HotD S3 Final Trailer Recap — Natalie Bochenski

Before I could complete (yes, all right, fine, start) a recap of the HotD trailer that emerged at the end of April, HBO went and released the official final trailer for Season 3, which premieres on June 21.

While incalculably delighted about having our show back, I am also somewhat unready for the onslaught. For it will be such, kittens, judging from the look of these previews, and from headlines like these:

If you recall - and it was two years ago, so I am not offended if you do not - series 2 had the great clash of Rook’s Rest, where Meleys and Rhaenys were taken out by Aemond and Vhagar, about halfway through. That fight also saw Aemond cook his own brother Aegon mid-flight, leaving him with half a face and even less of a todger.

It felt like things were building up again - we had Matt Daemon off in his dreamscape of mysteries at Harrenhal supervised by the witchy Alys Rivers, while the Greens regrouped in King’s Landing and Rhaenyra instigated Operation: Bastards on Dragons.

But the production team confirmed they couldn’t schedule in this famed upcoming fight called the Battle of the Gullet, instead concluding with Alicent secretly visiting Rhaenyra on Dragonstone and agreeing to open the gates to King’s Landing to avoid violence.

It was a more philosophical, precipice-like ending, and although we were a bit frustrated at the time, I think history will likely judge it as a net positive, as we watched women in power attempt to jump off the accelerating shitshow train and find a peaceful way to… well, peace.

Because WHOAAAA BABY it looks like things are going to get WILD. If you’ll permit me to get a bit binary, we’re talking FULL MASCULINE ULTRA-VIOLENCE.

The April trailer was about 1.30 minutes of ominous dialogue moments, cool dragon shots and battle moves, and a healthy dollop of character close-ups. So much intense staring.

The final trailer is a longer, crunchier 2.30 minutes, opening with an unseen voice saying “These are turbulent times” as Daemon stabs a dude in the mud and a dragon strafes a bunch of battleships. Uhh, yeah. Quite the understatement.

Alicent tells pointy-face Aemond that Rhaenyra is coming and he’s no longer safe as at least four dragons land on the capital’s battlements. There’s also a shot from behind of Daemon and Rhaenyra walking inside the Red Keep as Greens banners are torn down, greeted by her new flying aces Addam, Hugh the Hammer and Ulf the Comic Relief.

There’s our first glimpse of James Norton as Ser Ormund Hightower, a new player in the great game who single-handedly might make the name “Ormund” actually hot, at the head of a significant army.

There’s a shot of Alicent and Helaena bugging out in disguise clasping a lingering child (the other having been brutally knocked off at the start of season 2), while Corlys says the Queen’s subjects don’t feel safe without her dragons.

There’s a brief squishing sound as Aemond plunges a dagger into someone or something offscreen; then Alicent tells Rhaenyra “I see you have been merciful” in a way that implies Rhaenyra very much has NOT been merciful.

There’s a seal broken on a dirty message. Rhaenyra looking at flames. Rhaenyra crying in bed. Helaena crying.

We hear James Norton intone “Little by little, bite by bite, we are exposing her as weak and unsuitable to rule” as anti-Rhaenyra graffiti pops up.

The Tullys march. Great big bearded Northmen get in formation, brandish weapons and blow horns. Other warrior types with painted faces turn up, making me wonder if they’re a Northern house I can’t remember?

We hear Daemon say “In a war, all suffer” as archers and catapults in a castle unleash on a great army massed on a field below.

Flaming ships sink into water, Rhaenyra is woken from sleep, Corlys looks stressed, and Ser Criston Cole frankly looks like he’s having a miserable time, so that’s a plus.

There’s some sort of quagmire-y battlefield. Aegon looks to the sky fearfully. Rhaena looks to the sky fearfully. Someone fondles an egg.

Rhaenyra cries “Have you not betrayed your Queen? Bring Aegon the usurper to me!” as Daemon looks anxious, Alicent looks shocked, there’s a mysterious person in a cave and a dragon plunges towards more ships.

It ends with Alicent’s voice intoning “Did I not warn you that you would come to this?” as Rhaenyra dishes out another look of Valyrian steel.

These are not all the fleeting glimpses of war and tragedy depicted in the trailer, but it’s a decent highlights package.

So what are we to draw from this? Apart from the certainty of a massive sea battle, I think there are a few conclusions:

Rhaenyra takes the capital. Whether or not this happens before or after the famed Battle of the Gullet, who knows. If they wanted to be extreme, they’d kick off episode one with that whole damn thing, but I suspect it might be episode two or three.

It doesn’t go well. Much like Daenarys in Meereen, some people like the shit sandwich they had, rather than the shiny new shit sandwich you’re offering, no matter how much more entitled you were to the right to distribute shit sandwiches.

There’s a siege of some sort. Possibly James Norton (I am going to have to at least try to refer to him by his character name, but it’s hard because he’s really, really good-looking) has the Greens bunker down outside King’s Landing after the Blacks take it?

Somebody’s gonna take it in the face. They can start killing off a few fan favourites now. I reckon the most at risk are Aegon and Helaena on the Greens side, and Jacerys and Corlys on the Blacks. Maybe Baela too. Also Rhaenyra’s bastard dragonriders could come a-cropper sooner than they’d like on their big fancy new murder birds.

I think notably what we DIDN’T see was much in the way of dragons getting stuck into each other. I mean the whole civil war is called “The Dance of Dragons” for a reason but possibly they’re saving that for the franchise-concluding season four, which will necessarily require the destruction of many dragons.

The thing that is perhaps tickling my pickle more than anything else is finding out more about Daeron Targaryen, Alicent’s fourth child. He’s grown up in Oldtown, away from the cesspit of the capital, and as her brother Ser Gwayne the Green Knight said last season, was quite an accomplished and charming young man.

I’m intrigued as to who the actor will be, because most glimpses we see in the trailer are of his blue dragon Tessarion. He’s quite the surprise package I’m looking forward to unwrapping. Appropriately, of course, as he is a teenager, and Baelor Targaryen has turned me into a silver fox hunter now.

*The little ring twist gets me as much as the hand flex (iykyk)*

Of course James Norton also has potential Natalie target on him. Dspite trying to keep some sense of balance, I tend to lean more towards Team Black. But will James Norton’s hotness change that? And will I ever develop an opinion not influenced by the relative hotness of the characters involved?

Of course, there are any number of YouTube channels, Wikis and explainer articles I could load up and immediately get a blow-by-blow of what’s about to happen.

But I am continuing to try to come into the series with minimal exposure to spoilers, so I can keep my reactions genuine. I hope it’s more fun for you as readers; I certainly think it’s better for me as a writer to come in cold and let myself get hot, hot, hot.

And there’s no better show to get hot to than HotD.

I know that you, my beloved kittens, will continue to buck the general uncivil trend of online discourse, and join me in shamelessly loving our favourite franchise.

Valar Morghulis!