The House of the Dragon just introduced a villain worse than Joffrey

The spinoff “Game of Thrones” “House of the Dragon” just introduced a villain worse than Joffrey or Ramsay Bolton – and he is a cute little toddler.

[Warning: Spoilers ahead for Episode 3 of “House of the Dragon,” and for George R.R. Martin’s book “Fire & Blood.”]

The third episode of “House of the Dragon” introduces King Viserys (Paddy Considine) and his new wife, Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), a little boy named Aegon. Although the second episode only heralded their marriage, this episode jumped in time to the place where they are already celebrating their second “name day” or the boy’s birthday. Aegon is the younger half-brother of Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and although he is only a little boy now, he will grow up to be a terrible man.

[Once again, major spoilers ahead.]

These episodes are a slow development of events that will lead to a brutal civil war between Rhaenyra and Aegon over who will replace their father Viserys on the Iron Throne. Although the king has appointed Rhaenyra as his heir, traditionally the heir is the firstborn son. Everyone is already talking about it in this episode as the kid celebrates his second birthday.

The obnoxious Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall) tells the king that if Rhaenyra marries him, she will be well compensated for her “loss in office” as she is no longer the king’s heir as everyone now assumes the title will now pass to Aegon. Alicent and her dad Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) also talk about it. “Would you like me to raise my son, to steal the birthright from his own sister?” He asks, while Otto announces that if King Aegon’s firstborn son does … no to become a king who “would violate the rights of gods and men.”

So Aegon will grow up surrounded by this rhetoric, feeling that the throne should belong to his instead of his older half-sister Rhaenyra. And he has many followers who agree that he should take over his sister’s birthright.

There will be more time jumps in this show, so this little one will eventually get old and be played by Tom Glynn-Carney, a 27-year-old British actor known for “Dunkirk”. If you’re rooting for Rhaenyra to claim the throne after she became the heiress in the show’s premiere, the bad news: he’s going to oppose her. And there will be a lot of carnage along the way. (The slaughter part is pretty self-explanatory considering how much blood is in the show’s opening title sequence.)

Some fans who know hate this kid already.

Luckily for Rhaenyra, she has powerful allies in this fight. But the same is true of Aegon. As time goes on, all eyes will be on Daemon (Matt Smith), the hot-tempered wildcard that is a formidable fighter, and Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) to see which side of the conflict they will land on.

The show has now been renewed for season 2. No matter how many seasons the story is stretched, it all leads to a myriad of violence, death and tragedy – and it’s all Aegon’s fault for refusing to accept his half-sister Rhaenyra’s right to replace his father on The Iron Throne.

So this little toddler might seem like an ordinary sweet kid in this episode … but he will soon be a villain who even rivals the hideous Joffrey or Ramsay Bolton from GoT and will tear Westeros to shreds.

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“House of the Dragon” will air on Sundays at 21:00 on HBO.