HOTD Explains Why Aegon’s Dream Matters So Much To Viserys Specifically

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 1, episode 3.House of the Dragon season 1, episode 3 properly explains why Aegon the Conqueror’s A Song of Ice and Fire dream matters so much to King Viserys I Targaryen specifically. In the show’s biggest bombshell, House of the Dragon season 1, episode 1’s ending revealed Aegon’s dream of the White Walkers: a prophecy of a coming Winter that would plunge the world into darkness, and only with a Targaryen on the Iron Throne could the world of men hope to survive.

Aegon’s dream changes Game of Thrones’ history (and House of the Dragon’s future) in a lot of ways. It completely re-frames not only Aegon’s conquering, but also the battle against the Night King and the White Walkers – and Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen’s roles in that – from Game of Thrones season 8. There may also be hidden impacts yet to be revealed, since there’s a long line of Targaryen Kings and heirs who may have known and been influenced by the prophecy, but what about Viserys himself?

Viserys telling Rhaenyra of Aegon’s dream of White Walkers seems, at first, to simply be him passing on knowledge that he has to, to burden his heir with the same weight of prophecy he too was lumbered with. But House of the Dragon season 1, episode 3 suggests there’s a little more to it. For the second time, Viserys mentions his dream of a son, who would sit upon the Iron Throne. He also mentions how, while many Targaryens were dragonriders, very few were dreamers. The implication is that Viserys fancies himself one of these Targaryen dreamers, putting a lot of weight and power upon his own visions, which in turn explains why he puts so much stock in Aegon’s dream as well (when it’s unknown if many other Targaryens did).

Aegon’s Dream Fits Perfectly With House Of The Dragon’s Viserys

HOTD Explains Why Aegon’s Dream Matters So Much To Viserys Specifically

Viserys’ actions are very much motivated by these dreams. His dream of a son, which he believes had been lost, helps lead him to secure Rhaenyra as his heir; now he has Aegon, it further drives a conflict within him between what he thinks is right and staying true to his word, and the belief he has in his dream. The same can be said of Aegon’s A Song of Ice and Fire prophecy, which he not only tells Rhaenyra of but seems to continue hanging over him. In House of the Dragon season 1, episode 3, Viserys is a King with more interest in getting drunk and hunting then he is politicking; he’s a man who is clearly being weighed down by the pressure upon and surrounding him, a good man but not necessarily a great King.

The decision of George R.R. Martin to reveal Aegon’s dream through Viserys specifically is an interesting choice, and it adds to House of the Dragon’s version of the character. He is more complicated and certainly more tragic a figure than presented Martin’s book, Fire & Blood, and the dreams fit with that. He is a man burdened by his own destiny and the future of his realm and house, and because that’s the case from his own dream that he clings to, it makes Aegon’s dream even more important to Viserys as well than it might anyone else.

Targaryen history is full of drastic decisions taken by dreamers: Daenys led to them leaving for Dragonstone before the Doom of Valyria; Aegon led to them conquering Westeros; Daeron’s dragon dreams may have influenced the Tragedy at Summerhall; Daenerys’ dragon dream led to her hatching three dragons on Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre; and now Viserys’ dreams in House of the Dragon lead to the Dance of the Dragons.

House of the Dragon releases new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

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