Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) is going through it on House of the Dragon season 3 — and a dangerous capture at the end of tonight’s episode has fans worried about his fate. But don’t worry, we’re not anticipating Corlys will die in the third season.
Fresh off the death of his wife Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) in the Battle at Rook’s Rest in season 2, the Sea Snake is now on the quest to make amends with and legitimize his bastard sons, Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Addam (Clinton Liberty).
But Corlys hits a snag in his plans when Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) refuses to legitimize the brothers. Angry at her decision, Corlys leaves King’s Landing, all but relinquishing his role as Hand, choosing to deal with the Triarchy in the aftermath of the Battle of the Gullet instead. Alyn temporarily takes his father’s place, but in the latest episode, he’s able to convince Corlys to consider returning to the Black army to fight against Ormund Hightower (James Norton).
Corlys decides to help Rhaenyra, only to be captured
Though Corlys’ first response to Alyn is the question, “So [Rhaenyra] asks more of me?,” Alyn stands his ground and makes it known how important it is that he helps. It’s a standout scene for Abubakar Salim, and I’m hoping we get to see more of him in the final two episodes of season 3.
By the end of the latest episode, we see that Corlys has finally decided to join Rhaenyra’s army after all, delivering a speech to his men around a fire, stating: “Your blades are needed in the city and I have been too long away.” But Corlys does not make it back to King’s Landing just yet. In the final moments, he is confronted by Jon Roxton (Joplin Sibtain) and swiftly seized by Ormund’s men.
This is how the episode ends, leaving Corlys’ fate up in the air (again!). But as we mentioned, we don’t believe he’ll be killed off just like that. We have reason to believe, thanks to the source material, that he’ll live a long while longer. WARNING: Major spoilers for Fire & Blood are below.
Corlys survives the Dance of the Dragons — in the book, at least
Corlys is one of the few central characters in this story who survive past the war, at least in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. He remains Rhaenyra’s Hand and eventually serves as a regent for Aegon III, passing away in 132 AC of old age. Now, this leads us to believe Corlys will not die at all in House of the Dragon, though we know the show has taken plenty of creative liberties with the source material.
For instance, Corlys being captured by Ormund’s men is not part of Fire & Blood. This season of House of the Dragon has made many deviations, adding in big new moments and excluding others.
The events of tonight’s episode will lead to the highly-anticipated First Battle of Tumbleton — or the only one, depending how the show adapts this event — a notable part of the war in which the Blacks and Greens face off, with their dragons, too. We won’t get into major spoilers for this battle, but there will be a few surprising moments that’ll give one side an advantage.
Now that we know Corlys is being held by the Greens, we wonder how that’ll impact the forthcoming battle, or any other new show additions that are inevitably on the way.
Poor Corlys has been through enough on House of the Dragon, but he’s still in for more danger in the coming episodes.
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