The latest episode of House of the Dragon came in with all the force of a wrecking ball, shifting the balance of power and exploding character relationships left and right. From Rhaenyra and Daemon’s tryst on the Street of Silk to Otto Hightower getting fired as Hand of the King, there will be a lot of fallout to cover when the show’s fifth episode, “We Light the Way,” airs this coming Sunday.
True to form, HBO has released a teaser to get us hyped. Safe to say, they succeeded. Let’s break it down shot by shot.
A wedding is afoot on House of the Dragon Episode 5
We begin with a sweeping pan up to a fleet of ships approaching King’s Landing; you can make out both the Red Keep and the Dragonpit:
That stable for the fire-breathing lizards will soon be getting more use, because there are two dragons in the left side of this shot. And of course, the flag flying from the mast of the closest ship bears the seahorse of House Velaryon. Looks like the upcoming nuptials between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon will be quite the splendid affair.
Of course, everyone will have to agree to it first. “I wish to propose a marriage, to my daughter and heir,” says King Viserys:
While Rhaenyra agreed to marry Laenor and we’re all pretty much assuming it will happen, it’s easy to forget that no one has actually run this idea by Corlys Velaryon or his wife Rhaenys. Presumably, that’s where Viserys and his whole entourage are off to in this shot. It’s time to go to Driftmark, the seat of House Velaryon!
Rhaenyra and Criston Cole are both with Viserys, as is Lyonel Strong there on the left. We have yet to see Viserys travel farther than the Kingswood in this show, and there are a few hints in this trailer that the journey will be taxing on him.
From there we get a shot of a dwarf playing the drums, most likely at the wedding itself. I can’t be the only one who immediately wondered if we just got a glimpse of Mushroom. Whether or not the show would include the salacious court jester from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood has been a hot topic these past few months. Could he finally be making his debut?
Another quick shot of the Velaryon fleet. The ornamentation on those ships is pretty fancy.
And here we get our first glimpse at the actual wedding. Rhaenyra and Viserys are both decked out. Banners for Houses Targaryen and Velaryon hang behind them, flanking the Iron Throne.
Next, dragons:
Judging by the shot of two dragons with the Velaryon fleet, it’s a pretty safe guess that this is Seasmoke and Meleys, who are ridden by Laenor and Rhaenys Velaryon respectively. We saw the silvery dragon Seasmoke back in Episode 3 when he lit up the Crabfeeder’s corsair army, but this is the first time Meleys, known as the Red Queen, has appeared in the show.
As glorious as those dragons look, Rhaenyra Targaryen appears pensive. One can only wonder how this whole wedding thing is going to go down, given her escapades in “King of the Narrow Sea.”
Rhaenys Velaryon, the Queen Who Never Was, knows that Rhaenyra’s succession will not be a simple matter. “Rhaenyra’s succession will be challenged. Knives will come out,” she tells her husband Corlys:
And she means that literally:
A wedding without at least three deaths is considered a dull affair
From there, we get a bunch of shots that appear to either take place during Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding or right before it. First up, Jason and Tyland Lannister arrive. Who’s excited to see more of these guys?
Next, Criston Cole looks abashed in front of the Lady Alicent. Whatever could they be talking about?
Now things get chaotic: who is this guy on the ground? This is not a character we’ve seen in the show before. It’s hard to make out, but that looks kind of like a Kingsguard cloak and armored gauntlet on the person looming over him:
Laenor Velaryon gets thrown on a table, and at his own wedding no less:
Corlys Velaryon looks out over the mayhem. It really does look like this wedding will get messy, which is right on brand for the Game of Thrones universe.
Next, punches get thrown. Here’s Ser Harwin “Breakbones” Strong (Ryan Corr) giving a guard the ol’ fist-to-the-face treatment:
Criston Cole throws some punches too, although it looks more like he’s punching someone on the ground. Perhaps our mysterious bloody-faced guy with the dagger from a few shots back?
From there, we get to catch our breath for half a second with Alicent Hightower, who’s got a look somewhere between anger and concern. It’s worth noting that the dress she’s wearing here is the same one she had on in the earlier shot with Criston Cole. Although it’s also the dress she wears the most on the show, so this could be an entirely different scene.
Back to Driftmark, Corlys Velaryon stands in front of the Driftwood Throne. I am stunned by how cool the design on that throne is — it’s actually made out of driftwood planks! In the last second before the camera cuts away, we see that Corlys is facing someone with white hair. So my guess is this scene occurs when King Viserys goes to propose Laenor and Rhaenyra’s marriage.
But surely you’ve noticed that someone is missing from these proceedings…
Where in the world is Daemon Targaryen?
Next up is this shot of Daemon Targaryen, troublemaker-in-chief. Where exactly is Daemon? When last we saw him, he was ordered by his brother King Viserys to go back to his wife in the Vale. Daemon rarely does as he’s told, but wherever he is, it looks like a new location.
Here’s hoping that having Daemon away for a minute gives King Viserys time for some R&R. He’s not looking so hot here, as he lies in his chair being attended by maesters in his chamber. Is it just me, or does it look like the skin lesions have covered most of his left arm in this shot?
Here’s Rhaenyra and Criston Cole’s chin. She’s wearing the same outfit we saw in the earlier shot of her with King Viserys’ retinue on Driftmark, so presumably this is on the journey there or back.
A Targaryen ship, sailing against dark tides. Again, this is probably the journey to Driftmark.
Here we get another brief shot from the wedding. Like Laenor, it seems not even Rhaenyra, the bride herself, is immune to the chaos that will break out during the festivities. It looks like she’s being forced to the floor here.
Next, we get a pair of shots that might be the most intriguing of the whole trailer. I’m going to go down a rabbit hole on this one, so bear with me.
The shot above shows what looks to be a woman riding a horse, in that same forested cliffside locale where we saw Daemon a second ago. She’s got a bow in her hand. As someone reaches for the reins of her horse, it rears back and falls on her. You can’t quite make out the identity of the person reaching for the reins…but they’re wearing a blue hooded cloak that looks an awful lot like Daemon’s.
In Fire & Blood, Daemon’s wife Rhea Royce dies in a hunting accident when she falls from her horse while out hawking. She hits her head on a stone, survives for a few more days and eventually passes away from the injury. Daemon was off fighting in the Stepstones at the time, but flew immediately home to try and claim her lands upon hearing the news.
It’s impossible to tell if this is Rhea and Daemon for sure, but the fact that this rider is clearly out hunting (note the bow she drops as the horse falls), the new location, and the timing…I can’t help but wonder if we’re going to see the heretofore unknown details of Lady Rhea’s fall next week. We know Rhea is played by Rachel Redford, so she’s turning up sooner or later.
Moving on, we get another glimpse of Alicent Hightower, looking out over a gorgeous view of the Red Keep while a carriage comes wheeling in. As Otto Hightower ominously talks about how King Viserys will one day die, we see the king collapse coming out of the carriage, causing Alicent to jump in alarm.
“Prepare Aegon to rule,” Otto advises his daughter. Even after getting fired, this guy is still stirring the pot. One interesting thing to note here is that this scene between Otto and Alicent appears to be in King’s Landing. Otto was fired last week, but apparently is still hanging around the castle? Either that, or not enough time has passed that he’s left to return to Oldtown. Or he could be hanging around for the wedding. It’s hard to know for sure, but the point is he’s still there despite getting the boot.
We end with Alicent Hightower, making the same face as the rest of us when she finds out that she’ll have to wait a whole week to see the next episode of House of the Dragon:
House of the Dragon airs new episodes every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.
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