Everyones married with babies and nobodys safe as House of the Dragon jumps forward a decade.
Let’s situate ourselves:
From the jump, it’s clear that Rhaenyra and Alicent are at odds.
As Rhaenyra holds her bloody, squealing child for the first time, she’s summoned by the queen.
Olivia Cooke, Evie Allen.Ollie Upton/HBO
She’s determined not to look weak, however, and Laenor assists her up the stairs.
Alicent wants Viserys to acknowledge the truth.
“One child like that is a mistake, three is an insult,” she tells the king.
Fabien Frankel.Gary Moyes/HBO
Criston, too, scowls at the mention of Rhaenyra’s name.
Rhaenyra also knows she’s dangerously close to being found out, especially with Laenor’s lackadaisical behavior.
She demands he stay by her side, much to his dismay.
Matt Smith, Nanna Blondell.Ollie Upton/HBO
“I have played my part here faithfully,” he argues.
In a small council meeting, Rhaenyra tries to strike a truce.
She could even provide Aemond one of Syrax’s dragon eggs.
Viserys loves the idea, but Alicent is resistant.
Meanwhile, we catch up with Daemon, who is no longer the despicable cad of the previous episodes.
Laena is resistant; she doesn’t want to live the life of a “fat country lord.”
Daemon, however, is drawn to the proposition.
“A simple transaction,” he says.
“We have dragons, they have gold.”
He’s finished with politics, with adventure.
He knows it brings out the worst in him and claims to want domesticity.
“We are more than this, Daemon,” she says.
“We are the blood of Old Valyria, we don’t belong here.”
Daemon tries to build a home for them there, but his unhappiness is evident.
She knows how this ends, with her and the baby dying in agony.
Outside, she orders her dragon douse her in flame.
Daemon tries to stop her, but he’s too late.
Back in King’s Landing, Alicent meets with the scheming Larys Strong (Matthew Needham).
They burn the castle with Harwin and Lyonel inside.
When Alicent finds out, she is horrified: “I did not wish for this.”
Rhaenyra knows she’s in trouble when even Jacaerys asks her if Harwin is his father.
“Am I a bastard?”
She scoops up the children and tells Laenor they’re going to Dragonstone.
“I have been undermined and made a spectacle,” she says.
“They whisper about me in the corridors.
I leave them to it.”
She does, however, allow him to bring Carlo.
