House of the Dragon ending explained: what happened to Lucerys in ‘The Black Queen’ – who is Vermithor?

After ten episodes charting nearly twenty years of Westerosi history, House of the Dragon has come to a close.

The series lead its characters right up to a precipice, with series finale ‘The Black Queen’ finding the Targaryens and the Hightowers on the brink of a civil war. It’s a war that Series 2 – currently expected in early 2024 – will likely chart in earnest, with the series ending on Rhaenyra’s determined fury.

Here’s everything you need to know about the House of the Dragon finale ‘The Black Queen’, with some thoughts on what it means for the series going forward from here. (Of course, do be warned - spoilers abound.)

What happened to Lucerys Velaryon?

Much of ‘The Black Queen’ is about Rhaenyra’s reluctance to declare war outright. Despite the Hightowers’ efforts to usurp her claim to the throne, she opts not for immediate retribution, and cautions own allies to wait before making any such moves themselves; it’s an attempt to act in accordance with the wishes of her late father King Viserys, who charged her with keeping the realm in one piece.

To that end, she sends her son Lucerys Velaryon – one of her firstborn children, from her marriage to Laenor Velaryon/her affair with Harwin Strong – to pass on a message to Borros Baratheon, an ostensible if potentially wavering ally. It’s not meant to be a dangerous mission, but it quickly goes poorly for Lucerys: his cousin Aemond, still blaming Lucerys for the loss of his eye many years prior, has already arrived at the Baratheon castle, and attempts to intimidate and threaten Lucerys.

Lucerys leaves, making his journey through the skies back to Dragonstone. Aemond swoops in on his dragon Vhagar, a further attempt at intimidation – but it goes too far too quickly, as the two dragons start to ignore their masters and fight one another. Vhagar is much larger than Lucery’s dragon, and kills them both with ease – and the realisation dawns on Aemond exactly what the significance of this will be.

It calls back to earlier conversations in the episode. Rhaenyra had reassured Lucerys that “Targaryens are closer to Gods than to men”; Daemon insisted that it was dragons that gave the Targaryens their power. Here, though, it becomes clear how volatile the dragons really are – and how little control over the source of their power the Targaryens really have.

Who is the dragon Daemon was singing to?

Frustrated with Rhaenyra’s caution, Daemon leaves the war council. We next see him in a dark crypt, singing a song in High Valerian – a dragon looms in the darkness, clearly drawn to Daemon’s voice.

The question of dragons and their role in the coming war was much discussed during ‘The Black Queen’, with Daemon arguing for the swift use of dragons. (Rhaenyra, for her part, refused, not wanting to be “Queen of ash and bone”.) He suggests multiple times going to claim the wild dragons, who live free with no associated rider – which is what it appears he’s done here.

Most likely, judging by its extreme size, the dragon that Daemon is singing to is Vermithor – the oldest and largest of all the dragons, previously bonded to King Jaehaerys (the king who died with no clear heir and passed his crown to Viserys). If Daemon has bonded with Vermithor, he’ll perhaps now be able to fight Vhagar – the large dragon bonded to Aemond.

Has the Dance of Dragons begun?

Yes. The death of Lucerys at the hands of Aemond is what prompts the Dance of Dragons – the name given to the Targaryen/Hightower civil war – to begin in earnest. War has clearly been brewing for some time, and in Series 2 it will explode in full force.

Interestingly, the book that House of the Dragon is based on – written as a series of overlapping, and often contradictory, historical accounts – suggests that Aemond killed Lucerys deliberately. ‘The Black Queen’ instead positions this death as an accident, borne of man’s lack of control over the dragons; whether that should be understood as a running theme across House of the Dragon’s interpretation of the Dance remains to be seen.

Will we see the Starks and the Baratheons in Series 2?

Yes, we will. There have been frequent allusions to the powerful Northern families in House of the Dragon thus far, with ‘The Black Queen’ promising their greater involvement as the war begins in earnest.

In George RR Martin’s account of the Dance of the Dragons, Cregan Stark – who lived four generations prior to Ned Stark – is quickly established as a key player in the Targaryen civil war. It’s likely, then, that he’ll appear in Series 2 (even if he’s not, as persistent rumours suggest, played by Henry Cavill).

When will House of the Dragon Series 2 air?

Currently, House of the Dragon Series 2 is expected to air in early 2024, though we don’t really know anything with much specificity beyond that.