Skip to Content

House Of The Dragon Episode 9 Review

House of the Dragon episode 9 has set up for a massive season one finale. After the King’s death, the battle for the throne is on.

House of the Dragon episode 9 review

House Of The Dragon Episode 9 Review

House of the Dragon episode 9 has a whole lot of moving parts. Westeros is dealing with the death of King Viserys and as if that isn’t tough enough, Queen Alicent has decided that his dying words were that his first born son, Prince Aegon, should take him place on the Iron Throne. This was definitely a misinterpretation, but she believes it to be true and because of that, everything is up in the air now.

There is a massive battle for the throne unfolding, and House of the Dragon episode 9 is setting up for an epic finale. Throughout this episode we get to see how many are preparing for it. There are whispers, betrayals, murders, and kidnappings. Even the Queen is willing to degrade herself in exchange for information in a scene that is quite hard to watch.

House of the Dragon episode 9 review

Going down this road of changing the successor last minute leaves poor Alicent a bit in over her head. There is a lot of scrambling to make sure everything goes just so in House of the Dragon episode 9, and there is a lot of room for error. While we sadly don’t get to see Rhaenyra and Daemon this episode, we cannot wait to see their reaction to all the drama that has gone down. Surely this will be done in the next episode, which is also the season one finale.

This episode has some action, but not much. This is because it really is done as a set up what is to come next. There are some important moments, reveals, and planning, don’t get us wrong, but no massive all out fights. House of the Dragon episode 9 is more subtle, but that isn’t a bad thing. Thanks to this episode we learn a lot about many of the characters — their true nature and what they do in secret. Which will come in handy when we try to figure who can be trusted and who can’t.

The final few moments of the episode is where things start to really heat up. Again, episode 9 is more about laying the groundwork to ensure and epic finale. They have us right where they want us, and we can’t wait to see what happens next.

House of the Dragon episode 9 review

Warning: Spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 9 ahead.

Now it is time to dive into House of the Dragon episode 9 spoilers, so if you have not watched the episode yet, come back later. 

We start off with the news that the King has indeed passed. This gets Queen Alicent’s head spinning as she needs to come up with a plan for her first born son to take over the throne and fast. Between that and dealing with the funeral for her husband, she quickly ends up in over her head, needing to go to those she trusts the most for help.

House of the Dragon episode 9 review

Her father highly recommends she kill Rhaenyra, snuffing out the competition, but she refuses. On top of that, she cannot locate her son. He is off drinking and whoring and who knows what. Both herself and he father send people out to track him down. Along the way it is learned that he has fathered at least one bastard, and likely many more. Which really, this information does not come as a shock to anyone who has been paying attention to House of the Dragon season one. 

What is a bit surprising though is the underground fighting ring of the children of Westeros that is discovered. This is a scene that is hard to watch, especially for parents, as they are literally pitted against one another for entertainment. Disgusting, really, and sure to be a key bit of information for the future.

House of the Dragon episode 9 review

Rhaenys is not going to give up her family’s line to the throne that easily, however. Queen Alicent tries her best to persuade her but she is not falling for it. Sneaking out of the castle under cover, she ends up getting to the dragon’s lair and it is during Prince Aegon’s crowning as King where we get the one and only dragon scene of House of the Dragon episode 9. But boy is is worth the wait of the entire episode. 

She is very clearly flexing here. She doesn’t kill, or even harm, anyone. But she surely lets them all know that she could have. It is possible that Rhaenys will come to regret this decision of letting them live, only time will tell.

House of the Dragon episode 9 review

It is perfectly understandable that they used this time to focus on Queen Alicent, her children, and where they need to go from here, but it was a bummer not to see Rhaenyra and Daemon at all. Hopefully there is a fair amount of time focused on them in the finale. 

With Aegon now crowned King, a role he never even wanted in the first place, it is looking like we have a miniature Mad King on our hands. He doesn’t know how to rule and has never trained for it. Since he is basically usurping the throne from Rhanyera, we know there is a fight coming. What the outcome will be? Only those who have read the book know. With this next episode being the finale, it is likely to leave on a cliffhanger since we know there is a House of the Dragon season two coming. 

Aemond feels that he should be king and well, most fans will not be able to disagree. He seems to have really earned that right and he certainly wants it. He is quite the standout of the episode, along with his mother, Alicent. The way he looks for his brother, and confronts him when the time comes, proves that he is certainly fit to rule.

House of the Dragon episode 9 is not filled with action, but it is still fast paced because of the feeling of urgency to figure out how they will take over the throne without much of a blowback. It is suspenseful and intense, and certainly reveals quite a bit about most of the major players. It seems there is another game for the throne afoot — no pun intended.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

NEXT: House Of The Dragon Review: It’s Good To Be Back

House of the Dragon season 1 poster

About House of the Dragon

The reign of House Targaryen begins. House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max. Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.

House of the Dragon airs on HBO & streams on HBO Max weekly on Sundays at 9pm.