One of the most sensitive scenes in House of the Dragon involved a short moment that involved Queen Alicent and a maid named Dyana, who was crying as she was claiming to have been harassed by Prince Aegon, who we know is quite the pervert. Of course, as a mother with morals, Alicent was sympathetic to what the maid felt, as she asked Dyana what happened while also explaining the consequences of the event. We never saw her again. So, what happened to Dyana in House of the Dragon?
It is likely that Dyana decided to disappear from King’s Landing as she was given a bag of gold by Queen Alicent. This was probably payment for her silence and a way of compensating for the trouble that she went through with such a traumatic experience due to Aegon’s immoral nature.
The scene involving Alicent and Dyana was one of the best touches to what was an emotional episode 8 of House of the Dragon, as this was when we saw that the queen wasn’t as bad as a lot of people might think she is. Despite everything, she was still a woman that knew what a fellow woman would feel when placed in a similar situation. Now, with that said, let’s look at what happened to Dyana in House of the Dragon.
What Happened To The Maid Dyana In House Of The Dragon?
There is no doubt that episode 8 of House of the Dragon is the best yet because of how many emotions were felt in this momentous episode in the series. It didn’t have the action that the other episodes had, but the emotions in this one were palpable, especially when talking about the different characters involved in the storyline.
In that regard, one such scene involved Queen Alicent, who was told by Ser Erryk of the Kingsguard that something happened involving Prince Aegon in his apartments. And the queen rushed to the scene because she already knew what the prince was capable of.
When she arrived in Aegon’s apartments, she met a maid that was sobbing as she asked for her name and what had happened to her. The maid introduced herself as Dyana as she told the story of how Prince Aegon seemingly sexually assaulted her. Dyana never went into the details of what happened between her and Aegon, but it was clear that Queen Alicent understood what the maid went through because she knew that her son was a sleazy pervert.
Alicent told Dyana that she believed in her and that she was sympathetic to what happened to her. However, she also told the maid that she shouldn’t tell anyone about what happened because of the fact that it could ruin Prince Aegon’s name and his chances of becoming king. That was why the queen paid her for her troubles and somewhat suggested that she disappears from King’s Landing to make sure that she wouldn’t tell anyone else about what happened to her.
The fact that Dyana was told to disappear was clear when Princess Helaena went looking for her when she said that the maid was supposed to be dressing the children. As such, it is possible that she ran away from King’s Landing and will never be seen again.
While this seemed like a minor scene in House of the Dragon, it was a powerful way of telling us what kind of woman Alicent was. She may have harbored hatred for Rhaenyra and what the princess stood for, but she also had her own principles in life. More importantly, she was still a woman that knew and understood what her fellow woman felt.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Geeta Patel, who directed episode 8, had this to say when she was asked about how smart and sensitive her approach in that scene with Dyana was:
“Showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik and executive producer and writer Sara Hess, when they were creating the story, made that choice. There were older actresses who were [not underage] who would’ve been easier to shoot with because you can have more hours with them. Then when we saw that young actress Maddie Evans during her audition and we all had tears in our eyes. I said to Ryan, “This is going to screw up my schedule, but we have to have her.” She conveyed the vulnerability, she conveyed the tragedy.
And then Olivia stepped up for the occasion. Because the big challenge of this episode was, I really wanted to be in Alicent’s shoes. I didn’t like her anymore. So coming into this episode, we needed to love her. We needed to feel her point of view. My feeling was: Let’s make this like a day in the life of a working mom. You see everything she’s dealing with. You see when she’s doing ugly things, but you understand her vulnerability. You understand she’s picking between two evils. So that scene had always worried me because I wanted so desperately for us to understand Alicent, but the words she’s saying and actions she’s taking are all quite harsh and in line with a villain. So a lot of the prep of those scenes like, cinematically, how do we walk through the door and be with her?
Then Olivia brought so much dimension. I remember after her first take, I was like, “Oh, thank God.” She brought everything, and so much more than I could have even thought of. So that was one of my favorite scenes to work on because I felt like it had the dimension with Alicent we were looking for.”
In that regard, the show purposely allowed us to see this scene so that we would understand the emotions and feelings involved in what was such a powerful moment for Alicent and how she viewed the things that her son did.
This also allows us to understand the differences between Alicent Hightower and Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister, even though they are often seen as counterparts of one another. We saw that Cersei was willing to let Joffrey go about his cruel actions as long as the Lannisters stayed in power. However, Alicent was visibly emotional and ashamed of what Aegon did to Dyana, as she went as far as telling him that he was no son of hers.
Was Dyana Pregnant?
We cannot say for sure whether or not Dyana was pregnant, but Queen Alicent made sure to avoid any unwanted pregnancies by giving her Moon Tea after paying her off for her troubles. Of course, we know for a fact that the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms tend to father plenty of bastards because they don’t care about pulling out, as they probably have enough money for child support. There is also the fact that the Seven Kingdoms are yet to invent medieval condoms or birth control. As such, Moon Tea has been the best option when it comes to unwanted pregnancies.
