House of the Dragon star breaks down "beautiful" character death
House of the Dragon season two episode four spoilers follow.
House of the Dragon star Eve Best has broken down her character Rhaenys’ "beautiful" death in the latest episode.
Season two’s fourth episode saw the Greens and the Blacks unleash their dragons in the epic battle of Rook's Rest, though both sides took a heavy hit as usurper King Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre fell from the sky in a literal ball of flames.
Meanwhile, Rhaenys and Meleys plummeted to their devastating deaths after a confrontation with Aemond and Vhagar.
Despite having multiple opportunities to escape with her life, the 'Queen that never was' put up a heroic fight and battled on, before ultimately accepting her fate and letting go of the reins as the life drained from Meleys' eyes in Vhagar's monstrous jaws.
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"There was something very beautiful about it," Best explained during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
"It was a moment of total surrender and letting go of everything she'd been carrying for two seasons: never, ever letting anybody see any of her pain, any of her anguish, any of her fear, any of her vulnerability, and just being this rock of wisdom and grace and stoicism and goodness and badassery at the same time.
"I think for her to finally let go was the most wonderful relief."
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On Rhaenys' decision to stay and fight instead of fleeing, Best referenced Tom Cruise’s 2003 film The Last Samurai.
"She's got that nobility of that absolute samurai: honorable, noble, f**king cool-ass warrior queen," she said. "The honorable thing is that she could have escaped, and then she's like, ‘No, we've got to go back'. Because there's the potential to end it.
"I think she knows she's going back to die, but she has to try because if Vhagar can be taken down, then it's done. It's cauterized. The potential for nuclear war is cut down."
House of the Dragon season 2 airs on Mondays on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. In the US, new episodes air on Sundays on HBO and stream on Max.
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