Season 3-Episode 04

Tumbleton

We must cling to our honor, lest we become beasts ourselves
Lord Commander Criston Cole

Major Plot Points: Daemon runs into the daughter he always forgets about. Ormund teaches Daeron how to be a leader. Aegon and Larys engage in some manual labor. Rhaenyra makes decisions that will have no negative repercussions whatsoever.

Observations from a Book Reader

Briefly mentioned last week, but the Hightower host did not occupy Tumbleton until after a battle between them and the riverlands army. I think we can expect this battle next week
A few differences on Rhaenyra’s small council, Grand Maester Orwyle was placed in the black cells for the entirety of Rhaenyra’s time in the Red Keep, so she used her own Maester from Dragonstone to give her advice. She also appointed Bartimos Celtigar, not Torrhen Manderly, as her Master of Coin. Torrhen Manderly does come into the story later and helped guide the next administration, so it makes sense the showrunners would just combine the characters.
Criston Cole arrived at Harrenhal before Aemond did, but only by a day. When Aemond arrived with Vhagar the day after he was furious to find out Daemon had left. While his whereabouts on the show are unclear, Aemond and Cole fiercely argued about what to do next after arriving there. Ultimately, Cole decided to take his army south to join with Ormund, while Aemond relished the opportunity to wage war like Aegon the Conqueror, and he destroyed countless towns and people alone with Vhagar. Gwayne Hightower never left King’s Landing and died when the Gold Cloaks handed it over to Rhaenyra, so it’s impossible to know where his story is going.
Both Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White were sent to fight Ormund’s army alongside Rhaenyra’s and secure Tumbleton. The idea was that Vermithor and Silverwing would be easily able to handle Daeron on Tessarion. At this point Daeron was the biggest threat to Rhaenyra as he still was leading battles against loyal towns and cities in his brother’s name, and unlike Aemond was actually traveling with his army.
Rhaena remained in the Eyrie as a ward for the remainder of the Dance. She was completely irrelevant in that story, so now that she is on the show as a dragonrider I am sure we won’t see the end of her and Sheepstealer. Her and Daemon briefly mention that Rhaena should be watching Daemon’s two youngest children but from this dialogue it’s unclear if they are still at the Eyrie or if they did make it to Pentos.
Ormund had no outspoken hatred of the Targaryens. He was not as much of a fully fleshed character. A bit hypocritical of him to hate the Targaryens when his own family has a history of conquest and subjugation. The Hightower’s lineage is so ancient that it goes back to the days of the First Men. Before anyone else came to Westeros they were ancient kings, and Ormund seemingly wants his family back on the throne. Their name comes from the gigantic fortress castle in Oldtown that they rule from, aptly named the Hightower. His plan here seems a bit harebrained, as Daeron and Tessarion are no match for Aemond and Vhagar. Fun fact, the Arryn’s based the construction of the Eyrie after the Hightower.

Other Points to Notice

We hear a few references to Orros Baratheon and his lack of an army. He was the lord that picked Aemond over Luke in the season 1 finale, right before Vhagar killed Lucerys and his dragon Arrax. Currently Borros is using the war as an excuse to attack the Dornish settlements to the south of his land, which seemed like a better use of his time than fighting dragons.
When Aegon finally found the “corpse” of Sunfyre, his comment that he was still alive seemed prophetic. Later in the episode we see the carcass of Meleys (Rhaenys’ dragon) on the walls of Rook’s Rest. If you look closely you can see that Meleys seems to be actually decomposing while Sunfyre to me looks more whole. I of course could just be coping here, since I refuse to believe Sunfyre is dead.
The end game of Larys remains cloudy. Aegon is not one for taking orders and without Sunfyre, he is completely useless. He mentioned Sharp Point as a destination but there cant be much he could achieve there either.
Orwyle brings it up, but the Hightower’s and the Church are intrinsically linked. The Hightowers’ are from Oldtown, and Oldtown is home to the Starry Sept which for hundreds of years has been the seat of power for the Faith of the Seven. Oldtown is also home to the Citadel, which is where Maesters become Maesters. By the time of Game of Thrones, the seat of the faith is actually in King’s Landing at the Great Sept of Baelor, but that building has yet to be constructed at this time. Cersei also blows it up with wildfyre in season 6 so maybe by the end of that series, the faith moves back to Oldtown.
Heleana being pregnant is surprising, as she was already done having her children in the book by this time. In the show she has had 2 children, Jaehaerys (deceased) and Jaehaera. But in the book she had a second son, Maelor. Perhaps she is going to have Maelor now and the writers will try to quickly shoehorn his book plotline into the remaining 12 episodes.

Nettles (the girl replaced by Rhaena in *House of the Dragon*) and Sheepstealer

Stray Observations:

I still can’t tell if Daeron actually has reddish brown hair, or his silver Targaryen hair is dyed. I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end.
Alyn now gets to be on the Small Council and still can’t get a real last name. Tough break.
Kinda funny to see Rhaenyra playing with the same model toys of Old Valyria that her father wasted all of his time with.
Did anyone actually believe that Ormund was a good guy just for punishing his rapist soldier?
Rhaenyra calling Orwyle bloodthirsty was a highlight for me.
From Jon Roxton and Daeron’s reaction to Ormund’s temper tantrum, it is very clear he reacts this way a lot.
Ulf was either being a complete dumbass, or a complete badass, when he mentioned the graffiti to Rhaenyra that disparaged her.
What will happen when Sheepstealer reappears with a rider in the future? Will Daemon insist it is someone new that has claimed the dragon?
Taxing the peasants and having your soldiers attack them in the streets is a great way to earn loyalty.

RIP: Hugh Hammer’s Brother in Law, random shepherd in the Vale.

NOTE: My recap for Episode 5 will be delayed one week or so. Sorry.

Season 3-Episode 03

Rhaenyra Triumphant

He knew there is such a thing as too much power. The dream of Old Valyria ended in the Doom.
Lord Velaryon

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra does her best Queen impersonation and hosts a nice dinner for the nobles. Daemon dreams of being a god. Ormund does a classic Daeron Targaryen switcheroo. Corlys tries to convince Rhaenyra to acknowledge his bastards now that they’re useful

Observations from a Book Reader

Daemon never flies to the Hightower host asking for the delivery of Daeron. At this point in the story, Daeron is involved in several battles in the Riverlands, and for his heroism earned the name “Daeron the Daring” and was knighted. This of course means there never was a Daeron fake out with Rhaenyra and a boy with hair dyed blonde. Interestingly enough, a cut plotline from Game of Thrones involved the alleged son of Rhaegar Targaryen (named Aegon of course) living in Essos with his hair dyed to conceal its silver color, biding his time to claim the throne. Unfortunately if you read this blog, you probably already had the Daeron identity swap spoiled when I immediately said that Ormund’s squire was almost definitely Daeron. My bad
Rhaenyra did in fact bring her Master of Coin, Lord Celtigar, and her own Maester. Maester Orwyle (the man in the show already in King’s Landing, was thrown in the black cells.
Joffrey Velaryon (the last son that Rhaenyra had with Harwin Strong, but was claimed to be the son of Laenor Velaryon) was indeed summoned back to King’s Landing. However he was older and rode his dragon Tyraxes in defense of Gulltown. She also summoned her son Aegon to return to King’s Landing, as her youngest son Viserys was presumed dead after the Battle of the Gullet when his transport ship was attacked.
Rhaenyra had no issue with naming Alyn and Addam as Velaryons. It only seemed fair. Rhaenyra was depicted as far more confident in her claim, and at this point would not care if her raising his bastards caused others to look disfavorably again on her childrens alleged bastard status.
There was no rat feast for the nobles. Although it would have been tame compared to what Rhaenyra actually did. Upon taking the throne, she had inquisitors patrol the city looking for any leads or info for those who may have helped Aegon escape the capital. All of the “conspirators” were beheaded and had their heads mounted on the spikes of the gates surrounding King’s Landing.
Daemon mentions that Dorne could be conquered by him and Rhaenyra. It is easy to forget that by this point, the Targaryen dynasty still had not captured Dorne, which was basically the entire southern part of the continent. Although Aegon the Conqueror and all subsequent rulers claimed Dorne as part of their Seven Kingdoms, in actuality it was completely independent. The people of Dorne fought intense guerilla warfare against the dragons and were never brought to heel, and even killed Aegon’s sister-wife Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes.

Ormund Hightower and his army. For this scene, the show actually used real actors to give the army a realistic look, with no CGI used.

Other Points to Notice

The director made it a point to always frame the camera in a position that shows what Rhaenyra can see in this episode. There were more over the shoulder shots from behind her than the show normally does, and there were zero over the shoulder shots of any other character.
If you don’t remember, Aegon hanged all the rat-catchers in the capital after one rat-catcher (named Cheese obviously) was responsible for the murder of Aegon’s son Jaehaerys.
There is a long history of the Faith of the Seven and the Targaryen’s being antagonistic with one another. Aegon the Conqueror’s second son, Maegor the Cruel, was especially vicious with them when he stole the throne. This led to the creation of the Faith Militant, and Maegor’s outright slaughter of them. Their main issue at the time was the constant incest committed by the Targaryens, and they refused to bless their rule. Eventually after Maegor’s death, Jaehaerys Targaryen made peace with the faith and the Faith Militant were disbanded. However we all remember when they returned under the High Sparrow after Cersei caused religious unrest.
Some might remember that the crown Rhaenyra wears, is the same her father wore, which was originally commissioned for King Jaehaerys. This crown has only been worn by rulers known for peaceful times and strong rule, while the crown Aegon wears was worn by Aegon the Conqueror, and Maegor the Cruel, both known for outright strength.
We once again hear that the corpse of Sunfyre has been found, and is decaying. I am still not convinced he’s really dead, as that would be a deviation from the books that would have untold ripple effects. Something to keep an eye on.
Hugh Hammer, when asking for payment for his services, mentioned his wife had moved to Tumbleton to live with her sister. We met his wife in season two. We also hear later in the episode that the Hightower army has captured Tumbleton and are holding the people there hostages. Surely this is not relevant.
It is unclear if the dragon keeper that brought news of Tumbleton’s fall to Rhaenyra was someone under her employ, or if they just act independently and only are loyal to the care of the dragons. There is very little written of them in the books. I think in this case it could be assumed that since Daemon left Tessarion with the Hightowers, he also left several dragon keepers to corral him and keep him out of the way.

Stray Observations:

I do not understand how Daemon fell for the Daeron swap. Was he just totally fine leaving his dragon, Tessarion, with Ormund and the Hightowers? You’d think he would have Daeron fly to King’s Landing on him, which would immediately end the ruse.
This marks one of the very few cold opens used in Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon. It worked well here, since after the title we only followed the POV of Rhaenyra, which is the closest show viewers have ever gotten to experiencing GRRM’s writing style, as all chapters in his series are just one POV at a time.
When Helaena asked Rhaenyra if killing her grandfather helped make her feel better, it genuinely seemed like she was curious. As if she was looking for a nice solution to help herself feel better.
The music really just amped the anxiety up this entire episode.
We get a handful of throne room scenes in both series that show petitioners asking for help. We even saw Ned Stark listen in the first season of GoT. Rhaenyra’s experience here is more reminiscent of when Daenerys had to listen to farmers complain about her dragons killing their sheep in Meereen.
Ulf remains the best character. Really went for it with trying to claim the Targaryen name.
Corlys has been the only powerful ally to always be on Rhaenyra’s side. Isolating him here seems beyond ridiculous.
Daemon mentions Rhaenyra has 6 dragons at her disposal. These would be her dragon Syrax, Daemon’s Caraxes, Ulf’s Silverwing, Hugh’s Vermithor, Addam’s Seasmoke, and Baela’s Moondancer. I guess this means they are cutting her son Joffrey’s dragon Tyraxes, and her son Aegon’s dragon Stormcloud. We also never hear about Helaena’s dragon Dreamfyre. I don’t know why I wrote all of this, I can’t imagine most people care enough to have them all listed like this but enjoy I guess.

RIP: A lot of rats. I actually don’t think anyone died this episode? Bummer

Season 3-Episode 02

Queen’s Landing

If this be a victory, I pray I never have another
Lord Corlys Velaryon

Major Plot Points: Rhaena flees the consequences of her own actions. Rhaenyra and Daemon finally head home. Aegon and Larys remain largely irrelevant. Aemond does some war crimes and then immediately gets stabbed. Alicent plots a coup, while her father Otto finally returns to grace us with his presence for a few seconds.

Observations from a Book Reader

Rhaenyra never ordered the execution of her own Queensguard, Ser Lorent Marbrand. He did die shortly after this though. But she never ordered him killed because Lorent never directly disobeyed an order like we saw him do last week. His death in the show was offscreen and we only know it happened because Rhaenyra said “Let Ser Lorent choose how he will die”. Then this guy also had the balls to lay his hands on the Queen. Worst knight of all time.
Since Jace died on her orders, not due to his own defiance, Rhaenyra’s anger was more internalized and led to her appearing more mad to those around her. The show is taking a different path with Rhaenyra and her grief. We see Rhaena hiding in the Vale before Rhaenyra can find out her actions (or lack thereof) in the battle, and this caution would be justified as after the death of Jace, Rhaenyra’s paranoia of other dragonriders knew no bounds and included Nettles, the dragonrider that the TV show version of Rhaena is replacing.
Corlys petitioned Rhaenyra for her to legitimize his 2 sons, Addam and Alyn. He then named the former his heir as in the books, Addam was the elder and the one dragonrider. Alyn did attempt to claim Sheepstealer at one point but it ended in him almost getting barbecued.
Time to address the biggest divergence this week.,The Fall of King’s Landing. Alicent had no part to play in this fight, she never conspired with the Gold Cloaks or other members of the city council to allow Rhaenyra entry. Instead, Rhaenyra and Daemon flew in on Syrax and Caraxes as soon as they heard Aemond left the city, while the Sea Snake escorted his entire fleet up Blackwater Bay. The Gold Cloaks turned on the Greens as soon as they saw Caraxes in the sky (see O.P.T.N. note 4 for why), and slaughtered the captains in charge of the city’s defense. This of course means Daemon never walked through the Red Keep by himself killing everyone in front of him, as they had an actual military there with them. That does not make good TV I suppose. Rhaenyra was also not the one to behead Otto (or any other prisoner). During this fight, Aegon and Larys fled the capital, but in the show they left long ago. Helaena never attempted to run, but was never put in any danger as she was completely ruined by the death of her infant son Jaehaerys and apolitical the rest of her brief life.
MAJOR BOOK SPOILER AHEAD THIS LINE: One thing I am extremely disappointed about in this episode: when Rhaenyra sat upon the throne for the first time she did not visibly cut her hand. In Game of Thrones, Joffrey also never cut his hand on the throne as the throne in that show looked far more blunt and innocent than its book counterpart. However House of the Dragon radically changed the appearance of the throne and made it look more how it was originally envisioned by GRRM. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to correct an old mistake and introduce the significance of a ruler cutting themselves. It was a long storied Westerosi folk tale that any who cut themselves upon the throne were being rejected by the throne. Most notably Maegor the Cruel appeared to have died from multiple cuts from the Iron Throne. Rhaenyra cutting herself quickly became a rumor among the smallfolk and ultimately led them to look at her with scorn and disrespect.
Rhaenyra’s uncertainty and apprehension climbing the throne is so different than her behavior in the book. After Jace’s death she was so obsessed with winning that it made her seem maniacal. She certainly would not be crying as she executed the man responsible for all the conflict in the civil war. She ordered the deaths of everyone who she felt betrayed by as soon as she walked into the Red Keep.

Other Points to Notice

We finally get some new additions to the opening tapestry title sequence. We see Corlys fighting Admiral Lohar, and in the next one Jace in the fetal position pincushioned with arrows.
Addam, Ulf, and Hugh arrive to clean up the remaining ships at the Gullet. Even though they were there from the beginning in the text, and Sheepstealer was never around. It does lead to a very humorous scene of Daemon reprimanding Ulf, who tried to hug Daemon when he saw him (seriously, rewatch this scene it’s so funny). Someone described the character of Ulf in this show as a person from contemporary times thrown into Westeros and once you see it, it’s hard to unsee how hilarious it is.
We briefly see a woman celebrating with Daemon and his men in the Riverlands. This woman is almost certainly Alysanne Blackwood, the woman in charge of House Blackwood and a fierce loyalist to the Blacks. Try to remember her name, as she should be important by the end of this show.
Luthor Largent, the man that Alicent meets with to negotiate the city guard’s surrender to the Blacks, is the head of the Gold Cloaks. In case anyone forgot, the Gold Cloaks are essentially the police of King’s Landing, and operate outside the authority of the Whitecloaks, who only care about protecting the royal family. In Season 1, Daemon was the commander of the Gold Cloaks, and was beloved by all of them for his leadership style and for being a member of the royal family who interacted with the common folk. Almost all of them remained Daemon loyalists and jumped at the chance to rejoin his side.
Daemon brings up “The Song of Ice and Fire” to a grieving Rhaenyra. Much as been said on this show-only prophecy, but it does provide a good reason for why Daemon now seems so committed to Rhaenyra ascending the throne. He even mentions a girl with silver hair, who of course viewers will know to be Daenerys. Even though it was Arya that ultimately killed the Night King, she never gets the chance without Dany’s dragons helping the fight.
After Daemon spurned the witch Alys Rivers, she has one of the most powerful men in Westeros at her mercy after Aemond was stabbed killing the Strong family. Surely she wont leverage this situation to her advantage.
Larys appeared to keep Otto Hightower buried so deep in the black cells that not even the other Greens (including his 2 children) knew about it. His reasoning for doing this is suspect though, and I imagine it was just him playing both sides in case the fortunes reversed.

A much angrier Rhaenyra Targaryen, sitting on the Iron Throne

Stray Observations:

Did anyone else notice that the opening title was slightly remixed? They added much more bass and stronger drums to the background. I thought it sounded great, I wish they started the show doing this.
The scene of Daemon, Oscar Tully, and Roddy the Ruin singing after a victory felt very reminiscent of the tone of A Knight of Seven Kingdoms.
Daemon and Simon Strong are the best pair in the show so far. Sad we won’t get anymore.
Aegon and Larys are heading to Rook’s Rest, the fortress where Aegon was injured and his dragon Sunfyre “died”.
The scene of Jasper attempting to rape Alicent felt pointless and cruel for really no reason. I’m sure there are other articles that go into it better than I could here though.
Harrenhal already looks like a charred ruin because Balerion the Black Dread once melted it during Aegon’s Conquest. Now his sister Vhagar gets to do the same.
Love him or hate him, Otto going out talking shit to Rhaenyra was incredible. If you want more Rhys Ifans though, he is currently starring in the incredible Apple TV show, Star City.
Daemon is still a bastard, but he has had some undeniable character growth, especially as a loyal believer in his Queen.
I’m really not looking forward to the inevitable plot line this season between Alicent and Rhaenyra. “How could you kill my poor father! You said you would take over the city and kill all my sons peacefully!!” bleh

RIP: Lord Simon Strong and sons, Master of Laws Jasper “Ironrod” Wylde, Lord Otto Hightower, Ser Lorent Marbrand

Season 3-Episode 01

Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood

We have come to die for the Dragon Queen
Ser Roderick Dustin

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra plans to take King’s Landing but finds her plans interrupted by a door knob. Alicent seduces Aemond into her schemes. Jace goes on an oceanside flight with Baela. Rhaena and Sheepstealer blow up absolutely everything. Corlys and Alyn have some much needed father-son bonding time when they encounter Sharako Lohar. Daemon meets the men of the North. Aegon and Larys immediately get captured.

Observations from a Book Reader

I brought this up last season, but Sheepstealer was claimed by a small peasant girl named Nettles, and not Rhaena Velaryon. Rhaena seems to just have fully taken the place of Nettles at this point, which may have interesting implications later on.
Aemond never declared himself King when Aegon was unable to sit the throne. Even after Aegon disappeared he was only ever referred to as Prince Regent. Show Aemond is certainly more power hungry, but even in the books Aemond was said to have stated that the crown looked better on himself than it ever did on Aegon.
The dragonseeds (the 3 new dragonriders, Ulf the White, Hugh Hammer, Addam of Hull) did not go to the God’s Eye (lake outside Harrenhal) and wait for Aemond to arrive. Their first taste of the war was actually the Battle of the Gullet that is later in this episode. They helped turn back the Triarchy fleet but were largely undisciplined and out of control in the fury of battle. Odd choice to instead sideline them this episode.
There were no incestual undertones in the relationship between Aemond and Alicent. But this relationship in general was largely unexplored and unimportant, as Alicent matters far more in the show than she did in the book story at this point. From the behind the scenes look, it seems like Aemond has always been so desperate for his mothers love (recall how little Alicent seemed to care for her children in season 1), that it created some warped Oedipus complex paired with the already warped Targaryen sense of family. Alicent also seemed to be disgusted. Aemond’s decision to attack Daemon at Harrenhal was his own idea in Fire and Blood
Time to get to the single largest change from the books in this episode. Recall that Rhaenyra and Daemon had 3 children together. Aegon (yes another Aegon), Viserys, and Joffrey. Last season, they were all sent to the Vale with Rhaena, where Joffrey would remain and the other two would be sent to safety across the sea in Pentos. This is where things diverge greatly, as the journey to Pentos was what started the Battle of the Gullet in the text. While on board the ship Gay Abandon (named after Laenor Velaryon leaving his children I’m sure) Aegon and Viserys found themselves under siege by the Triarchy fleet. Aegon who was 9 at this point, was forced to abandon his brother and fly his dragon Stormcloud back to Dragonstone. From there Rhaenyra sent Jace and the dragonseeds to assist Corlys in fighting off the Triarchy. The rest of the battle played out largely the same, with Jace and Vermax dying, and the Triarchy sacking Hightide (home of Corlys Velaryon). After the battle there was no trace of Aegon’s brother Viserys or the ship they set out on. This introduces some interesting differences in the show since as far as we have seen, Aegon, Viserys, and Joffrey are all still at the Eyrie.

Aegon and Stormcloud escaping the attack on their ship

Other Points to Notice

The man who captures Aegon and Larys is a member of House Staunton. They are not of much consequence, but their home is Rook’s Rest, the same stronghold we saw attacked by the Greens last season. It was during this battle that Rhaenys was killed by Aemond, and Aegon was nearly burnt to death.
Daemon’s army was fighting in the westerlands when they ran into the Stark soldiers. At one point you see a soldier chopping off the head of an actual lion. Casterly Rock used to be home to many lion’s and the Lannister’s clearly thought they were the masters of them. By the time of GoT only captive lions remain in the area and are not really relevant to anything going on.
The Stark’s purposely sent “Greybeards” to aid Rhaenyra. It is a longstanding tradition in the North that before winter arrived, the old and infirm would leave the safety of their keeps and “fend for themselves” in the frozen snows. When Roderick Dustin (actual nickname is Roddy the Ruin) says that they have come to die for the dragon queen, he is being literal. Winter’s are so harsh in the north the old sacrifice themselves so the food and shelter can go to the younger generation. This is what makes these old men such great fighters, they don’t care if they die.
I have a feeling that to non book readers, the scene in which we meet Ormund Hightower would be the most confusing, as it contains several large players who have only been mentioned by name thus far. They are all extremely important to the rest of the show so try to take note here and I’ll address the new characters in order of their appearance.
- Tessarion– The scene begins with us seeing a medium sized blue dragon but no rider. This dragon is Tessarion the dragon of Daeron Targaryen. Daeron is the youngest son of Alicent and Viserys, younger brother to Aegon and Aemond. While he HAS been mentioned before on the show, it was very brief and his only actual appearance was in the closing montage of last season when we caught a brief glimpse of him flying across the sky (check my S2E08 recap for more info).
- Ormund Hightower– The lord of Oldtown, one of the single most powerful men in Westeros. His Uncle is the old hand of the King, Otto Hightower, which makes Queen Alicent and Gwayn Hightower his cousins. He commands a host of over 1000 fully armed knights
- “Bold” Jon Roxton- Ormunds second in command, and an extremely deadly warrior. He is one of the few lords to own a Valyrian steel sword aptly named Orphan-Maker.
- Daeron Targaryen????- Ormund’s squire, who has little to say in this scene, is almost certainly our first real look at Daeron Targaryen. We know that Daeron is the squire of Ormund, and we see the dragon in the camp, so this young red-head must be Daeron. Daeron did have the distinct hair and eyes of the Targaryens in the books, but maybe the show is trying to set up a surprise for non book readers. Sorry for spoiling if that’s the case but what are you doing reading a book accurate blog if you care that much about the tv show being your source for canon. Come on guys.
I can forgive a lot in the show breaking from the books, but having a sworn member of the Queensguard ignore the direct order of his sovereign was almost my breaking point. That would defeat the entire purpose of the Queensguard if other members of the royal family could supercede the command of the queen/king.

Stray Observations:

When Larys and Aegon’s identities were revealed to House Staunton, it seemed a bit much that the man in charge would go to kill them when the game of hostages is always how business is done in Westeros, especially when your hostage is as valuable as Aegon and Larys would be.
Rhaenyra’s belief in Alicent is borderline insane. Not that she trusts Alicent, but that she trusts in her competence to control her own children to the extent needed for her plan to work.
Gwayn and Cole discussing punishing a soldier really shows us that Cole is continuing his weird nihilist attitude this season
Come on Alyn, Corlys is trying to be your dad now because you’re a great asset on his ship. Time to forgive 30 years of absence.
Sharako Lohar has to be one of my top 3 least favorite HBO GoT universe characters. Bad acting, and just a cartoon like quality to her that makes no sense in a show like this.
Did you catch the weird glimpse of a person in some druid garb before Alys Rivers appeared to the rest of the dragonseeds? At least she admitted to them that she is a witch, after season 2 there was little doubt. Something strange is going on in the area around Harrenhal.
The navigation scene was awesome and filmed brilliantly, as well as the ship to ship combat. No notes.
Alyn really just called Corlys “father” in front of all of those soldiers smh.

RIP: Lord Jason Lannister, Ser Tyland Lannister, Sharako Lohar, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon

Season 2-Episode 08

The Queen Who Ever Was

The dragons dance, and men are like dust under their feet. And all our fine thoughts, all our endeavors are as nothing.
Ser Criston Cole

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra confronts her husband and ex bff. The dragonseeds party on Dragonstone. Daemon and Aemond learn some unsettling facts about the future. Tyland Lannister enjoys a tropical vacation. The various armies of the Seven Kingdoms are finally on their way for real this time.

Observations from a Book Reader

The people of Tyrosh, the Tyroshi, were known for dyeing their hair blue. The most famous Tyroshi to book/show fans is Daario Naharis, but Game of Thrones removed his iconic blue hair and forked beard. In this episode’s scenes with Tyland Lannister we finally see some weird blue hair. Further note, Lohar was a male in the book.
Larys did help Aegon escape King’s Landing, but he did not go with him. Larys remained in the city hiding within its secret tunnels and passages. Aegon’s remaining 2 children (only 1 child left in the show) were also sent to different places for safety. Another difference is that Aegon only fled because Rhaenyra was on her way to take the city, not because of fear of his brother.
Rhaena does eventually claim a dragon, but it is a hatchling from one of the eggs she brought to the Vale, not Sheepstealer.
Cole and Gawyn never got in a confrontation, because Cole did not sleep with Alicent in the book. This scene felt out of place to me, how did Gawyn figure out his sister and Cole were having an affair? There was no set up to this, and it seems odd Gawyn would wait so long to bring this up. I wonder if this was a cut scene from an earlier episode that they added to the finale to give Cole a final scene before the next two year wait.
Daemon’s vision of the future never occurred in the book. Some of the things he sees in this scene are odd to say the least. He sees a man with an antler helmet by a weirwood, a possible reference to the Green Men who were said to live in the weirwood grove on an island on the lake by Harrenhal, called the God’s Eye (more on this below). He also sees a man with a mark on his face, and the Three Eyed Raven. This would be Brynden “Bloodraven” Rivers, a descendant of Daemon’s who eventually becomes the Three Eyed Raven we remember from Game of Thrones. What is strange is that in Game of Thrones, Brynden Rivers did not have this iconic mark on his face when Bran met him north of the Wall. I am not sure if this is a retcon, or perhaps it is a teaser to connect this show to the upcoming A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms, which is coming out before season 3 and will definitely feature Bloodraven in it.
Just as Rhaenyra never went to King’s Landing to see Alicent, Alicent never went to Dragonstone to see Rhaenyra. They were never friends growing up as their ages were too different, Alicent being much older than she is in the show. Alicent agreeing to sacrifice Aegon to end the war is a stark contrast to the Alicent we once saw attack Rhaenyra on behalf of her son Aemond losing an eye. It feels like the writers wanted to strongly re-establish the possible love between her and Rhaenyra.

Brynden Rivers with his weirwood longbow, art by Amok

Other Points to Notice

The final addition to the tapestry in the opening credits, is a depiction of The Red Sowing. We see Vhagar being blocked off by Syrax and six other dragons. Vermax (Jace), Caraxes (Daemon), Moondancer (Baela), Seasmoke (Laenor), Vermithor (Hugh), and Silverwing (Ulf).
When Larys is selling Aegon on his escape plan, he gives him a series of hypothetical names. The last one “The Realm’s Delight” is a name that Rhaenyra used to be called when she was a girl. This is not lost on Aegon as he smiles and seems to enjoy this name the most, since it is a direct mockery of his elder half sister.
I have no idea why we got so many scenes of Rhaena looking for Sheepstealer. It can be summed up as: Rhaena leaves her caravan and finds the dragon she was looking for.
When Alfred Broome is selling Daemon on the idea of claiming the throne for himself, you can audibly here the word “Traitor” spoken in the background, which causes Alfred to look around wondering if someone else was there. I only caught this with subtitles, but since he is by the weirwood tree when this happens, it can be assumed magic or prophecy is involved. Keep an eye on this Broome fella.
Helaena is the first one to outwardly accuse Aemond of the treason he committed against his brother. She also predicts Aegon will become king again, and that Aemond will die in the God’s Eye. The God’s Eye is the name of the lake next to Harrenhal, it is called this because it is shaped like an eye and has an island in it’s center which from above looks like a pupil. This scene also implies Helaena can communicate via weirwood trees like Alys Rivers.
All season Daemon has been having visions of his mistakes and the cost of his ambition to be king. But when he bows to Rhaenyra none of those seem to matter as it is only his vision of the future that makes him fully loyal. The only way to justify the time spent with Daemon in Harrenhal the past seven episodes is that maybe he needed to grow from the first visions before being open to seeing the future and believing the prophecy to be real.
We see a few interesting things in the final montage. First, a blue dragon flying over the Hightower army which must be Daeron Targaryen and his dragon Tessarion, which would be the first time they have been on the show. We also see Otto Hightower in some sort of prison, presumably at the hands of the Beesbury army. They were mentioned last episode as attacking the Hightowers as revenge for the death of Viserys’ hand in season 1, Lyman Beesbury.

Daeron and Tessarion as depicted in *Fire and Blood*

Stray Observations:

The line about Aegon’s dick exploding like a sausage on a stick was incredible
Ser Alfred Broome constantly mentions how anti-betrayal he is, and he of course immediately tries to betray Rhaenyra with Daemon.
For some reason Simon Strong sneaking around eavesdropping was the funniest part of this episode to me.
Did we really need to spend a quarter of the finale watching Tyland Lannister’s exploits in Essos? One scene really could have sufficed. Maybe this was to give Lohar some characterization but doing so in the finale is odd. Why not wait until next season?
Jace has been ridiculously moody for too long.
Alyn had a nice speech to Corlys. But I am not sure we are attached to him enough as a character for this emotional moment to really have affect.
The final montage did a great job of changing the music to reflect the armies onscreen. First we get the Stark theme, then the Lannister theme, and finally Daenerys’ theme.
Bold move to end a season with a finale that is practically just a trailer for the next Season.

RIP: All the peasants of Sharp Point.

Season Verdict: Overall I would rate this season a 7/10. There were many high points in character arcs, but also some strange deviations from the source material (why did they kill off Aegon’s dragon Sunfyre???) and really only 1 episode that had any action whatsoever. Last season ended with a promise for war but then this season began with Rhaenyra doing everything she could to not engage in any combat whatsoever. Daemon’s arc really dragged as well, even if the payoff made sense for his character. I could go into way more detail on all my thoughts, but I think my episode summaries made it clear what I did and did not agree with. See you all in 2026 for season 3, where the show-runner Ryan Condal has assured us the largest battle of the series will take place in the first few episodes.

Season 2-Episode 07

The Red Sowing

I never wanted it. I was right not to. All the pain it caused. It crushes whoever wears it. You always wanted it Daemon, do you want it still?
Daemon’s vision of Viserys Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Jace acts like a real bastard about being a bastard. Rhaenyra inducts peasants into her dragon pyramid scheme. Daemon gets bullied by a child. Aegon goes for a walk while Aemond gets some new bodyguards. Alicent goes for a swim?

Observations from a Book Reader

Addam Velaryon was one of the smallfolk who answered Jace’s call to come to Dragonstone to attempt to claim a dragon. Once he did, he was immediately accepted as a dragonrider, there was no confrontation between him and Rhaenyra as there was in this episode. Most believed he was the son of Laenor, but those who knew about Laenor’s love for dudes believed him to be the son of Corlys. Corlys did claim Addam and Alyn to be Laenor’s bastards and used this to get Rhaenyra to legitimize them as Velaryons.
Corlys mentioned how his blood had a lot of Targaryen in it from past generations of Velaryon/Targaryen pairings. The show went a different route and through Corlys’ statement made it sound like Addam’s Targaryen blood and ability to fly a dragon comes from his unknown mother’s side. Unless the show-runners are implying that any random person can become a dragon rider this entire time. But hearing about Hugh’s mother being one of the daughters of King Jaehaerys makes me think Targaryen blood is still necessary.
As I have mentioned before, using smallfolk who may be Targaryen bastards, or dragonseeds as they are called in Fire and Blood, was entirely Jace’s idea. He is vehemently against it in the show, due to some personal angst at being a bastard himself. His reasoning does make sense, as it makes other dragonriders who are also bastards just as legitimate of successors as him, but the book version of this character was bolder and never considered anyone could challenge him.
Hugh’s mother is heavily alluded to be Saera Targaryen. She was the problem child of Jaehaerys and Alysanne Targaryen. By the age of 18 she was forced to join the Faith of the Seven as punishment for several affairs and subsequent scandals in the Red Keep she was involved in. She escaped from the Faith’s control and eventually opened a pleasure house across the Narrow Sea in Lys, where she remained for the rest of her life. When Jaehaerys was on his deathbed he often mistook Alicent Hightower as his daughter Saera, returned from across the sea.
When the dragonseeds attempted to claim dragons, there were 5 that were available. Vermithor, Silverwing, Sheepstealer, Cannibal, and Grey Ghost. This episode only had Vermithor and Silverwing living at Dragonstone. Sheepstealer we can assume is in the show, and is currently being pursued by Rhaena in the Vale, instead of being claimed by Nettles (a mysterious common born girl with dark skin). Alyn of Hull, Addam’s brother, was injured trying to claim Sheepstealer, but his show counterpart does not seem to be interested in dragon riding. Grey Ghost was a small dragon that was extremely skittish and no one was ever able to find or claim him. Cannibal was a gigantic feral dragon that some believed to be nearly as old as Vhagar, and every attempt to claim him was met with death. He was infamous in Dragonstone for eating other baby dragons and generally being an evil menace. Unfortunately it appears that Cannibal and Grey Ghost will not be shown on television.

The Cannibal as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in *Fire & Blood*

Other Points to Notice

Although it is never said, I would have to assume that when Rhaenyra heard about Seasmoke flying with a rider, she must have thought it was her husband Laenor returned from Essos. The show never addresses it, but at this point we can assume Laenor is dead, since his dragon is accepting a new rider, and we know the relationship between dragon and rider is magical by nature.
Alicent’s scar on her wrist is located in almost the exact same spot as the cut she inflicted upon Rhaenyra in season 1. This was when she was in a rage because her son Aemond had just lost an eye and she demanded recompense.
Larys withholding information from Aemond regarding the new rider of Seasmoke is almost certainly a case of him trying to sabotage Aemond’s reign. Later in the episode we see him encouraging Aegon to heal quickly, because he knows Aegon favors him but Aemond does not. When Aemond flies after Silverwing at the end of the episode, he could have easily walked into an ambush, and if he knew Seasmoke had a rider as well the chances of that ambush happening would be even lower.
I don’t have many notes on Oscar Tully’s meeting with Daemon and the riverlords, other than it was the type of scene that reminds you how great these shows can be. Oscar fully played on the riverlord’s sense of honor, and knew Daemon was completely at his mercy. Something else at play here was the fact that Daemon acquiesced, even after being called Prince. All of the visions he has had of his past regrets and guilt are potentially making him change as a person for the better. This would at least justify the amount of time we have spent viewing his flashbacks
Alicent seems to be going on a vacation to clear her mind? This whole season she has had themes around her about being cleansed of her sins, like when they show her and her constant baths. Her swim this episode is definitely in line with that motif, but I struggle to find it relevant or of any real import.
The books never mention any cult of dragon caretakers but their existence is a cool addition to the lore of the universe. It definitely makes sense that the original Targaryens who fled Valyria would bring a large retinue of people who knew how to raise and feed dragons. Rhaenyra losing their support could be looked at as a really bad sign for the future.
The last shot of the episode, as shown below, has Rhaenyra and Syrax standing in front of Vermithor and Silverwing. Syrax is the offspring of these 2 dragons, so we get a nice little family reunion.

Rhaenyra and Cyrax, Hugh Hammer and Vermithor, and Ulf the White and Silverwing

Stray Observations:

The title “The Red Sowing” is a direct homage to the book, as this was the name given to the massacre of dragonseeds when they attempted to claim dragons.
I loved that Addam wanted help learning High Valyrian from Rhaenyra. How could anyone control a dragon without being able to say Dohaeris?
It seems unfair to blame the Kingsguard for the riot started last episode. I interpreted this as just an excuse for Aemond to remove Kingsguard members who were loyal to his brother.
Corlys had to work quickly to assuage the rest of the council on Addam’s loyalty as a dragonrider. If only he just mentioned he was his father.
Simon Strong’s facial expressions to Daemon as Oscar gave his speech were incredible. “Please don’t kill everyone here buddy”
The detail of the fish scales on Oscar’s armor were fantastic. Appropriate since the sigil of the Tullys is a fish.
Alyn saying he is “of salt and sea” is the exact phrasing used by Baela a few episodes back to Corlys when he asked her to be his heir. Very subtle foreshadowing here.
Poor Ulf, it isn’t fair he has to go to Dragonstone with his leg injury.
The scene of Alicent walking to the water and swimming felt very Lord of the Rings-esque to me, especially the sore.
Rhaenyra’s speech to the dragonseeds came off as extremely culty.
Huge difference in the way Hugh and Ulf claimed their dragons. One by showing strength, the other by showing pure submission.

RIP: Ser Willem Blackwood. A lot of peasants that thought they had Targaryen blood

Season 2-Episode 06

Smallfolk

It is my fault, I think, that you have forgotten to fear me
Rhaenyra Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Daemon asks for help after seeing his brother. Rhaenyra orders barbecue. Aegon enjoys his time in bed, while Aemond sends his mom to her room. Alicent runs around King’s Landing looking for validation in her parenting skills

Observations from a Book Reader

It is mentioned several times throughout GRRM’s books that lions were once actually native to the Westerlands. However, at the time of Game of Thrones it was apparent most were extinct. Not sure why the Lannister army here travels with lions, I can’t imagine they are very helpful in battle.
Otto Hightower, before being dismissed, was the one to reach out to the Triarchy for an alliance, not Aemond. Aemond also never attempted to put Otto back into his old position as Hand. Otto was still in King’s Landing throughout all these events, but once dismissed by Aegon he never returned to such a high rank.
Ser Steffon Darklyn was one of many dragonseeds to die trying to claim a dragon for the Blacks. He was one of the few knights fully loyal to Rhaenyra, and was actually the person who managed to smuggle Jaehaerys’ crown out of the Red Keep when fleeing the Greens. His loss was regarded as a major blow to Rhaenyra.
The book was inconclusive on the parentage of Addam and Alyn, and most believed they were the bastard children of Laenor, Corlys’ son. This always seemed unlikely due to Laenor’s preference for men, and the show is now explicit about Corlys being their father. Something else to note, Corlys as a Velaryon has Targaryen blood from various generations of marriages between the 2 families. This would mean Addam and Alyn also have the blood of the dragon.
The large dragon in the Vale was known as Sheepstealer. This original name came (obviously) from the dragon’s diet after migrating from the caves around Dragonstone to the food rich lands of the vale during the Dance of the Dragons. The show is heavily implying that Rhaena will attempt to bond with this dragon, but in the book it was a “commonborn” girl named Nettles. Nettles seems to be written off the show like many other characters. More on her later.
The books make it clear that a dragon will never bond with someone while their rider still lives. We know Laenor is still alive in the show, so Seasmoke bonding with Laenor’s half brother Addam indicates that if enough time or distance passes, the bond between dragon and rider is severed. Or that the show-runners forgot about this tiny piece of lore.
Mysaria and Rhaenyra never became romantically attached. Mysaria continued working in the shadows on behalf of Rhaenyra as her mistress of whisperers. Knowing Rhaenyra in the show is now openly hooking up with Mysaria does give some credence to the season 1 theories that Rhaenyra and Alicent had romantic feelings for one another.

Nettles and Sheepstealer. Art by Jota Saraiva

Other Points to Notice

In the beginning of the season, Alicent protested Aemond’s seat on the council. Now with Aemond in power, he is the one who dismisses his mother from her own seat. So far the subtitle of this season could be “Alicent suffers from the consequences of her own actions”.
Both visions that Daemon has of his brother Viserys relate to the same incident. The death of Viserys’ wife Aemma and son Baelon. This adds fuel to the theory that all of these visions are related to the guilt Daemon feels for his past actions. We know that he deep down loved his brother, so the fact that he was too busy making jokes about the “heir for a day” in taverns instead of being there for Viserys weighs on him. Is the whole purpose of this arc supposed to be Alys Rivers using magic to help Daemon gain a conscience?
The sphere Aemond puts into Aegon’s hand was the one that represented Aegon’s seat at the council table. Each member seems to have their own unique one, since we saw Aemond move his to a different spot upon being named regent. Giving Aegon his old one back was Aemond’s not so subtle way of telling Aegon he would never be able to sit at the head of the table again. Aegon seemed to understand this when he claimed to not remember how he was burnt.
House Beesbury is mentioned as going to war against the Hightowers in The Reach. In season 1, Lyman Beesbury was the man on the small council who was openly in favor of crowning Rhaenyra queen once Viserys died, and was immediately killed by Cole. His family is now coming after the Hightowers as revenge.
The smallfolk riot against Alicent and Helaena was reminiscent of the riot in season 2 of Game of Thrones against Joffrey and Cersei. During that riot Sansa Stark was only saved because of the interference of the Hound, just as Alicent and Helaena are only saved because of the heavily armored Kingsguard.

Stray Observations:

We finally get a new opening credits scene. This one shows Sunfyre and Meleys lying dead on the ground, with Aemond raising his sword in the middle of the corpses. Is Sunfyre actually dead??
The reaction from the council to Alicent refusing to marry a Greyjoy was incredible. “Man, it sure would be nice if you did marry him though!”.
Steffon Darklyn could not have been more excited to get burnt by Seasmoke.
The dragon caretaker who slit his own throat while on fire deserved better. What a legend.
It’s hard to tell if Ulf was just a stooge in Mysaria’s plot to get the smallfolk to turn on the Greens, or if he was also acting alongside the woman talking about the feasts the royals were having.
Rhaenyra slapping Lord Celtigar felt like a desperate way to regain control. She really has not done much to help her cause so far.
Jace really is not enjoying the way his mother is running the show
Gwayne did a great job in letting Alicent know the only son of hers she did not directly raise, ended up being the best of all of her children.
Hugh Hammer immediately decided to beat a random peasant for all his food.
Addam didn’t claim Seasmoke. Seasmoke claimed him.

RIP: Ser Steffon Darklyn and the random guy who burned next to him.

Season 2-Episode 05

Regent

I am blood and fire. Driftmark must pass to salt and sea
Baela Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra and Jace write down new ideas during a brainstorming session. Alicent realizes that dis-empowering women makes it harder for her to gain power as a woman. Aemond finds himself with a fun new job. Daemon continues to hallucinate and make bad choices.

Observations from a Book Reader

There was no mention of the head of Meleys being paraded through King’s Landing. It does seem like something Cole would do though. Aegon was brought back to the city in secret while grievously wounded so the small folk would not think he was as hurt as he was. One major difference, the show strongly alludes to Sunfyre being dead (Cole mentions he was ‘long in the dying’). Sunfyre did not die at Rook’s Rest, he was just too injured to fly and remained there recovering for several months.
Jace was the one to ask Corlys to become the Hand of the Queen, not Baela. Jace constantly took initiative in the book, he was the one to convince the Starks, Freys, and various other houses to join the Blacks, and the idea of finding the “dragonseeds” was all him as well (as opposed to it being him and Rhaenyra this episode). The show seems to portray him as more of a reckless teenager that wants to prove himself.
Aemond did not wait for the council to give him the regency while Aegon was injured. He picked up the crown and said “it looks better on me than it ever did on him” and immediately began running the show. Another change is that the show made it sound like Aemond was the natural choice since he was next in the line of succession. In the book, Aegon’s second son Maelor was the heir at this point, but for whatever reason he does not exist in the HBO adaptation
The subplot of Daemon trying to take the crown for himself never happened. It could have been a motivation of his, but at this point all we heard was that he had taken Harrenhal and rallied the riverlands in support. While Daemon in the show looks to have gained the Brackens to his cause, his methods of doing so may have cost him the rest of the riverland houses.
Mysaria was still in King’s Landing at this point, so this spy (Elinda) she sends from Dragonstone is an entirely new development. Very interested to see what chaos she will conduct in the city. She goes directly to the ex handmaiden that Aegon raped last season.
The 2 dragons that Jace mentions as being able to stand against Vhagar, are Vermithor and Silverwing. They were the dragons used by Rhaenyra’s great grandparents Jaehaerys and Alysanne and are the oldest and strongest dragons alive besides Vhagar. Worth throwing random peasants at in the hopes one has enough Targaryen blood to ride them. Vermithor was the dragon we saw Daemon speak to in the caves near the end of last season.

Queen Alysanne Targaryen on Silverwing and King Jaehaerys I Targaryen on Vermithor. Art by Sanrixian

Other Points to Notice

Rhaenyra rightfully complains about the lack of respect her council gives her about military decisions. Being raised by a King who only presided over an age of peace, she is struggling to flip the switch into running an actual war. Interestingly she parallels her half brother Aegon when she says “What would you have me do?” to her council, as Aegon said it to Alicent last episode before flying off.
This episode is the first time we have seen The Eyrie on the screen since the later seasons of Game of Thrones. The Eyrie is the giant mountain stronghold where the Arryns rule as Lords of the Vale. During the time of House of the Dragon, Jeyne Arryn is the leader, during the time of Game of Thrones it was Lysa Arryn and then Littlefinger. Gaining the help of the Vale is pivotal to Rhaenyra’s cause as they have a large standing army that could help her secure her claim.
The insane scene of Daemon dreaming of having sex with his mother was most likely another trick conducted on him by Alys Rivers. His mother, Alyssa Targaryen, died when he was only 2 years old, so perhaps Alys is playing on his deep insecurity of never knowing his own mother’s love, while also continuing to grow the lifelong belief he holds that he should have been king over his brother Viserys.
We once again see Hugh Hammer and his sad family struggling in King’s Landing. While he exists to give a face to the peasant struggle in the war, he will also serve a more unexpected role in the future. If he can ever leave the closed gates of the city that is.
Similar to the Arryns, this episode also shows us our old friends the Freys. Sabitha and Forrest. Since the Freys own The Twins, the only functional bridge from the north into the riverlands, this small house is always one of the most important in any war. While a short scene, it does well showing that the Freys used to be more respectable and far less duplicitous than they became under the near 100 year rule of Walder Frey during the time of Game of Thrones.
Jace tells his mother to maybe not follow in the example of her ancestor Visenya. Visenya was the more violent of Aegon the Conqueror’s sister wives, and generally took care of diplomatic situations with violence. Rhaenyra seems to look up to her. Another note, the sword she used, Dark Sister, is currently wielded by Daemon.

Aemond Targaryen, as depicted in *The Rise of the Dragon* by Shen Fei.

Stray Observations:

Kinda disappointing that we have not had any new additions to the opening credits tapestry since the rat catcher execution was added.
Someone really needs to adopt Cheese’s dog.
Really expected Daemon to have Caraxes burn all the Bracken men to death when they didn’t join him
Although it seems like characters glance at her, we don’t really have any confirmation that anyone but Daemon can see Alys Rivers.
Hey, Simon Strong must have read my blog last week, because he properly called Daemon King Consort.
Nothing stops peasants from spreading fear and lies, like locking them in the city they want to escape.
Alicent always mentions what Aemond “is”. Sure he has a bad track record but she has never really tried to talk to him to see if he actually is this unrepentant sociopath she fears.
Very little time was spent with Daemon at Harrenhall in the book, so I hope this plotline has a fun conclusion. Did we really need a scene of him cutting wood?
Whenever someone insists they would never betray you, they certainly would never betray you.
The river lords know that the murder of the women and children was under Daemon’s approval since they saw a flag with a red dragon on black, instead of Aegon’s gold dragon on green flag.
If Alicent ever gave Aegon support as a child like she does for him at his bedside here, maybe he would have grown to be a better, but less hilarious, king.
Helaena and her psychic abilities see right through Aemond as he stares at the throne.

RIP: Some unnamed Bracken women and children

Season 2-Episode 04

The Red Dragon and the Gold

Do simply what is needed of you. Nothing.
Alicent Hightower

Major Plot Points: Rhaenyra tells her petulant son a fairy tale. Alicent has really bad cramps. Aegon experiments with drunk driving. Daemon continues his psychedelic journey. Aemond can’t stop kin-slaying.

Observations from a Book Reader:

Daemon meets a young Oscar Tully, the heir to Riverrun. In the book, his father Elmo Tully is the heir, and leads the house after Lord Grover dies. It gets worse. Oscar is actually the second son of Elmo, and his older brother Kermit leads the Tullys and armies of the riverlands by the end of the Dance of the Dragons. Understandably, the show runners have eliminated Elmo and Kermit from the equation. It was a funny Easter egg in the book but would probably cause most show only viewers to go insane.
It was always strongly, if not outright, implied that both Alyn and Addam of Hull were the bastard sons of Corlys. The show confirms this with Rhaenys confronting her husband about his bastards.
Lord Darklyn refers to Cole as “Kingmaker”. This nickname follows Cole throughout history, as he was the one to actually put the crown on Aegon. But more importantly, it signifies that the small-folk and historians regard him as one of the key plotters/manipulators who got Aegon onto the throne and caused the ensuing war that devastated the country. It is certainly not an endearing nickname.
Rhaenys tells Meleys before flying to Rook’s Rest “We are off to battle again old girl.” GRRM specifically removed any lines from his book that indicated Rhaenys and Meleys had once been in a battle together before this one. This means that the show version of history is a little different and indicates that Rhaenys had experience fighting before, which would had to have taken place in the many battles fought against pirates in the Stepstones.
During the battle of Rook’s Rest, Aegon and Aemond were described as being on the same page. Once Rhaenys and Meleys descended upon the battlefield, Sunfyre and Vhagar ambushed them. This fight severely wounded Sunfyre and Aegon, and of course killed Meleys and Rhaenys. The show took a different route obviously, with Aemond first letting Aegon get attacked before firing on him and Rhaenys simultaneously. Aemond’s hatred and resentment for his brother have been set up since the very first episode they were in together as kids. I actually like the way the show did this, specifically because watching the 3 dragons together it is very hard to rationalize how Meleys could have harmed Sunfyre whatsoever if he was working in tandem with Vhagar. Aemond also never stood over Aegon’s body with a sword, but on my second watch, it did look like Aemond was putting his sword away, and was not about to actually stab his brother. If Aegon survives his wounds, this relationship going forward will be fun to watch.

Sunfyre above Rook’s Rest, by Jordi Gonzalez Escamilla

Other Points to Notice

Daemon now dreams he is actually killing young Rhaenyra, as she claims it is what he has always wanted (becoming the king). More guilt for how he treated her as a child when she took away his title as heir?
We see Alicent drinking moon tea, the convenient abortion/plan B drink popular in Westeros. This informs us she is pregnant with Criston Cole’s child, which would be a pretty terrible scandal that the royals would have to endure, not ideal during war time. Moon tea, also known as tansy tea, was given by Alicent to the hand maiden Aegon sexually assaulted last season. It was also used before the events of Game of Thrones by Lysa Arryn, after she was impregnated by Littlefinger when they were both young.
In such a short time, we see Larys is immediately able to figure out that Alicent is pregnant, and that she is researching Targaryen prophecy/history, which lets him know she is also questioning the validity of Aegon’s throne.
Daemon dreams he is chasing Aemond through Harrenhal, only to see it is actually himself in Aemond’s clothing. Daemon here is feeling additional guilt for creating Aemond, or at least helping to influence the monster Aemond has become. We know for a fact Aemond idolized his uncle, and it can be assumed Aemond grew up trying to act like him. Plus since their names are anagrams for one another, the connection isn’t subtle. We are then formally introduced to Alys Rivers, the witch of Harrenhal. It is unclear so far if the drink she gave Daemon caused him to space out so badly in his council meeting.
Willem Blackwood was the young boy we saw last season kill the older Bracken that insulted him after he offered Rhaenyra his marriage proposal.
Jacaerys is told by Rhaenyra about “The Song of Ice and Fire”. This name is never once used in any of GRRM’s books (since its the actual name of his series) but there is a nice symmetry here between Rhaenyra telling her son, just as her father taught her at the same age. In both instances the parent told the child of the prophecy after an argument. Jace is now the only person besides Rhaenyra that knows there is a higher reason why Team Black must win. But at the end of the episode we see Aemond find the dagger that has the prophecy written on it in High Valyrian script. We were also just shown that Aemond is highly fluent in High Valyrian, so it remains to be seen if he ever uses or mentions this knowledge in the future.

The bodies of Rhaenys and Meleys, as depicted by Douglas Wheatley in *Fire & Blood*.

Stray Observations:

Gotta love Daemon’s lack of patience with poor Oscar Tully. Kindly encouraging him to smother his beloved grandfather.
Grandmaester Orwyle very intelligently deflects Alicent’s question regarding Viserys’ wish for Aegon to become king.
Lord Darklyn, the man beheaded by Cole, is played by Steven Pacey. Pacey is a world renowned audio-book narrator, famous for his rendition of The First Law trilogy.
It appears Aemond paid better attention than Aegon in their High Valyrian classes.
The heart trees that Alys Rivers mentions are the same weirwood trees Bran used to use to see the future/past in Game of Thrones. Their magic is pretty indisputable at this point
The woman Daemon hallucinates pouring his wine, is his late second wife Laena, previous rider of Vhagar, and mother to Baela and Rhaena.
It’s infuriating that Gwayne Hightower makes Cole look like the world’s most brilliant tactician.
Is Aegon shattering the golden wine pitcher foreshadowing how his golden dragon will be shattered in the upcoming battle?
Meleys was known as the fastest dragon alive at the time of her death. It is unfortunate she ran into the strongest and most powerful.
Sunfyre was considered the single most beautiful dragon to ever live in Westeros. Aegon basically did the Westeros equivalent of taking a lambo for a joyride while wasted.
Pretty wild that the effects in this battle were so good, we could actually see the life leave the eyes of Meleys. I remember the days when Dany had to keep her 3 dragons in a basket just to save on CGI money.
The armor holding the charred skeleton together was incredible. I don’t care if it is realistic or not.

RIP: Rhaenys Targaryen “The Queen Who Never Was” and Meleys. Also maybe King Aegon II and Sunfyre, the show left it pretty ambiguous, and I can’t rely on the book version of events anymore.

Season 2-Episode 03

The Burning Mill

It’s a big chair made of swords.
Daemon Targaryen

Major Plot Points: Daemon goes on a vision quest after a nice meal of venison. Aegon and Aemond bond over their love of brothels. Criston Cole refuses to go to a tavern. Rhaenyra and Alicent catch up while lighting some candles together

Observations from a Book Reader:

As I remarked upon last season, the feud between the Brackens and Blackwoods has gone on for hundreds of years, with neither side remembering what began it. Here we see the Blackwoods on Team Black, with the Brackens on Team Green. Finally something easy to remember! The first real battle of the war, the Battle of the Burning Mill, begins with a dispute over boundary stones. Last season during episode 6 we actually heard the small council discussing how these 2 families kept fighting over the very same boundary stones.
Although Otto was dismissed as Hand, he still remained in King’s Landing for the duration of the war. In the show we know he has returned to Oldtown, and if he remains there his story line in the show will end up being entirely different in key events.
Daemon was able to take Harrenhal by himself just as easily in the book. However it was not as clear that the castellan, Simon Strong, was pro Rhaenyra. Daemon had him locked in the dungeons as a precaution. It does make sense why he would be fine aligning with Daemon though, since the show has made it very clear that Larys Strong (the technical lord of Harrenhal at this point) did in fact author the murders of his brother and father in season 1.
Similar to last week, we spend a long scene with a seemingly random peasant. This time it is a man named Ulf, who makes the audacious claim that he is the son of the bastard brother of King Viserys and Prince Daemon. The term he uses, dragonseed, is straight from the book. In both King’s Landing and Dragonstone, it was well known that many of the Targaryen lords used to sleep around with the common folk. In Dragonstone especially, where the Targaryens were treated more like gods than men, peasants would be honored if they fell pregnant with a “dragonseed”.
The book made no mention of Daemon being plagued by visions while in Harrenhall. It was noteworthy though that his subconscious saw Rhaenyra as a child, while she sewed the head of Jaehaerys. This might indicate he feels guilt over the crimes he committed against both. In his dream, we do see a pivotal book character, Alys Rivers. Known for looking unusually young for her age, Alys was the bastard daughter of the late Lyonel Strong. Many believed her to be a witch that used her magic to see the future and control/kill whomever she wanted.
Rhaenyra never snuck (sneaked?) into King’s Landing. This sequence was a show only creation. It does take some suspension of disbelief, but I can buy it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Rhaenyra as an adult spent so little time in King’s Landing, that few if any people there would recognize her. Secondly, common folk certainly would not spare a second glance at anyone in a septa’s uniform. Of course, in the book this would still fail since Rhaenyra had the infamous and otherworldly piercing violet eyes that marked all Targaryens.

Other Points to Notice

Rhaenys quickly addresses what I found to be the moral of this episode. After the point of no return, there is no understanding or figuring out why exactly a war has started. There were so many steps along the way that led the 2 groups to this point that no one will be able to point to one moment as the inciting incident. Similar to the century long feud between the Blackwoods and Brackens.
I brought up last week how the 2 teams adopted different sigils in the books. Looks like I jumped the gun, as we clearly see Team Green using a green banner with a golden dragon on it this episode. However, Rhaenyra still seems to be using the traditional Targaryen sigil instead the quartered sigil of her book counterpart.
Rhaenyra sends Rhaena, her niece/step-daughter (lmao), along with her 3 youngest sons, to the Eyrie. In case anyone forgot, Rhaena herself was not able to hatch a dragon egg, unlike her sister Baela. Along with Rhaena, Joffrey, Aegon (known as Aegon the Younger to differentiate between him and Aegon II of Team Green), and Viserys, they also bring Joffrey and Aegon’s young dragons. Tyraxes and Stormcloud. These 2 dragons are at this point too small to be ridden, since both Joffrey and Tyraxes are younger in the show than they were in the book.
Criston Cole wears a chain made of hands to signify his position, instead of the pin we are used to seeing both in this show and Game of Thrones. This is actually more accurate to the books, as the infamous chain of hands was even used by Tyrion in A Storm of Swords to strangle Shae to death.
In the scene where Aegon wears his ancestor’s armor for the first time, Larys is able to manipulate him with ease, while gaining the title Master of Whisperers in the process. There is a stark contrast in this episode in showing how both rulers gain their new Master of Whisperers as Rhaenyra recruits Mysaria out of actual loyalty and understanding, whereas Aegon is manipulated into picking Larys.
The bar maiden that is groped by the man in the pub, is the same woman who in season 1 was a serving maid of Aegon. She was assaulted by Aegon and then forced to drink moon-tea by Alicent, just to make sure she did not fall pregnant.
For a few seconds, it seemed like Rhaenyra would in fact give up her claim, since she knew Alicent was not lying. The truth is finally revealed, but it is far too late as Alicent knows her children will not abdicate regardless of the misunderstanding. “You know what Aemond is.” It seems like all this reveal did was buy Rhaenyra enough goodwill that Alicent did not stick the guards on her as she left. Both characters are now fully entrenched in their positions, and the war is officially beginning.

Stray Observations:

Title sequence update! The last 2 images show a decapitated Jaehaerys, and all of the executed rat-catchers hanging outside the Red Keep.
I feel like they definitely could have buried Arryk and Erryk faster. It was like half a shovelful at a time
Cole just got promoted to a job he didn’t deserve, and still could not show up on time.
The riderless dragon observed by Mysaria is once again Seasmoke, Laenor’s old mount. Chekhov’s dragon?
Daemon wants to be addressed as “your grace” since at this point he technically would be King Consort to Queen Rhaenyra. It’s interesting that when a King rules, his wife is just called the Queen, but when a Queen rules, her husband would be called the King Consort.
Yes, Grover Tully is named after the Sesame Street character. Along with his kin, Kermit and Elmo. I doubt the show keeps all of these names.
Gwayne Hightower sucks so much that he makes Criston Cole seem rational.
Jaehaera forgiving Alicent for sleeping with Cole seemed to make Alicent even more uncomfortable
Aemond probably is not the biggest fan of Aegon after being embarrassed for sleeping with Sylvie in front of Aegon’s knights. Let’s keep an eye on that.
Daemon sees Alys in his vision as he stands near a Weirwood tree. As we remember from Game of Thrones, these trees seem to have magical properties and connect points in time.
If it seems ridiculous that Rhaenyra made it to King’s Landing from Dragonstone by boat so quickly, just keep in mind that Dragonstone is an island extremely close to King’s Landing, just across the bay. It would be like taking the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan.

RIP: A lot of Bracken and Blackwood men.