He episode 2×03 of the dragon house is now available on Max and throughout its 66 minutes We witness increasing tension between the Blacks and the Greens, with the outbreak of hostilities and, above all, the plans of both councils to gain favor with key vassal houses.
It is time for desperate measures to be taken to avoid the impending war, although nothing seems to be enough to stop it. Fantastic script work: the episode has been written by David Hancock and directed by Geeta Vasant Patel.
Summary of House of the Dragon 2×03
The start of The Dragon House 2×03 takes us to the lands of the Blackwood. Aeron Bracken He confronts them for control of their territory. The Blackwoods are not loyal to Aegon, whom they do not consider a legitimate king. Shortly after there was a massacre between both houses that left everything littered with dead.
Erryk and Arryk are delivered together to Dragonstone. Rhaenys goes to speak with Rhaenyra and warns her that soon no one will know what started the war. She thinks it was because her throne was usurped, but Rhaenys points out that it could be that or the beheading of the heir, or Luke’s death, or the moment Aemond went one-eyed.
He suggests to her that there could be another path: Alicent Hightower. She believes that she does not want war and that it is the men she is surrounded by who crave blood. Rhaenyra is very hurt and she believes that she allows it and that her son is sitting on her throne… but Rhaenys’ advice will not fall on deaf ears.
Criston Cole He must now deal with his new position as Hand of the King without neglecting his duties as head of the Royal Guard. He goes to the council where they are deciding what to do now that the Brackens and the Blackwoods have clashed, with notable losses such as the death of Lord Samwell Blackwood.
What is proposed is to send a raven to lord Grover Tully with the idea of de-escalating hostilities, since their houses are vassals, but there is not much faith that they can deal with the situation. Lord Ormund marches from Antigua with a large army. Jason Lannister He is gathering his army at Casterly Rock and proposes that he subjugate the Blackwood hosts from the east.
But there is another point of view: try to unite both armies and attack together. Criston puts on the table that the key territory to dominate the game is the Riverlands and that for that they have to control Harrenhal.
He proposes to gather the men he has trained as quickly as possible to convert the crown lands declared to Rhaenyra into loyal ones to his cause and from there set out west to subjugate the Blackwoods, reach the Riverlands and take Harrenhal.
Aemond and Vhagar will remain in King’s Landing to protect the city. Aegon suggests going with Sunfire, but Aemond tells him that they would not be able to overcome his loss. Nevertheless, he imposes his opinion and is determined to accompany Cole from the air.
Rhaenyra va a ver a Mysariawho believes he deserves a great reward for saving her life: a place in the Dragonstone court. He tells her of his knowledge of the Red Keep and the workings of the crown.
He also knows the problems of the common people of King’s Landing, and if they were to be ruled by someone, he believes that they have been more compassionate than the Hightowers. Rhaneyra tells him not to confuse clemency with docility.
Bruma, the dragon of Rhaenyra’s late husband, is nervous, though they don’t know why. Mysaria suggests that he may be lonely.
Rhaneyra is going to see Rhaena and explains that he put Joffrey in the care of his cousin Lady Jeyne Arryn. She has sworn an army in exchange for a dragon, so she will have one. Tyraxes y Storm They are the two candidates. Rhanerya asks him to go with them.
She believes that the Red Keep is in chaos and that she must take the children as far away as possible, to Pentos. She asks him to write to her cousin Reggio and, if he accepts her, to go there, something that causes her great sorrow since it was the place where her mother died.
Rhaenyra tells her that she has seen what the Greens are capable of and now she needs her to be the mother to her children that she cannot be: she entrusts her with the lives of her three youngest children. She asks her to teach them what she knows, to care for them and protect them as if they were dragon eggs.
Rhaena asks about her sister Baela but is told that she needs her at Dragonstone (she is a rider and has a dragon). She insists that she make this sacrifice voluntarily for the good of all.
Daemon is presented in Harrenhall on the back of Caraxes and take the castle. He meets no resistance: lord Simon Strong he swears allegiance to the Targaryens… and even offers him dinner. When Daemon asks about Larys, Simon tells him that he is not his lord, that he serves in the usurper’s court. He informs him of his suspicions that the fire that destroyed his family was arson.
Daemon asks him to call him “majesty,” not “prince.” Simon tells him that the castle is very dilapidated and Daemon explains that he wants to repair it to quarter the neutral army of 40,000 soldiers in the vicinity, but Simon explains that this neutrality no longer exists: that two sides have been formed from the hatred that the Brackens and the Blackwoods had long professed.
Daemon suggests that they call upon their overlord, Grover Tully, to swear allegiance, but his health is fragile and he cannot speak. Daemon insists: he believes they must obey their lord, no matter their circumstances, and that the presence of the crown and a dragon should clear any doubts. His plan is to march on King’s Landing and take the throne.
Unaware of all this, Criston is about to leave when Alicent introduces him to her brother: Gwayne Hightowerrecently arrived from Oldtown. He reproaches him for having deposed his father as Hand by him and a certain hostility is evident between the two. Gwayne will accompany Criston. When they say goodbye, Criston asks him for a token to bless him in battle: Alicent gives him a handkerchief.
On Dragonstone they continue to wait: they find no trace of armies, ships or dragons and they begin to get nervous after the Battle of the Burning Mill. They believe that the time has come to seek allies. Rhaenyra is worried about launching a dragon offensive: she prefers to secure the territories with armies and trusts that the Greens make similar calculations.
The men on the council want to remove her, considering her a “distraction,” but she tells them that it would be a betrayal to lead a war without their guidance. Rhaenys defends her by reminding them that she wears the crown of her grandfather, who ruled longer than anyone. She then she’s going to driftmark a ver a Corlys and tells him the news about Rhaena’s departure.
Rhaena He says goodbye to his sister Baela and Rhaenyra stresses the importance of his merchandise: she is taking the two dragons and four eggs, even more fragile: they are hope for the future if everything goes to hell. Then she says goodbye to her three youngest children and they leave.
Alicent welcomes Healena. He tells her that he forgives her for lying with Criston when Jaehaerys was killed.
Aegon It is armed with Valerio steel. Larys He goes to talk to him and asks to speak to him in private: he sends him the rumor that he has been deceived in the council so that Alicent and Aemond reign in his absence. Aegon decides to delay his departure and go on a spree with his guards.
Ulf, Daemon’s bastard brother, confesses who he is to some friends in a tavern. Only he has no idea that Aegon, his nephew, is right there. At the brothel he meets Aemond, whom he mocks for always sleeping with the same prostitute.
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Rhaenyra decides to open the message Alicent sent her that she hadn’t opened yet, which will change her perspective on things.
A party of Cole’s men spot Baela riding his dragon Moondancer: They manage to get into a forest just in time to avoid being attacked and decide that they will advance at night among the trees.
But Baela brings the news to Dragonstone. The council also considers other moves: Lord Farring reports that an army is marching towards Rosby in the northwest. Everyone urges the queen to attack Cole. However, she does not make a hasty decision and decides to wait.
Daemon He has a vision of his wife Rhaenyra’s younger self sewing his grandson’s head together. A woman then tells him that he will die there.
Rhaenyra asks Mysaria by Alicent’s movements. He doesn’t want to kill her but to talk to her to avoid war. He wants to see her face to face. He tells her that she can try to see her traveling to King’s Landing incognito and approaching her alone in a place he visits outside the Red Fortress: the place of religious worship.
Rhaenryra and Alicent manage to speak alone. Rhaneyra appeals to her youth to tell her that war is not for them and that Rhaenys advises her. She asks her to come to an agreement. Rhaenyra tells her that she was not responsible for the child’s death, that she is a mother and would never have done something like that.
Alicent reproaches her for considering herself queen, but Rhanenyra insists that she saw the king on the day of his death and continued to maintain that he wanted her to be his heir. Alicent emphasizes that she changed her mind, that she did not hatch any plan and she swears it by the memory of her mother.
Rhaenyra asks him what he said at the end and if he named her. Alicent tells her that she was very weak and it was difficult to understand her but that she spoke about Aegon, the prince that was promised to unite the kingdom. Rhaenyra is surprised and asks him if he talked to her about the “Song of ice and fire“He explains that it is a story he told him about Aegon the Conqueror. Alicent freezes.
Rhanenyra tells her once again that she can prevent what is going to happen and avoid it. But Alicent explains that her father is no longer at court and that Cole is on the move. And that she already knows what Aemond is like. She tells him it’s too late and leaves.
The impossible farewell to arms
The house of the dragon has reached the point of no return. It is the best episode (so far) of this season and every moment is squeezed to highlight how the fray begins: the fuse is lit by two enemy houses whose deep-rooted hatred serves as fuel for a first massacre. But, as a central character says, no one will remember what caused the war.
There is also a great play of contrasts, highlighting the strength of experience (Rhaenys represents the wisdom that comes with the passage of time, and the temperance to try to avoid greater evils) and the impulsiveness of the younger characters, such as the impressionable Aegon, manipulated by the ever-cunning Larys.
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We also begin to contemplate the first relevant maneuvers from the sky: from the harassment to which Baela subjects Cole’s men with his small dragon to the terror that the unpredictable Daemon instills with an imposing Caraxes in Harrenhal, where they have already suffered horror before. of the fire devastating the castle.
There is, however, time for emotion: Rhaenyra’s farewell to her children, her little dragons and her eggs is like throwing a bottle into the sea. The last hope of the legendary beings and of her own lineage is moving away from her.
Although no less brutal is the climax of the episode with the recriminations between Alicent and Rhaenyra and the way in which the misunderstanding that has placed Aegon on the royal throne is revealed, depriving Rhaneyra of her title. Magnificent Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke,
In short, it is an episode with a good balance of action, drama and plot development, although sometimes it makes things difficult and it is necessary to take notes. One of the problems of the series is that it is very choral and the number of characters that we have to deal with can drive us crazy.
Next week we will face episode 2×04 of the series and, we can assure you, House of the Dragon is going to make television history. Don’t miss it.
