Season 3-Episode 08

The Treasons at Tumbleton

I’m alive! Imbecile.

Aegon Targaryen

Fuck you too

Ulf White

If a person is useful to you, you wield them. If they are not, you abandon them

Baela Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra endears herself to the people of King’s Landing by having Alyn murder their religious leader and then gives a speech about how much more important she is than everyone else. Daemon gets his ass kicked in a fight with Bold Jon Roxton. Aegon and Aemond finally unite and have some brother time. Daeron and Gwayne sit through a battle without doing much while Ormund does too much. Corlys escapes certain death again. Baela crashes out against the still non-anointed Queen. Ulf fucks over and kills everyone ever. Alicent looks at some butterflies. Joffrey Velaryon is awake! Did I mention that Alyn murdered the High Septon? What the fuck?

Observations from a Book Reader

1. The First Battle of Tumbleton was different in many ways from what was shown here. Originally it looked like the show would combine the first and second battle into one, but since only major events from the first battle happened in this episode, I’ll cover it assuming there is a second major event to come
   1. It was the Blacks, not the Greens, that held Tumbleton when the fighting began. By the end of the battle, the Greens had taken the largely destroyed town but with Ormund dead, they were essentially a bandit mob.
   2. Daemon was not present at this battle. The Blacks were led by Garibald Grey and Roddy the Ruin (crazy old northman that defeats Ormund in a fight).
   3. Daeron flew on Tessarion and helped the Greens win the day. Gwayne (having been dead in King’s Landing for a long time at this point) was not present.
   4. Ulf, alongside Hugh, turned on the Black army at the last minute, but this time Ulf stayed on the Green side. However, with Ormund dead, Ulf and Hugh (known as the Two Betrayers) took control of Tumbleton after the battle and thought to make themselves kings. They are obviously going in a much different direction with Hugh on this show, as he is a much more nuanced and motivated character. Who knows where his allegiances lie now that his wife Kat is dead.
2. Not only did Rhaenyra never give a speech talking about Aegon the Conqueror’s Prophecy, in the books there was never any mention of a prophecy at all that drove Aegon to conquer Westeros. Maybe it is something that has yet to be revealed but as of now, this is a show only motivation for Rhaenyra. She also calls herself the Prince that was Promised. This prophecy is mentioned several times in the books by different characters. We do not know the origin, just that some vague hero was destined to come and save the world. The followers of the Red God R’hollor believed the Prince that was Promised was the same hero as their chosen one, Azor Ahai. Melisandre believed Stannis to be TPTWP, Maester Aemon thought it was Rhaegar Targaryen, Rhaegar believed it was his son Aegon (although he probably later thought it was his son with Lyanna Stark that ended up being Jon Snow). On Game of Thrones it could be argued that either Jon or Dany was TPTWP, or perhaps even both.
3. The Septon in King’s Landing (not the High Septon, since at this point the High Septon still lived in Oldtown not King’s Landing) was not murdered by Rhaenyra or on her orders at any point. He definitely did not coronate Rhaenyra though which enraged her. Killing a ranking member of the faith is essentially a death sentence for any ruler, and in this case it will probably lead to the peasants calling Rhaenyra by the nickname she had in the book, “Maegor with teats”. This is because the closest another Targaryen got to killing a septon was Maegor the Cruel, who besieged the High Septon of his time for speaking out against his incest and the Targaryen rule. He then mysteriously died before the attack on the Starry Sept could begin, but that did not stop the faithful from rising against Maegor. Cersei Lannister also famously had the High Septon killed, which led to the rise of the High Sparrow, and her naked walk of shame
4. Knighted by Ormund as Daeron the Daring, Daeron earned this title due to his accomplishments on the battlefield, as he led the Greens to take many a small town or holding from Team Black while astride Tessarion ‘The Blue Queen’. The show went a different direction and made this moniker into more of a propaganda speech. This is more fitting in a way and it could be argued that since Fire and Blood is written as a historical account with many biases that Daeron never actually did any combat but the propaganda persisted through the years.
5. Myseria was never dismissed, but she did not do much anyway. With her being betrayed by Rhaenyra, I expect she will be leading many of the major book events yet to come in King’s Landing next season. I don’t think that her whisperings to Helaena are what drove her to suicide though.

Other Points to Notice

1. Interesting name for the episode. I suppose the “treasons” in question are Ulf betraying the Blacks, Ulf betraying the Greens, and maybe Daeron/Gwayne betraying Ormund by asking for peace? Hugh technically broke orders by leaving King’s Landing to go to Tumbleton, that could be viewed as treason.
2. Aegon and Aemond’s meeting really showed us how far Aemond has fallen, and how high Aegon has risen. Aemond is alone, dragonless, and completely under the spell of Alys Rivers. It almost looked like Alys was upset that he rededicated himself to Aegon’s cause, and I’m curious if this split motivation will be a large talking point on the show next season
3. Rhaenyra giving a speech about all these prophetic ideals the Targaryens aspire to seems to directly contradict Game of Thrones, and A Knight of Seven Kingdoms. If the common-folk all knew about this prophecy, why was it never talked about? Why did no one have any idea about a threat from the North? I think the explanation is that the smallfolk immediately though Rhaenyra had lost her mind. Especially once news about her murder of the septon gets out, the public opinion against her will be so low that this prophecy will be lost to time, undiscovered until Rhaegar Targaryen discovers it in some scrolls at King’s Landing.
4. Alys being alive since the Conquest is an interesting bit of lore. The only issue with it, is that unless we get some definitive end to her story next season, there is no reason why she would not be in Harrenhal still in Game of Thrones. It would be strange to introduce this character and just leave her untouched as the series ends, and we know she is probably pregnant now as well. Will there even be time to dive into this next season?
5. Daeron and Gwayne’s peace terms at first asked for too much. However, the version of the deal that Corlys proposes would have effectively ended the Dance of the Dragons immediately. Daeron would rule as a Hightower from Oldtown and be Lord Paramount of the Reach. But, although not relevant in this show, the Tyrells are Lord Paramounts of the Reach, not the Hightowers. I doubt they would accept this willingly. The Tyrells were a minor irrelevant house at the time of the Conquest, but assisted Aegon the Conqueror in overtaking House Gardener and were granted status as the Lords of the Reach in return.
6. Helaena’s final tapestry depicted Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne, covered in her own blood and surrounded by dying dragons, and even human hands that were on fire. Rhaenyra seemed to disregard it and closed the window on Helaena, maybe indicating that she gave up on believing in Helaena’s ability to see the future, or perhaps not caring anymore.

Stray Observations:

1. Rhaenyra really crashed out about Aegon being alive. Her saying “He is risen!” was clearly meant to make Aegon’s return seem biblical.
2. I’m surprised that Aemond did not ask Alys any questions about Balerion or Aegon the Conqueror after her speech about her age.
3. Ormund’s master plan was to use literal children as a shield. Thats so in character.
4. Ulf getting drunk and talking shit about Daemon to the other peasants was wild.
5. Alyn is kinda turning into a Rhaenyra zealot?
6. Aegon’s entire speech to Aemond was pure gold. He even called his brother Daeron a twat for good measure. Rhaenyra is in trouble.
7. Another Aegon note, Rhaenyra never announced him dead after he disappeared in the books, but I think it works perfectly in the show, because now to the peasants it almost seems like he returns from the dead, giving them even more reason to believe he is chosen by the gods over her.
8. Roddy the Ruin had more fun dying than anyone ever has.
9. I thought the battle choreography was outstanding this episode. The only questionable part was how Ulf managed to escape to Silverwing mid battle. Maybe it was because the Blacks thought he was one of them.

RIP: Queen Helaena Targaryen, Lord Ormund Hightower, Lord Roderick “Roddy the Ruin” Dustin, Septon Eustace,

Season Verdict: While this season had some insane deviations from the book, overall I thought it was much stronger than season 2. The only deviation that made no real sense and did not add anything was Rhaenyra letting Alicent go to Harrenhal for her completely ineffective quest to kill Aemond. Two seasons in a row Alicent was given a new plotline to kill one of her sons, and both failed. This was largely overshadowed by the show-only plot given to Aegon, who somehow turned into one of the most interesting and exciting characters, and the fleshed out characters of Daeron and Ormund. Aegon was missing for all of this time during the story in the book, so it was great to see the new arc work so well, and we never had any insight into the twisted relationship between Ormund and Daeron. My only concern for Season 4 is how they can fit the rest of the story into only 8 episodes, but that is a problem we can all deal with in two years from now. That is so far in the future it might as well never happen.

Season MVP: It’s a split between King Aegon and Sunfyre. Ormund was right behind but it’s hard to compete with the Dracarys scene from Episode 7. See you all in a couple years.