House of the Dragon - Third Episode Review

House of the Dragon continues with its third and best episode yet. It was a great episode where Rhaenyra ran away from the grooms-to-be, and Daemon Targaryen managed stole the show alone without saying even a line. The series actually still continues to introduce its characters. For now, everything we watch in the series is a preliminary preparation for what will happen after the fifth episode. We continue to invest in the morale of the characters after the fifth episode and meet the characters who will stay with us for a long time. Since the whole episode is about marriage chat and war, I will divide the subject into 2 and, plus, will open another category for details. I will try to tell you what happened in this episode, the details you missed, and the characters you need to pay attention to. Let’s start:

First Episode’s Review

Second Episodes Review

Marriage is customary

It has been 2 years since the second episode; Alicent finally gave the long-awaited boy to Viserys. Helaena, who will stay with us until the last season, is also on the way. Aegon, second to his name, has been the darling of many people in Westeros. Viserys, as I said in my previous article, is someone who constantly satisfies his lords and people with tournaments and entertainment. One of the main reasons for doing such events is that the first king, Aegon, said it is good to meet with the people you rule.

For this reason, Viserys organized a festival for his son. Gathered all the lords. And decided that hunting could bring joy to everyone. But the celebration for Aegon II turns upside down, at least for Viserys, with Rhaenyra coming forward.

I opened this category to talk about Rhaenyra; but the main role is actually Viserys. Because Viserys is overwhelmed by the decision, he made at the time. Viserys, who declared Rhaenyra the heir because he thought he would not have a son, cannot turn away from this decision even though he has a son now. For this reason, he constantly forces her to marry. But Rhaenyra has no such intentions. As I said before, the little princess has rebellious blood like Arya. Lyonell Strong actually gives the best explanation here. When you look at Targaryen’s history, women’s mavericks are notorious. Those who take a dragon and run away, those who stubbornly marry the man they want, those who leave everything and run away.

The fact that Rhaenyra does not want to marry and continues to be the heir causes problems between the lords. Otto tries to patch Rhaenyra to 2-year-old Aegon. His goal is to try to secure the throne for his own family. But there is a bigger problem than being 2 years old. It’s a question mark if Westeros can handle yet another incestuous relationship. Many previous incestuous relationships had caused severe problems in the kingdom, especially among the religious. The person Otto chats with at the beginning of the episode about Aegon is Lyman Beesbury, the person in charge of the money. There is a little friction between Lyman and Otto. Lyman Beesbury will play a pivotal role in future episodes of the series.

Lyonell Strong has a different idea. He proposed Laenor Velaryon to Rhaenyra, as he had previously suggested to the king, to increase the dynasty’s power. We will often mention the name of Laenor Velaryon with Rhaenyra in the future; let me tell you in advance. However, King Viserys thought that Lyonell would propose his son, Harwin Strong. Note that either, Harwin also will play a critical role in Rhaenyra’s life in the future.

Viserys dies inside because of his daughter’s rebellious behavior. And everyone is just watching this. He is well aware of the homage he receives just because he is a Targaryen and the king. They bring him a fake victim on a hunt designed to find White Hart. And Viserys couldn’t knock this fake victim down with a single blow. This is an indication of how weak a king he is now. Everyone sees this with him, but they just continue to applaud because of the “political” games that everyone often voices.

When Rhaenyra escapes the festival grounds and goes into the woods, Criston Cole follows after her. There has been a romance between Criston and Rhaenyra since the first episode. We will see the sparks of this romance later. There are 2 essential points in the sequence where the two are together. First, Rhaenyra asked him, “Will Westeros accept me as queen?.” Criston answered they have to. I loved this part. Because the paths of the two will, unfortunately, separate entirely in the future. Rhaenyra’s encounter with the real White Hart can also be linked to the fate that often happens in Westeros. This was proof that she is the true heir. Not having White Hart killed is an example of her “forgiving” attitude, which I will discuss in future episodes and seasons.

King Viserys and Rhaenyra somehow managed to find a solution to their problem. The king said you can marry the one you love. But this will start the rumors. In the next episode, a flood of rumors will most likely begin. They will do anything to prevent Rhaenyra from ascending the throne. Otto will play the head of these rumors. Otto is such a dangerous man that he even turns his daughter against Rhaenyra over the years. Alicent, whom we expect to be Cersei in the future, still has not taken a stand against Rhaenyra throughout the three episodes and does not deny her heir, which shows that she will be manipulated by her father in time.

Rogue Prince

I wrote at the end of the second article: The war has started and has been going on for 2 years. Daemon and Velaryons fight a fierce battle with the Triarchy in the region of the Stepstones. And they seem to be losing. The burning flag we see at the episode’s opening is the Velaryon flag. This means that Triarchy has burned new Velaryon ships, as mentioned many times before. We also hear from the rumors at the festival that Triarchy kidnapped Lady Johanna Swann and sold her somewhere in the free cities. I mentioned that, Triarchy will play a significant role in the series, and they will kidnap more key characters. Johanna is just one of those names right now.

The Velaryons are losing the war because Drahar is not a stupid man. He knows very well how to fight a man with a dragon. Whenever dragons appear, they flee into caves. The same tactic was used by Dorne, so Aegon the Conqueror was never able to conquer Dorne. Daemon and Velaryons, who are in trouble because of this tactic and even come to the point of losing the war, demand foot soldiers from King Viserys. Tyland Lannister stubbornly and desperately seeks the king’s help, but the king does everything in his power to avoid the war that everyone already knows of.

But in the end, he decides to send support after the letter and a short conversation he had with Alicent. Hearing this, Daemon Targaryen throws himself in front of Triarchy, saying that instead of getting help from my brother, I will solve this job alone. The Velaryons said they needed a madman to lead the men of the Triarchy out of the caves. Here is your madman: Daemon Targaryen. But what a madman, right? That 6-minute sequence where Daemon pretends to give up and turns the whole war ethic upside down was truly delightful. The action, the dragon’s arrival, and the acting were fantastic. The only shortcoming of the episode is that we didn’t see the fight between Daemon and Drahar. I’d like to at least even see them face off like 2 cowboys. But the show jumps right into Drahar’s corpse. In the original book, the Daemon was beheading Drahar. However, we can say that the new choice made by the screenwriters is much more brutal and catchy than beheading. I want to close this paragraph with Dark Sister. Memorize the sword that Daemon pretends to give. We will meet her more often.

Daemon’s takedown of Drahar will cause the Triarchy to disappear “for now,” but they will reappear in the future. Corlys will proclaim Deamon king of the narrow sea. The Daemon, who has proven himself and saved the kingdom from the enemy, will also return to King’s Landing like a hero. A weak king on one side, a hero on the other that has been actively fighting for 2 years. In the next episode, we will see the clash of the 2 names, the rumors that will begin, and the rapprochement between Rhaenyra and Daemon. Although the external problem is solved, for now, the internal problem will continue to grow.

Some Beautiful Details

The producers told us that we will see 9 dragons in the first season. We met Caraxes and Syrax. In this episode, we saw Seasmoke, which was ridden by Laenor Velaryon. 6 dragons left. One of them will most likely be the legendary Vhagar.

If you look carefully, you can see that King Viserys is missing 2 fingers. Since there is no such thing in the book, we can only speculate whether Viserys is sick or has problems for some other reason. The best guess is that the throne is hurting him day by day. The king, who applied an interesting treatment to his finger in the previous episode, lost 2 fingers in the last 2 years.

We met Vaemond Velaryon in the part where war tactics were discussed. He didn’t hesitate to say that they were losing the war because of Daemon. Vaemond will play an important role in the series, as will many of the people I mentioned above. This protruding attitude of his will leads to great things in the future.

The crippled Larys Strong, whom we met in the episode, will become one of the most important names in the coming years. In fact, I don’t know how many seasons the series will continue, but he will stay longer than all of the main characters I mentioned above. Maybe even we could see him in the very final episode of the show. We will see the reason by watching.

Rhaenyra’s character change does not go unnoticed. Rhaenyra, who has no interest in history in the first chapter, devoted herself to reading. I especially note that she is completely dressed in black in the scene where he is reading a book. When the series’ cast was first announced, I followed Milly Alcock on Instagram, who will portray Rhaenyra’s child years. It was clear from the very first day – I think – that she would attract such a great deal of attention. She didn’t have many followers back then. Now she is a world star and still has 2 more episodes.

The last 2 things that caught my attention in the episode are the pictures behind Viserys and Alicent. Especially everyone noticed the picture behind Alicent. I add the images to my article by illuminating them. I believe the painting behind Viserys is a design depicting the hunt in Kingswood. The orgy women behind Alicent are from the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece. There was eroticism in the art and family structure of the Targaryens. You know, incest is also common among the Targaryens to keep the blood pure. Pre-Christian people had an open mind about hanging sexually explicit artworks at home. The Targaryens obviously have the same open-mindedness. When Pompeii and Herculaneum were excavated, archaeologists found frescoes that the public could consider scandalous and kept them for a while. For all the pictures of the Targaryens in the series, I leave an excellent article to read: Den of Geek.