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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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.

Other Points to Notice

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Gwayn and Cole discussing punishing a soldier really shows us that Cole is continuing his weird nihilist attitude this season
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. The navigation scene was awesome and filmed brilliantly, as well as the ship to ship combat. No notes.
8. 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