S3E7: The Dragon in Winter
If you were to sum up this entire episode in a meme, you’d be hard pressed to find a better one than:
What a series of catastrophic cockwombling decisions on show throughout this episode.
From Aemond’s Oedipus Sex games to Ulf’s easily-led ego, to Rhaenyra’s sapphic assignation (a-sapphig-nation?) and knock-down, drag-out dragon in-fighting, nobody is being their smartest selves.
Except perhaps this guy:
Look, I love Ormund’s delicious, campy evil as much as the next problematic, bath-butt obsessed woman, but clearly Gwayne and Daeron are where the scraps of Hightower common sense wound up, and therefore they must be protected.
When the most sensible decision falls to Aegon - who decides to stop running and embrace death, only to get a surprise reprieve in the form of his similarly-face-mangled-Jesus-dragon Sunfyre - you know you’re in trouble.
Yes, yes, I know there’s a deeper message here about the flaws that fail us, and that we can’t always be trusted with our heart’s desire, and that the right goal can lead us down the wrong path, and that pride comes before a fall…
…but also, call this whole thing drunk Thomas the Tank Engine on a three-day Cialis bender because everyone is going OFF THE F***ING RAILS.
HotD S3E7: The Dragon in Winter
Let’s start with Aegon’s Surprisingly-Not-Last Stand, because the “Dragon in Winter” referenced in the episode title was most definitely Sunfyre.
Aegon, Larys, Thailand and a couple of sellswords are trotting their way towards the port of Maidenpool, still planning to escape to Braavos. But suddenly - refugees!
Exposition extras inform the party that a thousand-strong army belonging to House Mooton of Maidenpool are marching their way, and to “bugger” in the direction of “off”.
With the road north lost to them, they fall back toward Rook’s Rest where poor sweet Tom Tangletongue - the guy with the stutter who helped Aegon clean the latrines - was convenient on hand to confirm the army’s impending arrival, and to ask the awkward question about the whereabouts of Janos. He figures the self-declared Rook’s Rest overlord would be travelling with Aegon & co, as opposed to rotting in a shallow grave.
Tangletongue is also remarkably clear on the army’s purpose - to chase down Tyland Lannister and get back the Treasury’s missing gold.
Ah-ha! So Lord Corlys’ message to Alyn did end up an action item, and this is the result.
Lord Larys Strong, always a man of integrity, has a simple, honest plan: Ser Tyland should give himself up to buy Aegon some time. Come on, man, take one for the team!
It’s Aegon who’s the surprise package here. He urges all of them to save their own skins. But he’s done running. “I will not have the histories say I was slain in ignominy by my brother,” he declares. His new plan is to die as king, and be buried with his dragon.
Tyland, for his part, is magnanimous. He won’t leave Aegon to the mercy of an army meant for him. He will stay and fight with his king, embracing death with honour and dignity.
Tyland’s two accompanying sellswords respond to this selfless act of sacrifice by exchanging a glance, and immediately jogging on.
But then, so too, does Lord Larys Strong, who cites his club foot as reason for his exit. Tyland is stunned, but Aegon is nonplussed, and doesn’t seem too bothered about Larys’ pledge to memorialise Aegon’s last moments in stories and songs.
What’s the bet he’s heading immediately back to the Red Keep to claim credit for leaving Otto Hightower behind as a coronation gift and suck up to Rhaenyra? That way he can also claim he was planting the seeds of discontent should Aegon return? Clubfoot be damned, Larys can dance better than anyone.
Later, Aegon and Tyland make camp either on or very near the road the Mooton army is heading down. I’m surprised they’re travelling through the night, but I guess they’re in a rush.
The fellow in charge - we assume Lord Mooton himself - instructs them to bend the knee to Rhaenyra, and initially Aegon seems freaked. Tyland asks if he’s going to flee after all, but Aegon steadies himself.
Lord Mooton recognises Tyland and asks him to give up the gold. But this is not his moment. It’s Aegon’s moment.
“Behold me now!” he cries, and somewhere in the forest behind him, there’s a sound of something stirring.
Aegon launches into self-hype monologue worthy of the finest rappers, highlighting his bloodline and anointing, and warns of punishment from the Stranger and the Warrior should they strike him down.
The horses start to whinny, and the Mooton army start backing away. Humbled as he has been by injury, Aegon’s never lost his ego, and believes his crowdwork is fact doing the intimidation heavy lifting.
But it’s Tyland who does the Jurassic Park turn-and-react, while the army below starts actively recoiling. Only after Aegon takes credit by declaring himself “Dreadful in vengeance! Righteous and glorious!” does he turn to realise he’s got some unexpected back-up.
It’s Sunfyre, now cosplaying as Two-Faced from The Dark Knight courtesy of his own matching facial wounds.
HI DAD!
Aegon is almost speechless… but then remembers one word that will come in real handy right about now.
“Sunfyre…. Dracarys.”
Cue a rootin’, tootin’, hootin’, Mooton BBQ! Honestly, dragons have brilliant timing.
As much as I still dislike Aegon, he has benefited somewhat from Jaime Lannister syndrome - lose an appendage, gain audience sympathy.
Clearly this is not a 180-degree turn. Aegon remained firmly in psychopath territory, maniacally cackling while his enemies turned into crackling.
But his storyline was at a real “shit or get off the plot” moment for me, so I’m glad finally taking a stand paid off for him.
Sweet Helaena’s portentous dreams feature more heavily than ever before in this episode.
It opens with her silently walking in the yard of the Red Keep, smiling as she caresses a lovely horse, then watching bright sunlight pour through the opening gates.
She’s woken from dreamland by Rhaenyra, who’s trying on the role of “caring half-sister” for a change. “Hey bestie, what’s up, let’s rap.”
There’s a somewhat cryptic comment about Helaena’s relationship with her dragon Dreamfyre, where she seems to suggest flying is too much for her now. Rhaenyra offers a comparison to their father, and they discuss whether the dragons change their humans. Rhaenyra hopes the addition of more dragons to her stable has not materially affected her, but Helaena is circumspect.
Rhaenyra pushes Helaena for dreamy details, but the girl can only see flashes of possibilities, not explicit meanings. She tells Rhaenyra the last thing she saw was a grey mare, which is strange, because I thought the horse she was patting was white.
But then, as anyone who was raised on The Simpsons knows:
Rhaenyra’s patience begins to wane as she presses Helaena for information about Daemon, Tumbleton, Ormund - basically anything that might stop her keeping her backside firmly on the Iron Throne. It’s unseemly of Rhaenyra, and it doesn’t work to boot.
Helaena really does look like the innocent flower, but perhaps there is a serpent under it.
For we see another sequence of Helaena dreams, which start with her giving birth, and having the child removed from her. We then see her in full flying habit atop Dreamfyre in the dragon pit, a stunning purple-tinged dragon that I don’t think we’ve seen before in the series. She instructs the creature to let loose, and Dreamfyre unleashes on a crowd gathering before her. Could this point to some sort of “at my signal, unleash Helaena” moment?
Then… CHICKENS!
I yelped with delight to see Helaena and TWO children (Jaehaera and one assumes the bun currently in the oven) feeding chickens against a bucolic country backdrop. It’s the happy ending we all want for her. But the grey-white horse is there again, and the warm summer quickly fades as an eclipse hides the sun. Snow starts to fall, and an icy wind rushes in behind her.
Now we’ve been tricked by the game of Snow Vs Ash before, when Daenerys saw a vision of the Iron Throne covered in white when she walked into the Tower of the Undying back in season two of Game of Thrones. It looked like a potential future vision of winter (aka the White Walkers) taking over Westeros, but can now be ret-conned into ash falling from the sky post Dany-apocalypse in season eight.
To me, the horizontal cold roll-in was a more pointed allusion to the White Walkers rolling in from the north. Ash could be blown in by wind, I suppose, but I’m not willing to risk the spoiler potential by searching for “Helaena Dream Interpretation” takes on the internet.
*Deep breath*
OK, now that we’ve covered the brother/husband-sister/wife duo of Aegon and Helaena, let’s rip the Band-Aid off their very troubled blondie brother.
Aemond’s Mummy issues have taken a… significant turn.
It’s not enough that he fantasises about his mother turning up to declare Aegon dead, that Aemond is the only thing she has left, and that she’s sorry for failing him, he now needs to dream-plan the most unfortunate mother and son reunion.
What follows is a perfunctory and deeply unnerving pairing where the erotic is replaced by the robotic.
No skin is shown, just pants unbuttoned, skirt lifted, and a mechanical thrust to signify the most transgressive home-coming possible.
Of course my question is how much is in Aemond’s own head, and how much is Alys Rivers planting there with her witchy Harrenhal powers?
Aemond seemed relatively into Alys when they kissed last episode, so you wouldn’t think she’d need to trick Aemond into the sack. But could she be tapping into those Freudian thoughts to… ahem… strengthen his passion?
During their blurry pairing, a voice says “In this moment, I will give you a son”, and something snaps Aemond to reality.
We realise it’s been a mostly nude – and far more erotically charged – Alys who’s been doing the dragon riding.
Aemond can’t seem to handle this and wrests himself away. “What have you seen?” asks Alys as her beau rushes from the room.
Who knows which aspect actually repelled him: the fact that it was Alys, not Alicent; disgust at the thought of impregnating his mother; OR the thought that it WASN’T his mother who’d be impregnated but Alys. Maybe he figures the best baby mama is your actual mama?
Ugh, now I’m thinking about that super creepy episode of The X-Files with the inbred yokels who kept their limbless mother/broodmare on a trolley under the bed.
Aemond goes to let off some steam outside, but is promptly interrupted by the appearance of Actual Alicent, fully clothed and not sexually interested in her son – for now, at least.
I wonder how awkward he felt in that moment. “Ma! I was just thinking about having sex with you while having sex!”
Speaking of The X-Files, I feel like a former Harrenhal resident left old show posters up in the bedrooms, because Aemond’s taken the “Trust No One” catchphrase to heart.
Alicent takes him to meet Ser Adrian, her knightly protector who got her to the great fortress unscathed.
Aemond welcomes him with a firm handshake and a firmer knife to the throat.
I had a horrid feeling Aemond was going to surprise murder the man, but it didn’t stop me flinging my hand to my mouth at the shock of it. The scene then cut to Alicent exact same reaction. Kudos to the director for brilliantly anticipating that moment, and to the fallen knight, I can only say:
Alys appears with very little interest in this fresh murder. Standing all purple and black in front of Alicent’s earthy blues and greens, she cuts an intimidating figure. But she’s more interested in
The three of them then enjoy quite the decent feast, Aemond flanked by his actual MILF and the woman who hopes to become one.
It’s a hilarious mise en scene, but all I could think was “Who cooked the dang food?!?”
The place seems mostly uninhabited, but I really can’t picture Alys slaving away over a hot stove for half the day. If it was an effort to make nice, it doesn’t go down well with Alicent, who’s bamboozled by who or what Alys is.
Aemond explains his plan to stay in Harrenhal and make it his seat from which to rule. Alicent thinks he’s barmy, given Rhaenyra has the Iron Throne and six dragons. But Aemond is confident all of that will fail, because Rhaenyra’s dragonriders are filthy commoners and their elevation has defiled their great house. Given this episode’s big cliffhanger reveal, Aemond’s snobbery seems well-reasoned.
On the pretext of needing wood (oo-er), Alys gets Aemond on the chopping block and warns him about trusting his mother. He scoffs at her belief that Alicent has come north to do him a mischief, but she responds “My designs for our future do not include your mother.”
Classic nightmare mother-in-law behaviour. For the Sex and the City fans, Alys is ready to cast Alicent as Bunny Macdougall.
If Alicent has any Bunny tendencies at this point, it’s more of the Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction type. She’s desperately trying to think of ways to dispatch her son - I would have thought the slow ride to Harrenhal would have allowed ample time for brainstorming, but perhaps she was counting on Ser Adrian to do that bit for her.
He can still help though, as she rummages around his corpse to find a potentially useful dagger.
But then she spies something previously foreshadowed by Helaena - deadly nightshade! Ahh, the old Chekhov’s toxic plant.
Alicent brews Aemond a nice, soothing spiced wine and turns up in his room. She sets it down on the table, and blow me down, but doesn’t the dagger on the table look suspiciously like the Cat’s Paw? The one we remember best for being used by an assassin in a failed attack on the unconscious Bran - but one which Viserys used to show Rhaenyra the Ice & Fire prophecy back in season one? Did Aemond get his hands on it at some point and I’ve forgotten?
Anyway, Alicent is more concerned with being a third wheel in the Aemond/Alys situationship and begs to be allowed to leave. He says Alys doesn’t trust her, and Alicent summons her best acting skills to play the role of caring, benevolent mother. It works well enough that Aemond confesses to trying to kill Aegon, and again Alicent soothes his troubled brow.
For a moment we think there might be a real-life version of Aemond’s dream, but no. We instead see Aemond, affected by the poison, staggering into Alys’ super-goth cave and falling to the floor.
The music and atmosphere of the scene is all suitably spooky, but then Alys undercuts it by rolling her eyes and mumbling “idiot” under her breath. It seems Aemond will owe another life debt to the witch of Harrenhal, further entwining the pair. What remains to be seen is how far Alicent can run before her intended victim of matricide catches up with her.
We last left Ser Gwayne the Green Knight asking his cousin Ormund what his plan was at humble Tumbleton. It turns out he’s still waiting to hear.
Gwayne’s been out on recon missions, and reckons they’ve got two days max before the Tullys, Winter Wolves and their allies are upon Tumbleton. “They’ve crossed the Blackwater Rush,” he stresses to Ormund. Awwww, remember the Battle of the Blackwater Rush? Where Dany and Drogon and Dothraki screamers whooped Jamie and Bronn and Lannister asses? Ahhh, back when dragon-fighting was more straightforward.
Ormund sticks the boot in by remarking that Ser Criston Cole - Gwayne’s “dim but ambitious” friend, ouch - died in the mud for nothing. And yeah, yeah he did. He really did.
He then refuses Gwayne’s request to please tell him about the plan. He’s such a petty gobshite; he reminds me of Frank from that Australian Apple ad from the 80s.
Ormund is more interested in his self-funded indie film project “My Dinner With Corlys”, in which he’s starring as a merciless cat-like tormentor of the mouse of House Velaryon.
Corlys is not impressed by Ormund’s take on animal fats, vegetarianism and the restorative power of red wine, and wants to know if Ormund is simply buttering him up before execution.
Why no, Ormund chuckles, we have plans for you. He then explains that while he doesn’t think Rhaenyra likes Corlys enough to give up her Crown (reasoning Corlys is smart enough to wordlessly acknowledge), his kidnapping will disincentivise his loyal men from helping keep order in King’s Landing.
Daeron, bless his sunny little cotton socks, speaks before his brain has time to stop him.
“How will that help when the Winter Wolves are clawing at our gates?”
Once again Daeron immediately shrinks back, realising his point, while accurate, was not welcomed. For his part, Ormund almost went the full Stewie Griffin head turn.
The elder Hightower goes back to chastising Corlys for even supporting the Targaryens in the first place. He says Corlys is a man of the world, who’s seen many wonders, and yet maintains a “tedious alliance to the brutish and incurious”, which damn it I want on a shirt. Having forced his young charge to kill an innocent man, Ormund is a rank hypocrite, but jeez I enjoy his delusions and A-grade button-pushing.
Corlys can’t stand it anymore and asks to return to his cell. But before he does, Ormund grabs a knife and implies a request for a favour… which we later discover is the removal of Corlys’ finger, packaged up nicely and sent to the Red Keep. An old kidnapper’s trick, but we didn’t see Ormund take the digit himself (oo-er) so it’s highly likely he left the brutish act to one of his offsiders who could better handle a “pull my finger” joke.
Daeron and Gwayne are baffled by the Corlys kidnap. “Is this his piece on the board?” Gwayne complains. Daeron is frustrated that he’s supposed to be a king, but can’t bear to sit by and let a madman offer them up for slaughter.
Gwayne, still shaking his head at Criston Cole’s death wish and apparently about to witness a similar story play out, can only resort to prosaic reflection.
“There’s no escaping it - the dreams some have of covering themselves in everlasting glory, of somehow transcending humanity’s common fate.”
Gwayne suggests Daeron escape on Tessarion, but the young lad knows the label of coward would follow him, and besides, there’d be nowhere to go. Then he says the thing that marks him out as my new bet for “Best Chance at a Decent Monarch” - that he has no fear of insignificance, and that “Rhaenyra may keep her crown for all I care”.
Gwayne’s half-smile at his nephew’s relative incorruption is possibly the sweetest thing in this episode.
Unless you’re ULF, of course.
Or perhaps Ormund watching Ulf taking a thick swig of the finest blackm-ale, just loving it when a plan comes together.
Yes, the episode ends with the revelation that Ormund’s ACTUAL piece on the chess board is everyone’s not-favourite Dragonseed.
All season I’ve had a sad sack feeling that Ulf the White was going to f*** over the Blacks, but I’ll admit I was delighted by Ormund being the agent of infection.
It turns out he’s been having cosy campfire catch-ups with Ulf for almost as long as he’s been on watch duty.
They’re happening at night too, which might go some way to explain why Gwayne and Daeron don’t know about them - even though Ormund seems to have taken quite a party with him for these hillside fireside chats.
Now Ulf is not doing the working class much in the way of reputation restoration by behaving exactly like the kind of low-life smallfolk scumbag the toffs think he is.
But you could argue in treating Ulf like a smallfolk scumbag - including Daemon’s very public street beat down - they’ve written their own destiny. They haven’t treated him like a valuable team member, wouldn’t let him take the team name, so can they be surprised when he doesn’t act like part of the team?
BUT you could ALSO argue that Ulf’s always been a selfish braggart who failed upward and committed less time in service to Rhaenyra than I’ve committed to my 2026 New Year’s Resolution to read more books (don’t ask, it’s fine, there’s still five months left in the year, shut up) and therefore it’s fine to call him an idiot and a traitor.
Either way you have to applaud Ormund’s chess-not-checkers move to seduce a dragon rider to his side, even though Ulf wasn’t exactly a hard target. No, the promise of fun times with the tavern boyzzz and his own castle - the castle Rhaenyra wouldn’t give him - was enough.
But Ormund’s got better news - Driftmark is soon to be available, and a much better option than Honeyholt, a seat near Old Town. “They will laugh at you no more,” he promises over another swig.
“No… they will burn,” Ulf says, before breaking into a smile bigger than my pile of “Read this in 2026” books. BOOOOO, ULF, BOOOOO.
We must remember Ser Addam and Ser Hugh are from common-ish stock and for now they’re still upright citizens. Let’s hope romantic disappointments for both of them don’t manifest in deleterious ways for Rhaenyra.
Although… geez, I’m cranky with Rhaenyra. Daemon is no angel, but damn, bitch has let herself be whipped by Mysaria, and after this episode you KNOW the kind of whipping I’m talking about.
Grief is a terrible thing, but its most terrible effect on Rhaenyra seems to be its effect on her decision-making skills.
Perhaps she needs some of those soothing Chinese anti-stress balls.
We first see her get impatient with Helaena about her dreams, even saying that as Queen she will compel Helaena to tell her of any relevant visions. This reflects Rhaenyra’s growing obsession with signs from the universe that her reign is legitimate and has a future, a distraction she doesn’t need in the present.
She’s then increasingly agitated by her Small Council, which is 90 per cent Ser Torrhen ranting about his house being log-bombed by angry peasants.
Telling Ser Torrhen “What do you expect me to do about it?” was straight out of the Regina George playbook, and it was ghastly to see her demand to know what he’s done to fix things when she knows the public purse is empty. Come on, Rhae-Rhae, you’re better than this.
She’s in the middle of complaining about Daemon’s mysterious absence when Addam and Baela burst in with the news that they spotted Sheepstealer with a rider near the Blue Fork river.
Rhaenyra’s blown away – she thought Daemon had slew Sheepstealer’s rider, the mysterious anonymous enemy who caused her son to be killed in the Gullet. Is it a new rider?
Baela couldn’t answer, but of course Mysaria wastes no time in questioning Daemon’s motives for lying to her. She spends a whole staircase and half a balcony hanging shit on the Rogue Prince, even grabbing Rhaenyra by the wrist to hammer home her point that there’s nothing Daemon’s not capable of - including treachery.
“Fetch Ser Addam,” Rhaenyra tells a guard, and it seems her decision to maintain a battle-ready dress code is set to pay off.
With lucky charm Addam forced to turnaround and fly straight back out with Rhaenyra, Baela once again is sidelined. She’s still stressing out over Rhaenyra putting her on ice, and you have to wonder how long before she flames out.
At this point in the tale we already know where Daemon is, because we’re been treated to another brilliant shot of wriggly worm Caraxes crash landing at the Eyrie.
He must have been summoned by Lady Jeyne in secret, hoping he’d come and sort out his gadabout daughter and her dragon once and for all.
Both Daemon and Jeyne knew the truth about Rhaena and Sheepstealer, but until this scene it wasn’t clear that they each knew the other one knew too. This is getting confusing.
The point is Daemon confronts Lady Jeyne about not keeping Rhaena in check, to which she appropriately tells him to get knotted. She wants to tell the Queen and stop endless gossiping in the Vale.
In a delightful character moment, Daemon asks Lady Jeyne to give him a day to get Rhaena under control, and follows it up with a gruff “please”. He can’t even bear to look at her when he says it. Is that the first time we’ve ever seen Daemon attempt politeness and respect? He’s not a fan.
Jeyne does give him an idea on where Rhaena and Sheepstealer were last seen in the Riverlands, and he flounces off.
Also Lady Jeyne don’t think I didn’t spot you sitting rather close to another lady. Are we to infer the only wood girlie pop is into is her weirwood throne, am I right?!
Rhaena is cruising along at altitude when she’s knocked out of the sky by her Dad and Caraxes. They land, and Daemon remonstrates with her about breaking her promise to stay out of sight. Their respective dragons bellow and belch at each other, with Daddy and daughter once again struggling to calm them.
Poor Rhaena is simply trying to find Vhagar and attempt to get herself back in Rhaenyra’s good books – even if she dies trying. Better that than living in a cliff hole eating cliff berries.
Daemon, in another moment of character development surprising for such a high-stakes confrontation, offers to help her find and take on Vhagar because the two of them might have more luck together.
To explain his offer, he says she’s not the only one to feel alone growing up. Daemon talks about not having a dragon from birth, his mother dying when he was just three, and Viserys being too caught up in his own sadness to be a fully present big bro. He realises he should have done better by his daughter.
Gosh, first saying “please”, now talking about childhood trauma… is Daemon discovering a sensitive side?
Unfortunately it’s too late for Rhaena to flee again, because coming in hot are Syrax and Seasmoke.
They screech in for the landing and all of a sudden it’s a gunfight at the dragon corral.
We’ve had multiple dragons on screen before, but there was something about the setting of this one – four great beasts on foot in a verdant, leafy valley – that made it all the more impressive.
The dragons are hardly clumsy on the ground, but they’re not as graceful as they are in the air. Being constrained in a physical space instead gave us a real sense of their weight and presence in relation to each other and their riders.
Daemon has told Rhaena to run into a nearby forest to escape, but Rhaenyra sends Addam after her. Sheepstealer gets more nervous; he’s a solo animal, and all these new dragon faces adds to his stress.
Rhaenyra demands Daemon ‘fess up whatever deal he has going on with Sheepstealer’s rider. Daemon pleads with her to call off Syrax, who’s under Rhaenyra’s instruction to stay vigilant.
Addam brings Rhaena back, dumping her in front of her aunt/stepmother, to Rhaenyra’s disbelief and dismay. “All this time, you knew,” she spits at Daemon.
I’m never sure how much a dragon’s emotional state is influenced by its rider’s, but it’s clear feelings are running hot all around, and when your pets can breathe fire, that’s a high-risk zone.
Daemon rushes back to mount Caraxes, while the other three get the hell out of the dragon stand-off.
Syrax then unleashes on Sheepstealer, who responds by tearing chunks out of Syrax, to the point where I thought Rhaenyra’s dragon was toast. Sea Smoke grabs Sheepstealer from the other side, allowing Syrax to recover enough for Rhaenyra to force Rhaena onto her.
As the two women take off, Caraxes flies in to start whaling on a terrified Sheepstealer. Daemon yells at Addam to escort the Queen, and that he will finish this.
Caraxes gives Sheepstealer a brutal mauling, violent enough to see Daemon thrown from his saddle to the ground, but stops short of a coup de grace. The janky-faced wild dragon is allowed to limp away, while Caraxes gives Daemon a very cute nuzzle to make sure he’s OK.
Poor Sheepstealer. He didn’t ask for a rider, but seemed to bond pretty well to the girl who was determined to claim him. Having her ripped away in such a cacophonous melee, leaving him so much worse for wear, is going to be discombobulating. But… we didn’t see a corpse. So perhaps the fate of Sheepstealer remains to be written.
I was still stunned that Syrax managed to fly home after getting chomped in the neck so comprehensively during the fight. While it was a fierce choice to have Rhaenyra stride away from her steed in the dragonpit, saying she cannot bear to look at Rhaena, it did make me think “Aww, maybe give Syrax a little pat to see if she’s OK?”
Later, Daemon attempts to address the dramatic day in Rhaenyra’s bedchamber. Interestingly Rhaenyra refuses to let her maid leave, forcing her to stand awkwardly off to one side, pretending to be very interested in the floor.
Daemon very gently tries to explain his actions, saying he only wanted to protect her. “From what? What do you think I am?”
It’s a fair question from Rhaenyra, probably the most sensible and heartbreaking thing she says all episode. Daemon kept the secret from her because he feared her wrath - but now she is left with his image of her as someone to be feared.
Daemon caresses her face and apologises, reiterating he did not plot against her, and hoping to spark some intimate remembrance. But Rhaenyra cites the hour, and Daemon, in no way reassured, takes his leave
Tell you what - saying please, discussing childhood trauma, and now trying to apologise and show emotional availability….is Daemon exhibiting …healthy masculinity?
I can understand Daemon trying a different tack with Rhaenyra. He’s been giving her bold, clear, efficient instructions on how to handle trouble at the ranch for weeks now and while it’s not necessarily been the most diplomatic and bridge-building of approaches, there’s no denying he has been right on key matters including Ormund’s duplicity, Hightower whisper campaigning and the consequences of not paying the Gold Cloaks.
We can’t forget his dismissal of the opinions of anyone who isn’t Rhaenyra – including, critically after this episode, Ulf’s – but there’s no denying he’s been 100% in Rhae-Rhae’s corner.
The fact that Rhae-Rhae is doubting that is the tragedy of this episode.
But the gentle approach doesn’t seem to be completely effective, and there’s a crack left that Mysaria’s poison tongue can exploit.
For when Rhaenyra yet again cannot sleep, it’s Mysaria’s room she heads to - after first throwing the meaningless skull Daemon had cited as proof of Jace justice into the fireplace.
She updates her Mistress of Whispers that it was Rhaena on Sheepstealer, and in fairness does launch a defence of Daemon just wanting to protect his daughter. She also accuses Mysaria of trying to poison her against Daemon, and she’s on firmer ground here.
But Mysaria acts innocently, saying she only wanted Rhaenyra to act in a way consistent with her father’s dream. This provokes bitter laughter from Rhaenyra, who seems to resent her father for having a dream run at monarchy while leaving her to fight tooth and nail and lose much along the way.
Mysaria moves in to soothe Rhaenyra in this moment of vulnerability. She says total victory is near, and all her enemies will soon fall away.
There’s a particularly sizzling moment when Rhaenyra, sitting on a chaise, asks Mysaria if she thinks she is worthy. The positioning is such is that Rhaenyra is looking directly at… well, Mysaria’s Mystery. Is it simply the crown she wants to be worthy of?
Mysaria calls Rhaenyra by her name, and says in this moment she’s never been more certain.
And then they TOTALLY START MAKING OUT.
Sorry, I should treat this moment with more reverence. Mysaria, emboldened by Rhaenyra’s vulnerability, provides an intimacy and connection that Rhaenyra has been losing with her other loved ones due to the stress of her new position.
SO THEY TOTALLY TRY A NEW POSITION, WOOOOOO
Sorry, sorry. I’m being reductive.
Earlier in the episode, Mysaria had an encounter with Sylvi, a former madam we saw petitioning Rhaenyra after she first took the throne. The two are old acquaintances, and Mysaria starts acting like a low-rent mafioso, suggesting she can fix problems for Sylvi and others in her new position of power.
Sylvi, who’s clearly been around power before and knows the score, says Mysaria may act like a jumped-up lady with influence, but to these people, she is and always will be a big old whore.
In the grand scheme of things, Mysaria will be easy to dispose of once the weather or favours change.
Perhaps it was this encounter that made Mysaria realise that she can try to reason with Rhaenyra all she wants, but sometimes the heart overrules the head.
As for Rhaenyra - will this bond her further to Mysaria, and risk alienating Daemon? Will it be a one-night stand she can shake off, or the first of many more poor decisions?
I decided to give her a song parody, inspired by this 2002 gem from Australian rockers Machine Gun Fellatio. After all, there are quite a few dream girls giving Rhaenyra nightmares.
The girl with the dreams is giving me nightmares
We’ve got the same daddy now she gives me quite a stare
There’s no guile, I get silent gazes from her
She’s got me so that I can’t plan without her
She’s giving me nightmares
She’s giving me nightmares
She’s seeing those grey mares
She’s giving me nightmares
Her brain’s overloaded
My brain is corroded
Hard to believe you can get what you dream
But if you buy some time you might find
You’re just spinning wheels
The girl of my bloodstream is giving me nightmares
I don’t know what it means but she’s got short cropped frizzy hair
When she lands dragon in hand I see her features
And I’m angry Daemon didn’t tell me either
She's giving me nightmares
She's giving me nightmares
She took away my heir
She's giving me nightmares
Smallfolk keep on staring
I can’t keep on caring
I need one side kick to get started
One sidekick who’s cold-hearted
Appealing is Mysaria
Third wheeling gets me higher
Hard to believe you can get what you dream
But if your spy does climb you might find
A spoke in your wheel
The girl of my dreams is giving me nightmares
She’s casting spells on me and it’s quite suss
My breakdown is coming, running
Throne is bleeding, wheels need greasing
The wrong time for desire
This shit is a quagmire
My feelings, my feelings
My feelings are on fire
Hard to believe you can get what you dream
But with your sly bed times you might be
Asleep at the wheel
Yay! Best Moments
Clearly the fiery comeback of Aegon and Sunfyre is fantastically fun, and the four-way dragon battle is terrifically executed and terrifying to watch.
But jeez it was entertaining to see Criston Cole’s head on a spike leading Rivermen/Northmen army. Half of the fatal arrow was still embedded in his cheek too. Dude was double-spiked.
I notice he got a stitching in the opening credits embroidery too!
Zing! Best Lines
Once again I must bend the knee to Ser Torrhen Manderly, deep in talkback radio outrage mode, venting at the Small Council that everybody is blaming him for the city’s “no money, all problems” problem.
“It’s as if I’ve been put here to be a scapegoat!”
Mysaria takes the most hilarious of wordless sips from her cup. Despite extensive searching, I cannot find that moment made into meme form yet, and I defy you to present better proof that something is deeply wrong with our internet culture.
Also while I’m here - Lady Frey - don’t waste your time on Harrenhal. Seriously, friend, just leave it be. I know it looks like the kind of dank castle in which you’d find David Bowie in his Labyrinth-era crotch pants, but girrrrl, Aemond’s fumbled attempt at that vibe is not the real thing. Leave well enough alone.
Ew, gross
Poor Alyn. Doing double duty as a Small Councillor AND nightshifts for the City Watch, he also gets a personally delivered flip-off from Ormund - in the form of one of his Dad’s fingers.
Boo, sucks
Poor Addam. Not only were he and Seasmoke dragged into Daemon and Rhaenyra’s messy four-way contest with Sheepstealer, but the discovery of the rogue dragon was preceded by Addam’s opening an embarrassing can of relationship worms with Baela.
She doesn’t think she has enough sway with Rhaenyra to help him attain legitimacy, and wants to know why it matters to Addam, when he already has a dragon, a knighthood and a useful and valued position at court. Blushing, he replies that one day he might meet a fine lady, and slightly waggles an eyebrow.
Blushing back, Baela steps right into that can of worms by saying “He has spoken to you then, your brother?”. There’s an awkward pause while the smile drips off his face, and her eyes bulge at the realisation that no, Addam had not in fact spoken to Alyn.
Thank goodness for the sudden appearance of Sheepstealer flying across the valley. Once again, dragons have great timing.
Also on the boo front, Rhaena’s heartbreak does not seem materially lessened once she’s had a bath and is in clean clothes in front of a roaring hearth in her own private room. Cliff berries might be a memory, but her cold shouldering by Rhaenyra definitely isn’t.
Thankfully, she finds support from her sister Baela. She thinks her sister will despise her for killing her fiance and her chance to be Queen, but Baela embraces Rhaena and tells her she will start anew.
Does that mean Baela will help Rhaena find forgiveness from Rhaenyra? Or will the two fall further from favour?
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