Rhaenyra opts for a powerful Hand in House of the Dragon Season 2

House of the Dragon Season 2 is still a couple of months away, but there is a lot to take in and discuss. The second season has two trailers out, and one tells us who Rhaenyra has chosen as her Hand of the Queen.

We could look at the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin for the answers. This book isn’t a traditional novel. Instead, it’s a retelling of stories that the maesters of the past shared within the world of Westeros. It’s more like a historical text, with the TV series showing us what really happened in that time.

However, there are some facts that can’t be disputed. One of those is who Rhaenyra names as her Hand, a job that we have seen given to many throughout Game of Thrones, including Ned Stark and Tywin Lannister.

Who will Rhaenyra’s Hand of the Queen be in House of the Dragon?

Rhaenyra hadn’t named a Hand at the end of the first season, but the book tells us that it will be her father-in-law, Corlys Valeryon. He was Viserys’s Master of Ships, and he is the most influential and powerful lord when it comes to his knowledge and location. He can starve out the people of Westeros with his control of the ports, which will be powerful for the person he is on the side of.

Well, it looks like he’s chosen his daughter-in-law. In the Black trailer, we see him wearing the Hand of the Queen pin and he is talking to Rhaenyra and offering her advice. This suggests that Rhaenyra knows that he is a man she wants and needs on her side.

This decisions isn’t all that surprising. To start with, his wife Rhaenys has also chosen Rhaenyra. That was clear as she broke her dragon out of the dragonpits at Aegon’s coronation.

Another factor is that his grandchildren are on Team Black. While Rhaenyra’s children probably weren’t her husband’s children, making them not Corlys’s grandsons, Daemon’s daughters are Corlys’s granddaughters through his daughter, Laena.

But wait, wasn’t Corlys killed in the first season? There was a point where there was a fight for his position as lord, but those conversations were done as Corlys was suffering from a severe infection he got from a fight. There were fears that he wouldn’t survive. In the end he did, but it’s clear from the way he walks in House of the Dragon Season 2’s trailer that he has a permanent health issue due to it. This doesn’t mean he can’t advise the queen.

House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres on Sunday, June 16 on HBO.