In the lore of A Song of Ice and Fire, Helaena Targaryen is King Viserys I Targaryen’s daughter by Queen Alicent Hightower. She is married to her elder brother, Aegon, in the tradition of House Targaryen, per the wishes of their mother. House of the Dragon makes it clear from the get-go that Alicent lacks the cutthroat, Machiavellian traits that other members of House Targaryen possess.
Alicent, nonetheless, is a member of the Green faction and stands tall in the line of Targaryens present at Aegon II’s coronation at the Dragonpit. She has no role in the day-to-day affairs at the Red Keep or the Targaryen politicking. She spends her time with her twins, Jaehaerys, and Jaehaera. Being Aegon II’s wife, and Alicent’s daughter, Helaena’s arc unfolds against the backdrop of the Targaryen civil war. Here is why she deserves better treatment in the show.
Helaena Targaryen’s Prophecies In House Of The Dragon
In House of the Dragon season 1, episode 3 “Second of His Name,” Alicent is pregnant with Helaena on Aegon’s second nameday. Viserys second-guesses his decision to name Rhaenyra heir. As his daughter grows increasingly disagreeable, he admits to his heavily pregnant wife:
Many in my line have been dragonriders. Very few among us have been dreamers. What is the power of a dragon next to the power of prophecy?
It’s almost as if Viserys poetically predicts the birth of a prophetess in the show’s cannon. By House of the Dragon season 1, episode 6 “The Princess and the Queen,” Helaena is all grown up, bonded with Dreamfyre. She examines a millipede while her mother insinuates she is beyond her understanding. Helaena doesn’t seem to appreciate her mother’s embrace, and it is at that moment that her younger brother, Aemond Targaryen, is retrieved from the Dragonpit.
Aemond Loses an Eye
By House of the Dragon‘s “The Princess and the Queen,” Aemond is yet to bond with a dragon, while Aegon and step-sister, Rhaenyra’s sons have. Helaena listens in the background as Alicent assures Aemond that a dragon will be bound to him one day. She mutters under her breath:
He will have to close an eye.
Helaena’s first prophecy comes true. Aemond loses an eye, but gains the largest living dragon, Vhagar, after Laena Velaryon’s funeral at Driftmark.
Helaena Foreshadows The Dance Of The Dragons
Aegon struggles with Helaena’s odd behavior during Laena’s funeral. She sits by herself, this time studying a spider, and rambles her famous spider prophecy:
Hand turns loom; Spool of green; spool of black; dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread…
What Helaena foreshadows in this tense moment is the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. As the King’s Hand, Otto conspires. Two factions, viz Rhaenyra’s Blacks and Alicent’s Greens, are formed. These two factions will take their real dragons to war in the upcoming House of the Dragon season 2.
As she speaks her prophecy, Aegon looks at his sister in disbelief, while Aemond says he would have married her if their mother had betrothed them in the first place:
I would perform my duty. Keep our Valyrian blood pure.
Helaena, after seeing the split between her family and cryptically muttering the onset of the war between real dragons, flies away from Driftmark on her dragon, Dreamfyre.
Rhaenys Bursts Through The Floor
House of the Dragon season 1, episode 8 “The Lord of the Tides” is home to Helaena’s ominous warning, which she mutters at the celebratory Targaryen dinner:
Beware the beast beneath the boards.
In House of the Dragon season 1, episode 9 “The Green Council,” more of Helaena’s words are played as a voice-over against Alicent’s tense face. Helaena’s mother is trying her best to usurp Rhaenyra’s throne hours after Viserys’ death, while she talks to her twins’ caretaker, who barely understands what she is trying to communicate:
It is our fate, I think, to crave what is given to another. If one possesses a thing, the other will take it away.
Rhaenyra is given the Iron Throne by her father, while Alicent, Otto, and Aemond want it for themselves. Since Alicent possesses the Iron Throne and the Red Keep, Rhaenyra’s faction will not stay quiet. The war of the Targaryens is imminent. Shortly after, Helaena’s mother and grandfather come to her looking for Aegon, while she is oblivious to their actions. She cuts Alicent short and says once again:
There is a beast beneath the boards.
Helaena’s forewarning comes true in House of the Dragon‘s “The Green Council,” as Rhaenys and her dragon, Meleys, come up through the floorboard of the Dragonpit, leading to deaths and commotion at Aegon’s coronation.
Helaena’s Arc in Canon Vs. House Of The Dragon
Helaena is adapted to be a dreamer in the show’s canon, thereby taking a departure from her character in the source material. She is the sole Targaryen on the show who both sees the future and is a dragonrider. Her father, Viserys, was obsessed with various prophecies made by the Targaryens in the past, but never really took notice of her gift. Her brothers were raised on hate, but she made up her mind about the affairs of the realm. Helaena is dissatisfied with her marriage, but is a fiercely protective mother.
Helaena’s lore arc is marred when she loses her eldest son in Daemon Targaryen’s Blood and Cheese plot. She loses her will to live, and stops riding Dreamfyre. In the source material, Jaehaerys’ assassination consumes Helaena. She refuses to share a bed with Aegon, eat, or bathe. She is taken captive by the Blacks after the fall of King’s Landing, and eventually dies by suicide.
Given the interesting departure House of the Dragon has taken from the books, Helaena should be salvaged from the wreck. She is one of a kind in the show, and her tale has the potential to stand for perseverance and extraordinary courage. The writers can give her character a 180 and have her on board in war politics. In that case, she would be an asset to Team Green. Conversely, she could very well be that sane voice in the bloodshed, making one prophecy after another.
Helaena must not meet the same fate as Daenerys, as she is a universally popular character. Amid the whole “Spool of green; spool of black,” Helaena can draw strength from her grief and be given the power of agency that women thus far have been deprived in House of the Dragon.
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