The next episode of House of the Dragon comes out this Sunday, July 14, 2024. The previous episode, "The Red Dragon and the Gold," was an absolute banger that left both sides in the Dance of the Dragons civil war battered and bruised. How will the show follow it up? Let's take a look at the trailer for Episode 205 and see if we can't figure some of it out:
The last episode ended with a pitched fight in the air between a trio of dragonriders: Aemond on Vhagar, his brother Aegon on Sunfyre, and their cousin Rhaenys on Meleys. Rhaenys and Meleys died, Aegon and Sunfyre are badly injured, and Aemond and Vhagar are fine. The trailer begins with us checking in on Aemond and his mother Alicent as they stand on the walls of the Red Keep, awash in victory:
They may be watching Ser Criston Cole and company drag the severed head of Meleys through the streets of King's Landing. In George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, the sight of the dragon head strikes fear into the hearts of the people, since they fear retaliation from Rhaenyra Targaryen's camp. So maybe this isn't the triumphant procession Criston thinks it will be? "Behold, the traitor dragon Meleys, slain by King Aegon!" yells a cryer.
Next we see soldiers bringing a mysterious human-shaped box through the Red Keep. We don't see who (or what) is inside, but I think everyone who watched "The Red Dragon and the gold" has a pretty good guess.
"Is he alive?" asks Alicent Hightower. If that's not her injured son King Aegon in there, I'll be a monkey's incestuous uncle.
Obviously, the queen mother is troubled. Over on Dragonstone, her best frenemy Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen has summoned her councilers to help sort through the aftermath of Rhaenys' death. How are they going to win the war with one of their most experienced dragonriders down, out and fried to a crisp?
Below, Rhaenyra talks with Ser Alfred Broome, who's been the most recalcitrant member of her Black Council. "We cannot challenge King's Landing without the Riverlands," she tells him.
Rhaenyra's husband Daemon is currently in the Riverlands sitting atop his dragon Caxares and trying to convince rebellious members of House Bracken to bend the knee. I'd listen, wouldn't you?
"Our terms are simple: bend the knee to me, or your house burns." Tough but unfair.
Daemon is waving around all kinds of weapons this episode. Here he is brandishing an axe:
It looks like he's trying to rebuild the dilapidated castle of Harrenhal. Better to spend your time chopping wood than being visited by unquiet dreams.
And yet, the unquiet dreams find him. "Daemon, you were made to wear a crown," a spooky voice whispers over a shot of him waking up in bed. There have been hints ever since Daemon arrived that he's considering raising an army and taking King's Landing for himself, rather than on Rhaenyra's behalf. His subconscious fully endorses this.
In King's Landing, the king's council assembles without the king, who I assume is sleeping off fifth-degree dragon burns in bed. "The king does not lack for heirs." someone (I think Jasper Wylde, the Master of Laws) says. So they're deciding who will rule King's Landing in Aegon's place.
A shot of the Small Council ball check-in thing is always appreciated:
However this meeting goes, Alicent is not pleased with it. "So you cast me aside?" we hear her tell Ser Criston Cole. Oh no, there's trouble in paradise. Wait, did I say paradise? I meant hell.
It sounds like Criston went around Alicent's authority or something, but he has a justification. "We have given the war to the dragons. Will you preside over it?" he asks her.
Shifting locations again, we find Rhaenyra's son Jace at the Twins with her dragon Vermax. The Twins, you may recall, is the castle held by House Frey; this is where the Red Wedding happened on Game of Thrones. Hopefully Jace's visit goes better.
As for why Jace is here, he's likely negotiating with the Freys on Rhaenyra's behalf, hoping to convince them to declare for his mother. Maybe he can visit his step-father Daemon while he's at it. Rhaenyra and Daemon haven't been talking ever since they fought in the second episode of the season. What's happening at Harrenhal? There have been strange spooky whispers...
Anyway, whatever happens, it's fun to see the Twins again:
In Fire & Blood, Aemond Targaryen is installed as king regent after Aegon is incapacitated. Here Aemond is contemplating the Iron Throne during a thunderstom, which isn't foreboding at all:
During that same thunderstorm (you can tell because there are lightning flashes in both shots), a woman in a hood scurries through the streets of King's Landing. Where she's bound, it's hard to say.
But by bet is that she's been sent by Rhaenyra's spymaster Mysaria, since we see the two of them talking together in the next pair of shots:
"The people whisper that when Viserys lived there was peace," Mysaria says, perhaps counseling Rhaenyra on a way to turn the uneasy mood after the Battle of Rook's Rest to her advantage.
Rhaenrya considers Mysaria's advice, whatever it is. "The path I walk has never been trod," she says. Well, sure.
"There is more than one way to fight a war," Mysaria says over a shot of a mob in King's Landing banging on a gate. Remeber: Corlys Velaryon's fleet of ships has been cutting off trade to the city for a while now, so the people are surly getting rowdy.
This is the most mysterious shot in the trailer: some dudes on horses ride through the black of night. I can't make much of it:
It's easier to make out Rhaenyra pondering the Painted Table on Dragonstone:
Back to the Riverlands, a soldier sits on his horse and looks away from the giant dragon Caraxes directly behind him. Talk about jaded.
In any episode of House of the Dragon, someone must move little pieces around a labeled map. Here's sometimes knocks a piece of Rook's Rest, the sight of the huge battle last week.
The trailer is in its final stretch now, which means quick flashes of characters, including Daemon at Harrenhal...
...Alicent at the Small Council table in the Red Keep...
...and Rhaenyra looking deep into the distance:
The trailer ends, as all great trailers do, with a quote from Criston Cole: "What we must do now is terrible." Bring it on. See you Sunday.
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