A Deleted House of the Dragon Scene Proves that Baela was Ready for War

Credit: House of the Dragon

It’s amazing how much strength a single scene can hold within a given episode or even over a series. The accusations that fans are ‘enraged’ over a deleted scene that depicts Baela and Rhaenys Targaryen discussing the idea of fleeing before the Greens can reach them is kind of ridiculous since fans have been raging over many things GoT-related for quite some time. Very little of what the fans have ‘raged’ about has ever been changed to any serious degree, so it’s fair to state that this scene, as effective as it would have been, will not be seen in anything but a DVD release since as many people understand, the DVD releases of many shows and movies tend to include a large number of extras to satisfy the needs of the diehard fans that can’t stand not knowing something about everything that goes into a feature. In all fairness, many fans that delve deeply into the lore of a given series are those who tend to enjoy it most, sometimes. But as to the effective nature of this scene, it is slightly confusing as to why it would be omitted. Perhaps it was over the runtime, or perhaps there was another reason that it was excluded. The explanation given is that it was about character development and didn’t drive the plot forward, which sounds like an odd excuse, but it is final at this point. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcAkQh_dcTc

One would think that the showrunner would want to use character development to help drive the plot, but oh well. 

It is possible to drive the plot while showing character development at the same time, but it would appear that this wasn’t the moment for Baela to show how she’d grown as a person. That’s an odd choice, but when trying to determine how Westeros works, it’s fair to say that the decisions made by the writers are kind of different at times and do tend to infuriate the fans…who continue to watch the show. Keeping this scene out does make it appear that Daemon is a little too aggressive since it would seem that no one else is willing to speak up against Rhaenyra’s wishes. The fact is that everyone knows the war is coming, it’s inevitable, but it’s also necessary to make it appear that Rhaenyra will at least attempt to keep the bloodshed at bay. Her niece, on the other hand, has no such desire. 

This scene is great as it does show that Baela does have the same spirit as her mother and father. 

There’s no denying that Baela is fired up in this scene and that Rhaenys loves it since she sees the spirit of her daughter in her granddaughter at that moment. Baela’s reaction to her grandmother’s grin is to be expected when a younger person feels their blood rising, as no one likes to be mocked. The answer that Rhaenys gives, however, is more than enough to relay the idea that she too wants to fight, but her fear for her people was almost her undoing. It’s easy to think that her daughter, Laena, would have wanted to fight as well since her spirit was every bit as wild as any Targaryen’s, and it’s reassuring to see that her daughter has inherited this. The promise of war is a frightening thing in Westeros since the dragons in King’s Landing are no joke, but while Vhagar might be under the control of Aemond, it remains to be seen if the child of Alicent Hightower can truly control the massive beast. 

Credit: House of the Dragon

The issue of seeing Daemon as the only person who wants to go to war doesn’t sound like much of an issue. 

People know who Daemon is and what he is about at this point, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that he would want to wage war against King’s Landing and the Greens in order to take back what he and many others feel is the rightful home of the Targaryen’s. Omitting this scene does make it appear that Daemon is ready to take everyone down with him if need be to reclaim the kingdom, but with the scene in mind, it would appear that Daemon is only voicing the same sentiment that his daughter and several others are thinking. If nothing else, the deleted scene adds unity to an idea that might have kept people divided for some reason. 

Fans need to calm down. 

For all the complaints, all the ‘rage,’ and all the apparent insults that fans feel toward House of the Dragon for not airing this scene, they will continue to watch. This behavior was seen during Game of Thrones as well, and people continued to watch. The deleted scene did raise a stir as to why it was deleted in the first place, but when all is said and done, people have had the chance to see it and realize that Daemon is not the only Targaryen who wishes to go to war. One might think that the fans would be thankful.