Why did Rhaenyra send Mysaria away in the ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 finale?

Burning bridges with the most connected person in King’s Landing could have consequences for Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).

In the House of the Dragon Season 3 finale, the Westeros monarch makes a sudden decision to dismiss her Mistress of Whispers, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). Even lady’s maid Elinda (Jordon Stevens) seems shocked to the deliver the news, as guards pack up Mysaria’s things.

But why does Rhaenyra make such an abrupt move to spurn her lover and confidante, an OG of her Small Council, and the most informed person in the capital?

Rhaenyra chooses Daemon over Mysaria, as war over peace.

First things first: The timing isn’t great, as the dismissal happens right after Rhaenyra and Mysaria sleep together in the Red Keep in Season 3, episode 7. Without getting into the King’s Landing HR weeds (Westeros’ rulers would all be jailed if we went down this road), this is a clear abuse of power on Rhaenyra’s part. But importantly, Mysaria seems genuinely hurt by the queen’s action.

While Mysaria was using diabolical power moves like empathy and understanding (so rude!) to get in Rhaenyra’s good books, she found deep respect for her queen. Mysaria saved Rhaenyra’s life by shattering the Fake Twin Gambit. With Daemon’s (Matt Smith) absence in Harrenhal in Season 2, Mysaria and Rhaenyra grew close, with the former eventually championing Rhaenyra and pledging her service, saying, “You have seen me as worthy, as an equal, even.” Their increasingly romantic bond in Season 3, episode 7, saw Rhaenyra asking Mysaria the same question of her reign: “Do you think I am worthy?”

Mysaria and Daemon each see different reigns for Rhaenyra — one where peace or war is power, respectively. The queen has struggled throughout the series to decide which of these monarchs she should be, longing to match her father’s peaceful rule but facing divided public opinion for it.

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In the season finale, however, Rhaenyra chooses. Her furious reaction to Aegon and Sunfyre’s “resurrection” is swift, as she tasks Daemon with launching the attack on Tumbleton. The prince consort has been waiting for this signal, and the pair seem more connected than ever. It seems clear: Rhaenyra has chosen Daemon, the path of war.

Notably, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) warned Mysaria that this would happen. In Season 3, episode 5, Mysaria is weighing up whether to tell Rhaenyra that Helaena (Phia Saban) is pregnant with Aegon’s heir, when Alicent makes a plea.

“I simply urge you to think of yourself,” she says. “There is good in Rhaenyra, but the crown is a weight that crushes. Rhaenyra will do, in the end, what she has to do, and what she has to do will be dire. There is only one who can walk that path with her, and she chose him long ago.”

Mysaria knows too much (and has worked too hard) to be dismissed like this.

Mysaria has spent House of the Dragon working her way to a position of self-made power, with grit, smarts, and unfathomable strength. We find out in Season 2 she was sexually abused by her own father (resulting in pregnancy and a hysterectomy), and she was an enslaved person in Essos before arriving in Westeros (and now she’s being shipped back to Essos, to the city of Pentos).

In King’s Landing, she built her network in Flea Bottom through sex work and brothel management, and she became unrivalled as an information broker, informing on the royals as the White Worm. She was Daemon’s paramour in Season 1, though he now speaks to her with contempt, having interrogated Mysaria as a prisoner on Dragonstone when she tried to flee King’s Landing. And now, he despises her strong connection with his niece-wife-queen.

Despite all that, Mysaria’s finally established her place on the Small Council, advising the queen on her reign and catching “don’t forget who you are” strays from her Flea Bottom friends like brothel madam Sylvi (Michelle Bonnard). Give her a break!

Importantly, Mysaria knows every last secret of Rhaenyra’s (and her court), and the queen thinks kicking her to the curb is a smart idea? Who reported a young Rhaenyra getting frisky in Flea Bottom with her future uncle-husband Daemon in Season 1, leading to Daemon’s exile by his brother Viserys (Paddy Considine)? Who snuck Rhaenyra into King’s Landing to see Alicent, which changed the whole game? Who’s got a Hightower IOU? Be wise, Rhaenyra!

New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.

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