House of the Dragon took a ten-year time jump that brought us three notable deaths in a single episode, with Laena’s death being the most intriguing one, as she asked her own dragon to kill her.
Daemon had found a new life away from King’s Landing, with Laena Velaryon at Pentos. With her, he had two daughters and another child on the way.
Daemon felt the Iron Throne would never be his, given the fact that there are sons and grandsons of his brother competing for the same. So he thought the gold the Prince of Pentos offered him was enough in exchange for protecting them.
Laena’s inevitable death
Eventually, Laena went into labor and had a hard time giving birth to their third child. She was about to suffer the same fate as the former queen did.
The maester apologized to Prince Daemon as the child was not coming out. They had an option to cut the womb and remove the infant, but they were not sure whether the child would live or not.
At the same time, the mother would also die during that process.
While Daemon was left baffled, Laena took the matter into her own hands. She walked up to her dragon, Vhagar, and commanded him to kill her. For a minute, even Vhagar hesitated, but then obeyed her.
Why Laena killed herself?
Laena killing herself had a lot to do with the way she envisioned her life. Earlier, while arguing with Daemon on whether they should live here in Pentos or go back to their homeland, she mentioned how she wanted to raise her kids.
As the blood of Old Valyria, she wanted her kids to grow up at Driftmark. Also, if she is going to die, she wanted to die a dragonrider’s death.
She was quite adamant about her wishes and, therefore, chose to die at the hands of her own dragon rather than during childbirth.
Also Read: Did Daemon kill his own wife in House of the Dragon?