This article contains spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 3 and contains details from Aerion Targaryen’s history in the larger A Song of Ice and Fire canon.

Every story in the Game of Thrones universe needs a good villain, and in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, that figure is Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen. The latest in a long line of Westeros bad guys we’ve met onscreen that includes everyone from Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton to Aerion’s own distant relation, Aemond Targaryen, he may not get as much screentime as some of those who’ve come before him, but there’s no arguing that he’s pretty darn awful — and an uncomfortably prescient example of the Targaryen madness that so frequently defines various members of his family. (Including his great-grand-niece Daenerys.)

The second son of Prince Maekar, Aerion is a poster boy for the worst excesses of Targaryen power. He’s entitled, vain, unstable, and cruel for no reason other than he’s allowed to be, and has almost certainly never faced a consequence for any action in his life. Like many others in his family with no clear line to the Iron Throne, he spends most of his time being a dick for fun, whether that means purposefully injuring a jousting opponent by killing his horse or physically torturing a young woman he believes has disrespected him…by staging a puppet show with a dragon in it. And these are hardly the worst crimes committed. (Just ask his brothers, who actively hate him, and whom he seems to have regularly threatened and abused.) 

Like several other notable members of his family (see also Daenerys’s brother Viserys), Aerion also happens to believe he’s not just a member of the House of the Dragon, but an actual dragon in human form. (The Targaryens may be struggling through a down period for the family brand, but at least they’ve still got the hereditary madness thing going for them.) His nickname “Brightflame” stems from this belief, bolstered by his personal preference for super dramatic heraldry and clothing, often done up in fiery colors of red and gold.

In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, we’re not given much to go on in terms of Aerion’s motivations. The reason why he’s so monstrous isn’t important as the simple fact that he is, something that presented a challenge for Finn Bennett, who plays the Targaryen prince, to convey onscreen.

“He’s kind of mentioned in Game of Thrones, the original series, as being the man who drank wildfire and thought it would turn him into a dragon, which is obviously completely insane,” Bennett tells Den of Geek. “And there are various bits online, and it’s mentioned in the books and in the novellas that he thinks he’s like a dragon in human form. I had no idea how to kind of reconcile that with something tangible onscreen. So instead of research, I just kind of wanted to curate more of a vibe, I guess.”

According to Bennett, his Aerion is the product of many hands who helped him ultimately fully realize the character. 

“He’s a character who’s been built by so many people,” he says. “George Martin, obviously, for writing it. Ira [Parker, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms showrunner] for adapting it. Owen [Harris] and Sarah [Adina Smith], for directing me, Pip[pa Woods] and Lucy [McLaughlin] for doing the wig, and the people doing the costume….when you put all those pieces of the puzzle together, you really get a sense of how spiky or volatile or angry Aerion is, and that kind of makes it make sense. It was kind of a collective effort, if you will.”  

Part of that effort is clearly evident in Aerion’s appearance. Bennett looks every inch the Targaryen prince onscreen, right down to the infamous armor he wears on the jousting pitch with its black scales and demonic helmet, complete with leaping metal flames. Never let it be said the Targaryens don’t have style. 

“It’s very cool, isn’t it? I felt really cool,” Bennett says. “It was amazing for about the first day, and then you realize that it takes you like, 10 minutes to go pee in a suit of armor. You have to get all the belts off and then take all the gauntlets off and everything. So that got a bit old. But it was really cool. Whenever it was on and I didn’t need to pee, it [was] amazing.”

For all that Aerion is the cause of much of the chaos that will unfold through the back half of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the tournament at Ashford Meadow is hardly the most dramatic event of his personal story. He’ll spend several years in the Free Cities, fight with the Second Sons, marry his cousin Daenora Targaryen, and have a son called Maegor, a name Aerion may or may not have chosen just to be a jerk. 

But his most infamous moment is almost certainly his death, brought about by drinking a cup of wildfire in the (obviously mistaken) belief it would somehow literally turn him into a dragon. Because these events take place many years from now in the show’s future, it’s unlikely we’ll see them in any detail. Unless, of course, Parker decides to do a season about the relatively tragic ends that await most of the characters we’ve met so far. And Bennett is ready to die horribly onscreen, if necessary. 

“I would be lying if I said I haven’t thought about being asked to do that,” he says. “I would like to do that. I’d like to see him come back. Maybe he’s like an old man or something. That’d be fun. [Wildfire tastes like] cider, I reckon.”

New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premiere Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, culminating with the finale on February 22.

The post Finn Bennett’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Villain Is Just Vibing appeared first on Den of Geek.