King Viserys, first of his name, King of the Andals and the First Men, has finally died. While he may have had flaws, King Viserys kept the realm relatively stable just by existing. Now that he’s gone, we’re officially in the endgame of House of the Dragon season 1. The Dance of the Dragons looms.
The trailer for the season’s penultimate episode, “The Green Council,” focuses exclusively on team green; there’s not a sign of Rhaenyra or Daemon to be seen. We don’t know if that means they won’t appear in the episode, or if they’re just being held back from the marketing. But there’s plenty to talk about anyway; the greens will be busy in the wake of King Viserys’ death.
Let’s break down the trailer for “The Green Council” shot by shot. As always, there will be some SPOILERS from George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood below.
A dark hour for the Iron Throne
We begin with an atmospheric shot of the Iron Throne at night, lit by slivers of moonlight from the throne room windows. Dark days have arrived for the house of the dragon, and King Viserys is no longer around to sit the throne. Who will take his place?
Surely Otto Hightower, Alicent, and the rest of the greens will have some opinions. Our next shot shows the two Hightowers with Ser Criston Cole, as Otto intones that “the king is dead.”
This scene is the titular Green Council that the episode is named after; following the death of King Viserys, the Hightowers gather the Small Council and their allies to decide the future of the realm.
A member of the Kingsguard cleans his blade, so let’s count on things getting bloody. I’m betting this is Criston, who we’ll see later in the trailer will be doing a bit of murdering this week.
“He told me he wished for Aegon to be king,” says a tearful Alicent. NO HE DIDN’T, ALICENT! YOU MISUNDERSTOOD!
Ah well, if only those Targaryens didn’t name everyone and their brother Aegon, there’d be no problems. As it stands, Alicent misinterpreted Viserys’ dying words about the Song of Ice and Fire, believing he was talking about their son instead of Aegon the Conqueror. Great.
Someone in a hood maneuvers their way through a crowd in King’s Landing. I’d like to guess this could be Aemond, but since we see quite a few people wearing hoods this week it’s impossible to be sure. You know things are about to get dicey when the hoods come out on this show.
Another shot of the crowds being ushered somewhere by the Gold Cloaks:
Later on in the trailer we’ll see a shot of the masses heading to the Dragonpit. I imagine that could be what we’re seeing here: the greens ushering people out to go witness King Aegon II’s coronation.
Of course, we all know that Rhaenyra was King Viserys’ chosen heir. The greens will have to really pull some power moves if they’re going to make this coup work, and that means getting everyone else in line. Here’s Otto Hightower in the throne room, as supplicants bow before him:
Otto always has a plan. Next he tells the members of the green council that “the door stays shut until we finish our business.” Is he talking about the council door, or King Viserys’ bedchambers? The greens will almost certainly be leaving him to marinate for a bit while they decide how to supplant his chosen heir.
Our first glimpse at Aemond, who appears to be at a coronation:
That looks like Aegon in the foreground, wearing a certain crown that we’ll get a better look at later in the trailer. A woman appears to be whispering in Aemond’s ear; can’t be certain who it is, though. Perhaps Alicent’s handmaid?
This succession will be complicated.
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.
Criston Cole shows his true colors once again
Time to get into the bloody bits of the trailer; one last spoiler warning before we dissect these shots, which look straight out of Fire & Blood. In the image above, we see Criston Cole swinging his sword up to face another Kingsguard knight. On the table behind Criston is Lord Lyman Beesbury, the aging Master of Coin who’s been on the Small Council since the series premiere.
Book readers know that Lyman meets his end at the Green Council, and this shot confirms it’ll be happening in the show as well. However, it doesn’t look like he’ll be going out a window, which is the most melodramatic version of his death from the novel. There’s a pool of blood spreading beneath him, so presumably Criston just ran him through with a sword instead, which is another of the proffered scenarios.
Not every member of the Kingsguard will be so amenable to killing Small Council members in cold blood. There’s a good chance that the other Kingsguard facing Criston is Ser Harrold Westerling (yes, I am basing this solely on his beard, as well as their foreshadowed tension from Episode 7). Since Criston has a larger role to play in the Dance, I wouldn’t bet on Ser Harrold here.
Criston won’t be the only Kingsguard mixing it up in “The Green Council.” Here’s Ser Arryk (or Erryk?) Cargyll, fighting off an assailant. We won’t get too deep into it, but the Cargyll twins find themselves on opposite sides of the Dance. Maybe this is an initial falling out?
Alicent looks concerned. Maybe over the fast-rising body count as Lord Lyman and Ser Harrold meet bloody ends?
Speaking of Lyman Beesbury, here’s a shot of him making the argument that will get him killed. Of the people in the Green Council, he’s the only one who speaks up for Rhaenyra, and he pays the price.
“This is seizure! It is treason, at the least,” he shouts, more animated than he’s ever looked on the show.
Next, we check in with Aegon II.
The coronation of King Aegon II
The Gold Cloaks cross swords in the scene above, creating a ceremonial pathway for someone to walk down. Whoever they’re honoring hasn’t entered the scene yet, but my guess would be this is Aegon II’s coronation.
Here’s Erryk and Arryk Cargyll, making their way through King’s Landing. We know Otto is sending at least one of them on a mission; maybe they’re both going? We’ll discuss that mission in a second.
Targaryen soldiers, riding through the city with their banners:
And Targaryen trumpeteers blowing their trumpets, no doubt at the coronation:
As for the king himself, he doesn’t seem particularly eager. Aegon flees through the Great Sept, trying to escape one of the Cargyll twins (I will get better at telling them apart):
We’ve already established that Aegon doesn’t particularly want to be king, and it looks like he may try to outright run away once he’s told it’s time to be crowned. It looks like the Cargyll twin will catch him; we get a very brief glimpse of them tumbling to the floor behind a wall of candles.
From the looks of things, Aegon’s coronation will be quite the affair. He will be crowned in the Dragonpit, and it looks like the greens are ushering in quite the large crowd of witnesses:
Otto Hightower, looking displeased even as he plants his own grandson on the throne:
Actually, my guess is this could be the scene where Otto finds out that Aegon has run for the hills. That would explain why he’s looking kind of pissed, and why it’s him that sends the Cargyll twins out in search of the young king.
Our final shot of the trailer shows someone placing a crown on a pillow:
This is the Valyrian steel crown of Aegon the Conqueror. When Aegon II ascends to the throne, he wears this crown as opposed to the one worn by Viserys. It’s a strong symbol that he is continuing the ancient Targaryen dynasty…but will it be enough to convince those who follow him, when so many know Viserys wanted Rhaenyra to sit the Iron Throne?
Time will tell. “The Green Council” premieres this Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
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