Season 1-Episode 05

We Light the Way

The beacon, on the Hightower. Do you know what color it glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war?

Larys Strong

Major Plot Points: Laenor Velaryon gets married to his beard. Criston Cole deals with his first high school breakup. Viserys wheezes and coughs. Alicent buys a new dress. Daemon becomes single again

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The episode title “We Light the Way” is taken from House Hightower’s house words. The Hightowers, fittingly, own the Hightower in Old Town. Basically a glorified lighthouse but they have used it for centuries to observe the Sunset Sea west of Oldtown for bandits/threats. A dead giveaway that this episode would have a significant move from a Hightower.
2. Rhea Royce (Daemon’s soon to be late wife) resides in the Vale, the mountainous region of Westeros home to the countries most impregnable castle, the Eyrie (thats the one with the trap door that Lysa Arryn was pushed through in Game of Thrones). House Royce is a very powerful family there, which was surely the original reason Daemon was married off. Of note, in the books it was never stated that Daemon was responsible for Rhea’s death. It was obviously suspicious, but knowing how Daemon feels trapped by the marriage this outcome makes sense.
3. High Tide, the fortress of the Velaryons, is actually only accessible to the island of Driftmark via a tiny causeway when the tide… is high.
4. Larys “The Clubfoot” Strong makes his real debut here. He is one of 2 sons of the new hand of the king, Lyonel Strong. Due to his physical issues, he focused his efforts on information, politics, and manipulation. The way he plays Alicent into “accidentally” finding out about Rhaenyra’s abortion tea was masterful.
5. Laenor’s preference of men over women was told in the books as more of an “open secret” never outright stated. The way the show handled it makes sense though, as it removed ambiguity moving forward towards next week’s major time skip. His lover, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, was hilariously nicknamed “The Knight of Kisses”, and he tells this to Criston later in the episode.
6. Alicent arriving in the green dress was a clear declaration of her own loyalties, and a bit different than the book. The connection with the flame in the Hightower was never made, but it does aid the audience in understanding the significance of her wearing her own house colors, and not her husbands. In the book, she first wears this dress at a tournament for her son Aegon’s 5th nameday. Rhaenyra, sitting next to her, wore a black dress with the red Targaryen dragon emblazoned on it. To the lords present, it seemed like they were clearly marked out in response to one another. From that day forward (and it seems in this show), supporters of Rhaenyra as queen were known as the “Blacks”, and supporters of Alicent’s son Aegon, were dubbed the “Greens”. We immediately hear Lord Hightower tell Alicent that Oldtown stands with her. Lines are being drawn.
7. Criston Cole did kill Joffrey Lonmouth, but it was in a melee during the tournament for the wedding, not at the pre feast. While it passed as an accident, Rhaenyra and Laenor were furious about it, and shortly after it occurred Criston was Alicent’s most loyal servant. This gave credence to the theory that Joffrey’s death may not have been all that accidental. Criston’s motive in the show for the brutal murder appears to be a mix of jealousy of Rhaenyra, coupled with rage he felt when Joffrey not-so-subtly threatened him with blackmail. Either way it’s hard to be too sympathetic with him, these are the actions of a deranged stalker not an “honorable knight”.
8. The blood and rat at the end of the episode, is a direct link to a future event about to transpire known as “Blood and Cheese”. Do NOT google this if you want to avoid spoilers. I only mention it because I have to show my omnipotence as the author of this blog.

Other Points to Notice

1. While I have not been a fan of Otto Hightower, he does give some genuine and correct advice to Alicent. In his mind, if Aegon does not take the throne, his grandchildren will be killed to silence their claim. He did a horrible job communicating his thoughts to Alicent before this, but at least now she knows where he stands.
2. I love that Corlys tried to get Viserys to agree to the idea that Rhaenyra and Laenor’s children should keep the name Velaryon, under the guise of “tradition”. This was one of the few times Viserys actually made a good diplomatic compromise.
3. One of the major reasons the usually responsibility-averse Rhaenyra so adamantly shot down Criston Cole’s marriage/runaway proposal, is that she now believes she must become Queen to save the world, as her father keeps pushing this fact with Aegon I’s dagger/prophecy. She begins telling him about “the path” Aegon put them on, but Criston had already stormed off.
4. The conversation with Otto, and then finding out that Rhaenyra was sleeping around without telling her, seemed to have been the final straw for Alicent. Even though Rhaenyra only swore that she did not sleep with Daemon, Alicent still clearly saw this omission as a major betrayal. There is also the possibility that she was dealing with feelings of jealousy, as it did seem like their original relationship could have ended up as a romantic one.
5. Viserys, while sick, bemoans to Lyonel that he wishes once in his tenure as king, he could have been tested and proven his mettle in hard times or even war. What is tragic about Viserys is his inability to see that he is being tested at this very moment. He lacks the foresight or control of his own court to ensure this succession issue will go away, and his inaction will unfortunately be what he is most remembered by.
6. We see Laena Velaryon and Daemon flirt with each other, in their own weird way. Laena was the little girl that Viserys almost married in Episode 2. She seems to have grown older and into politics quite fast the last 3 years.
7. The man who saves Rhaenyra from the melee is Lyonel’s other son, Harwin “Breakbones” Strong, and he is clearly quite different than his snakelike brother Larys. At this point in time he is commonly known as the strongest man in Westeros, and he effortlessly is able to move through the fray to rescue the princess. If you remember episode 3, Harwin was the only man present that was smiling and laughing his approval when Rhaenyra, covered in blood, brought the boar corpse to her father’s camp. Keep an eye on this one and his clubfooted brother.

Stray Observations:

1. Corlys Velaryon is famous for sailing to every known continent in the world. Viserys can barely survive on a quick boat ride half a day away.
2. We now see Lyonel Strong wearing the hand of the king pin. He did seem the obvious choice.
3. The poor reception Viserys gets at High Tide, is quite the stark difference than the reception we saw King Robert get when he arrived at Winterfell in the Game of Thrones pilot. Someone will appreciate that joke.
4. Larys Strong is going to be a major issue going forward.
5. While i understood what Rhaenyra was getting at, I am really confused as to what roast duck/goose actually represent 1:1. I think roast duck is men and goose is women?
6. “Its not a phase dad”- Laenor Velaryon
7. While it is important narratively that Alicent finds out about Criston and Rhaenyra’s affair, I did hate the “sitcom” trope way that he accidentally blurted it out to her. It felt cheap in a way that this show is better than.
8. I know he’s a prick, but Jason Lannister is the best character on this show. What a legend.
9. The Velaryons walking in as a family was very well done. Their family has actual strength, and is united to each other, this served as a clear and blatant contrast to House Targaryen.
10. Ser Gerold had serious balls accusing a prince of murder without real proof. Poor guy.
11. It seems a bit strange that Criston got away with a brutal kill like that in public. My guess is that Alicent will vouch for him and say that Joffrey attacked him first. He was shown to possess a knife.

RIP: Lady Rhea Royce, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth. Also RIP to Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as Rhaenyra and Alicent. They both killed it. The new actors next week have a lot of work to do.