House Of The Dragon Just Revealed Season 4's Darkest Story (It'll Change Targaryens Forever)

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 7, "The Dragon In Winter."Ahead of its finale, House of the Dragon season 3 is already setting up Season 4's darkest storyline. The third season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel has had its fair share of dark, harrowing, and brutal moments already, starting with the death of Jacaerys Velaryon at the Battle of the Gullet in episode 1. That's set to continue in the season's climactic installment, but it's also something that should be even more prevalent in the fourth and final run, where the stakes will be even higher than before.

One of the biggest ways House of the Dragon likes to set up and foreshadow future events is through the dreams and prophetic visions of Helaena Targaryen, which is something episode 7 once again uses to good effect. We hear her tell Rhaenyra Targaryen her last vision was of a "gray mare," which is likely a portent of death, making Biblical allusions to "behold a pale mare." Later, we see her giving birth and her child being taken away, and her standing surrounded by snow, seemingly a nod to the coming Long Night.

Most interesting of all, though, was Helaena on her dragon, Dreamfyre. This is something that's been a long time coming: in the book, Helaena loved to fly; in the show, we haven't even seen her with the creature until now. That alone makes it feel like a notable occasion, not to mention the impressive design of Dreamfyre really makes her stand out, but it also teases one of season 4's biggest stories, the Storming of the Dragonpit.

Helaena's vision of Dreamfyre isn't just somewhere random, but places them at the Dragonpit, the location that's used to house many of the Targaryen dragons (and later the stage for meetings between Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, Cersei Lannister, et al in Game of Thrones season 7). Helaena sees a huge mob of people entering, and uses her dragon to burn them to death, which very much evokes a plot point from Fire & Blood.

How Helaena's House Of The Dragon Vision Sets Up The Storming Of The Dragonpit

Warning: Major SPOILERS from this point on for future events from George R.R. Martin's book, Fire & Blood.Known as the Storming of the Dragonpit, this came amid riots in King's Landing. The people of the city had risen up against Rhaenyra's rule: with growing paranoia and fear over the Green army and their dragons coming to harm them, combined with increased taxes, a lack of money and other resources, and worsening living conditions, there was no longer any trust in or love for the queen, who became regarded as similar to Maegor the Cruel (one of the worst Targaryen kings in history).

Central to the Storming of the Dragonpit is a man named the Shepherd, a follower of the Faith of the Seven who had long been preaching against Rhaenyra. He convinced a mob that the only way to save the city was to rid it of the dragons in the Dragonpit, leading to them marching upon it. They killed all the Dragonkeepers and fought their way inside, leading to an even more bloody, brutal sequence of events involving the four dragons housed within the pit at that time.

These were Shrykos (Jaehaerys Targaryen's dragon), Morghul,(Jaehaera Targaryen's) Tyraxes (Joffrey Velaryon's), and Dreamfyre. The dragons were chained up and so could not fly away, but instead fought against the smallfolk using their claws, tails, and flames, leading to mass carnage. The sheer number of people in the mob meant they were able to slay the first three of the dragons, albeit with heavy losses, before Dreamfyre broke loose. She swooped down upon them but, wounded by a crossbow bolt, ended up crashing into the Dragonpit, killing the mob and herself, with hundreds if not thousands of people left dead.

Alongside this is the fate of Prince Joffrey who, in House of the Dragon Season 3 and at this point in the book, is Rhaenyra's heir. He had flown away from the Red Keep on his mother's dragon, Syrax, likely toward the Dragonpit to try and save his own dragon. Unfortunately, he was unable to stay on the dragon's back, and plunged to his death, where an angry mob started cutting his body into pieces.

Syrax, meanwhile, flies down to attack those who had survived at the Dragonpit on the ground, but is overcome in the end. While accounts vary on the manner of the dragon's death, what's not in doubt is that this is where Rhaenyra's mount is killed. Overall, it's one of the most violent, vicious, and horrific sequences in the entire Dance of the Dragons.

Helaena's Role In The Storming Of The Dragonpit

Despite her vision in House of the Dragon, Helaena is not present at the Storming of the Dragonpit in the book, for a tragic reason: she's already dead. Following Blood and Cheese, she becomes depressed and slowly sinks into madness, not too dissimilar to what the TV show is trying to portray in season 3. After even more devastating events and losses, including the death of her youngest son, Maelor Targaryen (who the show may or may not be fully including), she takes her own life by jumping out of her window in the Red Keep onto spikes below.

This actually serves as the inciting incident for the riots in King's Landing that leads to the Storming of the Dragonpit. Helaena was well-liked by the smallfolk, and with tensions, anger, and paranoia already extremely high, her death is the catalyst to send things boiling over.

The question is whether House of the Dragon is changing it, and giving Helaena an actual physical role at the Dragonpit instead (and thus delaying her death to that point). It's possible, but her visions are rarely super literal. The Dreamfyre sequence is likely intended to convey a) the damage she herself would wield if she were to fly Dreamfyre into battle, and b) set up the events that will follow after her own death, rather than meaning we're getting such a major change to this storyline.

The Storming Of The Dragonpit Is Devastating For House Targaryen

The Storming of the Dragonpit is a pivotal moment in the Dance of the Dragons, and the history of House Targaryen. It is essentially where Rhaenyra's reign ends: her rule in King's Landing is no longer tenable, she has lost another of her sons and her dragon, and she has very little support remaining. She has no real choice but to flee from the city, which will eventually lead to her own demise later in the civil war.

There are longer-standing consequences, too. The death of Joffrey changes Rhaenyra's heir to Aegon the Younger, who becomes King Aegon III at the very end of the Dance. Because of all he'd been through, he had no love for dragons, and the last Targaryen dragon actually died out during his reign. That itself is an issue compounded by the Storming, because it results in the deaths of five dragons in total if you factor in Syrax, a huge loss from which House Targaryen never recovered. That makes a Dragonpit scene a dark event, with even darker, more dire implications.

The House of the Dragon season 3 finale will be released on Sunday, August 9 at 9pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.