The recent season 3 premiere of House of the Dragon, "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood," left things on an uncertain note for Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). The Sea Snake, who had been a part of the show's main cast from the beginning, found himself pushed overboard by Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) while wearing heavy plate armor during the climactic Battle of the Gullet. This was the last audiences saw of Corlys during the episode, leaving his fate up in the air.
The second episode of the season, "Queen's Landing," features a subplot in which Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), Corlys' bastard son, refuses to give up the search for his father long after almost everyone left. With the help of his brother, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), riding on the back of his dragon Seasmoke, and Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), Alyn finally finds and rescues his father.
Ultimately, Corlys' storyline in these two episodes plays out similarly to a controversial moment towards the end of Game of Thrones' run. However, thanks to a small change, Corlys' rescue has been met with far less backlash than the previous story beat.
Jaime Lannister's anticlimactic rescue
Back in Game of Thrones season 7 episode 4, "The Spoils of War," Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) finds himself in the middle of the Battle of the Goldroads, a major clash between the Lannister forces and the Dothraki army. During the battle, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), wreaks havoc on the back of her dragon, Drogon.
Towards the end of the episode, it has become clear that the Targaryen forces have taken the upper hand, suffering far fewer losses than their Lannister foes. However, Jaime's friend and ally, Ser Bronn of the Blackwater (Jerome Flynn), has landed a critical hit against Drogon from the anti-dragon scorpion. As Daenerys tends to Drogon's wound, trying with all her might to remove the scorpion's bolt, Jaime sees an opening. He charges the Mother of Dragons on horseback, with his brother, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), acting as Dany's hand, hoping from afar that he'll flee.
Drogon notices Jaime's approach, and prepares to blast him with a massive fiery breath. However, Bronn catches this just in time, abandoning his gold in order to save Jaime's life. He jumps at the Kingslayer, knocking him off of his horse just as Drogon emits his flaming blast. However, Bronn's rescue inadvertently knocks Jaime into the waters below. Clad in plate mail, Jaime is weighed down by his armor, with the episode's haunting final shot depicting him sinking below the sea.
Fans spent the next week speculating on Jaime's fate. Could this be the end of the Kingslayer? How could he possibly save himself from drowning while wearing such heavy armor?
The opening scene of the next episode, "Eastwatched," proved all this fan speculation to have been a waste of time. The very first shot sees Bronn pull Jaime out from the water as if it were nothing, making the previous episode's cliffhanger ending feel pointless. Many fans felt disappointed by this anticlimactic resolution, wondering why they’d even show Jaime in danger of drowning if it didn't result in any additional drama.
Corlys' armored rescue feels heavier than Jaime's
In contrast, Corlys doesn't reappear after his near-death experience until the middle of the next episode. Alyn's search party storyline shows how much time has passed between Corlys falling overboard and his rescue, genuinely making both the characters and the audience worry that the Sea Snake has drowned in his heavy armor. Unlike Jaime's rescue being solved immediately, Corlys' allows a sense of dread to build by waiting for him to reemerge.
Additionally, Corlys is not the only character to take a dip in armor during the Battle of the Gullet. In order to lighten the load of her ship, Lohar throws Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) overboard. However, unlike Corlys, Tyland hasn't been seen resurfacing yet. He is not featured at all in the following episode, leaving his fate even less certain.
Per House of the Dragon's source material, George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, Tyland plays a crucial role after the Dance of Dragons. He serves as hand of the king to Aegon Targaryen III, helping guide the young monarch during the early years of his reign. If Tyland is, in fact, dead, this will be a major departure from the book and signify a huge change for the story going forward.
Because the show treats Corlys' armored plunge as potentially deadly, it stands to reason that Tyland's fate is still in jeopardy and this potentially major modification to the story remains on the table, until Tyland resurfaces, or he doesn't.
Make sure to tune into House of the Dragon season 3, releasing new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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