In Westeros, war is not just on the horizon. We are in the third episode of Dragon House Season 2, a gripping chapter filled with running columns and plenty of other moving parts, including a main character who returns as a ghostly version of her memorable past, is the security of armed conflict blocking out the sun. Or is it simply Lady Baela Targaryen on her sleek gray dragon Moondancer, dropping from the sky to strafe some Team Green riders caught in the open?
We’ll get back to that thrilling chase moment in a second – glorious terrifying beasts flying in the daylight! But let’s start in the strategically important Riverlands, where the Blackwoods and the neighbouring Brackens have hated each other for so long that the origin of the two houses’ feud is lost to time. However, this particular instance is just kids harassing each other over a boundary marker, right? Wrong. In a sickening twist of editing, we only briefly hear the din of battle before a quick cut to the riverbank itself, now strewn with hundreds of corpses speared with swords. The Battle of Burning Mill, as declared by the Blackwoods for the Blacks and the Brackens for the Greens, will go down in Westorosi histories as the first significant clash in what became known as the Dance of the Dragons. Shit is getting real.
“Soon they won’t even remember what started the war in the first place,” Rhaenys laments on Dragonstone, as the Cargyll twins are buried together in their armor. Which means, whatever the spark, the fire has been lit. At the council, Rhaenyra’s advisors want to free the dragons from the blacks, to get more houses on their side. But he also has to be fighting the “You go hide somewhere and we’ll fight our own war, uh, for you” from these guys. Go Go. Undeterred, the Black Queen insists (for now) that fear of fire-breathing beasts is itself a deterrent. And furthermore, if dragons start fighting dragons, “We invite our own destruction.” Listen.
In the Red Keep, Alicent also sees men like Aegon II and the new Hand of the King, Ser Criston Cole, clanging their sabers and calling for war. When Cole, now sporting a strange Caesar-style haircut, gathers his men and prepares to ride toward the Riverlands and Harrenhal, the region’s legendary ruined castle, Alicent adds a Hightower to the number of he. It’s her brother Ser Gwayne (an immediately memorable Freddie Fox), who beats up Ser Criston, “a man of such modest origins,” for impersonating Otto Hightower as the Hand. The serious look Gwayne gives Alicent before the column leaves can’t just be because of Cole’s new haircut. He may be destined to be the Queen Dowager’s eyes on the battlefield.
As they ride toward the Riverlands, Cole and Ser Gwayne have doubts about the pace and safety of the mission. But once Baela and her dragon see them on the plain and give chase, all they can do is run towards the nearest tree line. These guys are experienced warriors. But the terror of being incinerated from above is written on their faces.
Cole, Gwayne, and the rest of the Green Team are unaware that Harrenhal is already occupied. When Daemon and his dragon arrived at the enormous, decrepit structure, his castellan Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) immediately swore allegiance to Rhaenyra. (Simon has no love for his nephew Larys Strong, who is now officially Aegon II’s master of whisperers. You may remember a certain hell set in Harrenhal in hot DOT (Season 1, a fire that killed Simon’s kin, including Rhaenyra’s secret lover, Ser Harwin Strong). Everyone wants control of Harrenhal, this leaky hunk of slab, because it has the capacity to garrison entire companies of troops. The thing is, though, it has a reputation for being haunted. And when Daemon tries to sleep, he experiences a tortured vision. It’s the return of Milly Alcock (!) as a younger Rhaenyra, who macabrely sews little Jaehaerys’s head onto her shoulders. “Always coming and going, aren’t we?” The guilt of the vision trips Daemon. “And I have to clean up afterward.”
Now, the King of the Narrow Sea isn’t one to be intimidated. But this time he is, and things get even creepier when he wakes up in the destroyed courtyard of Harrenhal. “You will die in this place,” intones a mysterious dark-haired woman with serious witch vibes. She reveals herself to be Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers. Harrenhal: full of rainwater surprises and dark arts.
Who else has always wanted to glimpse the writing inside a miniature raven scroll? When Rhaenyra finally opens Alicent’s correspondence, it convinces her what she’s been thinking. Men will always want to fight. But what if she and Alicent could speak face to face? War might just be averted. Granting Mysaria a place in her court proves immediately valuable when a secret mission to King’s Landing is negotiated. Disguised in a septa’s robes, Rhaenyra sneaks into the Great Sept and finds Alicent lighting her votive candles. Suddenly they’re close enough to whisper. Or by the point of a sword.
It’s a white-knuckle back and forth, taking us back to Viserys’s last, hesitant, struggling words on his deathbed. “Did my father use those words? ‘The prince that was promised’? Did he tell you about the Song of Ice and Fire?” Rhaenyra’s words are quick, while Alicent is a little bewildered within waves of wariness. Was old King V talking about Aegon the Conqueror and No His son Aegon? Does something this late in the game even matter?
—There has been a mistake. You can avoid this, Alicent.
“It is too late, Rhaenyra. My father has left court. Cole is on the move.”
The face to face failed. Whatever the spark, the fire has been lit. And we’re not talking about that big slab of candles.
Hot D’s:
- Ulf! Tom Bennett’s King’s Landing character, who was last seen gazing at the collection of hanging rat catchers, has revealed claims about his dragon seed lineage. Over beers in the pub, he says that he’s Daemon’s bastard brother, another uncle of “the one true queen, Rhaenyra Targaryen.” The blood of the dragon runs through these veins.” No wonder his walk through Eel Alley in Kuala Lumpur was accompanied by toy dragons flying on long sticks.
- We’ll have to wait for more on Ulf and his claims to Targaryen blood, because Aegon II himself shows up to buy drinks for the entire bar before migrating to the same brothel Aemond frequents. Interrupting his brother’s nude reverie with his favorite motherly sex worker, Aegon taunts him with the voice and mannerisms of his younger self. Aemond used to be the one to say he was ready for the throne, while Aegon hid from his responsibilities. Now, it seems the usurper is looking to put down roots on the throne.
- While her dragonriding sister provides valuable information to Rhaenyra and the blacks, Lady Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) takes on what seems like an equally crucial mission, even if she doesn’t see it that way. Rhaenyra has tasked him with taking the babies of Dragonstone on a date with Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin), the Vale Maiden. Tyraxes and Stormcloud, two baby dragons, will also make the trip. But speaking of babies, it’s the airy metal sand filled with dragon eggs that could be the key to Phoebe’s stay in the Valley. “If everything is ruined here,” Rhaenyra tells him, you will carry our hope for the future. and continue.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is a freelance writer and editor based in Chicago. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.AA