Episode 203 of House of the Dragon is the season’s best yet. The episode is loosely adapted from a few paragraphs in George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, which is presented a history where we don't have all the details. But even within that loose framework, most of what we see happen onscreen this week has been made up by the writers.
This episode reflects a lot on how reality is cemented into history; the conflict between what actually happened and what is remembered is an ongoing theme in the episode. It’s interesting how similar notions are expressed by two characters, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen and Ser Simon Strong. The latter gives us a perfect summary of the Dance of the Dragons, and of House of the Dragon as a series itself, when he explains the root of the long-running feud between neighboring houses Bracken and Blackwood: “The answer is lost in time. Sin begets sin begets sin.”
This episode opens our eyes to what is happening outside of King's Landing and Harrenhal, where our two rival factions have been holed up. The episode opens with the Battle of the Burning Mill, the first real battle in the Dance of the Dragons, fought between Blackwoods and Brackens. We see how little that slaughter matters to the rulers on either side of the bubbling conflict.
Dragonstone
The events of the last couple of episodes resonate in this one. Rhaenyra buries the Cargyll twins together, in a pious act that not everyone, including her son Jacaerys, approves of. In fact, though he’s been afforded few lines so far, Jace is starting to resemble his stepfather Daemon. This may be the prelude to an interesting debate between the Queen and her firstborn.
For her part, Rhaenyra seeks and relies on the advice of her second cousin Princess Rhaenys more and more. She chooses a non-violent approach, already weary of how much bloodshed the civil war has caused. This was a welcome change from Fire & Blood, where we are told that Rhaenyra closes herself in grief and stands back from the council, leaving many important decisions to Rhaenys and Corlys. On one point, the book and the show agree: Rhaenyra has no intention of attacking King’s Landing or endangering the innocent smallfolk at this point.
Rhaenyra also makes another important choice: to give Mysaria a place in her court, so as to be reminded of the smallfolk and to listen to somebody who has their best interests at heart. Mysaria choosing to serve Rhaenyra because of her values instead of accepting her offer of passage to a life of freedom in Essos is a nice echo of Missandei of Naath choosing to follow Daenerys after she’s been freed on Game of Thrones, although I’m not so naive as to believe that Mysaria has no ulterior motives. What matters for now is that Mysaria chooses Rhaenyra because she admires that the Queen cares for the smallfolk. In the book, Mysaria unofficially serves as Rhaenyra’s Mistress of Whisperers; we’ll see soon whether this appointment has been made official on the show and if Mysaria will sit on the Black Council. If she does, it will probably be to the horror of some of Rhaenyra’s bannermen, who’ve already been causing trouble for her.
Understanding how precarious their situation is, Rhaenyra opts to send her youngest children away from Dragonstone, enlisting her niece and stepdaughter the Lady Rhaena to go with them. Strategically, it’s a clever move: Lady Jeyne Arryn of the Vale (who we’re past due to see) is owed a dragon in exchange for her support in the war, so Rhaenyra spares the small drake belonging to her son Joffrey; Aegon III and Viserys II will travel beyond that to Pentos with their young dragons. Rhaena’s role is not one the Queen can entrust to a bannerman; she needs a Targaryen and an able politician to make Jeyne see reason, and to convince the Pentos nobility to host Rhaenyra’s youngest sons. And above all, to keep them safe and love them as only a family member could.
Rhaena is not happy to be sent away, and she is still upset that she does not have a dragon, but she quietly rejoices when she finds out that Rhaenyra is also entrusting her with four dragon eggs produced by Syrax, the future of House Targaryen should the civil war end in ruin. In the book, Rhaena’s first hatchling died early and she prays nightly that a new egg will hatch for her. The show is inserting a (literal) easter egg here: in the book, Rhaena only carries three eggs, one of which will hatch for her, but in the show, she’s been given four…which could suggest that the other three will make their way to Daenerys over 100 years later and become Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion. It’s a nice touch, although book readers know this to be incorrect, as Daenerys’ dragon eggs were transported to Essos over 70 years before by Lady Elissa Farman.
In the book, it’s Jace who takes charge of all these matters and makes the arrangements to send his younger brothers away, writing to Jeyne and to Pentos, without Rhaena’s help. It bears repeating that Joffrey and his dragon Tyraxes are not so young in the book: “Munkun suggests that Jace’s desire to keep his brother far from the fighting was paramount in this decision. This did not sit well with Joffrey, who was determined to prove himself in battle. Only when told that he was being sent to defend the Vale against King Aegon’s dragons did his brother grudgingly consent to go.”
King’s Landing
In King’s Landing, King Aegon's green-and-gold banners color the capital. We have yet to see Rhaenyra’s new sigil as described in the book: red-and-black Targaryen colors accompanied by Arryn and Velaryon heraldry. If the show opts to simply let Rhaenyra keep the original Targaryen sigil, I will not complain.
Criston Cole arrives late to his first council meeting as Hand of the King. Clearly irritated that he was not consulted in selecting the newest members of the Kingsguard, he undermines Alicent in front of the council time and time again. Eager to matter and be heard, he uses words he knows will resonate with Aegon, repeating entire sentences spoken to him by Aemond. Does this man not have an original thought in his head? It is beyond me why Alicent later gives Criston her favor when he asks for it.
Ser Gwayne Hightower, Alicent’s brother, arrives in King’s Landing just in time to join Cole and his host on their march through the Crownlands. Their little rivalry does not do much for the plot, but it’s good for Cole to have some opposition. I doubt that Cole saving him from Baela will suddenly make them see eye to eye on everything.
Aegon surrounds himself with his friends who enable his every whim. With Otto gone and Alicent struggling to be heard, it’s clear the most skillful player in the capital is now Larys Strong, who, without a seat on the council, is able to manipulate the king to change his mind about going to war, and is rewarded with the position of Master of Whispers.
Aegon and friends go to a tavern where we see the commoner Ulf, who reveals for everyone to hear that he’s a bastard son of the late Prince Baelon Targaryen, which makes him a bastard brother to Viserys and Daemon. He also declares that he proudly sides with Rhaenyra, yet he drinks his time away in King’s Landing and is the first to salute King Aegon when he walks in in door. I’m surprised none of the random commoners turned him in.
In Fire & Blood, Ulf the White is a man-at-arms serving on Dragonstone. His parentage is not known or disclosed, although it's assumed that he has Targaryen lineage somewhere in his family history. He becomes a dragonseed, one of several commoners who mount dragons later in the story, and most of them have Targaryen ancestors.
Later Aegon and friends go to a brothel where they find Aemond naked in his arms of the same prostitute he was confiding in last week (I saw way more of Aemond than I ever wanted to see). Aemond would do well to remember that his older brother was his first bully when they were children. On another note, did we see Dyana, Alicent’s servant that Aegon raped in season 1, at the brothel as a serving girl? Aegon did not even seem to recognize her, such is the regard he has for his people.
Alicent is worried about Helaena, who seems…to be doing fine after the murder of her son Jaehaerys? In the book, she is a shell of a person. Here on the show, she even tells Alicent she forgives her. For what, she doesn’t say, but there are many things Alicent may need forgiving for from her children.
Harrenhal
Daemon's “seizing” of Harrenhal is hilarious, thanks to contrast between Daemon’s expectations and the reality of things on the ground. He is prepared for an epic fight to conquer the stronghold and finds no one to put up any resistance. The quiet submission speaks volumes about the state of things in the Riverlands; twice in the episode we hear that the lord paramount Grover Tully is too old to rule and his bannermen are in disarray; the castellan of Harrenhal, Ser Simon Strong, seems to have little interest in who he reports to, save that it’s not his nephew Larys, who he knows set the fire that killed the late Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin.
In the book, Daemon is said to be immune to the “magic” of Alys Rivers, believed to be a bastard of the Strongs. On the show, Daemon dreams in Harrenhal, and we don’t know for sure if it’s the castle’s curse, his Targaryen blood, or Alys herself. Perhaps it’s just Daemon’s conscience or his guilt; in a much appreciated surprise cameo, Milly Alcock returns as Young Rhaenyra and scolds Daemon for always making her clean up his messes. Then Daemon is by a weirwood tree in Harrenhal and Alys tells him this is where he will die. That foreshadows what actually happens to Daemon later in Fire & Blood, although we'll save the details. Had the episode ended here, it would have been close to perfection.
Sadly, that is not the case.
Instead, Rhaenyra devises a plan to infiltrate her sworn enemy’s capital with only one guard so she can have a heart-to-heart with her former best friend Alicent. This is something she would never have done in the book, so reckless and no less rash than the stunt Cole pulled last episode…obviously this is on the writers, not Rhaenyra herself. In a scene so absurd it’s almost comedic, Alicent and Rhaenyra find common ground on wanting to avoid bloodshed, but they can't agree on whether Viserys' last words mattered. Alicent clings desperately to the excuse she's made up, and the meeting (along with all the related risks) has been for nothing. I can only imagine how mad Rhaenyra’s council and family will be when they learn of her trip. Her councilors are already unruly as it is, and Jace is this close to pulling a Daemon and being insubordinate.
Other stuff
Rhaenyra mentions that Seasmoke, the dragon ridden by Laenor's late husband Laenor, has been restless. Given the change from the book that the show pulled in season 1 when Laenor was not killed but simply fled to Essos, his dragon’s change of behavior might signify that Laenor must have died now somewhere in Essos. That's convient timing given that we're coming up on the dragonseed plotline.
In a simple yet beautiful scene, Corlys and Rhaenys discuss their heirs and who should inherit Driftmark when they are gone: Joffrey Velaryon, son of Laenor and Rhaenyra; or Rhaena Targaryen, daughter of Laena and Daemon? Corlys laments that neither of them knows the sea; this sets up his final decision about who he will ultimately name his heir: the sailor Alyn of Hull, who've met a couple of times now.
No mention of the Triarchy has yet been made this season, but Otto did say in the first two episodes that he was writing many ravens asking for support. In the book, he engages the Triarchy, an alliance of the Free Cities of Myr, Lys and Tyrosh, to fight for the Greens. Could one of Otto’s ravens have been to the Triarchy? Or worse, Pentos? In the book, Rhaenyra's youngest sons are intercepted by the Triarchy on their way to Essos. Given how they’ve changed how Rhaenyra’s children will travel to Essos on the show, the writers might need to come up with a different way to get to the same ending.
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