House of the Dragon season 3 is officially underway, and it wasted no time plunging viewers into the bloody thick of it. "Sea and Salt, Fire and Blood" was a premiere of epic proportions that featured the Battle of the Gullet, the most vicious naval battle in Westerosi history. This clash changes the course of the civil war between the Blacks and the Greens. It also features a few important deaths, including the loss of Rhaenyra Targaryen's heir, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett).
Jace and his dragon Vermax weren't the only ones to go down during the battle, either. The pirate captain Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) also got a knife in the throat, courtesy of Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim), while Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) ended up falling overboard to an ambiguous fate. I've no doubt Corlys will be just fine, but we've seen the last of Lohar.
Then there was Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall), the master of ships to King Aegon II. Tyland is the one who orchestrated the alliance with the Triarchy fleet to help break the Sea Snake's blockade. But once the pirates arrived, they focused primarily on inflicting damage to the Sea Snake himself, rather than helping the Greens accomplish their strategic goals. After plenty of debate on the deck of Lohar's flagship the Bitchfist, the pirate captain finally shoved Tyland overboard in his heavy armor to lighten the vessel in order to escape a trap set by the Sea Snake.
When last we saw Tyland, he was sinking to the bottom of the ocean, presumably to his death. Yet while this seems like a pretty cut and dry case of death-by-drowning for the youngest Lannister brother, Tyland dying would actually represent a deviation from George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood with surprisingly far-reaching consequences. To discuss it, we have to get into FULL SPOILERS from the book.
What happens to Jason and Tyland Lannister in Fire & Blood?
"Sea and Salt, Fire and Blood" seemingly killed off both Lannister twins. Lord Jason met his end after the Battle of the Red Fork, where he fled after his forces were routed by Daemon Targaryen's host of rivermen, only to fall to the blades of the Winter Wolves. This lines up fairly neatly with Jason's death in the book, which also happens at the Red Fork.
Tyland, however, has a very different path. In Fire & Blood, it's Otto Hightower who arranges the alliance with the Triarchy. Tyland serves as master of coin until the Fall of King's Landing, when Rhaenyra Targaryen gives him over to torturers to find out where the crown's treasury was hidden. Tyland remains in the dungeons until the tides of power shift once more, and Rhaenyra flees the city. Eventually he's released, though he bears scars on his face from his months of torture for the rest of his life. When Aegon II returns to power, Tyland's position is restored and he's sent across the Narrow Sea to procure sellswords for the crown.
While Tyland is gone, the Dance of the Dragon civil war finally reaches its endpoint, and the true successor to the Iron Throne, Aegon III, is named king. Tyland's sister-in-law Johanna Lannister negotiates a pardon for him, and the horribly scarred Lannister noble returns to Westeros, where he, surprisingly enough, ends up serving as Hand of the King. Tyland serves the crown ably for several more years, through a number of dramatic events that happen during the regency period of Aegon III's reign, until he succumbs to the Winter Fever in the year 133 AC, two years after the end of the Dance.
Suffice to say, Tyland Lannister fills a much larger role in the book as one of the few players in this game to survive the Dance of the Dragons, and play a pivotal part in what happens afterward. Whether he miraculously survived his fall in House of the Dragon remains to be seen; more likely, we've seen the last of Tyland, and the show will find some other way to fill his shoes when it nears the end of the saga. How those butterflies will effect the larger tale, we'll just have to wait and see.
House of the Dragon season 3 premieres new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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