House Of The Dragon Writer Clarifies Whether Aemond Targaryen's Murderous Actions Were Intentional

It is a truth universally acknowledged that, within the "Game of Thrones" universe, people do really bad things. Ever since the original series — which had people committing twincest, doing genocides, and a whole host of other pretty terrible acts — audiences have come to expect that Westeros is full of bad people doing worse things. The original series' spin-off and prequel, "House of the Dragon," definitely doesn't shy away from that either; husbands bash their wives' heads in with rocks when they become an inconvenience, uncles seduce young nieces, and foot fetishes abound, just to name a few acts.

Perhaps the worst thing to happen in "House of the Dragon" so far, however, is the devastating death we see just as the season 1 finale comes to a close. High above the clouds, two young dragonriders — Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) and Prince Lucerys Velaryon (Elliott Grihault) — duke it out on their way back from a tense meeting in Storm's End, and considering that Lucerys is the reason Aemond only has one eye, the elder blonde boy is definitely out for revenge. So what does Aemond do, and what do the show's writers have to say about it?

Aemond is definitely chasing Lucerys throughout the skies, but what happens next... actually might not be his fault. Lucerys, atop his younger and smaller dragon Arrax, is desperately trying to outpace Aemond and his giant legendary beast Vhagar, but both dragons stop obeying, and when Arrax sends a blast of fire towards Vhagar, the latter snaps — literally. With one great bite, Vhagar kills Arrax, as well as Lucerys, despite Aemond shouting at his dragon to listen to him.

According to writer and producer Sara Hess, Aemond did not intend to kill Lucerys, despite their past and the fact that, in the source material by George R.R. Martin, he definitely does. "We're always interested in muddying the characters," Hess told Vanity Fair. "Actually it's a thing George says often: that he's not about 'good' people or 'bad' people, just people who do both good and bad things."

There's no question, for Hess and the team behind "House of the Dragon," that Aemond starts this fight due to his deep resentment towards Lucerys. "He gets on this giant beast and chases him down with absolutely cruel intentions, and things get out of hand, as they will when you're angry and not making great decisions," Hess revealed. "But it's always been clear to Ryan [Condal] and me that Aemond isn't a psychopath. He's got a lot of pride and a lot of anger, but he's still human. Frankly, I find it even more tragic if it's a mistake than if it was calculated."

Judge Aemond's actions for yourself on the season 1 finale of House of the Dragon, which is streaming on HBO Max now.