'Game of Thrones' prequel 'House of the Dragon': Was Otto Hightower behind [SPOILER'S] tragic death?
Contains spoilers from 'House of the Dragon' Episode 1
There was a lot to unpack in the first episode of ‘House of the Dragon’ and even though we try to look at everything pretty closely, there might come a time when we could have missed something really important because of our emotions running high. One such moment was when Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) was about to deliver the baby and King Viserys I Targaryen had to make the difficult choice of saving the mother or the child. The only way to save the child would involve cutting directly into the womb.
The queen dies because of excessive blood loss, while the baby boy named Baelon dies just a few hours later. At first glance, viewers thought that it was really unfortunate whatever happened with the Queen and took it as something that was done just to save the child. However, a theory claims that someone might be responsible for everything that happened at that moment and that someone is Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand of the King.
RELATED ARTICLES
'House of the Dragon' Episode 1: Queen Aemma's BRUTAL birth scene shocks viewers
A Reddit user who goes by the handle @Necessary_Candy_6792 has stunned everyone by claiming that Otto orchestrated everything to fulfill his heinous motives and that might be true because we know how things move forward in the Targaryen civil war. So, coming back to the theory, the user writes that it was Grand Maester Mellos (David Horovitch) who was in charge of delivering the baby and tells Viserys that he needs to take a quick decision about saving the baby because there’s no way Queen Aemma can be saved. The maester also reveals that they would be bringing the baby out safely by doing a C-section. Viserys says yes and we see one of the most horrifying birth scenes in the history of television.
The baby is delivered and is alive and well. However, the look on Mellos’ face is a bit suspicious because he looks at the baby with a troubled look. However, the next time Baelon is mentioned, we get to know that he is dead.
Now, a lot of things happen when the aforementioned characters are dead and the user suggests that it was Otto’s scheme that Viserys never had a son. The theory indicates that Mellos was also responsible for delivering Queen Aemma’s babies. However, she experienced miscarriages and stillbirths five consecutive times and only dies when Alicent Hightower, daughter of Ser Otto Hightower, becomes a beautiful young woman.
The user wrote, “Now under Mellos's supervision and due to his advice and persuasion, both the King's wife and his Male heir are dead and Viserys puts forth his daughter as heir after Otto attests to Daemon cheering for Baelon's death, which we DON'T see. Who wants to guess that Mellos was also in charge of delivering and medicating Aemma during her miscarriages and stillbirths and only when Alicent has blossomed into a beautiful young woman does Aemma finally die.”
The theory also suggests that there’s a reason why Otto sends his daughter to spend some time with Viserys as he knows that this is the only way he can get in line to make his way to the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, he took Maester’s assistance for his motives. This takes us back to the time when Pycell helped the Lannisters during the ‘Game of Thrones’.
The user concluded the theory by saying Mellos killed the baby when he was “alone” with him in the room. The user added, “Otto and Mellos conspired to trick Viserys into killing Aemma and then smothered Baelon with a pillow or fed him poison the second he was alone in a room with him.”
The theory makes a lot of sense because no “sane” father would send his daughter to seduce the King even when his wife has just died a few hours ago. This means that Otto might have planned everything from the beginning and there’s no doubt that he is up to something. It’s the ‘Game of Thrones’ universe and nothing is impossible here.
‘House of the Dragon’ returns to HBO with a new episode every Sunday at 9 pm EST.