Note: This story contains spoilers from “House of the Dragon” Season 3, Episode 7.
“House of the Dragon” brought one character back from the “dead,” and his return could put book fates back on track.
The penultimate episode of “House of the Dragon” Season 3 re-introduced a character that seemed to be dead since halfway through the previous season. A character whose body we’d seen a couple of times, which seemed to confirm the death. But never count a dragon out because Sunfyre is back on the board.
Aegon’s dragon made his triumphant return to the land of the living which means a lot for Aegon’s story — but also a lot for how one of the biggest characters in the show could meet their end.
Here’s how Sunfyre was re-introduced, how he could have possibly returned from the dead, and what it means for the rapidly approaching final season.
How did Episode 7 end?
The ending of Episode 7 finds Aegon and Tyland ready to give up on running and face Rhaenyra’s army heading to Tumbleton. It’s essentially assisted suicide but after everything that happened at Rook’s Rest, Aegon is ready to be done with it all and die on his feet.
The army appears and is quick to recognize Tyland, but Aegon is so burned he’s just seen as a down-on-his-luck soldier. That is until he takes up a sword and steps forward to reveal who he really is. He makes an impassioned speech about being the rightful ruler and the entire army begins to shy away. By the end of his ramblings, Aegon is surprised himself but further emboldened by the reaction until he realizes the army is looking past him.
Pushing through the woods is Sunfyre — looking as equally maimed and rough as his rider. Aegon is shocked to see his dragon alive after last seeing him dead on the ground outside Rook’s Rest, but then quickly turns back to the task at hand and orders his returned dragon to burn the army.
How did Sunfyre return?
The hows and whys behind Sunfyre’s return are a bit of a mystery. The most likely reason is that the dragon was lying completely dormant where he fell during the Battle of Rook’s Rest and appeared dead. When Aegon saw his dragon in Episode 4 he was adamant he could feel that Sunfyre is alive — despite the fact the dragon hasn’t moved, breathed or eaten since he fell. The dragon’s return is most likely going to be shoulder-shrugged into him having been in a dormant or meditative state that looked like death but wasn’t.
A more fun, and very unlikely possibility was that Aegon somehow managed to stumble into using blood magic to revive his dragon. In the previous episode, Aegon killed a man before he fled from Rook’s Rest. He did so while having one of Sunfyre’s scales on his person. There is a sliver of a chance that the killing was used in some blood magic ritual or sacrifice that Aegon was not even aware of. Again, that’s highly unlikely because there is nothing in the book that hints toward Aegon being able to pull off blood magic, but it’s a theory nonetheless.
How Sunfyre’s return puts things back on course for one character’s fate
Spoilers for the Fire & Blood book and possible spoilers for “House of the Dragon” Season 4
In the books, Sunfyre is extremely wounded by Meleys at the Battle of Rook’s Rest but doesn’t die. Criston Cole and his men find the dragon and slowly feed him until he can build up his strength to fly back to King’s Landing. It’s slow-going, and much like Aegon, Sunfyre is crippled and scarred for life but he’s still alive.
After a series of losses and betrayals, Rhaenyra flees King’s Landing and returns to Dragonstone. She isn’t there long before she is captured and brought before Aegon and his crippled dragon. The king hands out Rhaenyra’s fate and Sunfyre burns her alive and devours her in six bites.
With Sunfyre back on the board, it seems likely that Rhaenyra’s final fate could be back on track as well. But with “House of the Dragon,” you never know.
“House of the Dragon” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
