Sunday came and went, bringing yet another fine episode of House of the Dragon. Daemon Targaryen got up to no good, King Viserys is having some problems that only maggots and marriage can cure, and Princess Rhaenyra proved that she has a good head for leadership. “The Rogue Prince” was a slightly slower episode than the shocking series premiere, but from the looks of the trailer for next week’s episode, things will soon be heating back up.
Let’s break down HBO’s sneak peek for Episode 3 of House of the Dragon, “Second of His Name.”
Introducing Aegon II
I’ll be honest, I was kind of shocked by just how much this trailer gave away about Episode 3. “The Rogue Prince” ended with King Viserys (Paddy Considine) announcing his intent to marry Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey). In the trailer, we see that some time has passed since then. Aegon II, the first child of Viserys and Alicent, has already been born. Moreover, he’s not even a baby, but a toddler. So we’re talking a years-long time jump between Episodes 2 and 3.
“The road ahead is uncertain, but the end is clear. Aegon will be king,” Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) tells his daughter Alicent. The main conflict of House of the Dragon begins to rear its head.
And here’s the boy himself, Aegon II, being handed to his father. He’s even got a dragon toy:
Where are Alicent, Viserys, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and the rest of the family in this scene? It looks like they’re out in the forest somewhere; perhaps the Kingswood? The shot below is from the season trailer that HBO debuted last week, and appears to be from the same sequence. The royal carriage is arriving at a woodland camp and Alicent is looking pretty bundled up. Could she already be pregnant again, after Aegon II?
Combined with scenes from later in the trailer, we might be looking at a royal hunt here, which is something that George R.R. Martin describes in detail in his work. We never got a huge one in Game of Thrones.
Viserys tries to advise Rhaenyra that she’ll have her own children soon, while he tends to his own bouncing baby boy Aegon:
Apparently, Rhaenyra doesn’t take too well to the suggestion. “I do not wish to get married,” she tells her father, which prompts him to bellow that “even I do not exist above tradition and duty.” Family quarrels on the way in Episode 3.
Also, is it just me, or does Viserys’ hair look a little thinner on the top in these scenes? This show has had some hits and misses with wigs, but I think it’s doing a great job with Paddy Considine’s.
Alicent tries to make nice with her best-friend-turned-step-daughter in the Godswood at King’s Landing. “None of it needs be this way, in truth.” Just keep telling yourself that, Alicent.
And here’s a wide shot of the camp where the royal party is doing whatever it is they’re doing in this forest. Rhaenyra’s walking through the camp before hopping on her horse and getting out of there. It sounds like Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) may be shouting after her as she takes off. Ever the attentive Kingsguard.
Whatever Rhaenyra’s going to get up to once she leaves the camp, it looks like it might get a little intense. The trailer features a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where she’s confronted by what looks like some kind of animal.
We also see Viserys actually on the hunt. In George R.R. Martin’s books, boars were often hunted with spears, kind of like the one Viserys is wielding. Note that its tip is already coated in blood.
Meanwhile, out in the Narrow Sea…
Crabs will be fed in the Stepstones
From there, the trailer zips off to the Stepstones, an archipelago in the Narrow Sea between southern Westeros and Essos. Episode 2 ended with Daemon (Matt Smith) and Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) forming an alliance to go off and take out the pirates employed by the Free Cities that have been attacking Westerosi ships. Those pirates are led by an ominous figure called the Crabfeeder, so named because he enjoys nailing people to stakes so crabs can come and feast on their flesh.
Presumably, this masked guy we’ve seen a few times is the Crabfeeder:
But his days of feeding crabs uncontested are at an end. After two episodes of foreshadowing the troubles in the Stepstones, it looks like Corlys, Daemon, and a few other Velaryons are finally there to get these pirates in line.
That’s Laenor Velaryon over Daemon’s left shoulder, played by Theo Nate.
And they brought dragons with them; you can see one flying across the smoke-filled vista on the left side of the shot below:
A close up of the strategy board; I’m not sure if the fish is supposed to represent House Velaryon’s forces or some other house in their service, but look at those crab claws for the Crabfeeder’s army:
From there we get a montage of chaotic battle scenes. This dilapidated shell of a ship crops up multiple times:
And then, post-dragon fire:
The Crabfeeder may have pirates and crabs, but the Targaryens and Velaryons have dragons. You do the math:
House of the Dragon premieres new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET.
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