The recent episode of House of the Dragon featured a curious event: the dragon Vhagar's apparent abandonment of her rider, Aemond, while he recuperates from a stab wound at Harrenhal under the care of Alys Rivers. Aemond himself noted that Vhagar would not simply leave him, a sentiment supported by the established lore of dragon-rider bonds.
In the lore of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, dragons are bound to their riders until the rider's death, after which the dragon may accept a new rider. This bond is depicted as exceptionally strong, with no prior examples of a dragon willingly abandoning a living rider during difficult times.
House of the Dragon has previously explored deviations from the source material, George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood. In Season 1, Laenor Velaryon faked his death, a departure from the book where he was actually killed, allowing his dragon Seasmoke to bond with a new rider, Addam of Hull. This adaptation raised questions about whether a dragon's bond is affected by a rider's faked death versus a true one, a mystery the show left unresolved.
As Archmaester Gyldayn observed in The Princess and the Queen, the bond between dragon and rider is a profound mystery, and dragons are not mere beasts of burden. The narrative now faces the question of Vhagar's departure, which has significantly impacted Aemond's already fragile psyche, leaving him in despair.
While Vhagar is confirmed to be alive and has left a trail, suggesting independent action, the circumstances of Aemond's wound and his subsequent care by Alys Rivers are additions specific to the television adaptation. In Fire & Blood, Aemond and Vhagar were depicted as a unit attacking the riverlands together, contrasting with the show's portrayal of Vhagar acting of her own accord while Aemond was incapacitated.
One prominent theory suggests Alys Rivers may have influenced Aemond to command Vhagar to leave, with Aemond's weakened state due to his injury preventing him from recalling this command. Alys's enigmatic nature and her ability to manipulate even cunning Targaryen men, as shown in her interactions with Daemon, lend credence to this possibility. Her true intentions, whether through genuine magical ability or by exploiting a weakened individual's beliefs, remain unclear. It is possibly to her advantage to cultivate a reputation as a witch.
Alys appears capable of obtaining her desires from formidable Targaryens without conventional resources. She explicitly told Daemon that she desires Harrenhal. By psychologically breaking Aemond, making him dependent on her, she may be furthering her own agenda. The possibility exists that she is a witch with the power to disrupt the dragon-rider bond itself. Regardless of the method, Alys has evidently managed to override Vhagar's connection to Aemond, leaving him vulnerable and malleable.
Fans await further developments in the coming episodes to understand how House of the Dragon will adapt Aemond and Alys's story arc from Martin's material.