At this point in The Dance of the Dragons, there may not be anyone in Westeros as confusing as Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton). The young lord just stepped onto the scene in House of the Dragon season 3, and so far the audience is just as confused by his actions as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) is. Ormund is clearly sensitive and emotionally unbalanced, yet he has confidently created a situation where he is in danger of dying by dragon fire, along with the entire city of Tumbleton. In a new interview with TV Line, Norton spoke about the awkward balance of confidence and vulnerability in his character, giving us unique insight into what truly drives him.
Norton noted that Ormund's thin skin, his uncontrollable temper, and even his sensitivity to smells all make him seem easy to manipulate. He feels that the character's confidence comes from his unwavering belief that "he is the best. He is superior to all — Rhaenyra, and Daemon, particularly the Targaryens — but also I think probably his fellow Hightowers. He is so self-assured and has such conviction in his cause, the claim to the Iron Throne — the Hightower claim."
Norton agreed that Ormund's actions in the beginning of season 3 are baffling, and he believes his character could only make them because of his "fanaticism that he has around the superiority of the Hightower lineage over the Targaryens. The fact that he's willing to talk about Daeron's Targaryen blood being 'tainted,' the 'savagery' that exists within the Targaryens. That conviction — and if that cause which he believes in is such a virtuous cause, such an honorable cause, to put a Hightower on the Iron Thone — if he doesn't achieve that, then... I think that's his North Star."
Turning Ormund Hightower into a "fun" villain
With Ormund's mission and his flaws firmly established, Norton set to work making the character fun to watch. In this interview as well as another with Entertainment Weekly, he gushed about the collaborative process with the cast and crew, crediting them with creating an environment where he could experiment freely to find this character's unique quirks.
"They wanted to take a big swing, be delicious, be villainous, imbue him with all the complexities that all the characters have," he told EW. "It was music to my ears because I was able to go dark with his relationship with Daeron, the fanaticism... but also the playfulness and pomander and the smells and the big swings. It’s got everything, and it’s f—ing lovely for me as an actor to play all that."
Of course, no interviewer could gloss over Ormund's bathtub scene in season 3 episode 4. The actor laughed recalling the "collaborative journey" of filming that scene, playing up Ormund's mannerisms more and more as he went. He told TV Line: "I would not have gone that big were I that I didn't trust the show, that I didn't trust the people involved. Because if you do go big, you can put yourself in a very vulnerable position as an actor. I went big, they used it, it worked, it paid off... We had a lot of fun that day."
Fun aside, Norton has a keen eye on the "deep, twisted, abusive, psychologically abusive relationship" between Ormund and Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). He told EW: "It’s almost like Stockholm Syndrome where there are moments with real love between them, like the end of episode 4 where Ormund is so proud of him that he’s able to murder that man in cold blood. And what I was able to see in Daeron is a young boy who’s just desperate to be loved and held and that his eyes were welling up with tears. It was so moving... So that’s why the relationship was so interesting to excavate."
We definitely haven't seen the last of Ormund Hightower, though his storyline on the show has diverged so much from the book that it's hard to imagine where he is headed right now. House of the Dragon season 3 continues on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max. George R.R. Martin's books are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
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