‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3: Here’s what happens next, according to ‘Fire and Blood’

If House of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale left you wondering, “Wait, what comes next?” you’re in the right place.

The finale, titled “The Queen Who Ever Was,” set a lot of pivotal storylines in motion without much payoff, leading to a fairly frustrating outcome (that definitely could have benefitted from two more episodes). Luckily, House of the Dragon‘s source material, George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, gives us a pretty good roadmap for what we can expect next.

Read on to learn more about what Season 3 might have in store, but be forewarned: Spoilers are in full effect here, so get ready to learn about some pretty big deaths. It’s also worth noting that House of the Dragon has made some considerable deviations from Fire & Blood, which is in itself a fictional historical account full of ambiguities, so what plays out on the page might play out differently on-screen. With that in mind, let’s get into what we might see in Season 3.

Yes, we’ll get the Battle of the Gullet soon.

Steve Toussaint in “House of the Dragon.”
Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

For all of Season 2, Corlys Velaryon’s (Steve Toussaint) naval blockade of the Gullet — a stretch of sea near Dragonstone and Driftmark — has held strong, creating massive problems for King’s Landing. But by the end of the season, Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) has a plan to break it. He sends Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) as an emissary to the Triarchy, where he secures the help of their navy and admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn). In Season 2’s finale minutes, we see them riding towards the Gullet — just as Corlys and Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) ride out to join the blockade.

We’ll have to wait until next season to witness the clash between the two forces, but when they do meet, you can bet it will be a spectacle to behold. In Fire & Blood, many dragonriders join the fight, including Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) on Vermax, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) on Seasmoke, Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) on Vermithor, and Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) on Silverwing. The dragonseed Nettles and her dragon Sheepstealer are also present, but House of the Dragon appears to have cut her entirely and merged her story with Rhaena’s (Phoebe Campbell) journey in the Vale.

In what is bound to be Season 3’s tragic first loss, Jace dies in battle. Meanwhile, his younger brothers Aegon and Viserys, sailing from the Vale to Pentos on the ship the Gay Abandon, are captured by the Triarchy. Aegon manages to escape on his fledgling dragon Stormcloud, but Viserys finds himself in Lohar’s grasp. Basically, if you’re one of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s (Emma D’Arcy) sons, you should stay away from the Gullet.

Many other battles will soon follow.

Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy in “House of the Dragon.”
Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

“The Queen Who Ever Was” doesn’t just end with a promise of naval action, but with a promise of land action too. By now, Aemond and Criston Cole’s (Fabien Frankel) forces, along with those of House Lannister and House Hightower, are moving towards the Riverlands, where Daemon has consolidated the Riverlords’ armies. Meanwhile, the Winter Wolves, introduced a tad earlier here than in the book, are on their way south to support Rhaenyra.

When these armies inevitably meet up, there will be significant bloodshed. At the Battle of the Honeywine, Prince Daeron and his dragon Tessarion will prove their mettle in the war, while the Battle at the Red Fork and the Fishfeed result in costly losses for the Lannisters and Team Green as a whole.

House of the Dragon Season 2 did a great job of choosing which battles we got to see play out on-screen, prioritizing Rook’s Rest and effectively cutting around the Battle of the Burning Mill and the Taking of Stone Hedge. (The only exception to this is teasing the Gullet, then not following through.) So while we probably won’t be seeing all these battles play out in their entirety, expect to hear about them and how important they are.

King’s Landing and Harrenhal switch hands.

Aemond finally takes Harrenhal during the chaos of the many battles following the Gullet — but he does so without facing Daemon.

That’s because as soon as Aemond leaves King’s Landing, Daemon rejoins Rhaenyra and her dragonriders for an assault on the city. Without Vhagar’s protection, and in the face of an onslaught of dragons and the Velaryon fleet, King’s Landing falls in less than a day. It’s not long before Alicent surrenders it, after which she’s imprisoned.

Based on Alicent’s proposal in the Season 2 finale, we already know that she plans to give King’s Landing over to Rhaenyra. But part of that proposal was giving up Aegon Targaryen’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) life as well. And there’s one small problem with that: Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) has smuggled Aegon out of King’s Landing. Aegon’s absence surely won’t sit well with Rhaenyra. She might even think Alicent was responsible! And if that’s the case, it’s straight to jail for Alicent.

Aemond doesn’t take too kindly to losing King’s Landing, so he goes on a one-man barbecuing tour around the Riverlands. He also shakes things up at Harrenhal, killing beloved, fashion-forward castellan Ser Simon Strong (Sir Simon Russell Beale) and kicking off a relationship with witch (and possible barn owl) Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin). Will her signature ghost vision therapy work on him, too?

The dragonseeds betray Rhaenyra at Tumbleton.

Tom Bennett in “House of the Dragon.”
Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

“The Queen Who Ever Was” teased some tension between Rhaenyra and new dragonrider Ulf, whose lack of decorum — like putting his feet up on the Painted Table! — knows no bounds. He’s also made some big demands of her, including basically ordering her to make him a knight in front of everyone. But given what happens in Fire & Blood, that’s just the beginning.

The book sees Ulf grow too big for his britches. His desire for more power leads to him betraying Rhaenyra at the Battle of Tumbleton, turning Silverwing against his Queen’s own forces. Joining him in this endeavor is Hugh, whose show counterpart seems far more deferential to Rhaenyra at this moment. Of course, a lot could change between now and Tumbleton, but one thing is certain: The betrayal at Tumbleton will push Rhaenyra even further down the warpath.

In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra questions the loyalty of remaining dragonseeds Nettles (still presumably cut from the show and replaced with Rhaena) and Addam. Addam narrowly escapes questioning and imprisonment and sets out to prove his loyalty.

Aemond and Daemon face off.

Ewan Mitchell in “House of the Dragon.”
Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Remember when Alys told Daemon he would die near Harrenhal? And when Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) prophesied that Aemond would die and be “swallowed up in the Gods Eye”? We’ll likely see exactly what both of those eerie statements mean in House of the Dragon Season 3.

Aemond will finally get the Daemon fight he always had wanted when his uncle returns to Harrenhal. The two take to the skies on Vhagar and Caraxes and have a spectacular dragon dogfight above the Gods Eye lake. In the end, though, there are no victors: Both Daemon and Aemond perish in the battle, along with their respective dragons. And as if the loss of Caraxes and Vhagar wasn’t enough, more dragon death is on the menu for the rest of House of the Dragon…

The King’s Landing smallfolk storm the Dragonpit.

The smallfolk of King’s Landing have grown restless during Rhaenyra’s tumultuous reign. Their discontent reaches a fever pitch when Helaena dies by suicide. Rumors spread that she was actually murdered, sparking a massive riot throughout the city. During this time, a one-handed prophet named the Shepherd — who we may have already met in the show — leads a mob to the Dragonpit, where the rioters decide, “You know what? We can take on a bunch of dragons and live!”

Obviously, hundreds of smallfolk get toasted in this endeavor. But since there are so many of them, it’s not long before four of the chained-up dragons in the Dragonpit — including Helaena’s Dreamfyre and Joffrey Velaryon’s (Oscar Eskinazi) Tyraxes — are dead as well.

Over in the Red Keep, Joffrey decides to steal his mother’s dragon so he can get up to the Dragonpit and put an end to this madness. Syrax does not take kindly to having a new, unbonded rider and bucks him off mid-flight, down to his death. She then heads over to the Dragonpit to help her scaly brethren, only to fall victim to the smallfolk as well. Without her dragon, and grieving the last of her sons with Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), Rhaenyra flees King’s Landing.

And where’s Aegon been this whole time?

Tom Glynn-Carney and Matthew Needham in “House of the Dragon.”
Credit: Liam Daniel / HBO

Meanwhile, Aegon’s been hiding out in the most unexpected of places. House of the Dragon‘s version of Larys proposed that the two hide out in Braavos for the time being. However, Fire & Blood sees Aegon heading to Team Black stronghold Dragonstone, where he stages a coup and takes over. By the time an overthrown Rhaenyra returns from King’s Landing, she’s in for a rude surprise — and a violent family reunion. But isn’t that par for the course for the Targaryens?

House of the Dragon Season 2 is now streaming on Max.