[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 6, “Smallfolk.”]
House of the Dragon delivered in spades what I always find myself craving in this franchise. Finally, some tenderness! Sex has always been part of the Game of Thrones universe, but swoon-worthy romantic moments? Not so much. Romance isn’t just a side plot to service fans. It’s a necessary tenet of storytelling that makes characters whole.
Sure, there are stories where romance isn’t needed at all, but Game of Thrones is not one of them — not when the political movements of Westeros are so powerfully driven by the emotional state of those running the game. House of the Dragon is a more impactful story whenever it leans into this fact.
Thanks to Season 2 Episode 6, we now have the best kiss of the franchise, delivered by the surprising pair that is Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and her advisor, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). This is the best kiss of the franchise not because it finally confirmed Rhaenyra’s queer subtext that’s been bubbling through the entire show (although that is fantastic and welcome), but because the characters acted purely on instinct, abjectly rejecting the emotional restraint that defines Team Green and so many characters in this world. That, and it was the product of total honesty. This moment immediately changes Rhaenyra’s actions as a leader in this war, proving the necessity of the romantic moment.
Ollie Upton / HBO
By acting on instinct, desire, and what she knows is right, Rhaenyra frees her wisdom and gives herself permission to do what she knows must be done to reclaim her throne. These instincts were growing stronger throughout the episode. Testing out the Dragonrider theory, sending food to the starving smallfolk of King’s Landing with Mysaria’s help, and slapping her councilor for forgetting to “fear” her were signs of her leading instead of being led.
Before this, Rhaenyra’s council meetings were defined by her acting with caution to try and prove a man isn’t needed at her side. In fact, she’s trying to be the man by acting like her father, Viserys (Paddy Considine, who made a thrilling return in this episode to haunt Daemon in Harrenhal), who presided over decades of peace. But the wisest of the series has always been Rhaenys (Eve Best), who by saying “you must send me” into battle at Rook’s Rest and leaving without hesitation showed the importance of acting quickly when you know you’re right.
While she doesn’t outright say it, it’s clear that Rhaenyra has absorbed this lesson from Rhaenys. And the Mysaria kiss is the key that unlocks the rest of Rhaenyra’s potential as a ruler. We see it have immediate positive effects when Rhaenyra flies off on Syrax to find Seasmoke and his new dragonrider (Addam of Hull, played by Clinton Liberty) without giving her counsel or son Jace (Harry Collett) a chance to doubt her.
Rhaenyra is at last emboldened to take the reins of the war effort without restraint, triggered by a moment of pure emotional honesty that challenges her desire for people to see her as a masculine ruler. Her relationship with Mysaria, as well as Rhaenys, has shown Rhaenyra that a matriarchal approach — one in which emotions are necessary to understand — may actually win the war. Alicent (Olivia Cooke) is certainly being crushed under the weight of the lack of tenderness in her family, a state of being she’s engendered her entire life. And her family is crumbling underneath this absence as well whether they know it or not.
D’Arcy says that Rhaenyra is driven by emotion, which Alicent deeply resents, but she has absolutely been holding that back in Season 2. Mysaria has become the missing piece of Rhaenyra’s strategy.
“As the series progresses, Mysaria really affects Rhaenyra’s politics,” D’Arcy told Variety of Season 2 Episode 6. “She has a powerful impact on Rhaenyra’s ability to see how a kingdom and its citizens are affected in the case of civil war. That was slightly abstract to Rhaenyra — until Mysaria somehow makes that more concrete. And I think speaks to different forms of power that, again, maybe Rhaenyra, in her eagerness for a masculine conflict-based power, sometimes overlooks. Gaining the will, and the belief of the people — I don’t know how much that was part of her political consciousness prior to Mysaria.”
Indeed, Mysaria has broken open the restraint that held Rhaenyra back, in large part because of that kiss.
“I think what you see initially is intimacy, and an intimacy that Rhaenyra shares so rarely. Even in some of her other romantic relationships, there’s a lot of presentation, there’s a lot of bravado, often from both sides. Certainly with Daemon, I think both parties struggle to reveal themselves in weakness, and that their eroticism is sort of predicated on power,” D’Arcy continued to Variety. “Whereas with Mysaria, in this growing relationship — it’s remarkably honest. Initially, there’s huge feelings of empathy and gratitude toward this person. Rhaenyra is hugely affected by the life that Mysaria has lived so bravely. Then, they are two bodies completely overrun by touch. As soon as they embrace and their bodies are touching, I think it’s pure bodily desire.”
It’s also necessary to note that Rhaenyra finding her will may not have happened through a relationship with a man — Daemon (Matt Smith) certainly hasn’t succeeded in helping his wife’s cause so far this season, try as he has. Part of the lived experience of being queer means having the courage to act outside of what’s deemed “normal.” While real-life queer culture isn’t directly reflected in this series (nor does it need to be — it’s fantasy, real-world rules don’t have to apply), a core tenet of queerness is reflected in this Rhaenyra and Mysaria development. Mysaria, in all of her scenes this season, is the embodiment of the benefits of a different life, a different way to think.
At last, Rhaenyra is acting on instinct. And it was a tender, romantic moment that let it happen. Let’s hope her freedom from restraint — and this unexpected romance — continue.
House of the Dragon, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO, Streaming on Max
