The Mud Gate was in enemy hands when Rhaenyra Targaryen abandoned King’s Landing, closing one possible route out of the city as her position collapsed. Its loss helped make her departure a covert escape through the Dragon Gate rather than a passage through the river-side gate.

Strategic Position

By the time Rhaenyra’s counselors agreed that the city was lost, the Mud Gate was controlled by her foes. The ships along the river had also been burned or sunk, leaving no ready escape by water. Together, these constraints narrowed the queen’s options and made the remaining exit route consequential.

Role in Rhaenyra’s Flight

At dawn the next day, Rhaenyra and a small band of followers slipped out through the Dragon Gate, intending to travel up the coast to Duskendale. The Mud Gate’s occupation is recorded as part of the circumstances of that flight: it was not the route she took, but one already denied to her. In the account of the city’s fall, the gate marks how thoroughly the queen’s freedom of movement had been reduced before she left.