Queen Alicent betrothed her eldest son, Aegon, to her daughter, Helaena, but Aegon was not
happy with that, telling his brother, Aemond, that Helaena was an idiot.
But Helaena is not an idiot.
She is just different, and if anything, she is special.
Helaena is a dreamer.
In the prior episode, Helaena had a prophetic dream about Aemond, and that dream came to
fruition in this episode.
Aemond got a dragon, but it came at the expense of an eye.
In this episode, Helaena had another dream.
She spoke about dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread.
This one is pretty obvious, but I will say it in a way that avoids detailed spoilers.
Dragons of flesh refers to Targaryen people such as Rhaenyra, and Dragons of Thread refers
to New Banners.
The standard Targaryen Banner is a Red Dragon on a black field, but Rhaenyra is going to
create a new sigil.
So that is her new dream.
Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread.
Rhaenyra’s primary opposition in the war is also going to create a new sigil, but I
won’t say who that is for the sake of spoilers.
So Aegon has been betrothed to Helaena, and he is not happy about that.
His younger brother, Aemond, told Aegon that if he had been betrothed to Helaena, then
he would do his duty so as to keep their bloodline pure.
He also said that she is their future queen.
Those two lines imply that Alicent has successfully brainwashed Aemond into thinking that his
older brother and sister are going to be the King and Queen as opposed to his half-sister,
Rhaenyra.
It is unclear whether or not Aegon buys into that idea or not, but Aegon seems more interested
in girls than anything else.
By the end of the episode, Aemond had a reason to hate his cousins, but it didn’t have
to be that way.
During the funeral service, Aemond went up to Jace and opened his mouth as if to say
something.
Since he never said anything, this is open to interpretation, but as a big fan of Aemond,
I’d like to believe that Aemond was about to give his condolences to Jace.
And I don’t think it would have been in reference to Jace’s aunt Laena.
I think that Aemond was about to tell that Jace that he was sorry for his loss, implying
the loss of his biological father, Harwin Strong.
Admittedly, I’m an Aemond fan, so I might be way off here.
And, unfortunately, we will probably never know what Aemond was going to say because
Jace gave him the evil eye, so Aemond just walked away.
When the sun set, another sun rose.
Aemond went and claimed the biggest dragon of them all.
Vhagar.
At this point, Vhagar is around 170 years old.
It was glorious.
Unfortunately, what should have been a moment of celebration quickly turned into a moment
of tragedy and division.
Daemon and Laena had two daughters.
Twins named Baela and Rhaena.
Although Baela’s egg hatched into a dragon she named Moondancer, Rhaena’s egg never
hatched.
So Rhaena had planned on claiming her late mother’s dragon.
Vhagar.
That is why they ran out there and yelled at Aemond.
The verbal fight quickly escalated into an actual fight.
Four on one, and in the end, Luke cut out Aemond’s eye.
As an Aemond fan, I had wanted to defend him here, and I still think that the others are
more to blame than him, but even Aemond crossed the line by threatening to burn them alive
and mocking them as bastards.
At the end of the day, Aemond lost an eye, but he gained a dragon so he considered it
a win.
And so did his grandfather, Otto Hightower.
But this event is not something that Aemond is ever going to forget.
His cousins better keep their guards up, especially Luke.
It’s worth noting that Vhagar nearly threw Aemond off of her since Aemond had forgotten
to strap himself into the saddle.
Keep that on your radar.
There are probably going to be at least two callbacks to this over the course of the show.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The Trial in the Hall of Nine was a call back to the Trial at the Inn at the Crossroads,
and this trial also marked a definitive crossroads.
At the end of the trial, there were two clear sides.
The Blacks and the Greens.
Otto was proud of the way in which Alicent fought dirty, and he also acknowledged that
Aemond was right about Vhagar.
Vhagar was a major win for the Greens since Vhagar is the oldest and largest dragon by
a long shot.
After the funeral service, Rhaenyra made eye contact with Daemon and she almost smiled,
but not quite.
Daemon, however, couldn’t hold it in.
It was adorable.
Since Daemon would not come over to the king, Viserys wobbled his way over to Daemon and
invited Daemon back to King’s Landing.
He offered him a spot on the Small Council and even offered Daemon whatever he needed.
Daemon almost said that he needed something, but then he paused and pivoted and said that
he needed nothing and walked off.
What was Daemon going to say there?
Daemon might have been about to say that Viserys had already denied Daemon the one thing which
he wanted most.
Rhaenyra.
But, to be clear, that’s pure speculation.
All we know for sure is that he said that he needed, then he paused, and he finished
by saying the word “nothing.”
Rhaenyra saw Daemon walk off, so she sent her boys to bed and followed him out onto
the beach.
This scene was fantastic.
Rhaenyra chastised Daemon for having abandoned her, and he responded by saying that she had
been just a child, and he had spared her by staying away from her.
Daemon is a dark and dangerous guy, as Rhaenyra herself pointed out during this conversation,
but he does have a soft, vulnerable, and caring side at times.
So, Daemon said that he had spared her since she had been just a child, but Rhaenyra countered
by telling him to look around as proof that he had not actually saved her.
She went on to say that she is no longer a child, and then she kissed him.
The way in which she grabbed his face was a callback to the way in which he had grabbed
her face at the brothel and also on the dance floor.
But there were two differences.
First off, she initiated the face grab this time.
And second, she did it with a different type of passion.
This kiss was less about lust and more about love.
It’s worth noting that the way in which Rhaenyra reached around Daemon and pulled
him in close stands in direct contrast to the way in which Alicent had acted when Viserys
had summoned her to do her duty.
On a lighter note, it was pretty cool how Rhaenyra and Daemon came together as one,
they bonded for lack of better words, and then the show transitioned directly into the
Aemond and Vhagar bonding scene.
This episode hinted at an upcoming plot point in a very subtle way.
It gave us all the clues without spoiling what is to come, and I will do the same.
The issue is High Tide.
As a reminder, High Tide is the new seat of House Velaryon.
It is a castle on the island of Driftmark.
This entire episode took place at High Tide.
The big question is: who is going to inherit High Tide?
At the beginning of the episode, Corlys told Luke that he would inherit the island of Driftmark
since his older brother Jace was going to inherit the Iron Throne.
Luke didn’t like that conversation since it was about a hypothetical future in which
all of the adults whom he loves are dead.
That was the first reference to this topic.
Later on, Rhaenys told Corlys that Rhaenyra’s children were not of his blood.
As a result, she wanted Driftmark to pass to Laena’s children, specifically Baela.
Rhaenys told Corlys that he should declare that while everyone was there at Laena’s
funeral because they could use her funeral as an excuse.
They could say that they were passing on Driftmark to Laena’s daughter as way of honoring Laena.
So, Corlys wants High Tide to pass to Luke, and Rhaenys wants High Tide to pass to Baela.
This is definitely an outstanding plot point.
Who is going to inherit High Tide?
One thing is for sure.
Rhaenys better be careful with what she says because her cousin Viserys does not want anyone
questioning the legitimacy of Rhaenyra’s children.
“Anyone whose tongue dares to question the birth of Princess Rhaenyra’s sons should
have it removed!”
Earlier in that scene, Rhaenys also called out Corlys for the lie that he has always
told himself.
The lie is that Corlys wants to place his own heir on the Iron Throne as justice for
Rhaenys being passed over.
The truth is that Corlys wants his blood to inherit the Iron Throne due to personal reasons
such as pride and ambition.
Rhaenys also pointed out for the second time that in doing so, he had placed their children
in danger.
And, she was right.
Not long after, their son was killed.
Sort of.
In order to strengthen her claim to the throne, Rhaenyra secretly married Daemon.
But, in order to do that, Laenor had to die first.
Earlier in the episode, Rhaenyra had made it very clear that she cared for and admired
Laenor.
That is why it came as a major shock when Rhaenyra and Daemon decided to kill him.
But, it turns out, they didn’t.
Not literally.
Laenor sailed off with Qarl.
A figurative death.
The big question is: did Daemon want Qarl to kill Laenor, or did it go down as he had
planned?
Well, Daemon had told Qarl to make sure that there were witnesses.
And there was one.
Laenor’s squire.
Since Daemon had told Qarl to make sure that there were witnesses, it appears that Daemon
and Rhaenyra were probably in on the plan.
So that was awesome.
However, there is a very big problem.
Seasmoke.
In case you didn’t know, Seasmoke is the name of Laenor’s dragon.
So that raises the question: what is going to happen to Seasmoke?
Since Laenor and Seasmoke are bonded, they have a magical connection.
A partial soul swap for lack of better words.
That could be a major problem.
Seasmoke might follow Laenor wherever he goes.
If so, then it is going to be very difficult for Laenor to hide.
Another option is that Laenor figures out a way to break his bond with Seasmoke so that
Seasmoke doesn’t follow him everywhere.
It will be interesting to see how Corlys and Rhaenys respond, especially if they are kept
in the dark.
On the one hand, they might suspect that Rhaenyra and Daemon killed their son so that they could
get married themselves.
On the other hand, Rhaenyra and Daemon are the parents to all five of their grandchildren.
Jace, Luke, and Joff used to be first cousins once removed with Baela and Rhaena, but now
that Rhaenyra has married her uncle Daemon, the kids are also step-siblings.
But that doesn’t mean that they can’t get married.
Since Alicent betrothed her own son and daughter to each other, the Velaryons might be tempted
to do the same.
Another option is to marry outside of their family so as to form alliances.
I won’t say what happens, but I will say this.
Rhaenyra herself spurned people in the past, people such as Jason Lannister and others
during her royal progress.
The decisions of the past as well as the decisions that they make in the future are both going
to play a part in who sides with whom during the Dance.
In the prior episode, the Clubfoot hired prisoners to kill his brother and his father.
When they cut out their tongues, he just sat there.
He almost seemed to enjoy it.
Long story short, the Clubfoot is clearly a psychopath.
This episode gave us some more color as to who he is and why he is doing what he is doing.
Ser Criston told Alicent that The Clubfoot had been staring at her ever since they had
arrived.
Although she said that The Clubfoot was just proud to be the new Lord of Harrenhal, her
face said something different.
She was clearly disturbed by him.
Since Alicent did not acknowledge The Clubfoot, he made a creepy, insecure smile.
The Clubfoot might have an unhealthy obsession with the Queen, if so, making him the second
simp on her team.
When they sailed off to go back to King’s Landing, The Clubfoot asked Alicent if he
should remove someone’s eye so as to balance the scale, and Alicent said no.
She told him that there would come a time when she would need him, and when that time
came, she would expect him to act with both skill and discretion.
Long story short, Alicent’s facial expressions spoke volumes.
The Clubfoot creeps her out as he should, but she has chosen to string him along as
an ally.
Alicent is playing with fire, but there is a reason why she is doing so.
During the Funeral Service, King Viserys referred to Queen Alicent as Aemma, which is the name
of his first wife.
In other words, King Viserys’s life fire is running low.
It is only a matter of time before he dies.
A decade prior, Otto had warned Alicent that when Viserys dies, there will be war.
So that is why she is making moves.
Meanwhile, Rhaenyra made moves of her own.
Rhaenyra held what appears to be a secret wedding ceremony.
A beautiful Valyrian marriage of Blood and Fire.
Soon, the dragons will dance and die.