Season 1-Episode 04

King of the Narrow Sea

The truth does not matter Rhaenyra, only perception

Viserys Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Daemon Targaryen comes home. Viserys gets mad at his advisors. Rhaenyra has a John Hughes coming-of-age episode.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The young boy suitor of Rhaenyra, who endures taunts from the crowd, is a member of House Blackwood. The man he kills after being insulted is from House Bracken. Blackwood and Bracken are 2 of the oldest and most respected houses in Westeros, dating back thousands of years before Aegon the Conqueror. However for all history, these 2 houses have had a bitter and violent feud that never ends, and even persists during the Game of Thrones time period. They’re the Hatfields and McCoys of Westeros.
2. Daemon was actually named “King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea” in the books, but the shorter version works. Even though he offers his crown to Viserys, several more people follow his lead and claim that “kingdom” for themselves in the future. Not sure if the show will cover all of them.
3. The sword Viserys carries as a sceptre in the throne room is named Blackfyre. It belonged to Aegon the Conqueror, and is largely only used as a symbol of rule in this period of Westeros. That sword will eventually cause Westeros a lot of trouble 100 years later, when it falls into the hands of a Targaryen bastard, Daemon Waters, who starts a rebellion and changes his own last name to Blackfyre.
4. The reason the Red Keep has so many secret passageways, is because King Maegor the Cruel, who commissioned the construction of the castle, was a paranoid and altogether batshit insane man who wanted a quick escape if his enemies trapped him there. Once the Red Keep was finished being built, he had all the builders assembled for a celebration feast before slaughtering ever single one of them ensuring that no one would ever know the extent or location of every secret. Great dude honestly.
5. The book keeps the events of what happened between Daemon and Rhaenyra very vague. It never revealed if they actually did sleep together, or if she lost her virginity to Criston Cole. The only thing that was for certain, was that Daemon and Viserys got in a major fight around this time and he left King’s Landing seemingly for good. It’s nice to see these things as they definitively happened.
6. Viserys tells Rhaenyra that King Jaehaerys (his grandfather and the prior king) would have denounced and disinherited her for what she did. And history says that Viserys is correct. Jaehaerys’ daughter Saera, was caught in a sex scandal with 3 knights at an age similar to Rhaenyra, and after Jaehaerys scolded her, she attempted to steal a dragon and escape. She was then sent to Oldtown to join the faith, but ran away and was last seen somewhere in Essos.
7. The “abortion” tea given to Rhaenyra at the end of the episode, is more than likely tansy tea. This same drink was once given to Lysa Arryn (Catelyn Starks sister in Game of Thrones) by her father, after she manipulated a young drunk Petyr Baelish to sleep with her by pretending to be her own sister. It seems this type of response was the norm in Westeros.

Other Points to Notice

1. Immediately the show opens on Rhaenyra listening to suitors in Storm’s End. This castle is the home of the Baratheon’s, and we see Lord Borros Baratheon next to Rhaenyra. We never really got to see Storm’s End in Game of Thrones, but it is known to be one of the most impenetrable strongholds in Westeros.
2. Viserys and Daemon appear to be 2 people who deep down want nothing more than to get along, but no matter what happens one of them will always piss off the other and then they’ll be mad at each other for 2-5 years at a time.
3. While it seems that Alicent and Rhaenyra are reconciling slowly, Rhaenyra’s comment about squeezing out heirs, clearly hurt Alicent and shows that no matter what their positions will divide them.
4. While not named in this episode, the baby Alicent is holding is her second child, Helaena Targaryen. Younger sister of the child Aegon we saw last episode at the royal hunt.
5. We see that Viserys at this point is just completely covered in sores and cuts. Seems he still has not grown into that throne.
6. Daemon’s intent on seducing Rhaenyra is more than just being horny. By “spoiling” her, he thinks that Viserys will have no choice but to wed them together, which instantly gets him back in sight of the throne. But when she seemed to genuinely want to go through with it, he saw how fucked it would actually be to do.
7. Not much to say about Rhaenyra and Criston Cole, it did feel like a pretty unbalanced power situation though.
8. Although not explicitly stated, the White Worm (person in control of the spies that inform Otto Hightower) is none other than Mysaria, and this is who he sees first when he wakes up after his bender. It looks like he never did actually marry or impregnate her like he claimed he would.
9. Daemon does not even try to refute that he had sex with Rhaenyra to Viserys. Even though it didn’t happen, he still plays his hand. While being so hungover he can’t even stand up.
10. While we know that the Prince Who Was Promised, referenced on the dagger, refers to Jon Snow, it shows just how inaccurate some prophecies can be, seeing as Jon never actually ended up on the throne. He was pretty responsible for the defeat of the White Walkers though. This reveal is actually better for just book readers, since that prophecy still has yet to be uncovered in the main series, and will probably be more satisfying than HBO’s take on it.

Stray Observations:

1. I wish we got to actually see the little Blackwood boy stabbing the Bracken knight.
2. The Bracken knight reminded me of Adam Devine from Workaholics.
3. Viserys mocking Rhaenyra about the tapestries seemed a bit more petty of a move than we’d expect of him.
4. It was incredible to see King’s Landing at night from the view of an actual citizen. This show focuses so much on just the royals that you forget how gross and lame it would be to actually live in this country. There also was some very subtle foreshadowing during part of these scenes, but only someone who knows what to look for will see it. (no spoilers)
5. The people of King’s Landing do not seem to love the idea of Rhaenyra on the throne.
6. Seeing a child as a spy definitely brings back memories of Varys and his “little birds”.
7. Even though Otto didn’t outright lie about the situation, he did say that Daemon and Rhaenyra actually “coupled”, but this obviously didn’t actually happen. A schemer through and through.
8. The scene between Otto and Viserys, when Viserys removes him from office, is definitely my favorite scene of this show so far. I loved how Viserys was also able to see clearly that Otto manipulated him into falling for his daughter.

RIP: Unnamed House Bracken Knight, Rhaenyra’s maidenhood (sorry for this one).