Aegon’s Weird Reaction to His Nickname in House of the Dragon Season 2 Actually Makes Sense
The Greens’ King doesn’t seem to believe in his good intentions either.
Launched a couple of days ago, House of the Dragon ’s second season finally let its fans get a sneak peek into how things were going for both sides of the upcoming war, with each of them adopting their own way of ruling Westeros in case they win the Iron Throne.
The first episode took a closer look at some of the royal traditions, mostly in the Greens’ castle, where Alicent’s son Aegon II already appears to be the one who’ll take over all power for years to come.
Though in one of the scenes Aegon is shown in a very unexpected way trying to become a thoughtful king prioritizing his people’s needs over anything else, he still doesn’t seem to believe in his ability to ruin the image that has been pretty normal for most of the kings who ruled before him.
House of the Dragon season 2 episode 1 catches Aegon having a meeting with citizens when, upon his arrival to the throne room, he’s proclaimed “The Magnanimous.” Upon hearing that, Aegon repeats the phrase with a very skeptical tone, as if it were indeed some kind of overstatement or even a lie about his nature.
While the word “magnanimous” is often used to describe someone generous and honorable, Aegon in fact is seen trying to fit in such an image of him when the King appears to be extremely polite and amicable towards common people.
Still a young and inexperienced ruler, Aegon seems to be making an attempt to earn trust from citizens to eventually get their support, but his plan is constantly thwarted by his grandfather Otto Hightower who keeps reminding him of the infeasibility of his promises.
The following years eventually proved that choosing a word like “magnanimous” to describe Aegon was indeed a bad decision as he later on unveiled his true feelings about the commoners, and those feelings had nothing to do with deep care or love whatsoever.
Unlike his father Viserys I, whose reign brought peace and serenity to Westeros, Aegon II was mostly known as just “The Usurper” getting such a nickname from Rhaenyra’s supporters.