It’s no mystery that Game of Thrones ended with a fizzle, but ever since then, an ‘anti-woke’ chunk of the Thrones fandom has been hell-bent on reminding the entire internet how much they hated it—not unlike a certain ‘Fandom Menace’ that has been plaguing the Star Wars communities.
Naturally, these fans would nitpick at everything coming out of House of the Dragon. Besides showrunner Ryan Condal being their new boogeyman, they’ve found several other things to complain about—one specifically being the kiss between Rhaenyra and Mysaria—resulting in the episode getting review-bombed by online misogynists.
A lot have been saying that the kiss between the two women ‘came out of nowhere’, and while that’s been the consensus in the anti-woke circles, some fans have been on the defence of ‘Rhaesaria’ and have pointed out why the show was naturally building up to the romance.
Why the Kiss Between Rhaenyra and Mysaria Was Earned
A thread from Twitter user @rhaesariathink details the arcs of Rhaenyra and Mysaria and how the series has been building up to them eventually coming together as allies—and possibly lovers. Check this out:
Admittedly, the two don’t interact much in the first season, but it’s been established that both women want the same thing—liberation. Mysaria wants to be liberated from poverty, and Rhaenyra wants to get out of the box she’s been placed in for being a woman.
By the second season, the two find themselves together on Dragonstone. While Mysaria started as Daemon’s prisoner, she was then freed by Rhaenyra. She was about to sail off elsewhere but decided to stay to help Rhaenyra via her connections with the smallfolk.
Throughout the season, fans watch Rhaenyra constantly undermined by her council. While this happens, it’s followed by scenes where she asks Mysaria for advice. Unlike the mean in Rhaenyra’s council, Mysaria listens and offers helpful solutions that don’t immediately escalate to war.
Rhaenyra’s desperation escalates when Rhaenys dies, and she loses the only person in the council who properly empathises with her. The stress from the disrespect results in her slapping Lord Celtigar while he is nagging at her.
By this point, Mysaria has become a natural visitor to Rhaenyra’s chambers, where they plot about the smallfolk. Rhaenyra then has a moment of vulnerability with Mysaria, who shares her intimate story about her father. After all that, though, she validates Rhaenyra in a way she’s been looking for all season. As the thread puts it:
“Just as Rhaenyra had granted Mysaria what she truly wanted, freedom, Mysaria saw Rhaenyra and told her she believed she was meant to be queen. At this moment, Rhaenyra finally felt the validation she had been craving for a long time.”
They embrace, and it naturally builds up to a kiss—a kiss that wasn’t even supposed to be in the script, but something that the actors thought would have been natural.
Rhaesaria’s Future?
With one episode left, there isn’t that much room for a romance for Rhaenyra and Mysaria to be focused on, but now Mysaria has proven herself as an asset to Rhaenyra’s council. No doubt there will be more of the going forward.
Even actress Sonoya Mizuno is hopeful that there would be more Rhaesaria scenes in the future. Talking to TV Insider she shares, “You bloody well hope so. I hope so. For the sake of all the gays, I hope so.”
Catch House of the Dragon now streaming on Max.