Season 1-Episode 08

Lord of the Tides

The crown cannot stand strong if the House of the Dragon remains divided

Viserys Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra returns to King’s Landing. Daemon helps his brother put on his crown. Viserys enjoys a final meal. Alicent misinterprets the dying words of an old man.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The title Lord of the Tides, as could be guessed, goes to whatever Velaryon is in control of Driftmark at that time. Historically, this title also almost always came with a seat at the small council as Master of Ships for the King. Unlike every other position, Master of Coin, Grand Maester, etc, Master of Ships was jokingly referred to as being hereditary.
2. The 3 eggs from Syrax that Daemon collects, are for his 2 new children Aegon and Viserys, with the 3rd being put aside for the child Rhaenyra is currently pregnant with. This was not explicitly made clear in the books, but it is a nice connection that Rhaenyra’s children get eggs from her own dragon.
3. Daeron Targaryen has not yet been mentioned on this show for some reason, but he is the 4th and youngest child of Alicent and Viserys. GRRM confirms he will be in the next season, and it makes sense that he is not around in the show at this point, due to him being fostered in Oldtown not in King’s Landing.
4. Helaena enters Aegon’s room and mentions that Dyana is supposed to dress the children. The children she is referring to are those of her and her brother Aegon. At this point they have 3 children all born in the 6 years between this episode and last. Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor.
5. House Celtigar, rulers of Claw Isle, are also directly from Old Valyria. They did not make the cut of this show, so for all intents and purposes it is only the Targaryens and Velaryons with direct relations to the ancient civilization.
6. Vaemond did try to become the successor of Driftmark in the book. However, he did not petition the crown directly. Rhaenyra sentenced him to death and Daemon went to Driftmark and executed him. King Viserys then took the tongues of Vaemonds younger cousins who continued the bastard rumors after Vaemond’s death. The show took a more better approach in my opinion, but it did seem ridiculous for someone even as arrogant as Vaemond to yell and question the king so directly. Another slight difference, Vaemond was a nephew of Corlys, not his brother.
7. Since the entire prophecy of the Song of Ice and Fire is never mentioned in Fire and Blood, there was no indication of Alicent being motivated by hearing from Viserys that her son was to be some sort of savior. This is an interesting angle though, as it seemed that somehow Viserys had healed the rift between Rhaenyra and Alicent, only to accidentally break it down when Alicent believed he gave her his blessing to put Aegon on the throne. Of course the Prince who was Promised is Jon Snow, and not Aegon. Classic Jon, fucking shit up before he was even born.

Other Points to Notice

1. Corlys is injured while fighting in the Stepstones. The Triarchy at this point is once again trying to wrest control from Westeros, but this time they do not have a cool leader like the Crabfeeder. Corlys’ brother Vaemond offers an immediate antithesis to Corlys’ statement that history is more about names than blood.
2. Lord Caswell is the only person at King’s Landing who greets Rhaenyra on her return. He was also one of the only lords to congratulate Rhaenyra as she ascended through the palace in Episode 6 to go see her father with her newborn baby.
3. The attendant that brings Alicent in to see Dyana (the serving girl raped by Aegon) is the same woman we see relaying information to Myseria at the end of the episode. Clearly Myseria knows everything going on with the Greens but her endgame is not known. Also it has been confirmed by the director that Alicent gives Dyana moon (abortion) tea, not poison as some viewers initially thought.
4. Daemon at one point said that Vaemond only cared about Driftmark, and not about the greater succession issues that would surface by skipping over Luke as Lord of Driftmark. However when he meets Alicent and Otto to discuss him succeeding Corlys, he outwardly implies he will support them against Rhaenyra when the time comes, showing that he is very plugged in to the brewing succession war as well.
5. Viserys entering the throne room was him as publicly as possible saying that Rhaenyra was his true heir. This was fully an act of support. He also allowed Daemon, not the guard, to assist him, showing that after all this time the brothers were on good terms. Fun fact, his crown falling off was an accident, and Matt Smith placed it back on his head while filming. The crew loved this moment so much that they wrote it in, and scrapped a later scene where Daemon makes a toast, as they found this wordless exchange far more powerful.
6. Viserys did not get cut on the iron throne this time when he sat there. In this moment he was a true king worthy of the seat.
7. Jace and Helaena dancing together and enjoying each others company is especially sad when you remember that Rhaenyra initially tried to marry them to one another.

Stray Observations:

1. Seeing 3 dragon eggs together will always remind me of Daenerys and her 3.
2. Jace why did you wait until you were 16 to learn High Valyrian? This guy sucks
3. GRRM today posted that Paddy Considine should get an Emmy for his performance as Viserys in this episode alone, and I cannot disagree. Easily the best acted character so far.
4. Alicent wearing the 7 pointed star and outwardly displaying banners of the Faith of the Seven serves 2 purposes. First, it alienates Rhaenyra and removes Targaryen heraldry, second it endears her to the population of King’s Landing.
5. It is funny how technically Rhaenyra is not lying when she tells Rhaenys that she did not kill Laenor.
6. Fun fact, this season of HoTD has already employed 2 different female directors (Including Geeta Patel who directed this episode). This is twice as many female directors as Game of Thrones employed over the course of its 8 seasons……
7. Viserys walking into the throne room may be my favorite moment of not just this show, but Game of Thrones as well.
8. I dont know why but I hate in this world when the term “good wife” or “the good queen” is used. It sounds so weird to me
9. Aemond is one loose cannon, It already feels like there is something bad brewing between him and Daemon, as Aemond seems to be an angrier younger version of him.
10. The last words Viserys speaks are “My Love”. Even at the end he was still only thinking of Aemma and the guilt he had over her death. This is probably the main reason he favored Rhaenyra over his other children, since she was his only connection to her.

RIP: Vaemond Velaryon, King Viserys Targaryen, First of His Name