'House of the Dragon's ending was foreshadowed in the very first episode

It's over.

The tenth and final episode of the first season of House of the Dragon left us on the verge of a civil war between the Hightowers and Queen Rhaenyra.

There was a lot to unpack, but the biggest moment of the finale was Aemond's dragon Vhagar decimating poor old Lucerys while he tried to escape through the clouds.

It's not clear that Aemond really wants to harm Vhagar, but he is trying to amuse him. Despite Aemond's attempts to control it, the bigger dragon retaliated.

What's the lesson? It's not possible to tame dragons, at least not to the point where you're confident they won't go eating your relatives and start a war.

We should have been aware of it. King Viserys told us what would happen in the first episode.

"When you look at dragons, what do you see?" Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO

King Viserys summons his daughter and tells her to look at the skull of Balerion, the great dragon that Aegon I Targaryen rode during the Conquest. She was asked what she saw.

Targaryens are closer to gods than men, according to everyone. They claim that because of our dragons. Rhaenyra said that they are just like everyone else without them.

Viserys thinks that the idea of controlling the dragons is a lie. They should never have been trifled with. Valyria was brought down by one. It would do the same thing if we didn't mind our own histories.

Viserys is about to name Rhaenyra his heir and it feels like he's saying something about the dangers of power. The meaning is very close to prophecy.

The death of Rhaenyra's son in the show's finale will likely cause the civil war between Rhaenyra and the Hightowers to intensify.

The uncontrollable power of the dragons could cause Viserys' children to destroy themselves.