As to your match.
Make it yourself.
Search him out.
Find one that pleases you, as I did.
House of the Dragon, Season 1, Episode 3 - Second of his Name.
I thought it was a decent episode, although I personally did not enjoy it quite as much
as the previous two.
Three years have passed since Viserys announced his intention to marry Alicent Hightower,
and now he has a son, Aegon.
But that passage of time fundamentally changed nothing.
Indeed, we are being beaten over the head with the fact that this is a patriarchy, where
royal women are used as pieces of chattel to trade for stronger alliances, binding houses
together where the women have no say in the matter.
The expectation is now that he finally has the son he always wanted, that Aegon is the
rightful heir, and any silly talks of having a ruling Queen have been put to rest.
Rhaenyra is also expected to marry soon, where she is courted by Lord Jason Lannister, but
Rhaenyra is uncomfortable with her predicament.
It is suggested to the King that she marry Laenor Velaryan and it is even suggested he
have her marry her own toddler half brother Aegon.
Oof madone.
Rhaenyra seems to be coping by suffering mostly in silence and keeping her distance.
She’s resentful towards Alicent, she doesn’t want to be used as a pawn in the political
gamesmanship, and she seems to be coming to the realization that Rhaenys was correct,
this is the order of things.
But she doesn’t want to be a prize to the other great houses, and she informs her father
of such in spirited fashion.
Ser Criston Cole seems to be the only person she can freely confide in without stress or
tension.
But Viserys is growing perturbed with all of the politicking and the widely held assumption
that Rhaenyra is to be replaced by young Eagon is the rightful heir.
While Viserys has been shown to be indecisive, easily manipulated, and a bit aloof, this
episode showed that perhaps he is made of sterner stuff than we realized.
Viserys may have been overcome with some doubt over his decision, given his flaws and weaknesses,
but in the end he now appears determined to stay the course.
His rightful heir is his daughter Rhaenyra, a decision he did not make on a whim.
Viserys had wanted her at the festivities, he wanted her there for the hunt, and he is
a man who genuinely cares for his own daughter.
In a cruel world with a lot of dirty maneuvering where women are exchanged as property, and
the eldest male heir is almost universally given priority, even the King himself cannot
single-handedly alter the customs and traditions of the realm.
But ultimately Viserys wants his daughter to be able to make her own choice for marriage,
affording her the same opportunity he himself had with Alicent.
A lot is revealed here about Viserys, and while his scope of power and influence is
far from absolute, standing by his decision to name Rhaenyra as heir is bold - especially
since this goes against his life long wishes of having a male heir, something he only experienced
briefly when he lost his wife and newborn.
That for me was the most interesting thing about Second of his Name.
Rhaenyra and Viserys both possess exceptional qualities that go against the norm in this
world.
Rhaenyra is a strong and independent woman, and her father is both embracing and encouraging
those attributes.
Now Viserys has already proven a bit wishy washy where he may at times blow with the
wind.
But in a short period of time, his character has already experienced growth in his biggest
conflict.
His views on having a male heir have changed and evolved since losing his first wife.
With the ongoing conflict with the Crabfeeder, the efforts of Daemon and the Sea Snake are
at a bit of a stalemate.
It’s a quagmire!
Even the power of the dragon ain’t doing shit for them.
Until, that is, Daemon got the note from his brother stating that help was on the way.
This angers Daemon a great deal, and he don’t want to be known as the guy who failed and
needed to be rescued and bailed out by his King brother.
With the whole battle scene, I thought it was all extremely well done, don’t get me
wrong - but seeing Daemon come up with this plan on the fly, where his execution was near
flawless and he single-handedly killed dozens of enemies - that all felt a bit much to me.
Not that we haven’t seen some over the top type of stuff happen.
After all it is a fantasy world, and we’ve seen some ridiculous stuff with the Night
King chucking a spear at one dragon, and another dragon getting shot out of the sky.
I mean I guess if you have dragons, anything goes.
But when you think back to the bad-ass display by Barriston the Bold, he took out a bunch
of the Sons of the Harpy in his own powerful display, but that one had far less of a superhero
vibe than what we had here with Daemon and the Crabfeeder.
In any case, the ploy worked, we see a new dragon swoop in with one of Rhaenyra’s proposed
suitors, and Daemon emerges wounded but triumphant.
Right now Rhaenyra is easily the most captivating character in my viewing experience.
The most interesting thing I think, looking forward, is how Rhaenyra chooses based on
the blessing and approval she received from her father.
Is it a coincidence that she is told to make her own marital choice in the same episode
where she bonded with Cole?
Quick note, I am moving soon, so I may sadly miss a couple of weeks here, but hopefully
not, and if I do, I’ll try and get back in the mix as soon as I am able.
So what did you think of the episode?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Thank you very much for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
She’s a maniac, a maniac, I sure know.
I sure know!