If my memory serves me correctly, in the provisional version that was passed to the press of episode 6 of ‘The house of the dragon’, Miguel Sapochnick’s camera was slow to let us see who was the woman in labor with whom we opened this new hour of the series. A movement that prepares us to see the announced cast change that the series suffers at this point.
The television montage cuts to the chase: it is a Rhaenyra already an adult, the one in labor, with the face this time of Emma D’Arcy. Indeed, we have had a time jump and there have been some other changes in the Red Keep.
By the way, from here spoilers for ‘The princess and the queen’, episode 1×06 of ‘The house of the dragon’.
fathers and bastards
As we have already said, the episode begins with the birth of Rhaenyra’s third child with a sequence in which the script by Sara Hess shows us the current power dynamic. Not so much because many things have changed (Viserys and Alicent still rule), but as a reminder of what the relationship between queen and princess is like.
this walk of round trip postpartum and with the blood still dripping between the princess’s legs it’s a great example of how to introduce the way things are now: Alicent (Olivia Cooke) who knows that the children are not Laenor’s (John Macmillan) nor by mistake; the king (Paddy Considine) who prefers to ignore; Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), separated from the princess and is having in Ser Harwin (Ryan Corr) the secret father of his children.
The episode also introduces us to the new generation, the kids who will be key in the succession of the Iron Throne and, in some way, will be practically pawns in the quarrels in the palace. In fact, one of the important points of the episode, It’s the one where Cole is training the royal Kindred in the sword.. A scene that soon turns tragic when he provokes Harwin, thus increasing the rumors.
We cannot forget that behind the scenes of the events at the palace we have a character who, so far, has only appeared a couple of times in the series: Lord Larys Strong. Yes, Harwin’s brother and son of The Hand of the King. We see the character played by Matthew Needham colluding with the queen to see if they can bring the princess’s scandal to light. But his networks, as we will see in the episode, go much further.
Before we get to the end of the episode, we must travel a bit to find Daemon’s new life (Matt Smith) and his wife (Nanna Blondell) in Essos, where they entice the Targaryens to stay on Pentos and help in the war against the triarchs.
In that we will be when we will find one of the most tragic moments of what we have as a series. Unable to give birth to his new child and before Daemon makes the painful decision his brother faced more than a decade before, Laena decides to immolate herself to the order of dracarys.
Valar Morghulis?
Finally, the episode closes with another tragedy: a fire in Harrenhal that ends the lives of the Strong, making Larys Lord of the place. And here is a detail that obsesses me a bit: the fact that the prisoners freed by Larys and responsible for the lethal fire be as we see it in the scene so similar (too much, I would say) makes faceless men suddenly come to mind.
I know it may sound like a crazy theory, but let’s remember that Jaqen H’ghar we met him as one of the prisoners recruited to go to the Wall in season 2 of ‘Game of thrones’. It also fits the fact that this fire was one of the great unknowns of the era. What eludes us, however, is the relationship between the dastardly Lord Larys and the mystical order.
Although I admit that you have more than “wish” to see them in action than in reality, the truth is that it would not be unreasonable. The assassin order has been around since before the Curse of Valyria and is rumored to have been used (or at least hired) at various times throughout the history of the Seven Kingdoms, including threats to Aegon I the Conqueror. .
Mental scratches aside, it is clear that we must keep an eye on Lord Larys, since their tricks may be capable of destabilizing one side or the other. For now, next week we hope to see how Rhaenyra and company are doing in Dragonstone and, on the other hand, what becomes of the recently widowed Daemon. All this in which we see that the king’s health worsens by the minute.