“House of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 4: Is Aegon dead?

If there was ever an argument for kings not going into battle, it was Aegon II Targaryen’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) feeble attempt to do something useful in House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4.

Desperate to be taken seriously, the King jumps aboard his little dragon Sunfyre and flies off to try to help the Hand of the King Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and his troops in their attempt to storm Rook’s Rest.

The end result? The king is quickly defeated by Rhaenys (Eve Best) on her dragon Meraxes, before his brother Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) swoops in on the giant Vhagar to set them both on fire and knock the king out of the sky in a sort of death spiral.

Whether Aemond tried to kill Aegon and who could become ruler if he is incapacitated is something we can discuss separately. But first, the most important question of all: Is Aegon really dead?

Is Aegon dead at the end of episode 4?

OK, let’s look at the evidence. Not only was the king hit in the face with Vhagar’s fire, but he also fell pretty far out of the sky. The last time we see him, at the very end of the episode, he’s lying on his back in a small forest clearing next to Sunfire.

The problem is that we only get a very brief glimpse of his body, and it’s not enough to say for sure if he’s dead or just unconscious. The only other things we have are a) his dragon and b) the reactions of the people who find him.

First of all, it is worth mentioning that Sunfyre is not dead. Badly injured, sure. But he was clearly still breathing, which means the fall itself wasn’t enough to kill him. Of course, that’s not proof that the fall wasn’t enough to kill the king, but perhaps it suggests that their landing was cushioned somewhat by the trees.

Next, there are Aemond and Criston. When Criston enters the clearing at the end of the battle, Aemond has drawn his sword and is striding purposefully toward the fallen body of the king – the implication, of course, being that he plans to secure the king is dead. Cole’s arrival interrupts him, but the look on the Hand’s face when he sees the king’s body is completely devastated and he sinks to his knees.

The conclusion? The king is either dead or near death. The dragon’s survival and Aemond’s sword drawing suggest that Aegon could is still clinging to life. But Cole’s horrified look suggests that he is either already dead or close to it. We’ll have to wait until episode 5 to find out which is the case.

New episodes of House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.