It’s not that Laenor didn’t end up in a good place, but still.

When it comes to House of the Dragon, you shouldn’t expect too much mercy towards your favorites. After all, many characters suffered much more than Laenor Velaryon, Queen Rhaenyra’s first husband.

Still, some fans have not gotten over one particular scene that they felt was incredibly unfair to Laenor. Even though Rhaenyra was understanding enough to make a pact with Laenor that they could both enjoy their own intimate lives while married, it never really ended well for Laenor.

The way his boyfriend Joffrey ended up being beaten to death by Ser Criston Cole in front of everyone, only for his murderer to get away with it and even be promoted, does not sit well with House of the Dragon fans.

“I don’t really get why he [Criston Cole] did it. I definitely don’t get how he got away with it. And I don’t understand why the writer thought it was a decent choice to let him punch the future king consort in the face with no repercussion. And I most certainly don’t understand how people can be on Alicent’s side at all when she keeps a literally murderous lunatic at her side and defends him for killing an innocent man,” Redditor writepielie said.

Notably, the way Joffrey died was one of the few things the House of the Dragon showrunners changed from the books. In Fire and Blood, Joffrey dies at a tournament, and the only reason the show didn’t follow a similar path, according to fans, was how expensive it would be to film.

“Unfortunately they didn’t think it through at all. It’s such a random sequence of events. I understand it’s a medieval setting and people were brutal and violent, but it could have used a bit more polish. They could have gone a hundred different ways and got a better end result, plot-wise,” Redditor PDV87 noted.

Laenor’s fate was not as dark as it might have been. After tricking everyone into thinking he was dead, he escaped to Essos to finally live the free life he so desperately wanted. Not a bad outcome, especially in the Game of Thrones universe.