The ‘House of the Dragon’ Finale Solved the Show's Biggest Problem

The following article contains major spoilers for the finale of House of the Dragon season three.Goddamn, I missed the Game of Thrones universe going full sicko mode. This season of House of the Dragon, notwithstanding the relative lull of its midpoint, has made for a killer resurgence: you’ve had the psychodrama of Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) slowly losing her shit, crushed by grief and her belated realization that wearing the crown, with all of its banal demands—such as keeping the smallfolk fed and watered, lest they rise up in hungry rebellion—is quite tough, actually. The dragons have, well, dragoned! And, most crucially, there’s been a ton of Thrones brand gore and gnarly violence, from the giant sea skirmish that opened this run of episodes, through to the finale that aired overnight: one big, brutal dragonfire siege, Matt Smith inventing 17 different ways to scowl cockily, and James Norton (RIP) dying via a sword jammed up his rear.Yeah, sure, there are still way too many characters, and they’re all assholes, so it’s tough to root for any of them individually. But seeing them all clash, their egos exploding into the sort of violence and spectacle we saw during the long-awaited Battle of Tumbleton? Maybe it’s not peak-Thrones, but it’s at least Thrones when it was still an entertaining Sunday night staple. And with the TV landscape as barren as it is in 2026, we’ll take the Ws where they come.The interpersonal stuff at the heart of Dragon has always been compelling enough, even if we got a little too much of it in season two. That was sustained, mostly, by the tragedy of Rhaenyra and Alicent (Olivia Cooke), the former besties whose lust for power and belief in their own claims (or, in Alicent’s case, her children’s) to the Iron Throne, throw them into an increasingly barbaric conflict. As with the wider Dragon ensemble, they frequently stumble into terrible decisions, driven by ego, or often, sheer pettiness. One criticism often levied towards the show is that everyone is kind of stupid—but, to be generous, you might read that as more of a feature than a bug, an indication of their human flaws as opposed to poor writing. (The reality is probably a little column A, a little column B.) Even when the show was most heavy on downbeat drama, and slow-burn politicking, and hushed talking in dimly-lit, dusty rooms with lots of books lining their grey brickwork walls, it was very watchable.But I, for one, approach a show like House of the Dragon with bloodlust. And the finale satisfied that desire for Medieval carnage like the best episodes of Thrones past. It is a blueprint that the show would be wise to follow. Give me more huge battles in fields scorched by dragonfire, men’s faces melting from their skulls like waxworks at a flaming Madame Tussauds. Give me more of that one northern, axe-wielding bear of a brute, the incredibly metal “Roddy the Ruin” (Tommy Flanagan, a kickass MVP this season), who charges into the battle with gleeful fury, hacking down terrified soldiers for nothing but the thrill of the game. And then he roars in psychotic triumph as he—alongside his victim, Norton’s Ormund Hightower, one of the franchise’s more deliciously detestable peacocks, who a one-armed Ruin has just skewered— is burned to death. Fuck yeah! Give me more of random soldiers being yeeted by methods both gnarly and inventive, like that one guy whose head is deleted by a catapult. This is what we came for, dammit.And look, I don’t think that the renewed embrace of massive battles and brutal gore, such as last night, was the only reason for Dragon’s season three comeback. As aforementioned, Rhaenyra’s mental spiral made for a super compelling watch, her inner turbulence amplified by tight, claustrophobic camera work, those scenes taking on the air of a horror movie. Emma D’Arcy has also done insane work this season— arguably their best in the series’s run, though that may be recency bias, because D’Arcy has aways been a highlight. But do I care all that much about whatever is going on with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and the witch he has shacked up with? Not really. Nor was I all that invested in, or affected by, the death of Helaena (Phia Saban), who commits suicide rather than live as Rhaneyra’s prisoner. (That said, the butterflies flying around Alicent soon after—a sign from Helaena that she was now at peace—made for a touching image.) Nonetheless, these scenes were few and far between.Elsewhere, the Dragon finale delivered: Rhaenyra going ham on the Sept, declaring herself to be the “Prince that Was Promised” to a bewildered crowd of smallfolk. A drunken Ulf (Tom Bennett), sick of his treatment by either side, deciding to level the playing field by raining fire on literally everyone. Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) slapping Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in the face, both satisfying and very funny, treating him more like a petulant little sibling than the narcissistic brother who tried to commit regicide. But, more than anything, the battle rocked. According to HBO’s current timeline, we’ve got at least two years until the fourth and final season. Based on where everything seems to be going—with all of this war coming to a head, and Rhaenyra’s rage hitting critical mass—it seems like there’ll be an even greater buffet of carnage on the table. I, for one, cannot wait.This article originally appeared in British GQ.