The Dragon House
Sunday night’s episode of The Dragon House is the penultimate episode of Season 2. We only have one more episode before another long – excruciatingly long – wait while they prepare for Season 3.
They’re going to be cooking with dragon flame at this point. Enough dragons have come to roost to fight and war and, eventually, die. There’s a reason no dragons were left behind when Game Of Thrones has begun, and we watch it unfold. It was called The Dance of the Dragons. What a tragic little jig.
If you’ve been following my Season 2 recaps, you’ll know that a few weeks ago I bonded with my own dragon, Rhaelyx. (If you Google “Rhaelyx House of the Dragon,” you’ll get both of my recaps that feature our red-and-black winged wyrm, including last week’s.) It was a beautiful affair. The dragon landed in front of my office—a garden shed in my backyard—and I knew exactly why. He needed a rider to take notes, to chronicle all the shenanigans and dealings of Westeros. One day, all the dragons will be dead, but Rhaelyx will live on, long after even Drogon has faded from human memory, because Rhaelyx is a chronicler of stories, not a participant. As any good writer knows, that’s a safer bet.
Anyway, while my bond with the dragoness went rather well, the same cannot be said for the Dragonseeds in tonight’s dramatic episode – even if Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer came out on top in the end, for better or worse.
Last week, we saw Addam of Hull being stalked by Seasmoke. In this Sunday’s episode opener, Rhaenyra confronts Addam and learns that he has no idea what’s going on and just wants a hug. Or something. He’s very eager to serve her and even more excited by the prospect of his good-for-nothing father, Corlys Velaryon, acknowledging him. The same goes for his brother, Alyn of Hull, who proudly tells his father, “I am made of salt and sea, I aspire to nothing else,” only to be met with a half-hearted nod. Addam doesn’t get much better from his father: “Well done,” the sea serpent tells him curtly.
Corlys and Alyn
They are the “illegitimate offspring” of Houses Targaryen and Velaryon, Rhaenyra’s “army of bastards” that her son Jacaerys is so annoyed with. You see, he knows full well that he is a bastard too. It’s a matter of skin pigmentation. His father is a Strong, not a Velaryon, and his only real claim to legitimacy is that he is a dragonrider, something that bastard dragonriders threaten. But Rhaenyra, while sympathetic, has no choice.
Eventually, thanks to the whispers of Rhaenyra’s underpaid and overqualified handmaiden, the rest of the Dragonseeds make their way to Dragonstone, where Vermithor and Silverwing await them. And fire. Lots of fire. Many would-be riders are killed by Vermithor, until Hugh stands up and makes his bold statement.
I turned this moment into a Dark Souls screenshot:
Hugues and Vermithor
Meanwhile, Ulf the White takes a very different approach. Hugh may be brave and tough, but Ulf is a coward, as evidenced by his reluctance to go to Dragonstone, a decision born more than anything else from peer pressure. But as he flees Vermithor’s cavern of death, he stumbles straight into his own pile of dragon dung and the loving embrace of Silverwing. Soon, Ulf finds himself strolling above King’s Landing:
Yeah!
The Black Team Dragons
Now, the black team has the following list of dragons and riders, and I include Daemon because even though he is trying to raise his own army, he is still an asset to Rhaenyra and her cause:
- Rhaenyra / Syrax
- Demon / Caraxes
- Baela / Moon Dancer
- Jacaerys/Vermax
- Erik Kain / Rhaelyx (yes, I’m on Team Black despite my crush on Alicent!)
- Hugh Hammer / Vermithor
- Ulf the White / Silver Wing
- Addam of Hull / Sea Smoke
To learn more about Dragonseeds, I wrote this guide.
There’s only one dragon left to join Team Black: a wild winged beast in the Vale, where Rhaena currently resides. We only see her briefly tonight as she, Rhaenyra, and Daemon’s young sons are chased out of the Eyrie by a stern Lady Jeyne Arryn.
(In short: Jeyne is played by Amanda Collin and Alyn de Hull is played by Abubakar Salim, the actors who played the mother and father in the wonderful, tragically cancelled HBO series. Raised by wolves. It’s the kind of anecdote that can be described as both “amusing” and “terribly sad.”
If Rhaena rides the wild dragon known as the Sheepstealer (because he steals sheep!), it will be a fairly big, but very understandable, departure from the book.
A change is coming
The other major plot this week takes place in that gloomy castle we call Harrenhal. I confess that while I would love to witness another hallucinatory nightmare, Rhaelyx is sick of this plot and not even the prospect of another Viserys I scene will change her mind. A dragon’s mind is rarely subject to change, after all, and not even Paddy Considine’s fine performance is enough to change her mind. I have a feeling she thinks this whole thing should have been over last week. I can’t argue with that perspective.
Ser Simon Strong and Daemon Targaryen
So we’ll have to head there, since Rhaelyx opts for a trip to the nearby hot springs (seriously, Harrenhal is home to the best hot springs in Westeros!)
Daemon’s quest to unite the Riverlands has been a bit of a failure so far. Thankfully, old Grover Tully is dead and his grandson, Oscar Tully, is in charge (yes, that’s a Sesame Street joke thanks to George RR Martin who also includes an Elmo Tully as well as a Bert and Ernie duo in Fire and Blood).
Oscar seemed somewhat meek when we first met him, but he’s now all copper, essentially telling the Riverlords that while he doesn’t like Daemon the bastard, his grandfather swore an oath, and the Riverlanders aren’t oathbreakers, even if Daemon is a big jerk with a stupid asshole face.
Well done, young Oscar. You surprised me in a good way. You were very close to being the MVP of this week’s episode.
Oscar Tully
It’s almost over, but no cigar. That award goes to Ser Simon Strong (again) for his sparky line. When Oscar sentences Lord Blackwater to death and tells Daemon it’s his job to deliver justice, the old squire looks at him and says “Oh my God!” in what may be the funniest moment of the entire series. Daemon, both irritated and impressed by young Oscar, complies. Off with his head!
Oh dear!
Hightower Blues
Meanwhile, the green team is not having a great time. Their defenses of King’s Landing are poor, allowing ships carrying Rhaenyra’s spies easy access to Blackwater Bay. Although Aemond recently ordered the city closed to visitors, the local Dragonseeds have no trouble getting out by boat. Larys Strong, the Clubfoot, the Master of Whisperers, is no Varys, to say the least. Aemond is forced to ride out of the city to find Vhagar at the end when Ulf takes his ride above the city, and forced to retreat when he arrives at Dragonstone where many more dragons await them, as well as an angry dragon queen:
Rhaenyra and her dragons.
In King’s Landing, nothing goes as planned. Aegon, the poor young king, is up and walking, as happy as Hank was in Break the bad. It turns out that Larys, despite her claims to the contrary, is behind these reclamation attempts. I’m not sure of her motives at this point, but I can’t trust her as far as Rhaelyx could throw him, and she could throw him pretty far if she wanted to. This would also be a good time to invade the Red Keep, since only Vhagar defends it and Rhaenyra has over half a dozen dragons.
The only bright spot in this cloudy day for the Green team is Daeron, Alicent’s youngest son whom we have yet to meet. He and his dragon, Tessarion, have taken to the skies. Tessarion could once again tip the scales, even though the Greens (despite their more powerful armies) are vastly outnumbered in the skies.
Alicent is perhaps the most unfortunate character of all, aside from Aegon, who is mutilated and torn to pieces. She leaves the city and goes for slow walks in the forest and lovely little swims in the lake, with only one knight as her guard. It is an eerie reminder of Rhaenyra’s own escape during her father’s hunt, when a young Ser Criston Cole became her only companion.
Alicent
I feel for Alicent, who was just a child when her father, Otto Hightower, used her as a pawn in his vile Westeros chess game. If you get your pawn to the other side of the board, it becomes a queen, and Alicent was. But now she has been cast aside by her son and his advisors. When her knight asks her when she plans to return to the city, she tells him she is not sure she will ever do so. And why would she? Her children are there, but her love for them is much like their love for her, or Viserys’ love for any of them: cold and distant, like one might love a twinkling star.
Ah, here is Rhaelyx, bathing in a hot spring in the same forest where Alicent wanders with her bemused royal guard. It is a lovely, mossy place. The kind of place one might go to forget war, bloodshed, old betrayals, and maimed sons. We will rest here for a while before we take flight. Soon the air will tremble with the beating of dragon wings and the earth will shake with hordes of marching troops bearing green and black banners. Winter is coming. Or something like it.
I’ll add a “Scattered Thoughts” section later. For now, Rhaelyx and I will be bathing in that lovely hot spring with Alicent, a fate I can handle, I assure you.
Alicent
Only one episode left, dear readers. What do you think of season 2 so far? Let me know. TwitterInstagram or Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
Looking for another great fantasy show with dragons? The Dragon Prince on Netflix, it’s a great series that you can watch with your kids. I highly recommend you watch it.