Lucerys Velaryon's Death On House Of The Dragon, Explained

The Song of Ice and Fire universe has had plenty of heartbreaking deaths between George R. R. Martin's books, "Game of Thrones," and "House of the Dragon." It's hard for anything to top events like the beheading of Ned Stark or the Red Wedding, but the end of "House of the Dragon" Season 1 took a crack at it with the death of Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). Luke might not have had as much screen time as some other characters in the franchise before their own tragic ends, but his status as an innocent child, the accidental nature of his death, and a fantastic performance from young star Elliot Grihault all combine to make his murder a truly devastating finale for the show's inaugural season.

As tensions between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and the Hightower faction in King's Landing rise, Rhaenyra scrambles to assemble as many allies to her banner as she can. Since both of her sons are dragonriders, she sends her eldest, Jacaerys (Harry Collett), to meet with House Arryn in the Vale and House Stark in the North. Luke is sent to Storm's End to appeal to Lord Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans). Unfortunately, he's too late, as Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) has already sent her son Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) to treat with the Baratheons. Aemond was provided the stronger offer of partnership, so Luke's appeal falls on deaf ears, and he attempts to fly home through a raging storm.

Still blaming Luke for the loss of his eye years ago, and wanting to flaunt his power, Aemond pursues the younger boy against his own dragon, Vhagar, who dwarfs Lucerys' Arrax. The move is only meant as an intimidation tactic, but Aemond loses control of Vhagar, who devours dragon and boy alike.

Given what ends up happening, it's easy to blame Rhaenyra for Lucerys' death. He's just a boy, after all. How could she send him alone to handle such a potentially dangerous mission? Sure, she didn't know that Aemond would be waiting, but there was still risk.

The unfortunate reality is that dragonriders aren't easy to come by, and Rhaneyra was in the all-hands-on-deck mode to secure enough strength to keep her claim to the throne strong. At the time when she sends Lucerys off, the war is still a cold one. There's the potential for real violence, but both sides still believe — at least in the cases of Alicent and Rhaenyra specifically — that a peaceful resolution can be reached. These grabs for power and political allies are meant as deterrents to an actual war. And yet, it's Luke's departure that ends up lighting the spark of war, and once it's lit, neither side can extinguish it.

"House of the Dragon" is really a series of selfish decisions and missed communications, culminating in a conflict that swallows all of Westeros and kills untold innocents. If there's a message in Lucerys' death, it's that the rich and powerful play dangerous games with each other, but the real fallout strikes regular people.

Would the Dance of the Dragons war have started if Lucerys returned safely from Storm's End? The great thing about hypotheticals is that it's impossible to say for sure. What we do know, though, is that Rhaneyra was still very interested in peace before her son's murder. The Hightower faction offers to let Rhaenyra keep her title and Dragonstone if she acknowledges the rule of Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). But even before Lucerys is killed, Rhaenyra holds her own coronation.

It's unlikely that Aegon would have allowed Rhaenyra to proclaim herself queen, even if she never struck against him. It's equally unlikely that Rhaneyra would have gone back on her decision after taking the crown. And given that most of the actual machinery of war in Westeros is run by men like Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the call to action might not really have been in either ruler's hands to begin with.

Had Luke survived, there likely would have been some other event that kicked things into full bloodshed. The tensions weren't going to subside on their own, and though Alicent shows great remorse in season 2 and a desire for peace, it seems unlikely that she would have had such a change of heart had her son not murdered Lucerys. The royals decided ahead of time that it would be war, whether they acknowledged that truth or not. Luke was simply the first domino to fall.

While "House of the Dragon" makes a lot of big changes to the story from George R. R. Martin's "Fire & Blood," the death of Lucerys Velaryon is one thing that's pretty much exactly the same between the two. As in the show, the book describes Aemond challenging Luke at Storm's End, then pursuing him into the storm. There's a bit more ambiguity about what actually happens up there, as Martin's book is told as a history from the perspective of various chroniclers. There are also some added details about the tension within Lord Boros Baratheon's hall, giving an extra explanation for why Aemond was so enraged and would willingly do something so stupid.

In both versions of the story, Luke's death is the fulcrum point on which the Dance of the Dragons turns. We still have a while to wait before "House of the Dragon" Season 3 arrives, but Luke may not be the most brutal death in the series when all is said and done. And given what happens with Blood and Cheese in "House of the Dragon" season 2, he arguably may already not be.