SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for HBO’s “Home of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 6, titled “Smallfolk,” now available on Max.
Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and her new closest confidant and right-hand woman Mysaria, aka The White Worm (Sonoya Mizuno), marked a turning point in their relationship in this week’s episode of “Home of the Dragon,” when the two shared a passionate kiss in the final moments of the installment.
The kiss, however, is cut short, forcing Rhaenyra to take off on dragonback almost instantly to find out who has been seen using a wild dragon in Westeros — and whether they’re aligned with her and the Blacks or Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and the Greens. So viewers are left with a lot of questions about the intimate moment, and what it means for the rest of Season 2.
One thing is certain in D’Arcy’s opinion: the kiss was not a calculated decision on Rhaenyra’s part.
“I honestly believe that initially there was simply a need to cling,” D’Arcy instructed. Selection. “I think what you see initially is intimacy, and an intimacy that Rhaenyra shares so rarely. Even in some of her different romantic relationships, there’s a lot of presentation, there’s a lot of bravado, typically on both sides. Definitely with Daemon, I think that each event struggles to reveal itself in a soft spot, and that his eroticism is kind of energy-based.
“Whereas with Mysaria, in this growing relationship — it’s remarkably trusting,” D’Arcy continued. “Initially, there are great emotions of empathy and gratitude towards this particular person. Rhaenyra is so deeply affected by the life that Mysaria lived so bravely. So they’re two bodies completely overwhelmed by contact. As soon as they embrace and their bodies are touching, I think it’s pure physical need.”
Courtesy of Theo Whiteman/HBO
While Mizuno says she’s sure “people can have their own opinions on it,” she thinks the kiss caught Mysaria and Rhaenyra “out of the blue.”
“There’s nothing Machiavellian about it, as far as I’m concerned,” Mizuno said in an interview Friday. “It’s an extremely stunning and tender kiss, and it would be inconceivable not to feel something like Mysaria did in that moment. I don’t think she’s ever had that kind of kiss — possibly ever. And I think sex and sexuality might be very sophisticated for her, given her history as a young woman growing up with her father, and then going into her professional life. So to have that moment so young and loving and passionate would have sparked something.”
Mizuno spoke about how the two actors conceived of their characters’ emotions before filming the scene. “After we mentioned it, we talked about whenever you realize you might have a crush on someone in retrospect, and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, after all. I’ve had a crush on this particular person for six months, and I didn’t realize it,’” she mentioned. “But then when you do realize it, it’s a full-on teenage crush. So there’s possibly a little bit of that going on. But there’s also a civil conflict coming up, so what are the priorities going to be?”
While Daemon (Matt Smith) has been away from Dragonstone for half the season, and has been speaking to Rhaenyra only through his hallucinations and disturbing desires while he builds an army at Harrenhal, he will surely be reunited with his wife sooner or later. So what happens if he finds out about Rhaenyra’s close second with Mysaria, who used to have sex with Daemon repeatedly when Rhaenyra was still a baby?
“It’s going to be a pretty shitty gift, isn’t it?” Mizuno mentioned. “But I’m looking forward to it, no matter what it is.”
Readers can dive into what happened to the Greens in “Home of the Dragon” this week at Selectionwith actor Ewan Mitchell about the beginning of Aemond Targaryen’s reign.
See below for more information SelectionD’Arcy’s full interview about “Home of the Dragon” Season 2 Episode 6, along with his thoughts on how this kiss — which isn’t taken from George R.R. Martin’s “Fireplace & Blood” — will have an effect on Rhaenyra’s already strained relationship with Daemon.
Courtesy of Ollie Upton/HBO
Can you break down the scenario Rhaenyra dealt with in this episode? She went from being hopeful about her concept of making the most of Dragonseeds to help her trigger, to being burned to a crisp while trying to fulfill her needs..
I suppose that, as is often the case with Rhaenyra, her massive ideas include a slightly higher quality of eccentricity. An anxious realization that there is probably a special answer available is met, in turn, by a trepidation about sharing those ideas with her male colleagues. I think she probably approaches most council meetings with the expectation that she will probably be somewhat patronized or underestimated. So the stakes are high. A girl ready for power may have her mistakes judged more harshly, I would say, than a man in the same place. So it’s a high-stakes game.
After weeks of reluctantly listening to her family and her advice not to ride her personal dragon, Syrax, and leave the flying and fighting to everyone else, Rhaenyra took to the skies immediately upon hearing that there was an unknown dragonrider on the planet. What made her finally decide that it was worth breaking the rules?
Wonderfully, I don’t know if she sees any other plan of action. I really feel like this is the kind of moment in the growing civil conflict that, depending on who’s using that dragon, could mark the culmination of their marketing campaign. I’m guessing we’re already in a pretty big bind. If someone allied with the Greens has taken that dragon, then I think the odds are so frighteningly stacked against Rhaenyra and her allies that I wonder if her need for self-protection goes out the window anyway.
How do you see Rhaenyra and Mysaria’s relationship evolving from the beginning of the season until now?
It’s a very new kind of relationship for Rhaenyra. She’s such a volatile person who tends to get carried away by her feelings—especially in relationships. I think this marks a shift. Their belief system is one that grows quite alarmingly. Initially, they don’t like each other at all. And I think there’s something interesting about seeing two women within such a patriarchal system who have developed mechanisms to navigate, to manipulate the energy programs. These skill sets weren’t built for use on different women. So, really, for Rhaenyra, she feels a substantial amount of risk, really, from Mysaria—along with, clearly, her history with Daemon.
However, as the series progresses, Mysaria does impact Rhaenyra’s politics. She has a strong influence on Rhaenyra’s ability to see how a kingdom and its inhabitants are affected in the event of civil conflict. This was just a summary for Rhaenyra—until Mysaria somehow makes it more concrete. And I think it speaks to a completely different kind of energy that, again, perhaps Rhaenyra, in her desire for a conflict-based masculine energy, often ignores. Winning the needs and ideas of the people—I don’t know how much of that was part of her political consciousness before Mysaria.
Courtesy of Ollie Upton/HBO
This kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria is simply not included among the many “historical” occasions recorded in George R.R. Martin’s “Fireplace & Blood.” What were your thoughts on adding this scene to the present, understanding that “Fireplace & Blood” is composed of many conflicting retellings and gaps?
I think there’s humor to be found in that — in addition to our actual written histories — so typically, women fall out of the history books. Partly because of a lack of care: like, people aren’t concerned about what they’re doing. And I like trying to find out what happened between the forgotten pages.
Did you always see Rhaenyra as a queer character, or was this her first experience?
It’s exhausting, as a result of which I don’t suppose the phrase “queer” is a phrase that is in any way within Rhaenyra’s lexicon. There are so few pictures or stories within that world that she has access to that allow one to define it that way. What I do suppose is that she is absolutely sexual. Maybe that’s one of the real joys of playing her, is that I think she’s a super embodied character, who knows when her body is kind of saying something. And that goes for a lot of completely different contexts. I don’t suppose she’s scared of her body’s instruction. And positively, I think there was a great intimacy in her early relationship with Alicent.
How do you see this kiss affecting Rhaenyra’s tumultuous relationship with Daemon?
I don’t count on her having any intention of telling him. However, I think she feels quite proud and quite encouraged. I think she quite likes the idea of him finding out. There’s a battle of influence in their relationship, and hooking up with his ex, I can only assume, would be a really useful point in the picture.
What was it like not being able to work with Matt Smith as much this season after being such close co-stars in Season 1? And could Rhaenyra and Daemon’s separation last much longer?
Frankly, I found it annoying. I know I’ve talked about this a lot, but I like taking pictures with Matt, and it was a shame for me that I couldn’t do more of that. I don’t want to spoil anything. But inevitably, there’s an even bigger enemy at hand. And so each of them has to determine how they’re going to approach this final battle.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.