WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 7!A familiar, twisted vision returns for the Targaryen prince at Harrenhal in House of the Dragon season 3, episode 7.

After saving his life, beginning a romance, and offering him dragon eggs and sons to begin his own dynasty, Alys Rivers becomes involved in one of the series’ most shocking visions yet from Aemond. Early in House of the Dragon season 3, episode 7, Aemond’s mother Alicent arrives at Harrenhal and kisses him before the two have sex, only for the episode to reveal it was a vision and Aemond was actually in bed with Alys Rivers. While Aemond abruptly stops after seeing the woman is Alys and not Alicent, House of the Dragon doesn’t reveal how much Alys is aware of what Aemond saw in his vision or if she caused it.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley, Alys Rivers actor Gayle Rankin clarified the returning House of the Dragon season 3 character’s role in Aemond’s visions and her knowledge of Alicent’s part in them. Rankin confirmed that while Alys isn’t implanting these visions of Alicent into Aemond’s mind, she is aware that he’s “working through some stuff,” referring to his complex emotional feelings for his mother. Therefore, while Alys couldn’t see Aemond’s visions of Alicent, she could read between the lines of why he became so startled, especially upon seeing the real Alicent later in episode 7:

ScreenRant: Does Alys have any insight into what Aemond is seeing in his visions? Basically asking, does she have any idea that Aemond was envisioning her as Alicent when they were in bed together in episode seven?

Gayle Rankin: “It’s really interesting. I think it’s the thing that is most interesting in terms of conversation about the female power and the presumption that women can control men or the reverse of that: it’s Aemond actually just having this vision, and she has no idea. I think it might be a little bit of a combo of both. I think she has a sense that he is working through some stuff, but also I don’t believe that she’s implanting this in him.”

Drawing further parallels between Aemond and Daemon’s stories in House of the Dragon, the younger Targaryen’s sexual vision of Alicent mirrors Aemond’s startling vision of his own mother, Alyssa, while he was at Harrenhal in season 2. However, though Daemon truly was his mother’s favorite child, Aemond is the child Alicent fears the most and sees as the most disturbed. Regardless, both visions leave the Targaryen princes startled upon snapping out of them, awakening their subconscious desires that are twisted with the family’s historical practice of incest.

While Alys’ powers and the environment of Harrenhal facilitate more visions in the Targaryens, she isn’t forcing what they see in them. That said, Alys might be subliminally pushing Aemond toward certain visions in order for him to confront these issues and move forward with their life together. Given Alys is intent on giving Aemond sons, she may be eager to bring his infatuation with Alicent to an end and instead prioritize herself as his future queen.

Of course, that dynamic will only become more complicated after Alicent’s attempted poisoning of Aemond in House of the Dragon season 3, episode 7. While Alys immediately sensed that Alicent intended to harm Aemond upon arriving at the castle, Aemond ignored her warnings due to his unyielding love for his mother. Alys will almost certainly make a concoction to heal Aemond of his poisoning, simply calling him an idiot when he stumbles into the kitchen nearly dying, but this betrayal will also likely fully turn Aemond against Alicent.

With only one episode remaining in House of the Dragon season 3, Alicent’s attempted murder of Aemond is expected to culminate in more shocking twists at Harrenhal in episode 8. The final episode will set up the final arc in Aemond’s story as House of the Dragon season 4 aims to wrap up the series, drawing the catastrophic Targaryen civil war to a close.

House of the Dragon‘s season 3 finale releases on Sunday, August 9 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.