The House of the Dragon Inconsistency that Still Keeps Fans Up at Night
House of the Dragon has proven itself a worthy prequel to Game of Thrones.
It has all the drama and violence we have come to expect, and a whole host of new characters for us to love and hate, then change our minds about. One of the greatest strengths of the world created by George R. R. Martin is the depth of the people within it.
Nobody seems to be all good or all bad all the time. They are people, flawed and beautiful. They make mistakes, they do terrible and wonderful things. And sometimes they have us scratching our heads with their behaviour, but usually on some level we are able to understand their motivations, whether we agree with their actions or not.
But HotD fans do not feel this way about all characters within the show. In fact, there are two in particular that have them feeling so confused, they are straight-up levelling the criticism of bad writing at the series. The issue is focused on Corlys and Rhaenys and what seems to be extremely odd behaviour on their part…
Fans have taken to Reddit to express their annoyance with the tenth episode in season one, feeling this showcases a glaring consistency problem. Corlys has lost his brother and son at the hands of Rhaenyra and Daemon, and yet seems totally unperturbed by this fact. While it is true that he has largely seemed less convinced of the foul play regarding his son than his wife, there is still no denying that Daemon murdered his brother, in cold blood, and in public.
Now, some have pointed out that Corlys' brother was attempting to steal his throne when he was killed and that he could feel that Daemon had done him a favour in that regard. But what about Rhaenys? Who was so utterly convinced that Rhaenyra was involved in their son's death?
Fans have pointed out that her smile at Rhaenyra when she offers her assistance in the likely battle, which they felt was near sickening. While it is true that Rhaenys did say to her husband that she had been impressed by Rhaenyra's willingness to show restraint and not rush to war, surely that does not erase the fact that she had their son murdered for totally selfish reasons?
Some eagle-eyed fans have also noticed that Corlys and Rhaenys' grandchildren are forced to side with Rhaenyra, given Daemon is their father. They could be motivated by wanting to protect them, but does that mean that this is all for show and we can expect a betrayal down the line?
If so, what would have been the point of Rhaenys threatening the newly crowned King Aegon and his family with her dragon Meleys?
It seems any way you look at it, someone in the writer's room has messed up somewhere. And no explanation put forward by fans who attempt to defend the show seems to fully account for the glaring inconsistency in Corlys and Rhaenys' behaviour in episode 10. As for what will come next, that will be revealed in season two or is already known to those who have read the books.