Last night’s episode of House of the Dragon introduced us to a whole new status quo, with many new Targaryen family members making their debut, older actors taking over for key characters like Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, and a slew of new dragons taking wing. It was a lot…but from the looks of things, it’s only the beginning.
HBO has released a trailer for next week’s episode, and man does it look nuts. All that tension that was boiling under the surface during Episode 6 will reach a breaking point, and as Princess Rhaenys has previously warned, knives will come out.
We’re going to give a big old SPOILER WARNING up top, because I don’t think there’s any way to really talk about what we see in this trailer without giving stuff away. “Driftmark” will be making some changes from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, as well as adapting one of the most important moments in the lead-up to the Dance of the Dragons. Let’s get into it.
A funeral at Driftmark
We begin with the funeral of Laena Velaryon on the isle of Driftmark, the seat of House Velaryon. Laena met her end in Episode 6, when her childbirth went awry and she commanded her dragon Vhagar to burn her to a crisp, rather than die in bed. It was a highlight of the episode, and from the looks of things, “Driftmark” will spend some time dealing with the fallout.
Note the ropes being attached to Laena’s gorgeous carved casket; we’ll talk more about them in a second. But first, let’s check out some of the attendees at the funeral:
From left to right, we have Rhaenyra with her children Lucerys and Jacaerys, Laenor Velaryon, Aegon Targaryen, Alicent Hightower, King Viserys, and Helaena Targaryen. There are a few notables in the background as well, including Otto Hightower off on the very left edge of the screen, as well as some other members of House Velaryon behind Laenor, likely Corlys’ brother Vaemond Velaryon’s family. This will be a big event, possibly one of the first times all these various characters are in the same place since Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding 10 years prior.
The Velaryons are a mariner family, and their funerals keep with that idea. Laena’s casket is launched off an ornate dais into the ocean:
We see it actually enter the water from above, in a shot which has appeared in numerous trailers for the series. Note the ridges on the dais; this is not a new fixture erected for Laena’s funeral.
It appears that this particular part of Driftmark is reserved for funerals for prominent members of the family. The trailer opens with Corlys Velaryon asking, “What is this brief mortal life, if not the pursuit of legacy?” As Laena’s casket sinks down to the bottom of the sea, we can just glimpse other caskets of her Velaryon ancestors in the background.
Next we see the grieving mother, Rhaenys Velaryon, dropping a ring onto a table. We didn’t get enough shots of Laena’s hands in previous episodes to be certain whether it was hers, but Rhaenys’ pain is plain to see:
Rhaenys and Corlys won’t be the only ones grieving Laena’s death in the new episode. We also see Laena’s dragon Vhagar taking flight. I would guess this happens during that same sequence.
A funeral is a time to grieve. But you can bet that when you get all these characters together in one place, things are bound to get ugly.