Who is Alys Rivers in House of the Dragon? (New Harrenhal character explained)

The latest episode of House of the Dragon sprawled outward from the strongholds of Dragonstone and the Red Keep, introducing a bunch of new characters in the process. Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) went out on the town, nearly crossing paths with newcomer Ulf White (Tom Bennett) in his debaucherous outing in Flea Bottom and the Street of Silk. Meanwhile, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) landed his dragon Caraxes on the ruined castle of Harrenhal, claiming it for the Black Queen, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy).

Harrenhal was an important location in Game of Thrones and it's going to be an important location in House of the Dragon, too. At this point in history, it's all but abandoned, with one of the last scions of House Strong, Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale), holding down the fort. Simon has very few household hands, but there is one in particular who will play a key role in the larger Dance of the Dragons: Alys Rivers. Glow star Gayle Rankin plays Alys in House of the Dragon, and we finally got to meet her in this week's episode.

If you haven't read Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, you might be wondering who Alys Rivers is and why so many fans of the book get all excited talking about her. If so, you're in the right place. Let's go over the basics about Alys and what role she has to play in the Dance. There will be MILD SPOILERS for her backstory and overall arc, but don't worry, we won't go ruining every twist and turn of her story that lies ahead in the series.

Alys Rivers explained: What Fire & Blood says about new House of the Dragon character

Alys Rivers is a wet nurse who has served at Harrenhal for years. When Daemon captures the castle, he also captures the smallfolk there as well, including Alys. As her name implies, she's a bastard of the Riverlands. Her exact parentage is a total mystery, however.

Fire & Blood is not a traditional novel, but a fake history with various figures giving their first or second-hand accounts of events. Each of its in-world narrators has slightly different descriptions of Alys, and all of them are worth a look. Grand Maester Munkin calls her "a serving wench who dabbled in potions and spells." Septon Eustace says she's a "woods witch." Meanwhile, Mushroom, a dwarf fool who often goes for the most salacious angle, uses imagery to describe her that calls to mind the infamous real-world historical figure Elizabeth Báthory, dubbing her "a malign enchantress who bathed in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth."

Each of these narrators also holds opinions on her parentage. Both Eustace and Munkin believe her to be a bastard child of Ser Simon Strong's nephew, Lord Lyonel Strong (played in season 1 by Gavin Spokes), which makes her "a half-sister to his sons Harwin (Breakbones) and Larys (the Clubfoot)." Mushroom, however, claims she is far older than either Larys or Harwin, and actually served as their wet nurse when they were infants. He also says she might possibly have even been the wet nurse for their father Lyonel decades earlier, which would make Alys pretty damn old.

It's doubtful that Munkin has the right of Alys' age, but there are some seeds of truth in there. During the Dance of the Dragons, Alys is known for a fact to have been "at least forty years of age," but she looked much younger than her years. Despite being a known wet nurse to the children born at Harrenhal, she never had children of her own, only stillbirths. "Was she in truth a witch who lay with demons, bringing forth dead children as payment for the knowledge they gave her?" Fire & Blood asks. "A wanton who used her poisons and potions to bind men to her, body and soul?"

This all paints quite a picture: Alys Rivers is a woman shrouded in mystique who displays an otherworldly prescience during a few key moments of the Dance. However much of her reputation is true, she fosters it with her strange actions and cryptic words. We saw the beginnings of this in Episode 203, when she tells Daemon that he will die at Harrenhal.

In the book, not much is said of Alys and Daemon's interactions, only that he was "immune" to her powers, since so little is recorded of her while he resides at Harrenhal. That gives House of the Dragon a lot of room to flesh out Alys as a character before she becomes more important later on in the war, when she crosses paths with another dangerous family member of House Targaryen: Aemond One-Eye (Ewan Mitchell).

And that's where we'll draw the line on discussing Alys Rivers for now. We wouldn't give everything away — there's always the book if you want to know what future awaits her beyond the events we're likely to see covered in season 2. Until then, new episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays on HBO and Max.

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