Month: July 2024

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 4 of House of the Dragon Season 2.

The fourth episode of House of the Dragon Season 2 gave us our first proper dragon battle. (No offense, Luke, but you didn’t put up much of a fight against Aemond.) “A Dance of Dragons” is a thrilling episode, but it also raises a number of questions about how, exactly, Targaryens and their dragons can inflict harm on one another.

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During the Battle of Rook’s Rest, Rhaenys’ dragon Meleys, who is on the older side, faces off against King Aegon’s Sunfyre and Aemond’s massive Vhagar. We rarely see dragons clawing at each other. Daenerys’ dragons on Game of Thrones were united in their purpose, and while Aemond’s dragon chased Luke’s dragon last season, they didn’t really skirmish. Characters are ordering, “Dracarys,” which translates to “dragon fire” in high Valyrian, left and right. The dragons obey and belch fire on various troops, castles, and, of course, each other.

Both Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) burn Rhaenys (Eve Best) during the battle, but she seems fine, if a little blackened—until she plummets to her death. But it was the fall that did her in, not the fire. Aegon, on the other hand, is set ablaze by his own brother, Aemond, in a move that’s not just rude but treasonous. Aegon looks flambéed by the end of the episode, and it’s unclear if he has survived the attack.

Read More: Who Lived and Who Died After That Massive House of the Dragon Battle

All of this scorching raises a big question: Can Targaryens survive dragon fire or not? Those who watched Game of Thrones may recall that the show implied that the family (or, at least, Daenerys) was flame retardant. But as Daenerys’ forebears battle it out, they’re inflicting some serious burns on one another. Let’s investigate.

Daenerys claims, “Fire cannot kill a dragon”

Let’s rewind way back to Season 1 of Game of Thrones. In that season, two Targaryens were put to the test. First, Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) poured liquid gold over the head of Viserys III (Harry Lloyd), the loathsome brother of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). It’s a particularly grotesque death. Daenerys’ response? “He was no dragon. Fire cannot kill a dragon.”

Daenerys later proves her point when, in the Season 1 finale, she walks into fire with her dragon eggs and emerges with her three adorable baby dragons, earning the moniker “The Unburnt.” The implication, at least in the show, is that “true” Targaryens can survive fire and that Viserys was unworthy of his title.

Read More: Breaking Down the Complex Targaryen Family Tree on House of the Dragon

In Season 6, she walks through fire again, emerging from a burning building without a mark on her. (In Season 1, her clothes burn off, and in Season 6, her clothes are untouched by the flames, but we can chalk that up to contract renegotiations for Emilia Clarke between seasons, rather than some magical properties of Daenerys’ clothes.)

But George R.R. Martin says Daenerys is the exception

The Game of Thrones show seems to have strayed from the books on this matter, or at least it didn’t spend time giving a full explanation to audiences. During an online Q&A in 1999, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin said that it is a “common misconception” that Targaryens can survive fire. He apparently felt very strongly about this, using all caps to make his point.

TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wondrous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.

Later in the books, Daenerys seems to know that she is not immune to dragon fire. When Daenerys’ dragon Drogon helps her escape from the fighting pit in Meereen, Daenerys thinks, “If I run from him, he will burn me and devour me.” She does get a bit scalded by Drogon on that scene. Later, she realizes, “Her skin was pink and tender, and a pale milky fluid was leaking from her cracked palms, but her burns were healing.” Daenerys never gets burnt by Drogon in the show, making a clean escape from the pits.

There are numerous examples of Targaryens getting burnt in the books. Maester Aemon’s older brother Aerion Brightflame drank a cup of wildfire to prove that he was “a dragon in human form” and died as a result. (Ouch.) King Aegon V and Prince Duncan, both Targaryens, died in a fire that came to be known as the Tragedy at Summerhall. Even Jon Snow, another Targaryen, burns his hand when he tosses some burning drapes onto a wight in Castle Black.

Jon flexed his bandaged fingers to show him. He had burned himself more badly than he knew throwing the flaming drapes, and his right hand was swathed in silk halfway to the elbow. At the time he’d felt nothing; the agony had come after. His cracked red skin oozed fluid, and fearsome blood blisters rose between his fingers, big as roaches.

In the show, Daenerys either thought all Targaryens could survive fire, was wrong, and lucked out or else the series changed the parameters of the magic surrounding Targaryens. If Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had some inkling that Dany would eventually become the Mad Queen, maybe they threw in the line to hint at her growing self-confidence (or ego). Her self-belief helps her raise an army and take King’s Landing—though it also dooms her to the role of Queen of the Ashes.

Laena dies by flame in House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon is hewing closer to George R.R. Martin’s books than Game of Thrones when it comes to the question of burning Targaryens. Our first clue that Targaryens are not immune to dragon fire comes in Season 1, Episode 6 when Laena Velaryon, Rhaenys Targaryen’s daughter, realizes she’s doomed to die in labor. She takes her fate into her own hands and walks in front of her dragon, Vhagar, and says, “Dracarys,” burning herself alive.

Read More: Why There’s So Much Pregnancy Trauma on TV and Podcasts Right Now

This scene was a show invention. The writers clearly wanted to underline the point that for women on the show, “the childbed is our battlefield,” as articulated by Rhaenyra’s mother Aemma in the first episode. But the death-by-fire scene communicates another message: Targaryens on this show are not immune to flames.

House of the Dragons’ contradictions on whether Targaryens are fireproof

Despite the Leana scene, House of the Dragon has been somewhat unclear on the point of which firey encounters will result in injury or death. In Season 1, for instance, Daemon is hit by a flaming arrow during the War for the Stepstones. When he returns from the fight, he bears a scar on his neck from the injury. That said, he also flies through an aerial fireball that season but doesn’t seem hurt at all.

Similarly, Rhaenys looks relatively unharmed after flying through flames in the Battle of Rook’s Rest. The show’s creators might argue that neither Daemon nor Rhaenys were directly burned in these fights. They simply ducked as fire flew around them.

Read More: A Guide to All the Dragons on House of the Dragon

Rhaenys probably could have killed Aegon and Aemond in Season 1

In one of the most controversial scenes in House of the Dragon to date, Rhaenys frees her dragon, Meleys, during the coronation of King Aegon II. Meleys busts through the floor of Dragonpit and faces down the Greens. But instead of burning Aegon, Alicent, Aemond and the rest of her enemies alive, Rhaenys chooses to fly off without doing any damage—well, save the scores of innocent common folk she murdered when she destroyed the floor of the dragon pit in the first place.

Some argued that if Targaryens are immune to dragon fire, Rhaenys couldn’t have done much damage to the clan. Sure, she might have killed Alicent and Otto Hightower and Ser Criston Cole (that would have been worth it!). But she wouldn’t have killed Aegon or Aemond.

Turns out, that’s not the case. Even in the unlikely scenario that either Aegon or Aemond is a super-powered Targaryen like Daenerys, Rhaenys likely would have taken out at least some of her enemies. Rhaenys missed her chance to end the war right there and then. As we saw in Season 2, Episode 4, she suffered the consequences of her inaction later when Aemond took her life in the Battle of Rook’s Rest.

A staggering 129 million Americans have at least one major chronic disease—and 90% of our $4.1 trillion in annual health care spending goes toward treating these physical and mental-health conditions. That financial and personal toll is only projected to grow.

We know this is unsustainable. But there are solutions, because health outcomes are shaped by more than just medical care or genes. Behavior change can be a miracle drug, both for preventing disease and for optimizing the treatment of disease.

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Yes, behavior change is hard. But through hyper-personalization, it’s also something that AI is uniquely positioned to solve.

AI is already greatly accelerating the rate of scientific progress in medicine—offering breakthroughs in drug development, diagnoses, and increasing the rate of scientific progress around diseases like cancer. In fact, OpenAI is partnering with Color Health on an AI copilot to assist doctors in cancer screening and in creating treatment plans after a doctor has made a diagnosis.

But humans are more than medical profiles. Every aspect of our health is deeply influenced by the five foundational daily behaviors of sleep, food, movement, stress management, and social connection. And AI, by using the power of hyper-personalization, can significantly improve these behaviors.

These are the ideas behind Thrive AI Health, the company the OpenAI Startup Fund and Thrive Global are jointly funding to build a customized, hyper-personalized AI health coach that will be available as a mobile app and also within Thrive Global’s enterprise products. It will be trained on the best peer-reviewed science as well as Thrive’s behavior change methodology—including Microsteps, which are tiny daily acts that cumulatively lead to healthier habits. And it will also be trained on the personal biometric, lab, and other medical data you’ve chosen to share with it. It will learn your preferences and patterns across the five behaviors: what conditions allow you to get quality sleep; which foods you love and don’t love; how and when you’re most likely to walk, move, and stretch; and the most effective ways you can reduce stress. Combine that with a superhuman long-term memory, and you have a fully integrated personal AI coach that offers real-time nudges and recommendations unique to you that allows you to take action on your daily behaviors to improve your health.

Read More: Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills: U.S. Health Care Is Causing Patient Burnout

Consider what it’s like to be a busy professional with diabetes. You might be struggling to manage your blood-sugar levels, often missing meals and exercise due to a hectic schedule. A personalized AI health coach, trained on your medical data and daily routines, could provide timely reminders to take your medication, suggest quick and healthy meal options, and encourage you to take short breaks for exercise.

Most health recommendations at the moment, though important, are generic: your patient portal might send you an automated reminder to get a flu shot or mammogram, or your smartwatch may ping you to breathe or stand. The AI health coach will make possible very precise recommendations tailored to each person: swap your third afternoon soda with water and lemon; go on a 10-minute walk with your child after you pick them up from school at 3:15 p.m.; start your wind-down routine at 10 p.m. since you have to get up at 6 a.m. the next morning to make your flight.

Using AI in this way would also scale and democratize the life-saving benefits of improving daily habits and address growing health inequities. Those with more resources are already in on the power of behavior change, with access to trainers, chefs, and life coaches. But since chronic diseases—like diabetes and cardiovascular disease—are distributed unequally across demographics, a hyper-personalized AI health coach would help make healthy behavior changes easier and more accessible. For instance, it might recommend a healthy, inexpensive recipe that can be quickly made with few ingredients to replace a fast-food dinner.

Health is also what happens between doctor visits. In the same way the New Deal built out physical infrastructure to transform the country, AI will serve as part of the critical infrastructure of a much more effective health care system that supports everyday people’s health in an ongoing way.

This would have an impact not just on our physical health, but on our mental and emotional health as well. When we’re depleted and stressed, we’re more likely to choose options like endless scrolling or emotional eating that might give us a quick dopamine hit, but won’t make us healthy or happy in the long run. With personalized nudges and real-time recommendations across all five behaviors—helping us improve our sleep, reduce sugar and ultra-processed foods, get more movement in our day, lower stress, and increase connection—AI could help us be in a stronger position to make better choices that nourish our mental health. It could also use our health information to make recommendations based on what motivates and inspires us.

Read More: Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Exercise

So much of the conversation around AI has been about how much time it will save us and how productive it will make us. But AI could go well beyond efficiency and optimization to something much more fundamental: improving both our health spans and our lifespans.

How our behaviors can be used to nurture our health and our full humanity is a topic that’s long been of interest to both of us. Arianna has written several books on the subject. Throughout his career, and while building OpenAI, Sam learned the value of prioritizing these five foundational behaviors, including getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, spending time in nature, and meditating. This has helped him deal with his stress and anxiety and be more able to stay in the eye of the hurricane.

AI-driven diagnostics have already reduced error rates and improved patient outcomes. Now, by focusing AI on healthy behavior promotion and taking advantage of its ability to process potentially several billion data points, we put in our hands a powerful tool for positive change, ensuring technology works for our well-being rather than against it. Incentives are superpowers. And so far, they’ve mostly been used to tap into outrage and increase stress. But by creating new incentives, Thrive AI Health can make it possible for the users’ personal data to be used for their own benefit, helping us all make better decisions and lead healthier lives.

With AI-driven personalized behavior change, we have the chance to finally reverse the trend lines on chronic diseases. Achieving this vision requires collaboration. Policymakers need to create a regulatory environment that fosters AI innovation while safeguarding privacy. Health care providers need to integrate AI into their practices while ensuring that these tools meet rigorous standards for safety and efficacy. And individuals need to be fully empowered through AI coaching to better manage their daily health, with assurances that these technologies are reliable and that their personal health data will be handled responsibly. This collective effort, with robust privacy and security safeguards, can transform health care, benefiting millions of people around the world.

OpenAI and TIME have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI to access TIME’s archives.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 4 of House of the Dragon Season 2.

Anyone who thought House of the Dragon‘s second season was moving slowly was in for a welcome surprise in the final 20 minutes of Episode 4.

As Sunday’s installment, the midway point of Season 2, careened toward a wild finish, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) arrived at House Staunton’s seat of Rook’s Rest with his rapidly expanding army—and prepared to spring a trap. Cole’s scheme was simple: lay siege to Rook’s Rest and force Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to send one of Team Black’s dragons to defend the small and weakly fortified castle. Then, signal to Aemond (Ewan Mitchell)—who would be hiding a short distance away with his behemoth of a dragon, Vhagar—that it was time to attack.

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Unfortunately, Rhaenyra fell for the ruse and, after being convinced not to go herself, allowed Rhaenys (Eve Best) to fly to Rook’s Rest with her dragon, Meleys. Everything was going according to plan for Team Green. However, Cole had not accounted for the fact that his king, Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), would suddenly show up on the back on his own dragon, Sunfyre, and begin battling Meleys.

Meleys quickly got the upper hand on Sunfyre and it looked like Rhaenys might actually come out on top. But then, Vhagar showed up.

What happened to Rhaenys?

Although Aegon was at first relieved to see his brother riding in, Aemond apparently had no intention of getting him out of the mess he had created. In fact, Aemond’s shout of “Dracarys”—the High Valyrian command for a dragon to breathe fire—seemed purposefully timed so that Vhagar’s flames would hit Aegon and Sunfyre head on, sending them both crashing to the ground.

Despite then having an opportunity to retreat back to Dragonstone, Rhaenys chose to turn Meleys around and re-enter the fray. But while the Red Queen and her rider were able to get a few blows in, the size difference between the two dragons ultimately proved to be too much to handle when Vhagar got her jaws around Meleys’ throat. After helplessly watching the life drain out of her dragon, Rhaenys fell to her death on Meleys’ back. And thus the Queen Who Never Was met her end.

“I’m so proud of what I did in the last scene that I shot of the season because it was intensely physically, emotionally, and spiritually demanding,” Best told Collider in June. “Every job you feel like is the hardest one you’ve done until the next, but it felt like more so than any I’ve ever done. I got through it, and I didn’t indulge myself. I didn’t let my own feelings get in the way of the job I had to do, which I feel is exactly what Rhaenys does. She just gets on with it.”

Is Aegon dead?

When the dust settled and Cole came to from being knocked out, he stumbled into the forest to find Aemond standing over Aegon’s body with his sword drawn—seemingly preparing to finish the job he had started with Vhagar.

Cole’s arrival clearly made Aemond rethink what he was about to do, but his apparent desire to see Aegon dead squares with what we’ve seen of Aemond’s contempt for his brother throughout the show. “Aegon is very brash and lacks perseverance to be king,” Mitchell told Comic Book Resources in June of Aemond’s perception of Aegon’s capacity to rule. “Aegon kind of squandered his inheritance and even said he didn’t want to be king.”

As for Aegon’s fate following that cliffhanger ending, we know from George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the A Song of Ice and Fire companion novel on which House of the Dragon is based, that despite their near-fatal injuries, both he and Sunfyre survive the Battle of Rook’s Rest. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to take a pretty significant amount of time for him to heal, creating a window of opportunity for members of his court to weasel their way into more power.

Об этом заявило оперативное командование ВС Польши.

Кроме того, в Одессе сотрудники военкоматов приезжают к людям на вызов такси.

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