House of the Dragon: Prophetic Visions – Helaena Targaryen constantly predicts the future

• Prophecies and visions appear often in the world of “House of the Dragon” and “Game of Thrones”.
• However, it is important to differentiate which are true and which are nonsense.
• Alicent’s daughter Helaena has a high prophecy rate. But also its fulfillment?

In episode 9 of “House of the Dragon” we witness how, after the death of Viserys, the Greens try to take power in the kingdom. Otto and Alicent each hire men to find Aegon to crown him. Meanwhile, Helaena again utters some wise words of prophecy.

Predictive Wisdom

“It seems to be our destiny that we always crave what others have”. This time more wisdom than cryptic prophecy, Helaena’s words reveal a basic theme of the 9th episode and the entire series. As she embroiders a spider pattern, a possible reference to the “spider spy networks” in the castle, she utters these words to her nanny.

With this, Helaena addresses the upcoming conflict, the internal Targaryen civil war between the Greens and the Blacks. Rhaenyra will desire to take the throne herself after the death of her father, King Viserys I. Something her half-brother Aegon, reluctantly but successfully, has already done.

But it was the same before Alicent. When Rhaenyra was Viserys’ first heir, the queen aspired to see her own son, Aegon, on the throne. So the game repeats itself to the bitter end. Helaena has understood, even if she is not able to free her family from this hopeless situation.

Fraternal envy among the green Targaryens

Additionally, Helaena’s words that we always seek what others have that we can’t get fit her brother Aemond.

As he says himself in the episode, he sees himself as the more suitable candidate for kingship. He rides the mightiest dragon in the world, is a skilled swordsman, tactician and historian. So he actually wants the throne for himself, but knows that this is impossible.

Another thing that Aemond covets but is already due to his brother is Helaena. Aemond has had a soft spot for her since childhood. He even wished he had been married to her. This desire for something unattainable now also accompanies him in adulthood.

The dragon beast under the boards

During a conversation with her mother, Helaena also repeats the words from the last episode. “Beware the beast under the boards”. But this time she says it forcefully, apparently angry that her mother hasn’t understood her so far. However, this opens up a new way of interpreting this episode.

Disaster strikes at Aegon’s solemn coronation ceremony. The aged princess Rhaenys, escaped from her house arrest, breaks out of the floor of the dragon pit on her dragon Meleys, the Red Queen. She comes close to burning the entire royal family, but stops and escapes through the pit gates.

This would have fulfilled another of Helaena’s prophecies, about which she had previously tried so insistently to warn her mother. Rhaenys on her dragon lady is the beast that literally comes out of the ground and nearly devours everyone. It’s good for the Greens that these prophesying words from Helaena went off lightly, at least for them.

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Helaena’s prophecy about Aemond

In a short scene in episode 5 of “House of the Dragon” we see Helaena playing with a kind of centipede and telling her mother various facts about him. Helaena seems a bit dreamy, like she’s just physically present and talking to someone else about something else entirely. The calm atmosphere is broken by the bursting in of Aemond, Alicent’s youngest son. He complains about the teasing of the other boys in the dragon pit and that he still doesn’t have a dragon of his own.

His mother reassures him and promises that one day he will have a dragon of his own. Unnoticed by the others, Helaena mutters “he’s going to close one eye”. While this statement also applies to the insect that Helaena is examining, it also applies to Aemond’s bleak future.

Finally, in the 7th episode of “House of the Dragon” we see the outcome of Helaena’s prophecy to Aemond. Aemond is determined to mount the dragon Vhagar, riderless after Laena’s death. With more luck than sense, the young Targaryen prince even manages to keep himself in the air and land the beast again.

However, when he arrives, not only are Rhaenyra’s children awaiting him, as in the books, but also Daemon’s daughters, Baela and Rhaena. A violent fight ensues between the children, with Aemond being the eldest of them all, injuring several of them. After Aemond calls Jacaerys a bastard, he pulls out a dagger and slits his relative’s eye open.

Helaena’s prophecy has come true. Aemond loses an eye, but in return, as he correctly recognizes, gains a dragon. The ironic and tragic thing is that no one knows about her abilities, probably not even herself.

Words of Fortune from Helaena on Driftmark

Helaena on Driftmark is present at Laena Velaryon’s funeral service. Seemingly uninterested in wine or conversation, she plays with insects on her own, as she did in the previous episode. In doing so, she again mumbles things that others cannot understand, but from which valuable information about the future of the Targaryens can be deduced for us.

Helaena’s second prophecy is more mysterious and not as easy to decipher as the one about Aemond’s fate. “Hand at the loom, black as charcoal, green as fern. Dragons of flesh weave dragons of yarn.” Helaena keeps mumbling while playing with a spider. She is watched by her brothers Aegon and Aemond, who ignore her words and label her as independent and imbecile.

The hand on the loom could refer to the hand of King Otto Hohenturm. He sits at the “loom” of power and has a lot of influence on the king and thus the kingdom. The dragons, black as charcoal and green as fern, are the two rivals Rhaenyra and Alicent, who have chosen the colors black and green for themselves. They literally became dragons of yarn, as their respective supporters refer to themselves by the color of their clothes.

The Greens have now been openly spoken out in the series. Alicent’s faction is named for her green wardrobe and the colors of her house. Rhaenyra chose the traditional Targaryen black, which will represent her and her allies in the Dance of the Dragons. Helaena’s words illustrate the clear front that is now emerging that will cut across the family and soon all of Westeros.

Another interesting metaphorical image might be the spider moving on Helaena’s hand. It could be symbolic of the devious and obscure Larys Kraft. This, like the webs of a spider, seems to have a hand in everything and to know everything through its spies and agents. He is to influence the fortunes of the empire to a large extent and rise to become the master of the whisperers.

Two episodes left before Season 1 of House of the Dragon is over. With the death of King Viserys, the dance of the dragons should be just around the corner and thus set the direction for season 2, which should (almost) get by without major jumps in time.