Season 3-Episode 07

The Dragon in Winter

My father was not a dreamer, but his whole life was a dream.

Rhaenyra Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra tries to stop Sheepstealer. Daemon waits too long to be a good dad. Corlys enjoys dinner with Ormund. Alicent hangs out with her son and his new girlfriend. Aegon re-enters the game. Helaena dreams about chickens

Observations from a Book Reader

Almost nothing from this episode happened in the book, so this section is a bit of a struggle this week.

1. When Daemon approaches Jeyne Arryn about Rhaena, she mentions talk of a rider living amongst the “nettles”. As if Rhaena replacing book Nettles was not obvious enough. While Rhaenyra does order the death of Nettles in the book, it is not until after the first battle of Tumbleton due to some events that transpire there. Sheepstealer is never damaged by Seasmoke, Syrax, or Caraxes as Daemon keeps Nettles safe as long as he can. Nettles was certainly never returned to King’s Landing as Rhaena is in this episode. It was also rumored that Daemon took Nettles as a lover and this drove quite a wedge between he and Rhaenyra, just as the show (mostly Myseria) is using Rhaena to drive a wedge between the two.
2. Mysaria and Rhaenyra were not lovers, although Daemon continued sleeping with Mysaria throughout the events of the war, and Rhaenyra did not seem to mind. Mysaria was also much crueler and did not pretend to be an envoy of the people, usually advocating for harsh punishments against those who wronged Rhaenyra.
3. Surprise! Corlys is alive. In Fire and Blood he was never captured by the Hightowers, and remained in King’s Landing while his relationship with Rhaenyra continued to deteriorate until she eventually imprisoned him. The cause of this was over the dragonseeds, but I’ll save that for next week.
4. Sunfyre and Aegon reunited outside of Dragonstone, not by Rook’s Rest. Lord Mooton sent 50 men to kill Sunfyre after the battle, but Sunfyre burned them all. At this point Sunfyre began making his way to Dragonstone, driven by either an instinct to return to his birthplace, or because of his connection to his rider, who at this point was in hiding in a fishing village outside Dragonstone. When Sunfyre got there he killed one of the wild dragons who still roamed the area, Grey Ghost. News of this caused Aegon to go searching for Sunfyre, who he eventually found and began riding once again, building up their strength from their injuries.
5. Ulf turned against the Blacks based on his own desire for power. This happened in the middle of the first battle of Tumbleton (and he might still wait until then next week as well). Ulf in the books was a completely unlikeable drunken lout, so his show counterpart having real motivation to switch teams works better here. Rhaenyra refused to let him drink with the lads, and Daemon embarrassed him in front of all of King’s Landing, while Ormund offers him beer and a castle. Hard to blame the guy

Other Points to Notice

1. Helaena’s first vision is that of a white horse (she calls it a gray mare) on a cart that she could use to leave the city. “The Pale Mare” was a bloody virus that rampaged the area in and out of Mereen when Dany was queen there, and has often been used as a sign of incoming apocalypse in the series. She made an interesting point that flying dragons constantly altered the rider, it’s hard to argue this after seeing every Targaryen grow more war-like throughout the series.
2. It is unclear just how exactly Alys Rivers is able to make Aemond think she is his mother before he sleeps with and probably impregnates her. In season 2 we saw that she made Daemon hallucinate something similar with his mother but he then woke up in a council meeting whereas Aemond seems to be awake for the whole disturbing sequence. And then of course actual Alicent shows up wearing the exact same clothes. Alicent’s poison attempt was at least set up throughout the season, since she listened to Helaena talk about the poisonous aspects of nightshade constantly during their garden walks in the Red Keep.
3. Myseria’s endgame continues to be unknown. While it is obvious she is trying to drive apart Rhaenyra and Daemon, it might just be so that she has “full control” over Rhaenyra’s decision making once the war is over. Not much to say about the scene where she brought her old brothel friend to the Iron Throne. She definitely was feeling herself to be more powerful than she actually is.
4. Helaena had 3 more important dreams
   • The first was that she gave birth to a son, who was immediately taken from her by the guards to be killed. The meaning of this one seems pretty obvious.
   • The second was her as a full fledged dragon rider atop Dreamfyre, killing peasants that rushed the Dragonpit. This one might be less literal and just a “what if” scenario that shows how cruel Heleana would become should she begin riding her dragon again. She did not ride again in the book, but there was a riot at the Dragonpit like in her vision, so maybe she will go down a different path in the show
   • The third was her living an idyllic lifestyle on a farm before an apocalyptic snowstorm took over as the sun was eclipsed. This one is the hardest to interpret, as there is no possible future where Helaena would be able to live on a quiet farm with her children. I believe it is just showing her that no matter what the future holds, if things do not change the White Walkers will destroy Westeros and bring endless winter. We know this does not happen but everyone on this show is obsessed with the prophecy.

Stray Observations:

1. Helaena never really had the makings of a dragon rider.
2. Jeyne Arryn is cuddling with her “dear companion” Jessamyn Redfort.
3. That better be the last time we get a Corlys death fake out.
4. Gwayne was down real bad for Criston, and Daeron seems to have no power whatsoever.
5. The Alys-Aemond-Alicent dinner scene was incredible
6. “I still don’t understand who this woman is”. Does anyone, Alicent?
7. Larys ditching Aegon to die and saying that he will make sure there are songs written about him probably wont endear Aegon to him in the future.

RIP: Ser Adrian Redfort. A large chunk of Lord Mooton’s Army