This story incorporates spoilers for episode 4 of season two of Home of the Dragon.Aemond Targaryen is now essentially the most harmful man in Westeros. Portrayed by Ewan Mitchell with a steely resolve, beset by fleeting moments of vulnerability, Aemond has been a wildcard because the Targaryen civil warfare heats up, and now he’s lastly put himself within the recreation in a giant approach.Tonight’s episode of Home of the Dragon, “A Dance of Dragons,” lastly made good on the season’s promise to ship all-out warfare, because the Sport of Thrones prequel unleashed its first main battle scene. Helmed by stalwart HBO director Alan Taylor and written by sequence showrunner Ryan Condal, “A Dance of Dragons” ends with the battle of Rook’s Relaxation, in a sequence that simply could measure as much as one of the best of Thrones—all due to Aemond’s actions.The battle is a ruse between Aemond and Ser Criston Cole to lure a dragon from Rhaenyra’s aspect out, so Aemond—who rides Vhagar, the largest dragon in all of the land—can swoop in with a sneak assault. And that’s precisely what occurs when Rhaenyra takes the bait and dispatches Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon. Solely, she’s met by Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), feeling impotent and insecure, hoping to show his worthiness as king in battle. The result’s a climax that lives as much as the episode’s title, with a gnarly three-way dragon combat.Aemond emerges from the woods on Vhagar and unleashes fireplace on each of the opposite riders — sure, together with his personal brother. The ensuing chaos leaves Aegon and his dragon severely injured and grounded within the close by forest, whereas Aemond and Vhagar kill Rhaenys and her dragon. For these maintaining rating, that’s now two massive our bodies from the opposite aspect Aemond has claimed by way of Vhagar (the opposite being his nephew and Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys within the season 1 finale). And now, with Aegon both lifeless or near it, Aemond is (theoretically) poised to take Aegon’s place as ruler.Within the wake of this plot twist, GQ talked to Mitchell to debate whether or not or not Aemond loves his brother, filming the battle of Rook’s Relaxation, cultivating a persona based mostly on worry, the connection between a dragonrider and dragon, and way more.GQ: Why do you suppose Aemond assaults Aegon?Ewan Mitchell: I feel it is that shared historical past that they’ve. It is their two characters’ trajectories lastly accumulating at this crescendo, this turning level that, going ahead, will not be the identical once more. This brotherly bond, in the event you can name it that — in the event you may ever have known as it that. Aegon was very a lot the ringleader of Aemond’s bullying and supreme misfortune as a child.Aemond forgives, however he doesn’t neglect, and on high of that, you could have this second son who’s finding out with the maesters, coaching with the sword, whereas Aegon is seen as squandering his inheritance. I feel Aemond seems like Aegon lacks the perseverance to be a frontrunner. These two issues collectively — you understand Aemond, he holds a grudge.Do you suppose there’s any love there in any respect? Take the Cargyll twins—in episode two we noticed that regardless that they had been on reverse sides, they nonetheless cared for one another til the tip.I feel there may be. As a lot as Aemond hates his brother, he additionally yearns for love and acceptance from him. However in Aemond’s world, love is a weak point. He can’t be seen as weak in any approach, form, or type. He is cultivated this picture over time. You see a really totally different Aemond between episodes six and 7 within the first sequence. He is modified bodily and psychologically by way of this insecurity and all the torment he endured as a child. He is created this hardshell, this chilly persona, this picture, [that] he needs the entire world to know. He needs the entire world to know that he’s, in the end, this neigh-unkillable Terminator-like horror. He can’t be seen as weak in any respect prices. Weak isn’t in Aemond’s vocabulary. Or no less than that is what he needs you to suppose.I feel that ties into the scene within the brothel from final week. I like the concept that when he will get up and stands up, bare, it’s nearly as if he is being reborn once more at that second, with this even more durable, steelier exterior than we have seen earlier than.That is fascinating you say that. I’ve at all times form of performed with the truth that Aemond possesses this code. It is much like Michael Mann’s Warmth. Robert De Niro, his character, has that well-known line, “By no means get connected to anybody you are not ready to stroll out on in 30 seconds flat whenever you really feel the warmth across the nook.” That is the code that his character lives by: to maneuver the world with out getting caught by the police.