Every House of the Dragon main character's fate, mapped out

Well, we all know death is a bit of a running gag in the world of House of the Dragon, but with the show barrelling towards its endgame, there's been a lot of chatter about which characters will actually make it out alive. Quite a few, as it turns out—though if you go by George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, not always in one piece, and not always by any remotely pleasant means. With Season 3 about to swing into the big Tumbleton set-piece, the future’s looking bleak for more than a few familiar faces. Here’s what happens to the major players, according to the source material. Major spoilers below, obviously.

Season 4 of House of the Dragon will wrap up the Targaryen civil war, with most of the book’s high body count falling in that final stretch.

Larys Strong: Dies for His Crimes, Not His Schemes

Larys Strong—the absolute king of dodgy footwork and whispering in dark corners—actually survives well past both Rhaenyra and Aegon II. In the books, he stays behind in King’s Landing to keep Aegon’s crumbling reign propped up, and when the king is found conveniently poisoned, Larys gets the blame. After Team Black retakes the city and puts young Aegon III on the throne, Hand-of-the-Day Cregan Stark sorts Larys out sharpish: he’s offered the Wall or the chopping block, and takes what’s behind door number two—decapitation. So, late justice, but justice all the same.

Mysaria: Even Grimmer Than You Think

Mysaria gets a particularly nasty exit in the books. When Rhaenyra bolts the capital during the riot, Mysaria stays in the Red Keep and winds up captured by a mob dubbed the "gutter knights". She’s forced to do a humiliating walk through the city—completely naked and lashed—à la Cersei, but more savage. She doesn’t survive it, dying in the streets. With the riot set for early Season 4, don’t expect her much longer if the series sticks to the broad outline.

Rhaena & Baela Targaryen: Survive, But Not Without Baggage

Rhaena’s fate is an odd one, especially as the show is already mixing her arc up with book-character Nettles. In Fire & Blood, she spends most of the war chilling in the Vale, successfully hatches a dragon, and winds up as heir-apparent for the childless King Aegon III—though she never gets the throne and remarries a couple of times after the untimely death of her first husband. The series might just have her vanish with the dragon Sheepstealer in a riff on Nettles’s storyline instead.

Baela, meanwhile, goes the distance too—despite mixing it up with Aegon and his dragon outside Dragonstone. She refuses to play court politics and bolts to Driftmark to marry Alyn Velaryon. Her reward? Banished from succession, but gets a family out of it. Their domestic bliss is apparently...intermittent, since Alyn spends more time at sea than home, but that’s Targaryen relationships for you.

Tumbleton’s Traitors: Ulf the White & Hugh Hammer

• Ulf turns coat to the Greens at the First Battle of Tumbleton, survives the fun, and then tries to crown himself king. He’s poisoned—Hobert Hightower has to drink the cup himself to convince him it’s safe. Effective, if a bit on the nose.
• Hugh Hammer defects alongside Ulf, and also fancies himself king material. Before he gets too comfortable, Ser Jon Roxton stabs him as the Second Battle of Tumbleton’s breaking out, then promptly gets killed by Hugh’s own men. Takes skill to have everyone turn on you that quickly.

Addam & Alyn Velaryon: One Death, One Promotion

Addam stays loyal to Rhaenyra—but thanks to her paranoia about the dragonseeds, nearly gets arrested. Lord Corlys tips him off in time to escape, and Addam rides straight into the Second Battle of Tumbleton. In a wild scrap between three dragons (two riderless), Addam and Seasmoke both go down fighting. Addam dies; he’s posthumously romanticised for his loyalty.

Alyn does rather better: leads the Velaryon fleet, helps block Aegon II’s return after Rhaenyra’s death, and ends up negotiating the prince’s return to the city. When Corlys finally dies (naturally—a rare privilege on this show), Alyn becomes Lord of the Tides, marries Baela, and makes a career out of swashbuckling as Aegon III’s master of ships.

The (Un)Dead: Daeron, Helaena, Aemond

Daeron survives two Tumbleton battles but is reported dead. No one ever finds the body, so there’s always that open question—ripe for TV tweaks or “he was a faceless man all along” types of nonsense. Various imposters do try to use his name later, but the Daeron we knew never returns.

Helaena suffers perhaps the worst fate—she takes her own life after her little son Maelor’s death (Maelor hasn’t turned up in the show yet, but was seen in Helaena’s vision this season). Her suicide is the final straw for the people of King’s Landing, turning the mob decisively against Rhaenyra. The show seems poised to tinker with the timeline.

Aemond gets the spectacular death fans have always wanted: duelling Daemon above the God’s Eye. The pair plunge into the lake, their dragons at each other’s throats, and Daemon jumps across onto Vhagar to finish Aemond with a dagger through the missing eye. His body is actually recovered, which is saying something in this universe. End of the line for Aemond ‘One Eye’ Targaryen.

Aegon II: Victory, Then a Goblet Too Far

Aegon II stages a comeback after earlier setbacks—reclaiming Dragonstone, fighting Baela, and most grisly of all, feeding Rhaenyra to Sunfyre (yes, the same event referenced years ago in Thrones proper). But his triumph is brief: he’s poisoned just before Rhaenyra’s forces reclaim King’s Landing. No long happy reign for him, then. The show’s probably going to lean into this, because—let’s be honest—what’s more Thrones than a last-minute regicide?

The Last Hightower: Alicent’s Miserable Survival

Alicent Hightower is one of the precious few who makes it to the end—if you can call it that. She sees all of her children die and plenty of grandchildren as well. After the Blacks retake the capital, she’s thrown in Maegor’s Holdfast, stripped of her power, and left to rot. She spends the rest of her days muttering and wasting away, until she finally succumbs to Winter Fever some years after the war. Living really is her punishment.

Daemon & Rhaenyra: Not Really Happy Endings

Daemon goes out in the Battle Above the God’s Eye, seemingly confirmed dead by the monstrous fall from the sky. His body’s never recovered, fuelling years of wild speculation—one of life’s little Thrones mysteries the show could actually tie up for once. Don’t put money on him popping up in Oldtown with a new haircut.

Rhaenyra, of course, gets the worst of it: after all the blood, fire, and heartbreak, she ends up captured by Aegon at Dragonstone. He has her executed (well, fed to a dragon—subtlety’s not his strong suit), in front of her son no less. The ‘Half-Year Queen’ dies in agony. That struggle for the Iron Throne? All for nothing in the end.