The tension between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower finally boiled over in this past weekend’s stellar episode of House of the Dragon. “Driftmark” brought a lot of simmering plotlines and resentments to the breaking point; now, lines have clearly been drawn, sides have been chosen, and there’s no going back.
If the trailer for Episode 8 is any indicator, the way forward will be even more intense. “The Lord of the Tides” looks to deal with a matter of succession, which comes with a whole boatload of family drama. We’re going to break this thing down shot by shot, and see if we can’t parse out some of the details. There will be SPOILERS from George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood ahead.
House of the Dragon Episode 8 trailer breakdown: “The Lord of the Tides”
We begin, as we have a few other times this season, with a wide shot of a ship sailing toward King’s Landing. There aren’t any discernible sigils on it that I can see, but it’s worth noting that some of the bannerets flying from the ship are teal. Since we see elsewhere in the trailer that Vaemond Velaryon is going to feature prominently in this episode and will be heading to King’s Landing, my best guess is that this is probably his ship. It could also be Rhaenyra and her family’s, since they’ll be going to the capital as well.
Next, Otto Hightower sits the Iron Throne:
“As Hand, I speak with the King’s voice on this, and all other matters,” proclaims Otto as he stands before the Iron Throne. You can just tell he’s been waiting to sit his uptight bum on that chair for years. This wide shot of Otto before the throne might be the closest it’s ever looked to George R.R. Martin’s original vision from the books, a towering mountain of swords. Pretty cool!
Not everyone is happy that Otto is now calling the shots as Hand. Here’s Rhaenyra, with her son Jacaerys Velaryon and step-daughter Rhaena Targaryen. If they look a little different, that’s because “The Lord of the Tides” will feature the last major time jump of the season that we know of, likely at least 6 or 7 years. Jacaerys is now played by Harry Collett and Rhaena by Phoebe Campbell.
Another beautiful shot of Rhaenyra, looking more than a little concerned over the happenings at court:
“Tomorrow, the Hightowers land their first blow,” Rhaenrya says, while we get our first family photo of the “green” faction. Alicent’s children are all grown up now, and are each played by new actors. From left to right, we’ve got Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Helaena (Phia Saban), Alicent and Otto. It looks like that’s Criston Cole all the way on the left as well, but it’s hard to be sure from this shot.
Aegon has carried his snobbery into adulthood, it seems. He smirks at Rhaenyra’s discomfort while his younger brother Aemond looms behind him:
From there, we’re off to the Small Council chamber:
Alicent Hightower, sitting at the head of the Small Council table in her new threads, which include a Seven-Pointed Star necklace:
We can glean a few things from this. The first is that Alicent will be wrapping herself in even more propriety in the coming episode, doing her best to appear wholesome and devout while simultaneously planning the downfall of her rivals. She’s gotten a lot of comparison to Cersei Lannister, and for my money she’s never looked so much like her as she does here.
Beyond that, the fact that Alicent is sitting at the head of the Small Council table tells us that she and Otto now basically run the show in King’s Landing. She’s sitting in for Viserys while Otto will no doubt retain his seat as Hand. It looks like we’ll also be meeting the twin Kingsguard knights Erryk and Arryk Cargill this episode, played by identical twin brothers Elliot and Luke Tittensor, respectively. I believe that’s one of them behind Alicent, but I’m not sure which.
“Those vipers rule in my father’s name,” says Rhaenyra. It looks like this is on Dragonstone; the bottom left corner of the shot could be the Painted Table map of Westeros, though obviously it’s hard to tell for certain from this shot.
Just in case you didn’t know what vipers she meant, here’s a shot of Otto Hightower, the smuggest man to ever sit the Iron Throne:
“To King’s Landing, then,” Daemon says, equally smug. He’s here for the drama:
Might Daemon meet his brother again? That always goes well.