The third season of House of the Dragon has finally arrived, and Westeros will never be the same. The supersized season premiere brought the Dance of the Dragons civil war to a head with a vicious naval battle called the Battle of the Gullet, where armadas crashed together on the water while dragons breathed fire from above. It was a massive battle sequence punctuated by the sorts of shocking tragedies and twists that Game of Thrones fans expect and love.
When the dust settled, dozens of ships and their crews had perished, Corlys Velaryon's home island of Driftmark had been sacked, and Rhaenyra Targaryen's son and heir, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, had perished along with his dragon Vermax. It may have been the single most violent shift of the status quo in the show's run, and it sets a grim tone for the season ahead.
Despite that darkness, or perhaps because of it, "Sea and Salt, Fire and Blood" made for some excellent television! Let's look back on the 10 best moments from the Battle of the Gullet.
1. Corlys Velaryon levels with his son
While the battle itself was spectacular, there were a few important pieces of foundation that had to be laid before it in order some of its biggest beats to land right — and of them, Corlys Velaryon's conversation with his estranged bastard son Allyn of Hull stands out. Over cups of a rare liquor from Ib called "dragon water," these two men finally level with each other in a way that's frankly refreshing in this show where everyone dances around what they mean to keep their advantages close to their chest. Corlys' line that he can't fix what's broken between him and Alyn, but can accept that it was his fault, might be the single most emotionally intelligent line of the episode.
All of this is held up by great performances from Steve Toussaint and Abubakar Salim, who seemed to revel in this quiet yet juicy material. There may be tons of epic moments in the Battle of the Gullet, but this scene is instrumental in grounding us in the story of Alyn and Corlys before they're thrown in the deep end and forced to reckon with just what they mean to each other in the midst of carnage.
2. Jacaerys Velaryon's fateful decision
Another absolutely crucial piece of set up that happens right before the battle is when Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) makes the bold decision to order his mother, Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), to be locked in her chambers until after the battle is done. Rhaenyra is determined to go there herself; Jace makes the correct deduction that if Rhaenyra is slain fighting on the frontlines, the entire ware effort collapses. So he strong arms the Kingsguard knight Ser Lorent Marbrand (Max Wrottesley) to bar Rhaenyra's door — and Ser Lorent agrees, knowing full well it will mean his death whenever Rhaenyra is finally set free.
The capstone to this fraught sequence is a gutwrenching scene between Jace and his betrothed, Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), where he convinces her to come with him to the Gullet. These two scenes together are arguably Harry Collett's best of the entire series, and launch viewers headlong in the battle with a pit in their stomach, because things are already spiraling out of control even before the first dragon takes wing.
3. Corlys Velaryon and Sharako Lohar's chase through the canyon
While the start of the battle is filled with bloodshed and mayhem, the first scene that really got my heart racing happened when Corlys Velaryon led his adversary, Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) into a narrow canyon that was fast draining of water as the tide went out. Corlys is one of the few living sailors who knows the way safely through the shallow pass, and he hopes that Lohar will run aground in the pursuit, depriving the Triarchy fleet of its flagship.
But in Lohar, Corlys has finally met his match. She orders her own ship to follow in his wake, cuts loose any dead weight, and manages to slip free of the trap by the skin of her teeth. There are many so many great moments in this sequence, like Corlys taking the helm himself and Lohar's desperate yet focused commands. So we just need to give the entire thing the nod.
4. Tyland Lannister ends up in the drink
Of course, if we have to give one specific part of the canyon chase some extra flowers, it's going to be the death of Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall). Earlier in the episode, Lohar comments on Tyland's heavy armor, which is decidedly bad for a naval battle since it all but insures he'll drown if he ends up "in the drink." Tyland brushes this off, saying his plan is to fight and face death on deck. But when do things ever go like someone expects in Westeros?
When Lohar's vessel needs to shed weight fast in order to not run aground in the canyon, Tyland and his heavy armor are one of the first things the pirate captain looks toward. "How much do you weigh in all that armor?" she asks, before swiftly shoving him overboard to his death. And so Tyland continues the great tradition of Lannisters sinking to the depths. Something tells me that unlike Tyrion and Jaime, Tyland Lannister will not be lucky enough to return.
5. Sheepstealer goes rogue
While things were chaotic in the water from the start, the drama in the skies takes a major turn with the arrival of Sheepstealer, the wild dragon newly claimed by Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell). Unlike the well-trained Vermax and Moondancer, Sheepstealer has lives his entire life in the solitude of the Vale. He was starting to work with Rhaena — right up until he plunged into the thick of battle and instinct took over.
Ultimately, Sheepstealer does exactly what you'd expect a wild dragon to do in that situation: attacks everything in sight. He sets Velaryon ships aflame as well as Triarchy vessels, tries to kill Rhaena's sister Baela and her dragon Moondancer, and ultimately causes Jace's death when the stalwart prince has to dive low to avoid the larger dragon. I'm torn on what this all means for Rhaena in season 3, but Sheepstealer himself did a grand job of mixing it up at the Battle of the Gullet.
6. The boarding party for the final battle
Following the chase through the canyon, Corlys tries to bring his ship around to face Lohar's pirates in a traditional broadside skirmish. However, Lohar isn't about to give Corlys any wiggle room to escape; instead, she orders her ship, the Bitchfist, to ram directly into his, locking their vessels together.
What follows is chaos, as the Triarchy pirates swarm over the breach and onto the deck of the Queen Who Ever Was, and things devolve into a bloody melee. The Battle of the Gullet features plenty of action, but this close quarters fight ratchets up the tension significantly, is staged well, and uses some great camerwork to bring us close to the action while still keeping everything coherent. It's probably the single best instance of two ship crews fighting in the entire Game of Thrones universe.
7. Sharako Lohar vs Corlys Velaryon
Once it was established that Sharako Lohar and Corlys Velaryon had bitter history thanks to all their years warring in the Triarchy, the Battle of the Gullet was always going to lead to these two powerful figures coming head to head. It finally happens in the thick of the desperate fight aboard the Queen Who Ever Was, where they have to stop slaughtering each others' crews and finally bring their blades to bear against each other.
This fight is tense and well choreographed, with both Corlys and Lohar getting in some good blows before they're ultimately separated by their ships coming unlocked, which sends Corlys into the water. If there was one up close and personal fight scene that felt utterly essential to this whole set piece, it was Corlys vs Lohar.
8. "Father!"
While many of the best parts of the Battle of the Gullet revolve around the action, there's also a very important character beat that happens here for Alyn of Hull. After Corlys goes into the water, Alyn screams, "father!" Given how resistant he has been to embrace any sort of relationship with Corlys Velaryon, this kneejerk reaction to seeing the older man in danger speaks levels of how far he and Alyn have come, and what sort of feelings the guarded sailor holds deep inside. Thanks to the earlier scene of the two drinking together, this feels like a full circle moment for Alyn of Hull that is both necessary and compelling.
9. Alyn of Hull gets savage with Sharako Lohar
Alyn of Hull's brief moment of concern for Corlys swiftly leads into a mad scramble for bloody vengeance when he sees Sharako Lohar nearby, and leaps after her to finish the job his father started. But unlike Corlys and Lohar's fight, which is a much more swashbuckling affair, Alyn's brawl with Lohar is just plain brutal. The two scrabble at each other in the flooding hold of a ship, punching and choking and trying to drown each other, until Alyn finally stabs Lohar in the throat to put an end to it. Actor Abubakar Salim said he channeled Kratos from God of War for this scene, and it's easy to see how on screen.
10. The death of Jacaerys Velaryon and Vermax
For as good as many of the scenes in the Battle of the Gullet are, there is one moment that is absolutely crucial not only to the battle, but the entire civil war overall: the shocker death of Jacaerys Velaryon and his dragon Vermax. This is the one part of the battle as laid out in George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood that the show absolutely had to get right, and fortunately, it did just that.
Realizing it's his step sister Rhaena who's flying the rogue dragon Sheepstealer, Jace dives low to avoid the larger beast. That puts him squarely in range of the Triarchy's scorpions. One hits Vermax right in the chest, and the anchor attached to it drags the dragon into the water. Jace barely manages to kick free of his saddle and cling to some flotsam before he's shot full of arrows, and dies.
Game of Thrones had a reputation for its surprising death scenes, and in the Dance of the Dragons, Jacaerys Velaryon's demise ranks up there with the best of them. But if this season premiere is any indicator, there'll be more tragic deaths before House of the Dragon season 3 is through.
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