Hello again ladies and gents! This week’s episode seven of House of The Dragon is a fully loaded one and full of that good ol’ Game of Thrones drama that we have all come to know and love. Picking up immediately off of episode six, the show opens up on a bright yet sorrowful morning, all of the royal families hold a funeral service for Lady Laena, in true Velaryon tradition. Even at a funeral, a not-so-subtle truth is spoken by Corlys’ brother, Ser Vaemond in his eulogy. “As she sets sail for her final voyage, Lady Laena leaves two true-born daughters on the shore…Salt courses through Velaryon blood. Ours run thick. Ours run true. And ours must never thin.” Panicked looks are exchanged between King Viserys and Princess Rhaenyra while Daemon, the widower, chuckles to himself. If there’s one thing you can count on Daemon for, it would be for him to find something funny at his dead wife’s funeral.
This woman isn’t even cold in her watery grave yet and he hasn’t shown even an ounce of remorse. We can also see that Otto Hightower has made his way back into the fold by taking up his old post as The Hand of The King. As this beautiful ceremony comes to a close, the next scene opens up to the repass, with dragons soaring gracefully in the sky. Typically at a repass, everyone comes together to comfort one another but what follows is anything but comforting – everyone is tense, scared, and keeps their distance from one another. Rhaenyra is keeping her distance from Alicent and Laenor has gone missing. As Rhaenyra speaks with Prince Jacaerys, he brings up a valid point to his mother – he should be mourning the loss of Ser Harwin, his father, and Lord Lyonel, his grandfather.
This conversation shows that he is still too young to fully grasp the ways of this kingdom. We can see that Rhaenyra still hasn’t given him the “bloodline talk” yet, not like the conversation Alicent had with Aegon in a previous episode. She gives him the cliff notes version and sends him on his way to provide some comfort to his two cousins, Rhaena and Baela, and like any set of cousins that don’t really know anything about each other, their interactions are awkward at first. What I didn’t like about their interaction is the girls, in their sad state, end up taking the initiative by reaching out to Jace and in a way, establishing a new bond. Of course, it’s understandable that Jace is also mourning his own losses, but he’s on Velaryon turf at his aunt’s funeral, right now it’s not about him – the girls are the ones in need of comfort.
Meanwhile, Heleana is captivated by an uncomfortably large spider and is also reciting…something. Maybe this is a poem she learned or some sort of incantation. Aegon and Aemond see this and speak of their duty to House Targaryen – to which Aemond appears to be the wiser while Aegon, and I have to agree with him here, thinks Heleana is weird. Corlys takes this time to speak with young Prince Lucerys about his royal standing in the future and tells him once he’s of age, Driftmark shall be his while his older brother Jace rules as King. Lucerys tells his ambitious uncle if he rules Driftmark, that would mean everyone is dead. This is interesting because despite having two true-born heirs that are his granddaughters, he’d rather have a boy with no Velaryon blood at all to take his place as ruler of Driftmark – we’ll come back to this!
Later in the evening, Corlys finds his son Laenor below on the rocky coastline waist deep in the water, mourning the death of his sister. This sorrowful state of his most likely made Corlys think he was going to drown himself, which prompted Corlys to abruptly interrupt Ser Qarl’s conversation to make him pull Laenor out of the water. Doing this so loudly and publicly made everyone notice, and in a way, outed the two men as lovers, especially since Laenor’s “preferences” have always been in question due to rumors. King Viserys again tries to reconcile with his brother Daemon and invites him to come back home to King’s Landing, and of course, Daemon, figuratively speaking, spits in his face. For once, I can agree with Viserys – let bygones be bygones and become a family once more, stronger and more united than before, even if my brother tried to kill me. The bigger picture here is a stronger house to rule for ages to come.
As the night comes to an end, Aegon in his drunken stupor is sent to bed by Otto, Laenor is being helped by Ser Qarl and goes back into the castle, and Aemond’s curiosity strikes again as he hears the cries of Vhagar in the distance of the night sky. Earlier in this article, I said we’ll circle back to Corlys and his ambition – here we are folks! Corlys and his wife Rhaenys discuss the events around the tragic passing of Lady Laena. Their conversation snowballs into Corlys’ ambition for power. Rhaenys makes a valid argument that their pride and lust for power and the iron throne is something that seemingly cost them everything – their own children. Lady Laena is gone and Laenor has been cast aside as the heir of Driftmark for Lucerys Targaryen, who is not of Velaryon blood – something Rhaenys points out to her husband.
Remaining dedicated to his pursuit, he declines Rhaenys’ request to make their grandchild Baela the heir and doubles down on his decision by making it very clear that history will only remember the names of the rulers, not their lineage. Despite their tragic losses, Corlys will do whatever it takes to make House Velaryon stronger. During their evening stroll on the beach, Rhaenyra discloses to Daemon the facts about her and Laenor’s marriage and how they tried to uphold their duties to the crown by having their own children. Taken out of context, you’d think Laenor was shooting blanks but this wasn’t the case. It is simple – neither of them got any pleasure from it so they both sought it elsewhere. It’s a very human feeling to be wanted and desired, to be loved.
Rhaenyra expresses her sadness and anger toward Daemon for abandoning her when she was younger – something she never truly healed from. They then find comfort in each other and entangle themselves in a forbidden love – not out of lust for sex or even power (I had suspected Daemon of this in past writings), but out of pure love and passion. Meanwhile, Aemond has escaped from the castle to set his eyes on a prize no one saw coming – Vhagar. Aemond makes his move to tame Vhagar himself and is put through the ultimate test, is he worthy of being a dragon rider? As Vhagar takes off into the skies, Aemond fights to remain on top of the fiery beast and succeeds in claiming Vhagar as his newly bonded dragon.
Baela and Rhaena witness all of this take place and immediately go to alert Jace – while Daemon and Rhaenyra watch Vhagar soar through the skies in the distance – a sign of more trouble to come for the two lovers and their house. Upon returning to the castle, Aemond is greeted by his cousins that claim he stole Vhagar – which is obviously true. This verbal confrontation quickly devolves into an all-out slugfest. We’ve never seen this side of Aemond before and truthfully, I didn’t think he had this level of fight in him. It’s refreshing to see this from Aemond, just not against little girls. I have to admit, I cheered for Aemond as he smacked around these plain-featured brats and finally got some payback for that “flying pig” joke Jace and Aegon pulled in a previous episode.
Things quickly go left as Aemond regains the upper hand and threatens the boys and calls them bastards, revealing the family secret. Jace throws dirt in Aemond’s face and Lucerys goes in for the final blow and takes Aemond’s eye – I guess he didn’t see that coming! Chaos ensues as the parents and King Viserys demand answers from the children, and so begins the blood feud between both families. In the midst of his interrogation, King Viserys demands answers from Aemond and questions where he heard these rumors that led to him calling Rhaenyra’s children bastards. Aemond looks at his mother, implying it was the Queen that filled his head with such “lies”. Just as any sibling that’s knee-deep in shi- I mean trouble, he blamed it on Aegon. You can now say that payback for the pig joke is made and everyone is even, but it doesn’t go the way he thought.
Aegon points out to Viserys that everyone knows the boys are illegitimate. The scene pans around the room to clearly demonstrate how different the boys are compared to their cousins of both houses. In a room full of Targaryen and Velaryon family members, Jace and Lucerys stick out like sore thumbs. King Viserys goes on to establish both rule and punishment; no one is to question Rhaenyra’s bloodline and those that do shall lose their tongue, angrily glaring at Queen Alicent, making her no exception to this rule. In all fairness, he has warned her of this in the past. In true Karen form, Alicent steals the Targaryen dagger from Viserys and lunges at Rhaenyra for everyone to see. As the two women break their lock on each other, Alicent cuts Rhaenyra’s forearm. Aemond tells his mother to not mourn for him because, in exchange for his eye, he gained a dragon.
On the ship back to King’s Landing, Larys pokes his weasley head back into the Queens’s business, pledging his loyalty which the Queen accepts. Back in Driftmark, Rhaenyra plots with Daemon to make both of their houses stronger by proposing they get married. To do this, Ser Laenor would have to be taken out of the picture. Daemon masterfully lays out a plan pitting Ser Qarl against Laenor, setting the stage for a “lover’s quarrel” and the appearance of Laenor’s death. This staged fight sets both Laenor and Qarl to be free under the guise of anonymity in a strange new land. Giving way for Rhaenyra and Daemon to marry each other and strengthening House Targaryen. The board has been set ladies and gentlemen, and all the players have chosen their sides with the line being drawn between Rhaenyra and Alicent in the sand and cemented in blood.
See you next week for more coverage of House of The Dragon every Sunday night at 9pm ET on HBO.
Hey! I’m Lais a.k.a. Chipz-N-Stix and I love video games and nerd culture overall. I typically do reviews and impressions on video games as well as offer some helpful tips and tricks to enhance your gaming experience. From time to time I tend to touch on certain topics that get you thinking – things that would matter to the individual. I’m also a self-proclaimed Pokemon Master but that doesn’t mean you can outright challenge me. I have to “motivate” my team for that!