WARNING! This post contains SPOILERS for Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon season 1, episode 7!House of the Dragon episode 7’s twist ending sees Laenor Velaryon fake his death as he escapes to Essos, giving him the only happy ending in a series where tragedy strikes until each character’s bitter end. House of the Dragon won’t be nearly as forgiving as Game of Thrones’ ending, which gave most of the Stark children, Tyrion, Brienne, and Samwell relatively positive conclusions. Rather, the vast majority of House of the Dragon’s major characters will die, and if they manage to survive, they’ll be left utterly broken by the catastrophes of the Dance of the Dragons.
Laenor Velaryon’s fate in House of the Dragon episode 7 is a major twist for the series, as he was thought to suffer a brutal death in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. House of the Dragon created Rhaenyra and Daemon’s plot to fake Laenor’s death so they could marry, but the book indicated that he truly did die by Qarl Correy’s sword. The rumors stated that Qarl was jealous of Laenor being enamored with another man, or that Daemon hired Qarl to kill Laenor so that he could marry Rhaenyra himself. Instead, House of the Dragon gives him an unusually happy ending, as he gets to escape the woes of the Targaryen civil war and the unforgiving game of thrones that will see most of his family members die. Not only is Laenor spared from the calamities of war, but he also genuinely gets to lead a happier life of anonymity in Essos, where he can openly love Ser Qarl Correy or whoever he chooses.
Why House Of The Dragon Gave Laenor A Happy Ending
Considering there won’t be any more happy endings in House of the Dragon, the series likely gave Laenor a happier fate as evidence that the only way to avoid a tragic end was to avoid the war altogether. Laenor had also already suffered a tragedy from the death of his lover Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, which was a consequence of the political shifts and rivalries already building before the Dance of the Dragons. Game of Thrones gave similarly horrible endings to most of its LGBTQ+ characters, with House of the Dragon turning the tides by giving its most significant gay couple the story’s only happy ending.
Why No Other HOTD Characters Will Have Happy Endings
Nearly every character in House of the Dragon has a gray morality that keeps them from being entirely heroic or villainous, but Laenor Velaryon is a notable exception. Laenor had no interest in the politics of Rhaenyra’s ascension, and could easily be rid of such conflict by fleeing to Essos. It would be much harder, however, for the rest of the characters to escape so easily, as they’re almost all intent on playing the game of thrones. Rhaenyra could have ran way with Criston, but chose to perform her duties to the realm by staying and fighting for her seat on the Iron Throne. Every other major character in House of the Dragon will have a horrible end due to the casualties of war, betrayals, or decisions that they make coming back to bite them.
House of the Dragon is primarily a story about generational trauma, with children being the ones that suffer the most from their parents’ sins. This makes it inevitable that Rhaenyra, Daemon, Alicent, and Viserys’ children will not make it out of the Dance of the Dragons unscathed, and many of their ugly fates will be products of the elder generations’ actions. Very few can escape the effects of multi-generational traumas, but it is possible, which is why House of the Dragon at least gave Laenor a happy ending. The rest of the characters, however, will have the consequences of their feuds trickle all the way down to the Targaryens in Game of Thrones.
New episodes of House of the Dragon release Sundays on HBO/HBO Max.