There’s Only 1 House of the Dragon Character That I’m Sorry For, and It’s Not Rhaenyra

House of the Dragon ’s season 2 latest episode may have given a hint at its lead characters’ change of mind regarding the inevitable and fast approaching war, but there’s only one character in the entire show who has been silently protesting everything that was happening in there for too much time now.

The second season’s premiere episode was quick to get another Targaryen falling victim to the long-standing feud, but young Prince Jaehaerys’s suffering is nothing compared to what his seemingly awkward mother has been through.

The only daughter of King Viserys I and Alicent Hightower, Helaena and her personal view on the battle for the Iron Throne have been disregarded by literally every single member of her family.

Helaena’s wishes were completely ignored by default since she was forced into a marriage with her own brother Aegon II who never showed any care for his sister and continued to do so when she became his wife and his heirs’ mother.

Unlike her brothers, Helaena doesn’t really have a value in this family, except for the situations when it comes to urging her to give Aegon yet another heir.

The character’s tragic life story takes a new turn when Blood and Cheese sneak into the castle and behead her young son and the heir to the Iron Throne Prince Jaehaerys, causing her to suffer not only as a constantly ignored daughter, but now also as a mother who lost her innocent toddler.

In House of the Dragon, Helaena’s reaction to her child’s death is much more accurate than in George R.R. Martin’s book as in the show she’s seen running across the castle with her daughter in her hands in complete silence, which is a pretty normal phenomenon when the ultimate shock doesn’t even allow you to say a single word.

However, Helaena doesn’t find much sympathy among her family members even after suffering such a terrible loss. Her mother Alicent is the only one to console her, yet it seems pretty obvious to me that Alicent generally feels bad for Halaena — not in a way that her daughter has been through a lot, but rather that she’s surely inferior compared to her brothers and the rest of the family as a whole.

What happens next is an even bigger crime against Helaena since she’s not even allowed to mourn her son silently and is forced to participate in Jaehaerys’s public funeral that has no other goal but to show Rhaenyra’s cruel nature.

It thus becomes pretty clear that Helaena is indeed the only member of House Targaryen to not care about the war or any political games whatsoever, but rather opt for a serene life doing whatever she personally likes to do, without rules that she’s obliged to follow on a daily basis.

Having a lot in common with Rhaenyra since both are just victims of the consequences, Helaena appears to be an even more tragic figure in the Targaryens’ history, doomed to be forever ignored even by her own family.