House of the Dragon’s Latest Episode Featured a Literal Easter Egg

Warning: This article features spoilers for House of the Dragon.

House of the Dragon has featured many Easter eggs and references to Westeros’ future, but last night’s episode may have featured the most literal Easter egg of all. While everyone who has already watched Game of Thrones knows where House of the Dragon‘s story ultimately leads, there have been several specific moments foreshadowed in the prequel series.

In Season 2, Episode 3, “The Burning Mill”, Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) sends her youngest children away from Dragonstone for their own safety. She also sends her stepdaughter Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) alongside two dragons, Tyraxes and Stormcloud, and four dragon’s eggs. Mashable spoke with the episode’s director, Geeta Vasant Patel, who confirmed that three of those dragon’s eggs will later become Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) in the pilot of Game of Thrones.

House of the Dragon

Taking place about 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon tells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. The popular HBO spinoff show first starred Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower before they were replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who play the older versions of the characters. Also starring in the series is Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen) and Paddy Considine as Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys Targaryen.

A Primer on Dragon’s Eggs

The origin of Daenerys’ dragons is a mystery in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. Daenerys is told that her eggs were recovered from the far East, but she’s also told that the ages have turned the eggs to stone, with no life in them. While that last part may have been true, Daenerys later brings them to life after incubating them in her husband’s funeral pyre, earning her the nickname “Mother of Dragons”.

The actual origin of the eggs is implied in Martin’s Fire & Blood, a history of House Targaryen. While it isn’t explicitly confirmed, there’s a strong implication that Daenerys’ eggs actually once belonged to House Targaryen. Fire & Blood features many tales of Targaryens long passed, and one of these stories involves Princess Rhaena Targaryen (not to be confused with the Rhaena Targaryen from House of the Dragon).

Because Fire & Blood is written from an in-universe perspective, Rhaena Targaryen is not explicitly confirmed to have had romantic feelings towards one Elissa Farman, but the implication is there. Elissa and Rhaena are close for years, with Elissa even being named Rhaena’s favorite. But Rhaena is left devastated when Elissa absconds with three dragon’s eggs.

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Elissa sells these eggs to unknown buyers, using the profits to buy a ship which she uses to explore the globe. Elissa isn’t heard from again in the narrative, but Rhaena is left depressed and unable to trust anyone. The eggs, meanwhile, are never recovered.

It seems unlikely that House of the Dragon or any other spin-off would ever tell this tale, however. The time period that it takes place in is a relatively peaceful one for Westeros, meaning that there would be very little conflict to adapt into a series. So, while Fire & Blood provides this as a possible explanation for where Daenerys’s eggs come from, it looks like House of the Dragon opted to adapt the story in another way.

It’s currently unknown how the eggs will make their way into Daenerys’ hands in the television canon. As of last night’s episode, the eggs are still currently in Targaryen custody, but a lot can change in wartime. Until House of the Dragon reveals how the eggs are lost, fans can only speculate.