Season 1-Episode 09

The Green Council

You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison.

Rhaenys Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Alicent and Otto compete to find Aegon first. Rhaenys escapes the clutches of the Greens. Larys satisfies his urges. Aegon the Second is crowned.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Alicent, knowing that Viserys would be dead soon, instructed all of his servants to only report to her when it happened. In the book, Alicent never waivered from her plans to crown Aegon, and did not find motivation in misheard last words of Viserys speaking about prophecy.
2. Lyman Beesbury’s death at the small council was presented as 3 different possibilities from 3 different sources. 1 was that Otto had him confined in a black cell where he died of a chill, another was that Criston Cole slit his throat, and the final recount was that he was tossed out of a window and impaled on the spikes outside the keep. Either way his death was then kept a secret and his family demanded his body/release after months of not hearing from him.
3. The search for Aegon in King’s Landing is a show only invention, as Aegon was crowned quickly the day after Viserys died. I believe the show added this plot for several reasons, to show the divide between Alicent and her father, the divide between Aemond and Aegon, and of course just to demonstrate that Aegon is a depraved loser that does not even want to be king.
4. We get a glimpse of “one of many” of Aegon’s bastards. This one is named Gaemon Palehair, and believe it or not, his story will be a hilarious and interesting one to follow. Just make sure to make a mental note about the white haired royal bastard living in a whorehouse.
5. Lord Caswell, as pointed out in last week’s blog, was always one of the only lords to show constant respect and admiration to Rhaenyra throughout this season. We see him hanged (this is the correct tense btw, not ‘hung’) and killed this episode for supporting her and trying to warn the Princess. In Fire and Blood, he was actually beheaded immediately for refusing to kneel to Aegon in the throne room. At least here he tried to accomplish something with his loyalty.
6. Rhaenys was never a prisoner of the Greens. It gave us a cool dragon scene though.
7. Alright everyone, I’m sorry but this episode is going to make me do it. We have to discuss the intricacies of the crowns worn by the Targaryens. Unlike in other fantasy settings, the crown worn by the current king is not the same for each ruler. The first king, Aegon the Conqueror, wore a circlet of steel and rubies. This crown is the one that Aegon II also inherits in this episode. Besides his namesake, this crown was also worn by the 3rd king of Westeros, known as Maegor the Cruel. Aegon II wearing this crown is clearly a message to the realm that he will use force when needed, as the other men wearing it were the strongest militant kings Westeros had ever known. Viserys, wore the crown of his grandfather Jaeherys (a simple gold band with 7 different colored jewels to represent the faith of Westeros), and both ruled over times of diplomacy and peace, and are historically looked back on fondly. There is clearly something to the crowns chosen that casts a light over the current monarch’s style of rule. I am expecting dozens of emails asking me for a more detailed history on the many different Targaryen crowns and who wore them, so do not hesitate to ask. Maybe after Episode 10’s recap I will just do a full blog only about crown/sigil/and heraldry lore.
8. When Aegon II was crowned, there was not a thunderous applause. Just some scattered clapping and even a few “Long Live the Queen!” shouts.

Other Points to Notice

1. The silent intro into piano music is reminiscent of Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 10, The Winds of Winter, in which Cersei blew up the sept of Baelor. We also saw a child spy run around in the beginning of the episode, just like we do here as the child informs Alicent’s handmaiden (who we know is a spy for the White Worm) about Viserys dying.
2. Ser Harrold Westerling seems like the only decent person to react to the death of Lyman Beesbury. By all laws, Criston should have been arrested for what he did, but since Alicent always kept Cole safe, he had no power to do what he thought was right, and it was a major factor of why he retired.
3. Helaena still speaks in weird prophecies and phrases. “There is a beast hidden beneath the boards” she tells her mother, and shortly after this becomes literal when Rhaenys explodes out of the floorboards of the dragonpit on Meleys.
4. Alicent asking Rhaenys for help came off as even more desperate than when Rhaenyra asked her for help last episode. Alicent probably knew it was a futile effort, but she seems too stuck in her ways to realize the main reason Rhaenys will not help her, is because Rhaenys sees Alicent as trying so hard to uphold the male dominated society that once robbed her of the Iron Throne.
5. Just as Erykk and Arykk seem to choose different sides of the succession conflict, we also see how divided Aemond and Aegon are from each other. Aemond knows he is more capable of ruling, and what I find interesting about Aegon, is he knows this too. Later in this episode we see that he never once believed his father loved him, and only when the crowd starts cheering for him do we see him smile. An emotionally stunted guy with serious daddy issues who yearns for constant love from those around him will surely end up being the best king in history.
6. It’s probably best to not think about this too long, but Larys having the queen demean herself like that as he pleasured himself, was equal parts about sexual gratification and him controlling their power dynamic.
7. Another strong parallel to Game of Thrones, S1E9 of both shows end with a new king being displayed to the realm, and a crowd of peasants being shown some serious violence (Ned’s execution and Rhaenys destroying the floor of the Dragonpit). It makes sense why Rhaenys did not brutally murder the entire Green side of the family, as she is not really a violent person and sees this conflict between Rhaenyra and Alicent/Aegon. Plus there is a huge stigma on kinslayers in this universe, not to mention half of the people up there were innocent and undeserving of death, like Helaena and even Aemond.

Stray Observations:

1. Harrold Westerling retiring out of disgust from the Kingsguard mirrored Ser Barristan Selmy doing it to Joffrey in Game of Thrones Season 1.
2. It is absolutely hilarious that there are a pair of identical twin brothers named Erryk and Arryk.
3. Criston Cole saying how every woman should be spoken of with reverence is annoying after we heard him call Rhaenyra a cunt. Fun fact, the madam of the brothel that he questioned on Aegon’s whereabouts, was actually the real life acting coach of Fabien Frankel who plays Cole. He said this was the most nervous he had been the whole season filming a scene.
4. Of course Flea Bottom has children fighting pits. Why wouldn’t it?
5. This episode continues a Game of Thrones tradition of displaying the corpse of a main character who died an episode before. This always leads to that actor being credited with 1 additional episode than the one they actually died in. And sure enough, go check Paddy Considine’s IMDB page, he is credited with being in this episode.
6. Myseria seems to be going to the same plastic surgeon as Criston Cole, since they are the only 2 characters to have not aged whatsoever in 20 years.
7. When Otto refers to Rhaenyra as Alicent’s childhood companion, it almost does seem like he is implying that they were closer than normal friends. The writers seem to be letting the audience decide for themselves on the nature of Alicent and Rhaenyra’s relationship as teens.
8. While there have been many more Aegon’s since Aegon the Conqueror, this Aegon is the only one to have been crowned, and thus adopts the title of Aegon II, or Aegon-Second of His Name.

RIP: Lord Lyman Beesbury, Lord Allun Caswell, a bunch of peasants that got dragon stomped.