House of the Dragon episode 8 jumps forward in time giving us some new, older actors for the royal children like Jace, Luke, Aemond, and Aegon(s).
Time jumps are critical to how House of the Dragon tells its story about a tumultuous moment in Targaryen history. None of those time jumps are as important as the 10-year leap that episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen,” takes. But episode 8 takes an almost-as-huge six year jump into the future. While there aren’t quite as many new characters this time around, plenty of the young actors have been recast so the children of Alicent, Rhaenyra, and Daemon, may look a little different than you remember — plus there are a few new ones.
To help you keep track of all the children that appeared in this episode, here’s a breakdown of Rhaenyra and Alicent’s respective families:
Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett)
Jace is the oldest son of Rhaenyra and Laenor — or maybe of Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin Strong, depending on who you ask. Jace is currently the heir to the Iron Throne after his mother, and a strong kid despite only being somewhere around 7 years old. In episode 6 we see him almost beat Aegon Targaryen in a bout with wooden swords, despite Aegon’s advantages in size and age.
By episode 8 Jace is well into his teenage years and while it’s clear he’s still ready for a fight, he doesn’t have much to do outside of attend feasts just yet.
Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault)
Also known as Luke, Lucerys is Rhaenyra’s second child, and is mostly unremarkable in episode 6. He does happen to bear a striking resemblance to Ser Harwin Strong, his mother’s closest friend and notably not her husband. Unfortunately for all involved, this “coincidence” is noticed by literally everyone in King’s Landing, drawing Luke’s legitimacy into question.
By episode 8 it’s clear that Luke is still pretty sensitive about his resemblance to Harwin, even if he doubles down on his claim to Driftmark in episode 8 and therefore his legitimacy as a trueborn Targaryen.
