House of the Dragon trailer breakdown: Episode 9, “The Green Council”

King’s Landing in turmoil

The camera lingers over a foggy King’s Landing, possibly on the morning after King Viserys’ death.

Things appear to be getting interesting; Otto Hightower is sending one of the Cargyll brothers — twins who are now both part of the Kingsguard — on a mission. “None can know who you are, or what you’re seeking.” My guess is Aegon’s going to run away and they’ll have to find him; more on that momentarily.

In order for the greens’ plan to put Aegon on the throne to work, they’ll have to take measures against those people who still support Rhaenyra and remain in King’s Landing. It looks like Rhaenys Velaryon will be one of them. Here she is locked in her chambers:

The greens will need to keep a lot of people quiet during their coup. And while Rhaenys might be afforded a more comfortable prison due to her station, the same cannot be said for the servants in the palace. Here we see Alicent’s handmaid (who we know is a spy for Mysaria) and a bunch of other servants being ushered into a cell in the dungeons:

Alicent, looking exhausted by the hard work of usurping the throne:

This next shot is interesting. One of the knights of the Kingsguard leads a hooded figure through an alley. As the crowd surges toward them, they turn around and start to flee:

We already mentioned the wealth of cloaks in this episode, so there’s no knowing for sure who this is. But you can just catch a glimpse of a slender forearm under the cloak, and based on the way they’re holding the Kingsguard’s hand I’d venture a guess it’s a woman. Maybe this is Rhaenys, sneaking out of the capital after she finds some way to slip out of her imprisonment? If so, that could make this Kingsguard knight Ser Arryk Cargyll, since he will eventually side with the blacks.

This shot is one of the trailer’s more mysterious ones. A person wearing a cloak leaps down amidst a ruin. This is one of the few moments that doesn’t explicitly appear to be King’s Landing. Who is this person, and what are they up to?

Larys Strong will be back in Episode 9. “I found out something you should know,” he tells Queen Alicent. The scene then cuts to this young girl in peasant’s garb:

It’s hard to tell if she’s imprisoned; the light is giving the illusion of bars or floorboards. She has Targaryen hair, though. My best guess is that maybe this is one of Aegon II’s bastard children? The show has established that he’s been sleeping around for years, and with the scandal that cropped up last episode where he assaulted a handmaid, it would make sense if his indiscretions continued causing problems even as he ascends to the throne.

Next we get a brief series of shots that appear to be showing a fistfight. It looks like a sporting event or maybe a fight people are betting on; the crowd cheers on the combatants, neither of whom I recognize:

There was a time on House of the Dragon when Daemon was the only one who could rock a criminal activity cloak. Those days are long gone; here’s Aemond in one, approaching yet another hooded figure:

Despite debuting as a firebrand in the vein of his Uncle Daemon, Aemond will not be the one causing the most trouble next episode, however. That honor goes to a certain knight that one should never invite to a wedding.