This article contains FULL SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 8, "The Treasons at Tumbleton."
Gayle Rankin's Alys Rivers has been one of House of the Dragon's most enigmatic figures since her introduction in season 2. While also present in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the HBO series has fleshed out her character in ways that the unique source material wasn't able to. This is never more true than in House of the Dragon's season 3 finale, "The Treasons at Tumbleton."
Although the episode understandably focuses intently on its titular battle, Alys' backstory also gets a major update. If her emotionally charged speech to Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is to be believed, she's well over a century old and the former wife of the notoriously cruel (and equally dead) King Harren Hoare — a.k.a. Harren the Black. We're given little reason to doubt her during this scene, but the writers seem to want us second-guessing what we just heard.
Alys may have been deceiving Aemond in House of the Dragon's season 3 finale
When asked on the show's official podcast about whether Alys was being sincere in "The Treasons at Tumbleston," neither showrunner Ryan Condal nor writer Ti Mikkel gave a straight answer. Mikkel playfully replied, "Who can say?" but Condal gave a much more in-depth answer. While he generally believes that Alys' backstory is as she described in the episode, Condal leaves room for doubt in such a way that season 4 seems primed to subvert expectations once again. Check out what he said to say below:
"She's certainly very convincing. But even Alys has been able to wear masks through her time, and...look, I certainly believe it, when she says it, and I think Aemond believes it. But I think there are mysteries yet to be revealed about Alys Rivers, and that's what we love so much about the way she's portrayed in the book."
The "way she's portrayed in the book," as Condal references, is that Alys' backstory is never revealed. There are scraps of information thrown in there to generate interest, but if Martin ever included this new piece of lore about who Alys is and where she came from, then he didn't include it in Fire & Blood. Personally, I think the general sentiment of what Alys reveals to Aemond is true, or season 4 is going to contain quite a lot of unnecessary backpedaling in this respect. I think there's probably just some additional context that House of the Dragon has yet to provide.
What Alys has to gain by lying to Aemond
Let's assume for a second that Alys was lying about her past. How would that benefit her? Well, she'd be more likely to secure Harrenhal. She has made it clear on several occasions that she wants the castle to be hers, even before telling Aemond that it should be hers by right in the latest episode. No matter what she tries, she seems doomed to simply wander its corridors, watching others claim ownership. Then, along came Aemond.
A highborn, and a Targaryen, no less. If there was ever a better shot at Alys securing Harrenhal, it would be by marrying Aemond. If she is fabricating the story about resorting to witchcraft to save her son, then Aemond is the perfect person to target with that. She has already been quite maternal to him during his recovery, but with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) attempting to poison him, Aemond is on the lookout for another mother figure with whom to form an unhealthy obsession. Gayle Rankin's House of the Dragon character is no fool, so she could easily have factored this into her potential deception.
House of the Dragon season 3 is streaming now on HBO Max.
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