Eve Best ('House of The Dragon'): "Contrary to what Daemon says, I believe Rhaenys doesn't feel guilty for Luke's death"

The second season of House of the Dragon picks up action only a week after the events of the first season's conclusion, so emotions are running high. The Greens are preparing for an imminent attack in response to Luke's death and the Blacks are each processing the grief in their own way.

While Rhaenyra roams through Westeros on the back of Syrax searching for the remains of her son, Daemon despairs because his absence from the Council also means a lack of response to what has occurred.

So, in the midst of his need to unleash the fire within him, perhaps partly due to his own grief, but mostly due to the anger of not being able to act freely because he is a subject of his queen and wife, he decides to take it out on his sister Rhaenys.

In one of the best scenes of the episode, Daemon holds Rhaenys accountable for Luke's death, stating that if she had shouted 'Dracarys!' and burned everything at King's Landing during Aegon's coronation today, Luke would still be alive.

About Rhaenys' feelings at that moment, her possible sense of guilt, and the grieving process after the death of her grandson and heir to Driftmark, EL ESPAÑOL spoke with Eve Best, the actress who portrays the Targaryen princess, in an interview conducted on June 7 in Paris after watching the first two episodes of the season.

Rhaenys in 'The House of the Dragon'

Rhaenys has suffered many losses, how does the character deal with grief at the beginning of the season?

Eve Best: I think she feels everything in a very intense, deep way. Every loss is like a sword, and now it's as if she's walking with 50 blades stuck in her body. However, she never lets anyone see that vulnerable part because she grew up learning to hide her feelings.

This season, she is busy being strong and trying to support everyone else so that Rhaenyra has the opportunity to rule since she has decided to bet on her. She is coping with it the best way she knows, without letting it turn into desires for revenge, but I think everything has been building up and the pain is becoming unbearable.

"Rhaenys understands Daemon's pain".

If Rhaenys didn't hide her pain, what would she have told Daemon when he accuses her of being responsible for Luke's death?

I like this question. I think she would say, "I'm sorry you suffered so much pain." In that scene, and faced with such a cruel accusation, it would be easy to react defensively, but I don't really feel that Rhaenys regrets the decision she made at that moment because burning innocents indiscriminately is not in her nature, and furthermore, it wasn't her place to start that war.

I watched the episode again last night because I wanted to see if there was any hint of guilt in Rhaenyra, and I think there isn't at all. When Daemon says that to her in the first episode, it is largely a reflection of his own needs. In that scene, he blames me, and in the next, he blames Misarya, and in the next, someone else. He has to find scapegoats, and it will never be him because that's how he operates.

Rhaenys and Daemon in episode 2x01

I honestly believe that Rhaenys would tell Daemon that because she understands his pain and understands that he needs to find some reason to blame another. That's regarding Rhaenys, but I have to confess that as Eve, Luke's death affected me greatly. Every time we filmed with Elliot (Grihault), I would go cry in a corner afterwards because I couldn't even look at him knowing what was going to happen.

But anyway, I'm digressing. To sum up the answer to your question, she would show compassion for his pain to Daemon because contrary to what he thinks, I don't believe Rhaenys feels guilty for Luke's death. She does not regret not having killed thousands of innocents at Aegon's coronation with an impulsive act that would have started a nuclear war.

Rhaenys and Corlys are the only emotionally mature couple in the series, what is the key to their successful relationship?

With such different backgrounds, you know, he is a self-made man and she is royalty of Westeros, I think they are exotic to each other. Also, they tell each other things. And I also believe they have a fantastic sex life.