The famous 10-year jump everyone has been waiting for has finally come true. As far as I can see, social media is quite happy with the change. I personally had no doubts about the characters to play. But I’ll call this episode the worst episode of the year so far. The reason actually has nothing to do with the story. Whole problem is in fiction. They tried to fit the subject to be told in two episodes in 68 minutes, which is the longest episode of the season. Of course, due to the jams, I think some characters were not included enough, and some awful-looking jumps occurred in linear editing. Nevertheless, the episode was entertaining, especially with Miguel Sapochnik’s direction style and the weight of the new characters.
I divide this article into 6 titles for you. In the end, as always, I’ll open a topic for details and close the article. Let’s get started.
First Episode’s Review
Second Episode’s Review
Third Episode’s Review
Fourth Episode’s Review
Fifth Episode’s Review
Birth is Also a War
We started the episode with Rhaenyra’s birth. In her mother’s words, childbirth is a battleground for women. Rhaenyra, who has given birth to a child they will name Joffrey, is summoned directly by Alicent. Even from the beginning of the episode, even without seeing Alicent, we can feel the grudge in her soul. Rhaenyra’s blood-spattered path is like the summary of her life. Even if she bleeds, is pushed, or stumbles, she stands straight.
As soon as Alicent sees the baby, she realizes the child is not hers. Laenor is also slammed by her, saying, “if you push a little harder, he will look like you.” King Viserys also understands as he sees it. I couldn’t figure out if he made an allusion when he said he got his nose from his father or if he was naive again. Because Strong’s detailed as “pug nose” in the book. So it is possible to understand a Strong child by the nose.
Rumors Are Increasing
Rhaenyra’s deal with Laenor 10 years ago is still intact. Laenor hooks up with young men, while Rhaenyra secretly lives her life with Harwin Strong. She has three children from him. But since this situation is so apparent, it is now the subject of gossip all over the realm. It was impossible not to be. They fall into almost everyone’s mouth. Everyone, from lords to workers, is talking about bastard kids.
Rhaenyra joins the Strongs’ conversation using secret passages she learned from Daemon. Thanks to them, we know that these rumors have spread all over the land and that Lyonel cannot bear these conversations. We saw that Lyonel was a very proud man. While the owner of the rumors stood tall, he gave up and wanted to retreat to his castle.
Maybe Rhaenyra could put up with the gossip, too. But when it touched her children, it was time to go. The incident between Harwin and Criston Cole could have caused the children to get hurt. Even the children now listen to the gossip and ask their mother if they are bastards. Rhaenyra decides to move to Dragonstone to prevent her husband from going to war and keep her children away from gossip until her turn comes to the throne. But this will be one of the worst decisions she has ever made. The second is inviting Leanor’s lover as well. In the land of Westeros, there is an unchanging rule: Too much mercy causes death.
Being Suffocated
Alicent is getting bored daily and can’t handle the lies everyone wants to ignore. Although her husband, Viserys, is well aware of everything, his silence for political reasons makes it very difficult for her now. She kept pouring her heart out to Criston Cole throughout the episode. Criston, who gets strength from Alicent, keeps his grudge alive. He is hateful enough to think that the woman he once fell in love with is now a spoiled cunt. Alicent is no different, though. At one point, she leaned against the wall and tried to breathe. Because she can’t take it anymore. And the result of her unstable mood ended with death.
The father figure is not very common in medieval patriarchal societies like Westeros. The father does not care much for his children. Children are primarily with their mother. Alicent’s children are always with her. And Alicent is busy stuffing her kids just as she saw it from her father. And she does it much sharper than her father. Because she is full of 15 years of hatred and she is a mother. She is always with her children, and she is constantly talking. She can’t stop talking.
However, the children actually have no problems with each other. Everyone’s in a good mood. Alicent tells her son Aegon that if we don’t make you king, Jacaerys will become king, and all Aegon says is: So what? Because no one cares about the fight for the throne. The throne is Alicent’s problem. She calls Rhaenyra’s children savages. Yet her own son, Aegon, is crazy and reckless enough to go up on the window and masturbate against King’s Landing.
Normally, Aegon doesn’t want to be a king like in the show. Although the book says that Criston Cole convinced him, the series will obviously extend the manipulation of children like Alicent. And it’s basically the same conversation: Rhaenyra will kill us all if she takes the throne.
I Don’t Feel Like At Home
Daemon’s episode was pretty short, and the editing issue I was talking about amply showed itself here. Daemon has become a father of children and is devoted to books. Reggio Haratis of Pentos invites him and his wife to Pentos. Daemon and Laena will act as security with their dragons, and the lords of Pentos will take care of them. The endless loneliness in Daemon’s heart wants to take him to Pentos, but Laena is against it. But she dies before she can convince her husband.
Unfortunately, Laena’s death scene was designed inefficacious. Without even hearing Daemon’s decision to give birth, Laena committed suicide. Yes, according to the book, we knew that Laena would die, but it shouldn’t have happened so quickly and suddenly. In the original text, Laena falls into bed again due to childbirth; when she realizes that she will die after failing to give birth for 3 days, goes to see Vhagar for the last time but dies before she can reach her. The screenwriters wanted to dramatize this part a little more. It was terrific to see Vhagar looking at her owner with sad eyes. Beautiful scene to see again that dragons have feelings too.
Which Side Are You On?
Spectators are already splitting into Greens and Blacks. Everyone has their own reasons for taking sides. The eye is the same in all of us, but the perceptions differ. Many, including the people of Westeros, attribute Rhaenyra’s injustice to moral values. Her desire to live her sexual life freely, her bastard sons, and the fact that she is a female figure trying to stay strong are cited as unfair reasons for her. However, “morality” is a personal matter. A person’s immorality cannot harm society. Only social, public, and physical decisions and interactions do harm. The existence of lies that Rhaenyra was hiding from her best friend would not hurt anyone, even after years. But for many years, Alicent has harbored a grudge against being deceived for many reasons, and now this grudge has reached the potential to do harm.
Many viewers compare Alicent to Cersei. They’re actually not related. Alicent is a simple woman who can be manipulated easily. She used to be her father’s toy when she was little. She is now under the influence of Larys Strong. Alicent’s expression of “I didn’t want this” with that fear on her face shows why she can never be Cersei. Cersei was evil in spirit. Alicent, on the other hand, is still an innocent and manipulable hater. She has a council full of wolves, and Rhaenyra made the biggest mistake of choosing to leave the easily manipulated Alicent alone with the council. The people at that table are already ready to overthrow someone who can stand upright like Rhaenyra by using someone who is jealous of her. First and foremost, Larys Strong.
However, Rhaenyra, the woman who should not take the throne because she is immoral, according to many, tries to stay away from wars and even tries to solve the problems by offering her child and a dragon egg to Alicent.
Larys Strong
When it comes to Game of Thrones, our eyes are now looking for someone like Littlefinger. But, as I said in the last episode, House of the Dragon gave us a much more dangerous one. Using his injury as cover, Larys shows himself as a pitiful man but plays deadly games from behind. The queen asked him for a cure, but the remedy Larys offered was beyond the queen’s imagination. However, this dangerous game of Larys caused a result that would completely change the future.
Larys murdered her father and brother and earned herself a seat on the council. But Harwin’s death means there’s nothing left to stop Rhaenyra from being with Daemon anymore. We saw that Harwin was an emotional man despite his size. But Daemon… Daemon is one of the last to be turned against. Larys actually tightened the ranks of the blacks while making his own way.
Although the book creates an atmosphere as if there is a Daemon behind the deaths, perhaps the series has taken a much sharper decision. And unfortunately, I’m not happy with this episode either because the death of Harwin and his father was pretty much a fait accompli. The most considerable curiosity about this episode is how often Larys will use the men whose tongues he cut and how many times we will meet throughout the series?
Some Beautiful Details
It looks like we will meet Lord Caswell, whose name is mentioned by Rhaenyra, in some parts of the series. In the book, he is mentioned as Lord Caswell, yet script writers named him Allun Caswell. Lord Caswell is just one of the lords who will choose Rhaenyra’s side when the parties begin to form and die for it.
The scene where King Viserys sat watching the children’s sword practice reminded me of Doran Martell. After Doran Martell lost his brother Oberyn, he fell into a chair and collapsed physically. He, too, would never get up from his chair, sitting all day and watching the children in the garden. Another similar aspect is that Doran also had severe problems with his daughter Arianne. Arianne was a maverick girl like Rheanyra.
We finally got to see the inside of the Dragonpit. This is a vast place where dragons are kept. We have seen this enormous building from afar many times throughout 5 episodes. The Dragonpit was built by Viserys’ grandfather, Jaehaerys. This place has consistently appeared in the Game of Thrones series but is in its ruined state. We will see why it was destroyed during the series.
I said we would see the fourth dragon with Vhagar in the new episode, but we met 2 more dragons: Dreamfyre and Vermax. Vermax is the little dragon Rhaenyra’s child met. In the episode where Young Aemond secretly descends into the Dragonpit, the dragon we encounter is Dreamfyre. Aemond has a hard time choosing a dragon. He has a penchant for giant dragons. And his curiosity will be rewarded. The greatest dragon will be his. Guess which one?
Reggia Haratis, who came to persuade Daemon to come to Pentos, is actually mentioned as the Prince of Pentos in the book. They felt the need to give a name to this prince, whose name we do not know, just like Lord Coswell. These are the moves made in the name of investing in the future.
In the fourth episode, Samwell Blackwood was one of those who lined up to be Rhaenyra’s wife at the Storm’s End. Despite his small size, he was brave enough to face her. But Amos Bracken made fun of his bold but stupid move. The Blackwoods and Brackens have been enemies since the early days of Westeros. We witnessed a conversation about this at the council table. They said they were looking for every opportunity to kill each other. These two families will be one of the parties in the future.
Again at the council, we heard that the Triarchy had been reborn and that they were reappearing in the Stepstones. Laenor also came to Rhaenyra and said that there was a new general at the head of the Triarchy, that he had dyed his beard purple, dressed like a woman, and had many wives. None of this is gossip. The person he’s talking about is Rycallio Ryndoon. Indeed, he is exactly as the rumors describe him. And this new general will be around more than Cragas Drahar. We should pay attention to this part because the Martells now support Triarchy. In other words, we will also have a Martell side in the upcoming episodes.