted in the drawing of swords.
However, there are those who whisper that Daemon is, unsurprisingly, to blame and that he hired Qarl to bump Laenor off.
His motivations would be much clearer and tie in with what we've seen so far on House of the Dragon. Getting Laenor out of the way would have paved the way for some sweet, sweet niece-loving as well as allowing Daemon the opportunity to claim the spot as king consort, something he has long sought.
This tragic end for Laenor may yet come to pass on screen too.
While it seems that Laenor has pulled the ultimate bait-and-switch (a poor, crisped-up corpse now taking his place in a coffin at the bottom of the Driftmark sea) no one is truly safe. This is a Game of Thrones spinoff after all.
Right now his story arc is left open, which leaves room for showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik to get creative with where they take his story.
This could ultimately lead to them deciding to reintroduce his character later on down the line, only to give him the Ned Stark treatment – thus aligning his fate with his on-page narrative.
While we much prefer this deviation from the script, we've learned never to hope for a happy ending where the Game of Thrones universe is concerned.
House of the Dragon season one airs weekly the US on Sundays on HBO, and on Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW. Season 2 has been announced. Game of Thrones seasons 1-8 are available on DVD and Blu-ray.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
