‘House of the Dragon’ Star Ewan Mitchell Jokes that Aemond Doesn’t Have “Mummy Issues,” Despite His Things for an Older Brothel Madame, “Older She-Dragon” Vhaegar

House of the Dragon Season 2 keeps revealing surprising details about Team Green’s love life. Besides the fact that we learned that Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) are still knocking boots, House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2 also revealed that Aemond “One-Eye” Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) also has a brothel boo (Michelle Bonnard). In fact, the HBO show confirmed the reason why Daemon’s (Matt Smith) assassins couldn’t find Aemond in last week’s premiere was because he was visiting a brothel madame!

**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2, now streaming on Max**

Yeah, the reason why Aemond was nowhere to be found while Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and Cheese (Mark Stobbart) invaded the Red Keep and murdered sweet little Jaehaerys is because he was busy cuddling with the same brothel madame he had a moment with in House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 9 “The Green Council”!

In case you forgot, while Ser Criston Cole and Aemond were searching for Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) ahead of his coronation, they made a stop at the Street of Silk, the area of Kings Landing where all the higher class brothels are. While the madame scoffed that Aegon preferred to haunt Flea Bottom, she flirted with Aemond, saying, “See how you’ve grown.” The suggestion is she met him as a young man (or teen?) and is impressed with how the one-eyed prince has turned out.

Fans of George R.R. Martin’s books know that there’s only one character Aemond is usually romantically linked with, and she’s an older woman. Given that information and the fact that he’s all curled up with the older madame, what exactly is Aemond looking for in a woman? And does he have a thing for older women?

“Well, it’s funny because someone actually asked me today whether or not I thought that Aemond had mummy issues and I was like, ‘I don’t think he has, but he just wanted to be loved by his mum a little bit more, you know?’” Ewan Mitchell said when Decider posed this very question during a recent roundtable interview. “He never really felt that unconditional love from anyone, really.”

“And so he had to find that surrogate somewhere else, you know? Maybe he found it in Vhaegar, you know, an older she-dragon. And you know, maybe he’s found it in the madame.”

“In a way, he’s just a broken boy. He needs to be fixed. Someone’s going to help him,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell did admit that he likes to play with the audience’s expectation of Aemond. “Letting the audience project their own kind of theory on things and their own story,” he said, answering a question posed by ScreenRant’s Deven McClure.

“‘Cause Aemond, you know, he’s thinking. He could be looking at someone and thinking about how he wants to take them out on a date or he could be looking at them and he could be thinking how he wants to make them food for Vhaegar,” Mitchell said.”He’s not this mindless psychopath or sociopath. There are cogs turning behind his eyes and I think that’s what makes it a compelling watch.”

“It is kind of figuring out what it is where his allegiance lies, where his loyalties are. I find that compelling. I do.”

House of the Dragon fans will also realize that Aemond tells the madame, “I do regret that business with Luke. I lost my temper that day. I am sorry for it.” Thus throwing a wrench into many fans theorized about the death of Lucerys (Elliot Grihault). House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has said explicitly that Vhaegar killed Luke and that Aemond lost control of his dragon.

Does it matter to Aemond whether or not Vhaegar was responsible? “Yeah, maybe it does matter. Maybe,” Mitchell said when Decider asked the question.

“The word ‘weakness’ is not in Aemond’s vocabulary. He needs to be feared. He needs to be seen as this very strong — he wants to be seen as the war hero,” Mitchell explained. “Him and Cole, they both know that war is inevitable. It’s coming down the line for them and Aemond very much wants to be part of that. He wants to etch his name into the history books, so to speak.”

“He has to do that with Vhaegar, but he doesn’t have the best of control over Vhaegar for sure.”

Mitchell then said, “Yeah, it was an accident. It wasn’t Aemond’s fault.”

“Aemond innocent,” Decider joked.

“Aemond innocent, your honor,” Mitchell echoed.