Episode 6 of "House of the Dragon" marked a new chapter in the "Game of Thrones" prequel series. Serving as a sort of second pilot episode, the episode features a new cast of "House of the Dragon" members playing adult versions of Lenira Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, as well as a whole generation of royal children caught up in the coming succession struggle. The episode also marked the ending of a fan favorite character who was reintroduced in this episode.

Raina Velaryon, daughter of Lord Corliss Velaryon and Princess Rainis Targaryen, appeared from the beginning of HotD, growing from a 12-year-old bride-to-be (played by Nova Houailis-Morse) to a 15-year-old (Savannah Stein) who flirts with King Viserys, We have watched her grow into a fierce adult dragonrider who marries Daemon Targaryen and has twin daughters Baela and Raina. In episode 6, ten years into their marriage, the couple has left Westeros to live in the East as Raina is pregnant with their third child.

In an outstanding scene near the end of the episode, Raina (now played by Nana Blondell) takes her own life during childbirth. The maester tells Daemon that his only hope to save the child is an emergency C-section similar to the one that killed Queen Emma in the premiere. Upon hearing this, Raina walks away to meet Vhagar, the world's largest dragon, rather than let Daemon decide her fate. She orders the dragon to burn her alive, and Vhagar hesitates, but eventually puts her out of her misery.

Raina's powerful scene became the talk of the episode, a change from the original "Fire & Blood," in which the dragonrider took more initiative in her death (in the original, Raina died from complications during childbirth). It is also an introduction to Blondell, who is well known among Swedish TV fans and Marvel fans who got to know her from the recent film. Read this article for everything we know about this talented actress.

The 36-year-old actress grew up in Sweden and attended the Stockholm Theatre Academy, where she made her screen debut on Swedish television in 2005 and worked as a VJ for MTV Sweden early in her career. She also appeared in the popular Swedish sci-fi drama Real Humans and the French war film Sœurs d'armes.

In addition to her work in Swedish and French film, television, and stage, she appeared in the Marvel film Black Widow, opposite Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh. Recent credits include Red Dot, Sweden's first Netflix feature film, and the Swedish series Partisan.

Blondell is an advocate for diversity and representation of black women in Sweden and interviews non-white Swedish women on her podcast Fenomenala kvinnor (opens in new tab) (Phenomenal Women). In an interview with 2021 Nordic Watchlist (opens in new tab), she said of the podcast, "This is a way to preserve the stories of phenomenal women so that young women can have a wider range of role models like themselves. So each episode we meet a different black woman from a different profession and talk about their journeys, their lives, their work, and their hair."

She also said, "I've been working on this for a while now, and I'm really excited about it.

Blondell opened up to Vogue Scandinavia (open in new tab) about the audition process for the series and said she was surprised when she got the opportunity to join the world of Game of Thrones." When I got the casting call, I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me.'" Is this for real? It's a Swedish black girl. A 'Swedish black girl' is weird."

She also shared her initial reaction when she first saw Lena's silver wig. I was shocked. I thought, 'Oh my God, I look like a glam rocker. Once she put it on, she said the wig was "big and warm," adding that it was "like wearing a wool hat."

She also added that every actor who wore a Vera Lyon wig had a similar reaction. "It was like, 'I'm going to calm everybody down and be nice.'"

After her episode aired, Blondell shared a special behind-the-scenes photo from the shoot with a sentimental caption.

After her episode aired, Blondell published a special behind-the-scenes photo from the shoot with a sentimental caption. In the photo, she is wearing a Vera Lyon wig and an artificial baby bump while striking a powerful pose.

"I want to acknowledge all those who took the time to write to me. I don't think I fully grasped until just now how much Raina is a beloved character from the books. Having the opportunity to walk in her shoes was an unmitigated pleasure," the caption reads.

Blondell also shared sweet behind-the-scenes photos of her TV family, including Demon actor Matt Smith, Baela actress Shani Smethurst, and Lena actress Eva Ossei Gerning.