House of the Dragon Episode 204, "The Red Dragon and the Gold": Easter eggs and secrets

The fourth episode of House of the Dragon season 2, "The Red Dragon and the Gold," was a key moment for HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. All season long, we've heard words of warning about how horrible a civil war between dragonriding Targaryens could be. But words are wind, and until we actually saw the dragons dance, it was hard to fully comprehend the horror that was about to be unleashed.

Well, unleashed it has been. "The Red Dragon and the Gold" was a devastating episode where three dragons battled it out in the sky over a besieged castle, and it was as epic and exciting as anything we saw on Game of Thrones.

As we do every week, we're breaking down the episode to search out all the easter eggs and secrets you may have missed. SPOILERS from "The Red Dragon and the Gold" ahead.

House of the Dragon Episode 204, "The Red Dragon and the Gold" easter eggs

First and foremost, there are no changes to the opening credits this week: the funeral of young Prince Jaehaerys and the hanging of the ratcatchers are still the final shots on the tapestry. "The Red Dragon and the Gold" is a huge episode that will probably end up on the woven history of House Targaryen soon enough, though.

The title of this episode, "The Red Dragon and the Gold," is taken directly from the chapter of George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood which features the Battle of Rook's Rest, as well as many of the other main events of this season. That chapter is titled "The Dying of the Dragons—The Red Dragon and the Gold."

Episode 204 begins with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) dreaming it up at Harrenhal, and another surprise cameo from Milly Alcock as Young Rhaenyra. Let us go the way of bullet points:

• Rhaenyra's entire speech in High Valyrian has been translated into English, thanks to Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon conlanger David J. Peterson sharing his full script for the scene online. We won't repost the entire translation here, since we've already done that elsewhere.
• Rhaenyra is wearing the same costume in this scene that she was wearing when she was crowned queen on Dragonstone in the finale of House of the Dragon season 1. That also happens to be the costume she wore when Daemon choked her.
• There's no statue of Viserys or Seven-Pointed Star decor in the Iron Throne room in Daemon's dream. The Viserys statue makes sense because Daemon hasn't been back to the throne room since it was constructed, but the lack of Seven-Pointed Star decor points to this being an older version of the throne room from his memory.
• In fact, this throne room mirrors the very first scene that Daemon has in the series premiere, where young Rhaenyra enters to find him lounging about on the Iron Throne. They speak High Valyrian in that scene as well.
• When Daemon wakes up immediately following the dream, there's a frame or two of him shielding his eyes from the sunlight where there's still blood on his hand from beheading young Rhaenyra. When he looks closer at it, the blood is gone.
• Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) says that Ser Criston Cole's host left King's Landing a fortnight ago. So roughly two weeks have passed since Episode 203.
• Ser Simon tells Daemon that Cole has already conquered houses Stokeworth and Rosby and added their levies to his army. He also says that they cited Blood and Cheese's murder of Prince Jaehaerys as part of their decision to back King Aegon. Daemon's actions really lost Rhaenyra a lot of support.

• Daemon sees a black goat in the halls of Harrenhal. This could just be a fun little way to show the castle's disrepair as livestock roams its halls. Or it could be a subtle nod to Vargo Hoat, a sellsword who holds Harrenhal in the Song of Ice and Fire books for a while before Tywin Lannister takes charge of the castle. Hoat's sigil is a black goat.
• Yes, Oscar Tully is named after a Sesame Street character. So is his grandfather Grover. There are a few more Tully characters in the book which hold to this gag — Oscar has an older brother named Kermit, and their father Elmo is the one who assumes command of Riverrun when Grover is unable to lead. It seems like House of the Dragon has streamlined its Sesame Street characters, which was probably a good call.
• As Daemon leaves the room, there's a quick shot of three black hounds lying on the ground. Just like with the goat, that's probably a reference to another one of the lords who will one day hold Harrenhal: Ser Gregor Clegane. The sigil for House Clegane is three black dogs on a yellow field.

You can't keep secrets from Princess Rhaenys

Next we head to Driftmark, where Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) is making a rare visit to the docks to meet Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). We're going to get into SPOILERS here from the book; if you want to skip them, jump ahead to the next image.

• Rhaenys tells Alyn that his mother "must've been very beautiful." She makes it pretty obvious in this scene that she knows Alyn of Hull is one of Corlys Velaryon's (Steve Toussaint) bastard children, and that she has feelings about it. The reference to Alyn's mother being beautiful is Rhaenys' way of commenting on the fact that she caught Corlys' eye.
• Rhaenys speaking of Alyn's mother in the past tense raises an interesting question: is Alyn of Hull's mother still alive? In the book, she is a successful merchant and former shipwright named Marilda, who is very much still alive. It sounds like the show may have decided to cut her by killing her off, since neither Alyn or Addam has mentioned her yet. I imagine we'll find out for sure in the coming weeks.
• Rhaenys argues for raising up Alyn and honoring him for saving Corlys' life. That's quite an endorsement, but also a reminder that it's suspicious Corlys hasn't already done so.
• Rhaenyra still hasn't returned from King's Landing. The timescale of that fortnight between Criston leaving King's Landing and Rhaenyra returning to Dragonstone is a little fuzzy. Did she take longer to get home or something?

Alicent Hightower, queen of bad decisions

In King's Landing, Alicent Hightower is haunted by her last conversation with Rhaenyra, where she was finally forced to confront the fact that she misinterpreted King Viserys' final words. She's thinking quite a lot about Viserys in this episode; that dragon statue she's studying at the start of the scene is one which broke early in House of the Dragon season 1, and Alicent had mended as a surprise gift to Viserys.

Alicent receives some moon tea from Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) to abort a pregnancy from her escapades with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). There are a few important details about this scene. The first is that this calls back to season 1 in some pretty hypocritical ways for Alicent; in House of the Dragon's fifth episode, "We Light The Way," Larys Strong tells Alicent that Rhaenyra received moon tea, which is what leads her down the path of uncovering Rhaenyra and Criston's affair. Alicent was pretty judgmental back then; less so now, it seems.

The timing worth noting as well. Criston and Alicent's relationship only started after King Viserys died near the end of season 1. That was roughly a month ago in the show's timeline. So it's long enough that Alicent might have known she was pregnant, but still been in the very early stages. However, we have also seen moon tea used as a morning-after pill; that's why Rhaenyra took it within days of sleeping with Criston in House of the Dragon season 1.

Corlys Velaryon is not impressed with the Black Council

Back on Dragonstone, Queen Rhaenyra's advisors continue to whine more than help. Bullet point time:

• Baela (Bethany Antonia) says that Criston Cole's army has been marching at night and using the forest for cover, which is why it's been hard for her to track their movements on her dragon. That's pretty impressive, considering he's been on the road for weeks.
• Baela says there are signs that the army is moving northwest, but she's guessing. And she's wrong; we see in the following scene that Criston Cole is at Duskendale, which is northeast of Rosby and Stokeworth. Baela's guess is probably because Harrenhal is to the northwest, and that's where everyone assumes Criston is heading.
• Daemon hasn't been returning letters from Rhaenyra's advisors, and we still don't know exactly why.
• Ser Alfred Broome points out that Rhaenys is not the Hand of the Queen, which raises an important detail: Rhaenyra still hasn't even named a Hand of the Queen yet, a month into the war. That's a bit of an oversight.

The sacking of Duskendale

Next we hop across the bay to Duskendale, where we see just how bad the Blacks are at keeping track of Criston. While they bicker about not knowing where he is, Criston and Alicent's brother Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) are busy sacking the stronghold of Duskendale. Those shields lying on the beach with red and yellow fields ornamented with black and white designs are the sigil of House Darklyn, which rules there.

Criston has gathered all the remaining soldiers of House Darklyn to watch as he gives their lord a choice: bend the knee to Aegon or die. Lord Gunthor Darklyn refuses to bend the knee and calls Criston Cole "Kingmaker," since he's out enforcing Aegon's will across the countryside. This is a nickname of Criston's from the book, which he gets because he is the person who literally places the crown on Aegon's head during his coronation. Cole still crowned Aegon in the show, but it's bringing in the nickname in a different way.

After Criston beheads Lord Gunthor Darklyn, all of the remaining Darklyn soldiers bend the knee. Then, Criston receives a letter from his runner. That letter is most likely from Aemond, letting Criston know that he's made all the necessary arrangements to meet him at Rook's Rest for their surprise attack. And indeed, Criston announces to Gwayne and his men that they're not heading toward Harrenhal right after reading it.

The other fun thing of note in this scene is that Gunthor Darklyn is played by Steven Pacey, who is best known in many fantasy reading circles as the narrator of Joe Abercrombie's First Law audiobooks.

Aemond Targaryen obviously spent more time with Duolingo than his brother

With Criston on his way to Rook's Rest, we head into the Small Council chambers so that Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) can finally fill the rest of us in on the plan:

• Aegon is furious that Daemon has captured Harrenhal and wants to know why Larys Strong isn't more upset. Don't forget, Larys is technically the lord of that decrepit place despite the fact that he's hardly ever there. He's even had the entire treasury of House Strong transferred from Harrenhal to King's Landing, so the castle is flat broke.
• Aemond lays out the plan to everyone that Criston will take Rook's Rest and cut off all the ports of entry along the stretch of coast beside Dragonstone, effectively trapping Rhaenyra on her island. He conveniently leaves out the details about going there himself on Vhagar, though.
• Aemond's line that "This war will not be won with dragons alone, but with dragons flying behind armies of men," is directly out of the book, Fire & Blood.
• You have to love the fact that Aemond not only breaks into High Valyrian, a language which few but Targaryens even know how to speak, but he uses the broadest vocabulary of words possible to shame Aegon with how much better his grip on it is.
• This is likely payback for Aegon shaming Aemond at the brothel in Episode 203. In both instances, one brother puts the other on the back foot in a place where they're at their most vulnerable.
• Following the Small Council meeting, Larys pays Alicent a visit. She's still reeling from the moon tea; Orwyle said it doesn't sit easily on the stomach. Larys of course clocks the moon tea immediately and can't resist a snide remark.
• Larys inquires about the fact that Alicent has been reading history books, while also reminding us that King Viserys was perpetually fascinated by them. This is our first clue that Alicent is starting to scour the Red Keep's books for any information she can find about the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy. I wonder if she'll ever find anything—so far as we know, the only actual record of Aegon's prophecy is etched into the Valyrian steel dagger that Aegon II wears as part of his regalia as king, and it can only be revealed by heating the blade with fire.

Alys Rivers, the barn owl of Harrenhal

Back in Harrenhal, Daemon's still having nightmares. He dreams he hears someone walk by his room, and then chases them into the hall with his Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister. It looks like Aemond Targaryen...until they turn around, and it's just Daemon with an eyepatch and a different wig. Fun fact: "Aemond" is just "Daemon" with the D moved to the end. These two characters are very intentionally set up as similar polar forces on either side of the Dance of the Dragons, and Daemon serves as both an inspiration and fixation for Aemond. It looks like Daemon is having to grapple with his own hand in making this monster.

After seeing the apparition, Daemon stumbles into the workshop of the woods witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin):

• Unlike the last time Daemon saw Alys where he woke up in the Godswood and suddenly his sword was gone, this time he still has it. That implies he was literally sleepwalking through the castle with that blade.
• Alys Rivers is the de facto maester of Harrenhal, since the last one "fled in the night." She doesn't say exactly why he fled, only that he "never settled in." So probably horrifying nightmares that drove him to the brink of sanity, you know, typical Harrenhal stuff.
• Alys says Harrenhal has been "cursed since its first stone was laid." Harrenhal has a dark history, being built by thousands of slaves at the behest of a tyrant king, Harren the Black. He also cut down a grove of sacred weirwood trees, which were used to build beams and rafters and furniture in the castle...including the very bed Daemon has been sleeping in. As we saw in Game of Thrones, weirwoods are ancient trees that can give people visions, which explains a lot about Daemon's condition.
• Speaking of, that stuff that looks like blood on Alys Rivers' hands is probably weirwood paste, made from the blood red sap of the trees. We've seen characters like Bran Stark ingest weirwood paste in the Song of Ice and Fire books as a way of opening himself up to greater visions.
• Alys licks some of that weirwood paste off her own fingers. I wonder how that effects her, and her seemingly heightened level of prescience. Is Alys Rivers just going around Harrenhal microdosing on weirwood paste?
• When Daemon drinks the weirwood paste, he wakes up in a meeting with Ser Simon Strong and Ser Willem Blackwood (Jack Parry-Jones). It's muffled, but with subtitles on you can make out that Willem says he rules House Blackwood as regent until his nephew Benjicot comes of age. Benjicot Blackwood is a key figure in the Dance of the Dragons, a wild child ruler who gives the Greens all sorts of hell and eventually becomes known as "Bloody Ben." We probably won't meet him until season 3, but it's great that House of the Dragon is already laying the seeds.
• This isn't the first time we've seen Willem Blackwood. He was one of the suitors vying for Rhaenyra's hand during the fourth episode of season 1, "The King of the Narrow Sea." Even though he was only a child in that scene, he still killed an older Bracken who was mocking him. The grudge between their houses runs very deep.
• The woman who Daemon sees is his second wife, Laena Velaryon, who was played as an adult by Nanna Blondell in House of the Dragon season 1. She was Vhagar's previous rider before Aemond, Corlys and Rhaenys' daughter, and the mother of Baela and Rhaena Targaryen. When Daemon looks back at her, we see that it's actually just a maid of House Strong who's in the room, not Laena.
• Willem Blackwood says he'll support Daemon, so long as Daemon and his dragon help them deal with the Brackens. We'll probably see that play out sooner rather than later.

Aegon II Targaryen is pushed to the edge

Back in King's Landing, Aegon is faced with the uncomfortable truth that no one really wants his input as king.

• Aegon's councilors say that the lords of the Crownlands are growing upset at how much of their livestock the dragons are eating, Vhagar in particular. That's a great small detail, which also lets us in on Lord Jasper "Ironrod" Wylde's plan if those lords resist: either they supply livestock or the crown will seize their holdings. I'm sure that would go over well.
• There are a bunch of other small details: the crown's coffers are running low from the war effort, the blockade is starting to make food more scarce in King's Landing, and the blacksmiths are still struggling. I'm guessing Aegon forgot his promise to Hugh (Kieran Bew) back in the season premiere that he would supply them with more coin.
• Once Aegon says his councilors bore him and leaves, they hardly miss a beat before launching back into their conversation. The respect for Aegon is at an all-time low in the Small Council chamber.
• Aegon returns to his bed chamber to find Alicent rummaging through his cupboards looking for King Viserys' books. But don't worry, Aegon didn't have them burned, just moved somewhere else so he could properly settle into his new digs. You know what decor Aegon hasn't gotten rid of, though? Visery's lewd paintings of orgies on the walls. I guess he liked those enough to keep them.
• Aegon's dimwitted Kingsguard soldiers bump into each other on their way out. Funny, and also sad for how ill-fitted they are for the office.

Preparing for battle

We're almost into the Battle at Rook's Rest! Ser Criston and Gwayne have set up camp, and there are some cool little details to be parsed. This scene starts with soldiers felling trees so they can build the battering rams we see later. Medieval armies often didn't carry that sort of heavy siege equipment with them on the march, but rather made it out of whatever they could once they arrived at their destination. Another nice little detail is that Criston's warhorse has a Seven-Pointed Star embossed on its chanfron, because of course Criston is the image of piety.

Meanwhile on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra has finally returned just in time to hear her councilors discussing the looming battle.

• Rhaenyra is still wearing part of her nun outfit, and her loyal Kinsguard Ser Steffon Darklyn is still dressed as a monk. So presumably, they came straight back to Dragonstone after King's Landing. It's not really clear why it took Rhaenyra days or even weeks, but it only seemingly took Daemon a day or two in the season premiere.
• Ser Steffon Darklyn is the son of Lord Gunthor Darklyn, who Criston Cole beheaded during the sack of Duskendale.
• Rhaenyra says that she "inherited 80 years of peace" from her father. That's roughly 55 years of Jaehaerys the Conciliator's reign, and 25 of King Viserys'.
• She may not technically be a member of the Small Council, but Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) is still peeking in to listen.
• When Rhaenyra picks up the little statue off of the Painted Table that was standing on Rook's Rest, you can see "Maidenpool" etched just above it. That's another important town with allegiance to the Blacks that will factor into the Dance of the Dragons eventually.

Our final scene before the battle is part of a montage. Rhaenyra tells Jace about the Song of Ice and Fire, the prophetic dream Aegon the Conqueror had about the looming White Walker invasion which led him to unite the Seven Kingdoms.

• When Aegon smashes the pitcher and storms off to don his armor, you can just see that both the pitcher and wine glasses have dragon designs on them.
• Rhaenyra and Jace have their meeting in the library of Dragonstone. There's a dragon skull on a pedestal through the doors at the back of the room. It hasn't been confirmed in the show yet, but I believe that skull probably belonged to Meraxes, the dragon of Aegon the Conqueror's sister Rhaenys. Her dragon was shot through the eye by a scorpion bolt while she was trying to conquer Dorne. Later, the skull was returned to Aegon the Conqueror. The skull has one oddly shaped and overly large eye hole, which could be from the scorpion bolt that ended the dragon's life. You can see it best in Rhaenyra's first shot in the library, where she's gazing at the skull.
• Aegon dons his armor right in the Dragonpit, where we meet his dragon Sunfyre. Sunfyre the Golden was said to be the most gorgeous dragon that ever lived, and the show really went hard to depict that on screen.
• Rhaenys tells Meleys that they're "off to battle again." This is a bit of a quibble, but from the Fire & Blood lore I don't really know what battles Meleys had ever taken part in? She wasn't born until well into the reign of Jaehaerys the Conciliator when the realm was at peace; her only previous rider was Alyssa Targaryen, the mother of Daemon and Viserys, and she never rode Meleys to war. I guess Rhaenys is just alluding to her and Meleys' efforts to blockade the Gullet.
• As Criston Cole marches into battle, you can see the sigils of the other houses he's brought into his army. The sheep on the green field is for House Stokeworth, and the white shield with the red slashes is House Rosby.
• There are only around 1,500 people in Criston Cole's army. It's a good reminder that, in the grand scheme of Game of Thrones battles, Rook's Rest started as a fairly small clash that went nuclear when the dragons got involved.

The Battle of Rook's Rest

Now we're into the battle itself. Unlike much of the rest of the episode, all the details are right up in your face during this sequence, and the Easter eggs are more spread out since it's all about that action. One last run of bullet points:

• It's not clear if Sunfyre saw Vhagar waiting in the forest below. Vhagar rises at Cole's signal, but Aemond gets frustrated when he sees Sunfyre fly overhead and holds his great dragon back.
• Criston Cole giving a rousing speech when King Aegon joins the battle is drawn directly from the book, as is the fact that Queen Rhaenys made no attempt to escape the battle even when the odds went against her.
• Criston has a very tiny dragon head on the crest of his helmet.
• After Meleys scratches open Sunfyre's chest, some of the dragon's blood spills onto the soldiers below. It scorches them, because dragons are creatures of fire and their blood is hot.
• Aemond has Vhagar breathe fire onto both Sunfyre and Meleys at once, taking Sunfyre and Aegon out of the fight. A reminder that Aegon's armor is made of Valyrian steel, so if there's any armor that would stand a chance of withstanding that heat, it would be the suit he's wearing. But his odds still aren't great.
• Rhaenys never tells Meleys "Dracarys," but only commands her to "attack." This is an intentional juxtaposition in how Aemond and Aegon are treating their dragons as careless weapons, while she has a more measured approach.
• Rhaenys buckles herself into her dragon saddle before engaging Vhagar. Maybe she expected that crazy upside down maneuver that Meleys pulled, which "The Red Dragon and the Gold" director Alan Taylor designed off the fighting patterns of birds of prey.
• House of the Dragon actually filmed scenes that showed Rhaenys and Meleys after they crashed into the ground and died, but cut them. Hopefully we see them someday in a deleted scene!
• Gwayne Hightower leads the Green army into the breached wall of Rook's Rest after the dragon battle is over; you can hear him shouting commands as Criston regains consciousness.
• Criston made a huge deal about sullying the white cloak of the Kingsguard a few episodes back to Arryk Cargyll, and how it was a symbol of purity and honor. After he wakes up, his cloak is stained almost completely black by ash.
• Criston's horse died under him when he fell; you can see its corpse when he wakes up.
• Did Aemond have his sword drawn to strike down Aegon when he found him in the forest? The angle looks like Aemond was already sheathing it when Criston walked up, but the show left it deliciously ambiguous.
• Aemond picks up Aegon the Conqueror's dagger, which had fallen to the forest floor beside Sunfyre. He keeps it when he walks away at the end of the episode.
• In the final seconds of the episode, you can see that Sunfyre is still moving and alive, and Aegon has been horribly burned. No doubt we'll find out more about their fates in the next episode.

And that brings us right to the credits of this latest, dramatic episode of House of the Dragon. "The Red Dragon and the Gold" was a massive episode for HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series. As of this writing, it's the highest-rated episode in the show's entire run according to IMDb, and has stoked the hype for the series to a new high. Now that the dragons have danced, the war is only going to grow fiercer.

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