Season 1-Episode 07

Driftmark

History does not remember blood. It remembers names.

Corlys Velaryon

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra and Daemon finally get their incest on. Aemond exchanges an eye for a dragon. Alicent goes knife crazy. Viserys limps around sadly.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The Merling King is a sort of religious figure to House Velaryon, they claim that he was the one to give the Driftwood Throne to them, granting them rule over Driftmark. He is somewhat regarded as a god to them, although it is uncertain if this is just largely ceremonial.
2. It was an open secret that Laenor preferred the company of men, and it seems that the show is indicating that this is public knowledge, since Corlys tells Qarl to “retrieve your patron.” This is actually a subtle jab as well, making it sound like Qarl is only around because Laenor pays him. More reason why Laenor would be so apt to leave his family behind now that his sister is dead.
3. One major difference from the book, Rhaenys was not truly considered for the crown. While she was an option, her son Laenor actually received more votes at the great council. She was still snubbed, but Rhaenys is right when she says that Corlys has his own ambitions and they are not fully selfless.
4. In Fire and Blood the Targaryen royal family was on Driftmark for Laenor’s funeral, not Laena’s. On the way Viserys told Aemond that he may be able to get a dragon egg or a dragon itself if he was “bold enough”. This angered Aemond enough to try to mount Vhagar, and he was caught by his cousin Joffrey, who went to get his brothers. He then flew Vhagar briefly before landing, and this was when the skirmish occurred where he lost his eye. Side note, at this point in history, it is claimed that Vhagar was now nearly as large as Balerion, the largest known dragon in history.
5. It was a reach for Alicent to try to get Criston Cole to take out Luke’s eye. Even though he is assigned to be her protector, he is still a member of the Kingsguard, and if he even slightly went against a direct order from the King, he would be imprisoned and most likely executed immediately.
6. We do not really get to see the origin of the Alicent and Rhaenyra rivalry in the book. The show has done an excellent job on this, and Alicent makes her feelings plain when she is wrestling with Rhaenyra and the knife. She was forced to be a dutiful wife and sacrifice her adult life, and resents Rhaenyra for ignoring those same duties and having bastards, while always doing whatever she wanted.
7. Laenor was killed by Qarl at a fair in Spicetown. There was said to be several witnesses, but it is noted that Qarl was never seen again, which is quite suspicious now looking back. It is definitely possible that Laenor was not actually killed, but it never comes back up. The one show-only angle of this that I am interested to see, is what will become of Laenor’s dragon Seasmoke. I believe that as long as Laenor is alive, it should not be possible for anyone else to claim his dragon, even if he is a world away
8. The marriage between Daemon and Rhaenyra is the first ever on screen full Valyrian wedding ceremony we see. Unlike when she was married to Laenor, this ceremony is not done by a Septon in the Westerosi tradition. Instead we see them exchange vows and blood with one another, which reflects the Valyrian obsession with keeping ancestry and bloodlines pure.

Other Points to Notice

1. Vaemond Velaryon (the man giving Laena’s eulogy) was not subtle with what he said about Velaryon blood: “Ours runs thick, ours runs true”. He even glanced at Jace and Luke when he said it. Clearly he is more upset about Rhaenyra potentially having bastards, than his brother Corlys was.
2. Helaena is seen playing with a spider, saying seemingly random things again. However last week when she was playing with the large centipede, she made a comment “He’ll have to close an eye”, right after her brother Aemond spoke. Since Aemond literally did lose an eye this episode, perhaps she actually does have some gift of prophecy. “Hand turns loom; spool of green, spool of black; dragons of flesh, weaving dragons of thread.”
3. Not only is Viserys decaying physically, he also may be slipping mentally as he called Alicent by his first wife’s name, Aemma. Ser Harrold Westerling quickly used her actual name to Viserys after he slipped up, probably to help ease the awkwardness.
4. Corlys and Rhaenys have quite different views on legacy. I side with Corlys here, as all that matters is the last name for the history books. I wonder how many kings/queens from past civilizations were bastards from different fathers or mothers.
5. This show actually filmed a scene that would have shown us how Laena tamed Vhagar as a girl. They probably removed it since Aemond claiming Vhagar is much more significant to the story, and seeing the same dragon tamed by 2 different kids would be redundant.
6. Alicent demanding a literal “eye for an eye” is eerily reminiscent of season 1 Game of Thrones where Cersei demanded that Sansa’s direwolf, Lady, be put to death after Arya’s wolf, Nymeria, attacked Joffrey and fled. Alicent then slashes Rhaenyra in a rage, but this reaction makes sense. Remember that she is convinced from her father that Rhaenyra will kill her children when she becomes Queen. And now her son has lost an eye at the hand of Rhaenyra’s children and her fears seem to be coming true, while she is also seeing Viserys weaken daily and knows her time may be running out.
7. While Alicent does tell Larys not to pursue getting an eye from Jace or Luke (you know Larys would pull it off too), there is a noticeable difference in her reaction to him at the end of this episode as opposed to last episode. The events that transpired here have now made her much more willing to entertain the idea of Larys working his unsavory and violent methods to get her what she wants. This slide into a “winning at all costs” mentality for Alicent will definitely make for some interesting TV coming up.

Stray Observations:

1. I forgot to mention last week, Viserys had his left arm amputated during the time skip
2. Of course Daemon laughs at a funeral
3. Viserys and Daemon seem to be on good terms again. I wonder how long till his next banishment comes.
4. “No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal” Fuck yea Daemon, Otto is the worst.
5. After seeing Rhaenyra and Daemon hook up when she was a younger actress, seeing them do it now feels pretty normal to the audience, can’t be shocked twice I guess.
6. From a kid perspective, I understand why they felt like Aemond stole Vhagar, but realistically what he did was valid. Dragons belong to no one, and rarely went from parent to child. If you can claim one, then it’s yours by rights.
7. The shot of Rhaenyra recognizing the Valyrian steel dagger that Alicent was using, as the same one with Aegon’s prophecy on it, was pretty incredible.
8. Of course Otto doesn’t care about Alicent’s outburst. He is just happy to see that she is as determined as he is to overcome Rhaenyra and get Aegon on the throne.

RIP: Random guard Daemon killed and then used as Laenor’s body double. This guy really got screwed over badly.