Note: This story contains spoilers from “House of the Dragon” Season 3, Episode 4 and “Fire & Blood.“

“House of the Dragon” changed another aspect of the story from George R.R. Martin’s book and this one is going to have serious repercussions for a major character.

Season 3, Episode 4 confirmed that Sunfyre was truly dead after a lot of speculation from fans of the book. Aegon (Tom Glynn Carney) came across his former dragon with Larys (Matthew Needham) while they were on the run from Team Black. After being mentioned in Episode 3 that the dragon was wasting away where he and Aegon fell at Rook’s Rest, it was still jarring to see it proven true.

The episode’s seeming confirmation of Sunfyre’s death is the latest change to have major domino effects for the show’s upcoming fourth and final season. This one deals directly with Queen Rhaenyra’s fate.

Spoilers ahead but read on to learn how Sunfyre’s death is changing how “House of the Dragon” may end.

Sunfyre’s fate revealed

Aegon and Larys are still on the run when Episode 4 kicks off and their slow-moving journey has brought them back to the origin of their problems. They arrive at Rook’s Rest, the spot of the battle where Aegon was severely burned and his dragon Sunfyre was killed. Mentions of the dragon’s moldering corpse came up in Episode 3, but many fans held out hope the dragon was still somehow alive.

Aegon wants to visit his dragon and doing so costs the pair a fee. Aegon understandably can’t really keep it together – and at one point insists that Sunfyre is still alive – but the beast is dead and the former king takes a golden scale from him in remembrance.

How the Dragon’s Confirmed Death Changes the Ending for the Show’s Biggest Character

Many book fans assumed Sunfyre was not actually dead in the show and only grew worried after mentions that he was decaying. This is another big departure “House of the Dragon” is taking from the “Fire & Blood” book because Sunfyre survives and plays a big part in a major character’s death.

A second spoiler warning for the “Fire & Blood” book and story beats from Season 4 of “House of the Dragon”

In the books, Sunfyre is extremely wounded by Meleys at the Battle of Rook’s Rest but doesn’t die. Criston Cole and his men find the dragon and slowly feed him until he can build up his strength to fly back to King’s Landing. It’s slow-going, and much like Aegon, Sunfyre is crippled and scarred for life but he’s still alive.

After a series of losses and betrayals, Rhaenyra flees King’s Landing and returns to Dragonstone. She isn’t there long before she is captured and brought before Aegon and his crippled dragon. The king hands out Rhaenyra’s fate and Sunfyre burns her alive and devours her in six bites.

What could happen now?

If Sunfyre is truly dead then Rhaenyra’s ending is somewhat up in the air. She’s still likely doomed to die — “Game of Thrones” spoiled as much in the show’s third season.

“Rhaenyra Targaryen was murdered by her brother, or rather his dragon,” Joffrey tells Margaery when giving her a tour of King’s Landing. “It ate her while her son watched. What’s left of her is buried in the crypts right down there.”

While the history of the books might not be lining up in “House of the Dragon,” the history of the adaptations certainly still say Rhaenyra was killed by Aegon’s dragon. There are a couple ways that could come about.

The cop out is that Sunfyre is not actually dead and this is all a fakeout for book readers. Aegon says in the episode he can still feel life in his dragon, but it certainly seems dead and it hasn’t eaten in months. If this was the way things played out the show, it would be sure to get a number of “what was the point of all this” questions about hiding Sunfyre’s status.

The more likely answer is that Aegon gets himself another dragon. While most are accounted for there are still two wild dragons roaming around — and one has been mentioned this season, making it feel like it could be a real possibility.

On Dragonstone, a never-ridden dragon named The Cannibal calls one of the island’s caves his home. The massive black dragon is one of the oldest in Westeros and he earned his name by feeding off dead dragons. If he took a trip off Dragonstone, him feeding on Sunfyre’s body could be a way for him to meet Aegon and bond.

“House of the Dragon” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

There may not have been any deals struck at Allen & Co.’s annual Sun Valley retreat over the weekend, but it would be surprising if nothing emerged from this power-packed-per-square-inch gathering. 

This year more than the usual CEOs showed up — FOMO is a powerful force — at a time when media dealmaking is at a fever pitch and technology leaders keep pushing AI’s disruptive force on every industry. The Trump era is also driving dealmaking; everyone knows that this government is not going to stand in the way of its friends, and is inclined to look the other way when properly incentivized. So the sense of making hay is very present.  

FOMO is always a big part of every Sun Valley. But right now, with media in full chaotic disarray, the imperative is to fire up the jet and be there. With a new deal announced seemingly on a weekly basis, it’s better to be in the room and having the conversations than reading about it after the fact.

Comcast co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh needed to make clear that they are buyers, not sellers as they spin off NBCU from the broadband and mobile business. 

Outgoing CEOs, including Disney’s Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, needed to be there because they are no doubt looking for new opportunities.  

Pretty much everybody showed up with the notable exception of Paramount CEO David Ellison, who is on the cusp of closing his deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Still, his controversial CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was in Sun Valley, which makes me wonder if it was awkward crossing paths with Anderson Cooper, who in May exited “60 Minutes” and attended as well. 

The guest list included the tech elite — Apple CEO Tim Cook and his successor John Ternus, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. And a healthy representation from sports was there, including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, National Hockey League (NHL) Commissioner Gary Bettman and billionaire Stan Kroenke, owner of Arsenal and the LA Rams, who spoke on a panel on Saturday with other team owners, Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers) and John Henry (Boston Red Sox, Liverpool F.C.)

That’s not a surprise, since so much deal heat is being driven by the massive sports deals that we’ve reported on in the last two years.  

The deal discussions often happen in random walkabouts or intentional pairings. I reached out to a half dozen people who were there, most did not want to talk. (This is not unusual, I assure you.) 

According to my sources, Cook and Ternus were seen meeting with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Microsoft founder Bill Gates — who is battling a serious reputational turnabout that he’s been unable to shake — was spotted in a meeting with OpenAI’s Altman. Microsoft owns more than a quarter of OpenAI, but the two companies in May ended their exclusive partnership.

Other CEOs included Google’s Sundar Pichai, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and YouTube’s Neal Mohan. YouTube is the belle of the ball right now, having taken over traditional television and spawned the summer box office horror heroes Curry Barker and Kane Parsons. Meanwhile, Sarandos needs to figure out how to claw back the 40 percent loss in his company’s market cap over the past year and reverse serious declines in user engagement.

Netflix conquered Hollywood. But it faces even bigger giants in Silicon Valley.

Since it’s an election year, there were plenty of politicians around too, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

So where is entertainment in all this? According to my sources, Imagine’s Brian Grazer and mega-writer Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone” et al) did a panel on creativity moderated by Anderson Cooper. (Sheridan, who is based in Weatherford, Texas, was typically grumpy and apparently said he hadn’t been to Hollywood in eight years.)

What’s key here is context. As OpenAI pushes off its IPO into 2027, there is plenty of speculation about who is winning this technology sweepstakes that keeps promising to upend society. And at the same time, media and entertainment has to reconfigure itself into business models that will work for the next decade. 

This year’s conference comes amid a flurry of dealmaking. As a reminder of the extraordinary pace of things, here’s a recap of just a few of the current deals, courtesy of my colleague Lucas Manfredi: 

* Paramount acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery merger (pending) 

* Charter-Cox merger (pending) 

* Fox acquiring Roku (pending) 

* Sky’s acquiring ITV’s media & entertainment arm (pending)

* Mediawan acquisition of Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company (pending)

* Netflix acquiring Ben Affleck’s InterPositive

* Electronic Arts acquisition by Silver Lake, Affinity Partners and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (pending)

* James Murdoch acquiring Vox and New York magazine

* Banijay Entertainment’s acquisition of RedBird IMI’s All3Media.

But there’s still plenty of dealmaking left for the entertainment elite to consummate. We’re all waiting for Casey Wasserman to sell his stake in his talent agency as promised — does he think no one noticed?

Assets that have previously been floated as potential takeover targets include Lionsgate, Starz, AMC Networks and ITV Studios. Imax and Letterboxd have also had early talks to gauge interest in potential sales. Versant, spun off from Comcast, has been active on the M&A front, but is ultimately probably a sale target itself. 

This is what I mean when I said this year is about FOMO as much as figuring out the next deal. The current disarray is going to be rearranged — and soon.