House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 5, “Regent,” just introduced one of the most powerful and silent leaders in Westeros right now: Lady Jeyne Arryn. Played by Amanda Collin, who fans of the genre know as Max’s Mother Raised by Wolves — Lady Arryn lectures poor Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) about Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) messy decision to send her most vulnerable dragons and heirs to the Vale. In one scene, however, she emerges not only as a powerful political force, but as a potential friend to the lonely Rhaena…
**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 5, “Regent,” Now Streaming on Max**
Although we saw House of the Dragon Season two opens with Jace (Harry Collett) dealing with Lord Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) on behalf of his mother’s claim to the Iron Throne, and that trip to Winterfell wasn’t the Targaryen prince’s only stop on his between-seasons tour. He’d begun by traveling to the Eyrie to convince Lady Jeyne Arryn to affirm the powerful Vale family’s commitment to Rhaenrya’s claim to the Iron Throne. Lady Arryn wanted a promise in return: a dragon to defend the Vale.
Rhaenyra reneged on this promise, sending her and Dameon’s two youngest children (baby Aegon and Viserys) off to the Eyrie with their young dragons and a bunch of unhatched eggs. The one chosen to care for these precious weaklings? Daemon’s youngest daughter, Rhaena. Unlike her older sister Baela (Bethany Antonia), Rhaena has never been able to clam or ride a dragon. That makes her both strategically useless to Rhaenyra’s cause and a vulnerable member of the family at large. So Rhaena becomes a nursemaid.
Rhaena is not happy with this arrangement, but neither is Lady Jeyne Arryn. Lady Arryn is clear that the Eryie is impregnable to ground forces, but not to dragons. She feels that Rhaenyra chose to send baby dragons along with her babies and the dragonless Rhaena to the Vale as a way to find a loophole in the agreement she made with Jace. Which, yes, she did. After dragging the dragonless teen through the wringer, Lady Arryn relents when Rhaena agrees that she doesn’t like feeling helpless. She invites the young Targaryen princess to dinner, which is not only polite but… uh…interesting. That is, if you know anything about Lady Jeyne Arryn.
Who is Lady Jeyne Arryn? All about the cool queer leader of the Eyrie in House of the Dragon
Lady Jeyne Arryn is the current ruler of the Vale, one of the Seven Kingdoms ruled by House Targaryen in this era. As we’ve seen with Daemon’s (Matt Smith) first wife Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford), tomboys rule supreme in the Vale in this era. Fire and blood The book strongly implies that Lady Jeyne Arryn (as well as being related to Rhaenrya through her mother, Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke)) is a lesbian. However, her main concern during this era is not finding an heir or maintaining power. She worries that a Vhagar-sized bomb will burn down her family’s stronghold, the Eyrie.
In just one short scene in House of the Dragon In Season 2, Episode 5, “Regent,” Lady Arryn conveys all of this, thanks in part to the great writing, but also thanks to Amanda Collin’s incredible performance. Raised by Wolves Fans already know that Collin is the best. She and her fellow D hot Newcomer Abubakar Salim (who plays Hull’s Addam) played the most human-like androids ever in the Sir Ridley Scott-produced show.
Anyway, so far we know little about Rhaena in House of the Dragon Except she lost her betrothed, Lucerys (Elliott Grihault), in battle and has been constantly overlooked by both dragons and her family. Does Lady Jeyne Arryn’s acceptance of her perhaps foreshadow, I don’t know, a romantic connection? Probably not. But hey, anything can happen in House of the Dragon.
