House of the Dragon’s ideal ending sees the coronation of the first “broken” king, with the message being the opposite of Bran the Broken’s Game of Thrones ascension. HBO’s House of the Dragon begins approximately 200 years before Game of Thrones, depicting the height of the Targaryen family dynasty at a time when a civil war divides the realm. Rather than Game of Thrones’ series of wars that saw numerous kings on the Iron Throne, House of the Dragon will be fought between brother and sister as they secure their claims to the throne, though the Dance of the Dragons will end with neither ruling.
While Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen had been set up as the most obvious characters to end up on the Iron Throne, Game of Thrones’ finale concluded with Bran Stark as King of Westeros. In a dual meaning that captured Daenerys’ fatal desire to “break the wheel,” Bran the Broken controversially ascended the Iron Throne after being elected king by the Great Council. Bran became the second “broken” king in Westeros after House of the Dragon’s Aegon III Targaryen, whose ascension to the Iron Throne marked the end of the catastrophic Dance of the Dragons.
The Broken King was the eldest surviving son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and her uncle Daemon Targaryen, the former being named King Viserys I’s true heir before his death. Having been a young child at the start of the Dance of the Dragons, Aegon the Younger spent much of his youth in isolation while having to watch his mother, father, three elder brothers, uncles, aunts, and cousins meet tragic demises. Becoming the last male heir of his uncle Aegon II Targaryen, who died after being poisoned, Aegon was forced to marry his cousin in order to establish peace between the Targaryens’ “green” and “black” parties. Unlike Bran, Aegon received his “broken” nickname due to his sullen demeanor, becoming a broken shell of a man whose spirit was crushed by all of the tragedies he survived throughout House of the Dragon’s civil war. While Bran the Broken’s election as king signaled hope for an optimistic future in Westeros, House of the Dragon's Broken King exhibits a far more bleak ending.
HOTD’s “Broken” King Ending Sets Up Game Of Thrones’ Dark Past
House of the Dragon’s ascension of Aegon the Younger flips Bran’s ending in terms of the prequel’s conclusion marking a pessimistic future for Westeros. Game of Thrones has already revealed that the nearly 170 years between the two shows will be marked by tragedy, war, betrayals, and darkness. Bran’s Game of Thrones ending suggests that Westeros’ future will be prosperous as the rulers avoid the mistakes of their predecessors, whereas House of the Dragon’s dark ending is understood with the knowledge that said mistakes will continue to be made.
Game of Thrones’ beginning can then be interpreted as the realm still suffering from the errors of the great families in House of the Dragon. While the entire structure of Westeros has shifted at the end of Game of Thrones, nothing substantial will have changed in terms of how the Iron Throne is ruled once Aegon becomes the Broken King in House of the Dragon’s ending. If Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon’s endings share any similarity other than a broken king, it’s that said ruler will also be devoid of emotion as the realm attempts to heal from the wounds of war.