[0:00] There's actually an even more tragic
[0:02] layer to this underwater shot in the
[0:04] battle of the gullet that I think
[0:05] everyone missed. I'm Eric Boss of the
[0:07] New Rockstars channel and this is a
[0:09] scene by scene breakdown and analysis of
[0:11] House of the Dragon season 3 episode 1.
[0:14] As I discussed in last night's quick
[0:15] reaction to the episode, The Battle of
[0:17] the Gullet and all of the scenes in this
[0:19] episode that lead up to it, I think
[0:20] overall represent the best episode of
[0:22] House of the Dragon yet. And in this
[0:24] video, I'm going to break down this
[0:25] masterpiece of an episode scene by
[0:27] scene. for the details you missed, some
[0:29] of the artistic choices that may have
[0:30] confused you, and overall everything
[0:32] that made this season 3 premiere great.
[0:34] Season 3 begins with an updated opening
[0:36] title sequence. You may remember how the
[0:38] series switched over from the blood
[0:39] river sequence of season 1 to this
[0:41] ancestral tapestry animation of season
[0:43] 2. Ryan Condell explained a few years
[0:45] ago that they wanted to show this
[0:46] family's living history, partnering with
[0:48] titles company, Yuko, to base this on
[0:51] the real world tapestry depicting the
[0:53] Norman conquest of England. William the
[0:55] Conqueror crossed the English Channel to
[0:56] establish the dynasty that lasts to this
[0:58] day, which is partly what inspired
[1:00] George R. Martin with Aegon the
[1:01] Conqueror crossing the Blackwater Bay to
[1:03] establish this dynasty. But right away,
[1:05] a change that has been made to season 3
[1:07] before we saw the threads of the
[1:08] tapestry stained with blood as we
[1:10] realized it was actually a volcano
[1:12] erupting through one of the castles in
[1:13] the Doom of Valyria, one of the 14
[1:15] flames that all erupted at once,
[1:17] shattering the Valyrian Peninsula
[1:18] landmass, destroying the civilization
[1:20] that had lasted 5,000 years and killing
[1:21] most of the dragons and dragon riders.
[1:23] But the Targaryenss had escaped 12 years
[1:25] prior to resettle on Dragonstoneone due
[1:26] to the prophetic vision of this calamity
[1:28] by Daisy the Dreamer. But now in season
[1:30] 3, we see those threads representing the
[1:32] 14 flames starting from below the
[1:34] tapestry amid embers. I counted and
[1:37] there are exactly 14 of those threads.
[1:39] This emphasizes that this volcanic doom
[1:41] really did come from the earth below. It
[1:42] was like this entire fictional planet
[1:45] rejecting the Valyrians on its skin. And
[1:47] of these threads, five of them appear to
[1:49] be red, which I think could represent
[1:51] five Valyrian bloodlines that escaped
[1:53] the doom. That would be the Targaryenss
[1:55] and then the Valyrians. And then the
[1:56] Celtic are also technically from
[1:58] Valyrian descent, as was the dragon
[2:00] rider known as Orion of Cohor and the
[2:02] Volantean elite of Volantis. Now, there
[2:04] may have been more surviving bloodlines
[2:06] throughout Essos and Sos, but a literal
[2:08] reading of these symbolic threads is
[2:09] that just as the magma of the 14 flames
[2:12] was faded, so were the survival of these
[2:14] particular Valyrian bloodlines through
[2:16] this living tapestry. I love how
[2:17] something so small added for season 3
[2:19] could pack so much meaning. Now, the
[2:20] rest is much of what we saw in the
[2:22] season 2 tapestry as it evolved episode
[2:24] to episode. We see a dragon on fire and
[2:26] a blood mage of Valyria making a blood
[2:27] sacrifice. We see Denise the dreamer
[2:29] holding her dying father Anar. We see
[2:31] the 14 flames erupting and the
[2:33] structures of Valyria crumbling. We see
[2:35] Agon the Conqueror on Valyrian the Black
[2:37] Dread followed by his sister wife Raine
[2:39] flying Maraxis and his other sister wife
[2:41] Vizenya flying the greenscaled Vagar.
[2:43] Yes, the same Vagar now ridden by Aemon.
[2:45] Beneath them crossing the Black Wider
[2:46] Bay are sails bearing the crest of House
[2:48] Valyrian. Yes, the same fleet that gets
[2:51] ravaged in this episode. Then we see
[2:53] King M the 9inth of House Gardner, the
[2:55] last king of the Reach in the event of
[2:57] the field of fire that killed Gardner
[2:59] and Lannister men. Then we see Torren
[3:01] Stark, the king who knelt with Edmund
[3:04] Tully and Shara Aaron of the Veil.
[3:06] Notice how the blood staining the weave
[3:07] stops at their feet because their
[3:09] decision stopped the bloodshed. We see
[3:11] Magor the Cruel found dead on the Iron
[3:13] Throne after being stabbed through the
[3:14] throat. On either side of him are
[3:15] Vermathor and Silverwing. The tapestry
[3:18] shows their writers, King Jiharis and
[3:19] Alisan flanked by the sigil of the faith
[3:21] of the seven and a pot of gold because
[3:23] it was a faithful and prosperous time.
[3:25] Then we see the first shot of the
[3:26] series, Jiharis at the great council of
[3:28] 101. And then jumping ahead to the dance
[3:30] of the dragons, we see Egon II on the
[3:32] iron throne of the greens and Rara on
[3:34] the throne of Dragonstone of the blacks.
[3:36] We see the battle over the storm's end
[3:38] from the season 1 finale with Aean to
[3:39] top Vaggar chopping down an RX and
[3:41] Luceris. We see the kill line going over
[3:43] the throats of the young prince Jiharis
[3:45] murdered by blood and cheese in the
[3:46] season 2 premiere. Then we see the
[3:48] battle of Rook's rest, Sunfire and
[3:50] Melly's. Vaggar flying above with King
[3:52] Aegon II in the middle raising his sword
[3:54] Blackfire. Just remember this tapestry
[3:55] depicts what historians right now think
[3:57] happened, not what actually happened.
[3:59] Then we see Vaggar facing all of the
[4:01] Black Dragons. We see Cyrax out in front
[4:03] and center. Next is Vermax. That's
[4:05] Jason's dragon. Behind Vermax is a
[4:07] darker one with red wings. I think
[4:08] that's Caraxis, Damon's dragon, the
[4:10] blood worm. Then this line extends
[4:11] further past Silverwing and Vermore. Now
[4:13] above that line from Silver Wing is a
[4:15] pink-winged dragon that I think could be
[4:17] Tyrais. That's Joffrey's dragon or it
[4:20] could be sheep stealer. The line extends
[4:21] back past Vermathor, the Bronze Fury to
[4:23] three dragons bringing up the rear. In
[4:25] the middle is Sea Smoke. That's Adam of
[4:27] Ho's dragon. At the bottom, that's got
[4:29] to be Moon Dancer. That's Ba's dragon.
[4:31] Or it could be Stormcloud, Egg on the
[4:32] Younger's dragon. And then at the top, I
[4:34] think that would be Sheepsteeler, the
[4:35] wild dragon written by Raina in this
[4:37] episode that none of them see coming.
[4:38] But then the season 3 credits make one
[4:40] last change. Rather than the tapestry
[4:42] just extending directly to the iron
[4:44] throne, now the tapestry billows and we
[4:46] see this embroidered border that I think
[4:48] is one of the bands of the solar spire
[4:51] in the Game of Thrones opening title
[4:52] imagery. And then we see a black and
[4:54] crimson Targaryen house sigil. And then
[4:56] no Iron Throne right now, just the
[4:57] series title. I think they're saying
[4:59] that at this point the family tree
[5:00] branches have completely lost the plot
[5:02] and are just going after each other
[5:03] without any thought of the realm itself.
[5:05] This episode opens on this sheep grazing
[5:07] the veil. No match for sheep stealer. It
[5:09] will be this dragon's fire and its
[5:11] targets that prove most pivotal in the
[5:13] battle of the gullet. If only this
[5:14] dragon was left to toast sheep in peace.
[5:16] Jace would be fine. In fact, there's
[5:18] something natural and beautiful about
[5:20] the characteristic roar and waggle from
[5:22] this beast that makes you feel bad it
[5:23] was taken out of the wild.
[5:30] Yeah, you can hear its throat muscles
[5:32] and jowls flapping on that shake. We're
[5:34] literally hearing the sounds of what's
[5:35] this part of the body called? Yes, the
[5:37] gullet. And right as we hear this gullet
[5:39] flap, we see Raina's tiny form appearing
[5:41] on the hillside. Remember, Raina was
[5:43] supposed to accompany Reineer's youngest
[5:45] sons when we saw them all leaving the
[5:46] veil for Pintos in season 2, episode 7.
[5:49] Throughout that season, Rea felt dragon
[5:50] envy, jealous of her sister Bay. But we
[5:52] have to remember that Rea is basically
[5:54] the Targaryen equivalent of a horse
[5:55] girl. Like any horse girl, she hears the
[5:57] winnie of a wild horse and wanders away
[5:59] from her family during a road trip,
[6:01] thinking, "Surely I can tame this wild
[6:03] horse. Maybe I'll work my way up to a
[6:05] unicorn." And then ruins the family
[6:07] vacation when this wild horse tramples
[6:09] her brother-in-law to death. We've seen
[6:10] it a thousand times. Season 2 ended
[6:12] showing Raina already finding Sheep
[6:14] Stealer once. So now, logically, Sheep
[6:16] Stealer must have been like, "Fuck off,
[6:17] horse girl. I'm trying to eat mutton
[6:18] here." And then horse girl Raina just
[6:20] keeps following this dragon from hill to
[6:22] hill throughout the veil. Now, the VFX
[6:23] artist put way more detail into Sheep's
[6:25] tailor now in close-up, and we see that
[6:27] it has a gnarly underbite. Its lower jaw
[6:29] and mouth are completely exposed to air
[6:31] at all times. I don't mean to be
[6:33] insensitive, but compared to all the
[6:34] more elegantl looking dragons on this
[6:36] show, I think the designers intended
[6:38] this dragon to be, you know, a bit birth
[6:40] defected, like it's not all there. Rea
[6:42] says Valyrian word of liri, meaning
[6:45] calm. It's exactly what young Aemon said
[6:47] to calm Vagar in season 1 when he first
[6:49] mounted it on drift mark. basically
[6:51] stealing the dragon that should have
[6:52] gone to Raina. Raina climbs Sheepest
[6:54] Stealer having no saddle which is an
[6:56] important logistic detail that will
[6:58] matter a lot in the Battle of the
[6:59] Gullet. It makes visibility of the rider
[7:01] much harder. Sheep stealer dives off a
[7:02] cliff and kudos to actress Phoebe
[7:04] Campbell throughout this episode.
[7:06] Specifically here for this shaky
[7:07] multi-note scream. [screaming]
[7:11] Yeah, right away she sounds like someone
[7:12] who's never going to be fully in control
[7:14] of her mount and absolutely hates this
[7:16] experience. Meanwhile, Aemon drags out
[7:18] Arch Maester Orwhile, accusing the
[7:19] maester of smuggling King Aegon the
[7:21] second out during the night. Now,
[7:22] Orwhile is disloyal. He secretly
[7:24] arranged for Ellison to meet with Reero
[7:26] without Aeand knowing, but Aeund is
[7:28] grilling him for a different treason.
[7:29] Right before he strikes Master of Laws,
[7:31] Jasper Wild, aka Iron Rod, stops Aeand
[7:34] saying, "Lord Laris also fled the keep."
[7:36] Aegon begs Laris for milk of the poppy
[7:38] for his pain. He says,
[7:39] >> "I'm the king of nothing with Raven shed
[7:41] for a throne and a [ __ ] for a
[7:43] protector."
[7:44] >> Tom Glenn Carney, you're so good. I'm
[7:46] really excited to see what he does with
[7:48] this era of Aegon on the series. Of all
[7:50] of the Greens, he really has the most
[7:52] interesting hero arc ahead of him.
[7:53] Specifically, his addiction in this
[7:55] moment to milk the poppy will be an
[7:57] experience that he learns from for a
[7:58] later wound in his life. They're stopped
[8:00] by men of House Stuntton. According to
[8:02] their shields, this is the house of
[8:03] Rook's rest, the Reineer loyal house
[8:06] that Sir Christristen Cole and Aemon on
[8:07] Vagar attacked in season 2, defended by
[8:09] Rainees on Mellies, where Aegon was
[8:11] burnt and wounded. Yeah, a lot of these
[8:13] guys either survived that battle or had
[8:15] friends die in it thanks to what the
[8:16] Greens did. So, this Staunted Soldier
[8:18] requires them to bend the knee. Laris
[8:20] outs them and proposes to bring them in
[8:22] as living hostages, allowing the poor
[8:24] carriage drivers to be killed. This
[8:25] stunted soldier says to transport them
[8:27] to Duskadale, which would be the nearest
[8:28] East Coast port, and plan to bring them
[8:30] to Dragonstone. Meanwhile, Rene looks
[8:32] upward as if in hopeful prayer as she
[8:34] tells her son Jace that she has to
[8:36] believe that Allison's offer to open the
[8:38] gates of King's Landing at the end of
[8:39] season 2 was real. Now, it's subtle, but
[8:41] we actually stay in the shot with Emma
[8:43] Darcy and Harry Klet for 50 full seconds
[8:45] without cutting as we get some shifting
[8:47] shot composition with Jace at one point
[8:48] in extreme close-up as it is going to be
[8:50] on him that the biggest consequences of
[8:52] Reineer's optimism for quick peace with
[8:53] the greens ways. Joining them around
[8:55] Agon and Conqueror's map table is on the
[8:57] left Lord Bertamos Kelzigar, Lord of
[8:59] Claw Isle, and Grand Masteraster
[9:01] Gerardis. And then on the right,
[9:02] Reineer's King's Guard, Sir Lawrence
[9:04] Marbrand, and Mistress of Whisperers,
[9:05] Bizaria, the White Worm. Reineer shares
[9:07] Allison's terms with them. that she,
[9:09] Helena, and Jihara are spared and that
[9:12] this war ends without further bloodshed.
[9:14] >> Ah, now I think we see why Ryan Condle
[9:16] omitted the character of Mor, the
[9:18] additional child of Aegon and Helena
[9:19] from the text based on Rea's tone in
[9:21] this line. She sounds like all she cares
[9:23] about is just killing Aegon and ending
[9:25] the male line. She doesn't really care
[9:27] about leaving Princess Jiara alive.
[9:29] Maybe because she just thinks it was the
[9:30] custom of male primogenature that kept
[9:32] her from getting the throne. But if Mor
[9:34] existed at this point in the show, there
[9:36] would be an additional male prince and
[9:38] heir left alive, which would make
[9:39] Allison's offer, a complete invention
[9:41] for the HBO series, unrealistic for Rea
[9:43] to even consider or get excited about.
[9:45] So basically, in order to
[9:46] reccharacterize Rea and Allison as the
[9:48] secretly peace-seeking frenemies on this
[9:50] HBO series, they needed to remove
[9:52] characters like Mailor in order to clear
[9:53] a path to make these peace offers even
[9:55] possible. Allison returns to the Red
[9:57] Keep with Sir Rickard Thorne. She wears
[9:59] the crucial color of blue that she wore
[10:00] in her meeting with Reineer. Blue was
[10:02] the color that she wore as a young woman
[10:03] and friend of Rene in the King's Land in
[10:05] Godswood. But she's surprised to find
[10:07] her son Aemon sitting the iron throne.
[10:08] Notice how he's holding Blackfire.
[10:10] That's a sword belonging to his brother,
[10:12] the real king. After a moment of
[10:14] intimidation that this self-appointed
[10:15] king might kill her. He instead just
[10:17] takes the tone of a whiny second son who
[10:19] is just pissy to be left out of the
[10:20] loop.
[10:20] >> Agon has abdicated the throne, fled
[10:22] King's Landing with that toad Lis.
[10:25] >> Yeah, you and Mitchell's really good at
[10:27] just having these moments of immaturity.
[10:29] So Allison is smart enough or maybe just
[10:30] experienced enough with the whining of
[10:32] her sons to play this as a scolding
[10:34] mother saying that she had to go on
[10:35] nature walks because Aean boxed her out
[10:37] and that he was supposed to have joined
[10:38] Sir Kristen at Harrenhal to challenge
[10:40] Damon, but Aean says he's staying put
[10:42] for now. So Allison has to just kind of
[10:44] silently recalculate as she realized she
[10:46] just invited Rea into a death trap. In
[10:47] the Riverlands, we see some soldiers
[10:49] hacking off the head of a lion. I assume
[10:51] this is the same lion that was with the
[10:52] Lannister host, like the tiger of the
[10:54] LSU football team that we saw at the
[10:56] beginning of season 2, episode 6. this
[10:58] poor lion. We see Damon Targaryen, Matt
[11:01] Smith, killing some Lannister soldiers
[11:03] with Caraxis fighting off more of them
[11:04] in the background. The soldiers fighting
[11:06] alongside Damon have shields with
[11:08] heraldry showing Riverland houses like
[11:09] House Vance and House Mallister. Those
[11:11] would have been part of the coalition
[11:12] that Damon formed with Oscar Tully's
[11:14] forces in season 2. We see the young
[11:16] Lord Oscar here who greets Damon saying,
[11:18] "Lord Jason Lannister fled when his line
[11:20] broke." Since this is the battle where
[11:22] Jason Lannister dies, I'm just going to
[11:23] assume that this is the Battle of the
[11:24] Red Fork that's described in Fire and
[11:26] Blood. Though we should note that Jason
[11:27] Lannister is not killed by Rodri Dustin
[11:29] of the Winter Wolves like he is in this
[11:30] episode. Also, Damon is not part of that
[11:32] battle. But I think this season wanted
[11:34] to start with Damon in a more active
[11:36] starting place considering Matt Smith is
[11:37] the biggest star of the show arguably
[11:39] and in season 2 he was sidelined for
[11:40] most of the season. We get this
[11:42] interesting moment where Oscar says he
[11:43] wants to make time to bury their dead.
[11:45] Damon says Caraxis can burn the corpses
[11:47] much faster and prevent plague. And
[11:48] right as he says this, right on Q,
[11:50] Caraxis torches some corpses in the
[11:52] background. But Oscar says
[11:53] >> that is not our way. Rivermen must be
[11:55] returned to the mud. You may remember
[11:56] the Viking boat funeral custom of the
[11:58] Tullies that we saw in Game of Thrones,
[11:59] but I think that was reserved for just
[12:01] highborn lords. In this case, mud really
[12:03] just means the banks of a river, which I
[12:05] assume they would be near if this is the
[12:07] Battle of the Red Fork. But I think
[12:08] there's another deeper layer of this as
[12:09] well that I'm going to get to in the
[12:11] spoiler dungeon. Behind Oscar to the
[12:12] left, that is a new character for the
[12:14] season, Allison Blackwood, aka Black
[12:16] Alley, sister to Lord Samuel Blackwood.
[12:18] She's played by Annie Shapiro. Doesn't
[12:20] get any lines here, but she's going to
[12:21] be an important character this season.
[12:22] Now, you may remember how season 2 kind
[12:24] of skipped directly to the aftermath of
[12:25] the Battle of the Burning Mill, so we
[12:27] never got to see this. But during that
[12:28] battle, Sir Amos Bracken actually died
[12:30] from a weirwood arrow that was fired by
[12:32] Black Alley to avenge her brother's
[12:34] death. She's a real badass character,
[12:35] and she's got quite a history ahead of
[12:37] her. But then through the treeine
[12:38] arrived, the Winter Wolves. These are
[12:40] the 2,000 Northern men sent by Kan Stark
[12:42] after Jace met with him at the wall in
[12:44] the season 2 premiere. We saw them
[12:45] marching through the twins in the season
[12:47] 2 finale. They're made up of older men
[12:49] who left the North behind, assuming
[12:50] they're never going to return in order
[12:52] to leave more resources for their sons,
[12:53] daughters, and grandkids for the coming
[12:55] winter. Roger McDustin steps forward and
[12:57] tosses the severed head of Jason
[12:58] Lannister. He's also known as Rody the
[13:00] Ruin. He's played by Tommy Flanigan, and
[13:02] he's going to rock by involving the
[13:03] Winterwolves in this battle. They may be
[13:05] merging this with a battle by the lake
[13:06] shore, which in Fire and Blood took out
[13:08] twothirds of the Winter Wolves against
[13:10] Lannister Spearman. But either way, it
[13:11] sounds like they haven't fully finished
[13:13] off all of the Lannisters and that host
[13:14] from the Golden Tooth as Damon now says,
[13:16] >> "We've got more lines to hunt."
[13:17] >> And as we transition out of the scene, I
[13:19] love how we can hear the first four
[13:20] notes of the Reigns of Castmir theme.
[13:24] Yeah, we're going to see a lot of
[13:25] Lannisters die in this episode, and I'm
[13:27] happy about it. Sir High Totower reacts
[13:29] to one of their men assaulting a woman.
[13:31] There's kind of a running theme in this
[13:32] episode of these High Tower Greens just
[13:34] being too green for the gritty realities
[13:36] of war. Wayne is shocked at the dishonor
[13:38] of his own men. Orund is grossed out by
[13:41] the grime of the messenger. Allison
[13:42] being stunned at how pervy and incesty
[13:45] her son is, even though they were all
[13:46] raised in a keep with dragon beastiality
[13:48] porn all over the walls. Sir
[13:50] Christristen Cole paints a shield with
[13:51] the heraldry of House Cole of Black
[13:53] Raven and the Dornish marshes of the
[13:54] Stormlands. 10 black pellets on a field
[13:56] of scarlet. Interesting that he's
[13:58] painting a shield with his own house
[13:59] rather than taking on the green high
[14:00] tower heraldry. It's kind of like he
[14:02] knows his days are numbered and he's
[14:03] trying to get back to his roots. He
[14:04] seems pretty pessimistic based on this
[14:06] line.
[14:06] >> We will all become beasts before our
[14:08] end. Yes, as we see with the untamed
[14:10] disobedient dragons in all of these
[14:12] battles, it's ultimately these beasts
[14:13] that decide our fates. Meanwhile, at the
[14:15] God's Eye Lake, we see sea smoke flying
[14:17] up and landing beside Vermor as
[14:19] Silverwing looks down on Ul the White,
[14:21] gathered with Hugh Hammer and Adam of
[14:22] Hull. Ul recalls growing up an orphan in
[14:24] the streets and meeting a priest from
[14:26] Essos who paid him and abused him and
[14:28] told the boy that he had King's blood, a
[14:30] story that he ended up embracing with
[14:31] his reputation of Ulf, the dragon seed,
[14:33] as we saw in season 2. So that really
[14:35] tells us that when Silverwing bonded to
[14:37] him, the connection that he shares with
[14:38] this dragon is really part of his
[14:40] healing process for the abuse that he
[14:41] had to suffer. By the way, this red
[14:43] priest would have been a worshshiper of
[14:44] the red god Ror, the lord of light. Ulf
[14:47] assumes that if they're victorious
[14:48] against Vaggar, they'll get castles and
[14:50] is disappointed to learn that Reineer
[14:52] only promises to make them knights, not
[14:53] lords. As we saw in the Night of the
[14:55] Seven Kingdoms, knights, even with their
[14:57] horses, can still end up pretty much
[14:58] homeless, sleeping under trees. What Ul
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[16:14] here with you. Now, in the text, these
[16:16] three dragon seed recruits are not
[16:18] sidelined at Harrenhal like they are in
[16:20] this episode. They're actually at Dragon
[16:21] Stone and they join the Battle of the
[16:22] Gullet. Ultimately, I like the choice to
[16:24] limit the Battle of the Gullet to just
[16:25] the three dragons and the three riders
[16:27] that we see. It's more personal that
[16:28] way. And I'll talk about why I think
[16:30] they put these three characters here at
[16:32] the God's Eye Lake a bit later in this
[16:33] breakdown. But meanwhile, Raina tries
[16:35] taming Sheepstaler by singing.
[16:41] >> Ah, this is the same Valyrian lullabi
[16:43] that her dad Damon sang to Vermore in
[16:46] the Dragon Mont. This song was actually
[16:48] called Haros Bartosi, meaning with three
[16:50] heads. It was written by Tai Michael,
[16:52] translated to Valyrian by the show's
[16:54] language expert David J. Peterson. The
[16:56] opening lyric that Raina sings here
[16:57] translates to fire breather, but sheep
[16:59] stealers Rora cuts her off. Helena says
[17:01] of Aean,
[17:02] >> "Veamemon's frightened too after he
[17:04] claimed Vagar, he forgot what fear was,
[17:06] but he remembers now."
[17:08] >> Yeah, we've spent so much time on the
[17:10] series with Fearless One Eyee Aemon,
[17:12] played by Yuan Mitchell, that we forgot
[17:13] how this kid nearly pissed himself
[17:15] facing Helena's dragon, Dreamfire, in
[17:17] the dragon pit. I have a theory about
[17:18] some moves Helena may be making here.
[17:20] I'm going to save them for the spoiler
[17:21] dungeon. Corus offers Alan of Hall some
[17:23] booze from IB. IB is an island off the
[17:25] northeastern coast of Essos in the
[17:27] shivering sea. At least that's in the
[17:29] HBO cannon. We don't really know exactly
[17:31] where this Icelands sized island is. But
[17:33] it just shows that Corus has sailed all
[17:35] over this world. Corus says they call it
[17:37] dragon water. According to the world of
[17:39] ice and fire, dragon bones were found on
[17:40] IB, suggesting dragons once lived there.
[17:43] But then 53 and counting Triarchy ships
[17:45] have been spotted and right away we see
[17:46] the contrast in their making. Much
[17:48] smaller ships, bigger sails, all
[17:49] catching full wind and moving fast.
[17:51] Thailand Lannister proposes to Shurakco
[17:53] Lohar to take the southern inlet south
[17:55] of Drift Mark into the Blackwater Bay in
[17:57] order to be close to the Valyrian ship
[17:58] so that the Black Dragons will be less
[18:00] likely to open fire on them. But Shurco
[18:02] orders part of her fleet to sail north
[18:04] of Dragonstone so that they can sack
[18:05] high tide on the northern side of Drift
[18:07] Mark and strike at Corus' heart. Shurco
[18:09] warns Tailwind that he's going to regret
[18:11] his heavy armor when he ends up in the
[18:12] drink. Indeed, she personally makes sure
[18:14] that happens. Meanwhile, at the camp of
[18:16] Orand High Tower, we see the blue dragon
[18:18] Tarion. This is the dragon of Allison's
[18:20] youngest son, Darren, who has not been
[18:22] revealed on the show until the season.
[18:23] But the squire to Orand, at least
[18:25] according to George R. Martin's text, is
[18:26] supposed to be Prince Darren. So, we do
[18:28] see a squire in the scene who does not
[18:30] speak. This guy has reddish hair like
[18:32] Allison. Darren in the text is supposed
[18:34] to have long silver hair like his
[18:35] brothers Aegon and Aemon. So, it's not
[18:37] clear if this show is going to make this
[18:38] squire Darren. We'll probably find out
[18:40] next episode. Orund is played
[18:42] wonderfully by James Norton who plays a
[18:44] character with these snobby
[18:45] idiosyncrasies like this cringe at the
[18:47] stink of the messenger and noticing the
[18:49] dirt on the wax of the letter similar to
[18:50] the way Allison picks at her fingers.
[18:52] I'm just excited to see how these
[18:54] green's little quirks manifest when the
[18:56] [ __ ] goes down. We also meet the
[18:57] character of Bold Jon, John Roxton. Both
[19:00] Jon and Orman carry Valyrian steel
[19:02] swords. Orman carries vigilance. Bull
[19:03] John carries orphan maker. And you'll
[19:05] notice on Orman's armor, we have the
[19:06] beautiful engravings of the mother and
[19:08] the warrior on his chest plate. But
[19:10] getting a closer look at the letter that
[19:11] Allison wrote pretending to be Aean. She
[19:13] straight up calls Aemon King Aemon first
[19:15] of his name. And she didn't really have
[19:16] to copy or forge A because literally
[19:19] Aemon never would have written a letter
[19:20] like this before and would have had to
[19:22] come up with specific royal initials. We
[19:24] see how Allison successfully manipulates
[19:26] Aemon to take Vagar to Harrenhal
[19:27] appealing to his ego and his fear and
[19:30] offering maybe a bit too much motherly
[19:31] affection. Aemon maybe sensing an
[19:33] ulterior motive, just the wrong ulterior
[19:35] motive and warmed by the fire and
[19:37] probably by the dragon beastiality art
[19:39] all over the walls goes in for a kiss on
[19:42] his mom. Yes, this is deeply unsettling
[19:44] and I really appreciate the way Olivia
[19:46] Cook plays it. Like she can't afford to
[19:47] upset her son and she needs him to take
[19:49] Vagar to Harrenhal for Reira to let her,
[19:51] Helena, and Jahara escape, but her eyes
[19:53] reveal how she's in full panic mode,
[19:55] realizing the even deeper layer of
[19:57] depravity of the monster she's raised.
[19:58] Back in the god's eye, Ol sees a goat
[20:00] while he's dropping a load. Remember, a
[20:02] black goat is also a form Alice Rivers
[20:04] took to Damon in Harrenhal early on in
[20:06] season 2. Hugh and Adam, meanwhile, look
[20:08] up and see a creature with antlers and
[20:10] fawn legs. Damon saw this same dude in
[20:12] the season 2 finale beside the Weirwood
[20:14] tree right before his epic vision. This
[20:16] is a green man. The green men are
[20:18] humanoid hybrid beings that we don't
[20:19] know too much about other than they just
[20:20] tend to the weirwoods on the aisle of
[20:22] faces in the middle of the God's Eye
[20:24] Lake. They are tied to the magic of the
[20:25] old gods and the pact between the
[20:27] children of the forest and the first men
[20:28] that ended that war agreed to on that
[20:31] island. I'm just flashing back to a
[20:32] whole bunch of theories I had when I was
[20:33] covering the later seasons of Game of
[20:35] Thrones thinking that the series was
[20:36] going to end on that island. And
[20:37] hopefully Ryan Condell can make
[20:39] something like that happen on this
[20:40] series. Alice Rivers just kind of
[20:41] appears out of nowhere.
[20:42] >> Friends, right?
[20:46] >> You're missing the battle. The Queen
[20:48] needs you at Dragonstone.
[20:49] >> Hm. How does she know that? Well, based
[20:51] on Damon's vision from that tree, it
[20:53] seems like Alice just knows all about
[20:55] the fateful twists of this dance of the
[20:57] dragons. And I love how Alice doesn't
[20:58] even hide it with these three. Who are
[21:00] you?
[21:02] >> I'm a witch.
[21:03] >> Ha. She is wise enough to know that
[21:05] these three easily spooked,
[21:06] superstitious dopes would get out of
[21:08] dodge when some Scooby-Doo [ __ ] started.
[21:10] And I love with this little glance at
[21:11] Ols running to Silverwing. It's like
[21:14] Alice knows that he was a kid abused by
[21:16] a red priest, a priest who magically
[21:18] knew about his ancestry. So what was the
[21:20] point of this subplot other than to just
[21:22] sideline these three to limit the
[21:23] dragons in the battle of the gullet?
[21:24] Well, by shifting Damon and Caraxis out
[21:26] of Harrenhal to give him a more active
[21:28] role with the Riverlanders and the
[21:29] Winter Wolves, I think the writers
[21:31] needed to show how Reineer and the Black
[21:32] Council didn't completely abandon
[21:34] Harrenhal to be undefended. But I think
[21:36] they also wanted to remind us of the
[21:37] divine importance of Harrenhal in the
[21:39] god's eye and the power of the old gods
[21:41] in this conflict. That it wasn't all
[21:42] just in Damon's head in season 2. that
[21:44] there are real witches about openly
[21:46] calling themselves witches with true old
[21:48] gods power. But I also think Alice
[21:50] Rivers just wants to clear a path for
[21:52] Aemon to arrive. She already manipulated
[21:54] Damon in season 2. And for an oracle
[21:56] figure like her, she likely sees Damon
[21:59] and Aemon with the god's eye view that
[22:01] we the audience does. Two sides of the
[22:03] same hotaded coin. One with the hot D up
[22:06] top, one with the hot D bringing up the
[22:08] rear. More on this parallel in the
[22:10] spoiler dungeon. After Bao reports
[22:12] seeing the triarchy in the gullet, Reara
[22:13] wants to go herself to Corus's aid. And
[22:15] Jace doesn't agree.
[22:16] >> If you die, then you will at last be
[22:18] king.
[22:19] >> Rea's exasperated tone here on top of
[22:21] this intention to fly into the battle
[22:22] herself, I think is another
[22:24] characteristic difference with Reara on
[22:25] this show from the text. Like, we get
[22:27] the sense that Reara is just done with
[22:29] this succession [ __ ] and wants to
[22:31] end the escalating bloodshed as
[22:32] decisively as possible, even if that
[22:34] means her own death. But I have to say,
[22:36] I'm not crazy about this narratively
[22:38] clunky way in which the script has to
[22:40] then sideline Rene in order to make sure
[22:42] history goes the way it has to. Jace
[22:44] ordering Sir Laurent to barricade the
[22:46] queen's doors, putting Sir Lawrence in
[22:48] this impossible position of protecting
[22:49] his queen from her own impulses. I just
[22:51] don't buy that Sir Laurent and the Black
[22:53] Council and all the queen's guard would
[22:55] defy the queen. Like, they'd be more
[22:56] afraid of her than they'd be of Jace.
[22:58] But I think it's another example of
[23:00] these writers characterizing Reineer as
[23:02] more of a victim of the men around her
[23:04] trying to control her either out of
[23:05] love, out of duty, or out of their own
[23:07] selfish ambition. Like obviously Reineer
[23:09] couldn't herself be there at the gullet
[23:11] according to history. But I just think
[23:12] dollousing her in her room for this
[23:14] isn't the most narratively inspired
[23:16] solution to that. Like I'm not trying to
[23:17] tell the writers how to do their job,
[23:19] but wouldn't it be simpler to just have
[23:20] Jace intercept Baya before she could
[23:22] report the news of the Triarchy and the
[23:23] Gullet and the two of them could just
[23:24] fly off before Rineer could ever be told
[23:26] that information? Like then at least it
[23:28] would all fall on Jayce's naivee and
[23:30] protective impulses. But as it plays out
[23:32] here, Jace and Sir Lawrence would have
[23:34] had to get all of the other Queen's
[23:35] Guard Knights and the Black Council that
[23:37] certainly overheard Raineira to support
[23:39] this coup d'eta that happens in the
[23:40] episode. So basically by trying to make
[23:42] Reara more of a hero in the show, they
[23:44] end up robbing her of the power someone
[23:45] in her position should actually have
[23:47] over the people around her. And they
[23:48] just kind of leave it to Emma Darcy to
[23:50] do the great acting that they always do
[23:52] and just kind of play the emotional
[23:53] breakdown that follows from that. Don't
[23:54] get me wrong, I love seeing Emma Darcy
[23:56] emote on this show. But in this episode,
[23:58] she ends up being just like locked in
[23:59] her bedroom like a teenage girl. And I
[24:01] know that's Ryan Condell commenting on
[24:02] the men of this world, but I don't think
[24:04] they need to be that afraid of the
[24:06] version of Reineer that George R. Martin
[24:07] wrote in the text. But I do love this
[24:09] crazed look in Jayce's eyes as he tells
[24:11] Baya that he's not going to let another
[24:12] rook's rest happen on their side where
[24:14] their monarch was drawn into open war.
[24:16] But really, he's just the eldest son
[24:17] desperate to be in the history books. He
[24:19] will be, but not for the reasons he
[24:20] wants to be. So, we begin the chaos of
[24:22] the Battle of the Gullets. Right in the
[24:23] middle of it, we see the burning mast of
[24:25] a Triarchy ship crashing into an already
[24:27] burning sail of a Valarian ship, causing
[24:29] them both to burn even more. That yet,
[24:31] the Sea Snake is untouched. From the
[24:32] beginning, we see Corus' naval
[24:34] expertise.
[24:35] >> Barrelman, signal the fleet. Do not
[24:37] cluster. Keep them ON THE CHASE.
[24:40] >> YES, CONSTANT communication with all
[24:41] parts of his crew for them to maneuver
[24:43] in sync. I also love how big the crow's
[24:45] nests are on these ships. You get a
[24:46] sense that lots of barrelmen can be up
[24:47] there to keep an eye on all horizons.
[24:49] Notice how Corus' chest plate
[24:51] incorporates his hand pin as he is
[24:52] technically currently handed queen for
[24:54] the Black Council. Allan reports seeing
[24:56] Shurco Lohar's flagship,
[24:57] >> the Bitchfist. The Bitchfist, an
[24:59] invention of the series, an apt name
[25:01] given to the broadside ramming mechanism
[25:03] that makes the ship so deadly. Shurco
[25:05] Lohar spots the sea snake and orders to
[25:07] send her own flagship after the other
[25:09] flagship. Tylen says that that's a
[25:10] terrible strategy, and he's right. But
[25:12] Shurco says Corass led the personal
[25:14] slaughter of her people for the past 20
[25:15] years. Indeed, over the two decades
[25:17] since season 1, we have seen how Corless
[25:19] working with Damon did ravage the
[25:20] Triarchy and his Stepstones. And we got
[25:22] to remember the whole triarchy is really
[25:23] just a coalition fleet made up of
[25:25] sailors from Lee, Mir, and Tro sailing
[25:27] under the banners of the three
[25:28] daughters. And it makes sense that
[25:29] they'd be motivated by just this
[25:31] pirateesque bloodlust that misses the
[25:33] forest for the trees, or I guess I
[25:34] should say the ocean for the waves. She
[25:36] rallies her soldiers.
[25:37] >> You'll all join me as I sit the
[25:39] Driftwood throne and dine ON THE SEA
[25:42] SNAKES.
[25:44] I mean, this is really a strategic
[25:46] blunder by the Greens to bet their whole
[25:48] naval superiority on an alliance with
[25:49] these free city rogues with their own
[25:51] short-sighted goals. Like for Shurco
[25:53] Lohar, the ultimate throne is not the
[25:54] one made of iron, but the one made of
[25:56] driftwood, gifted by the Merlin King,
[25:58] according to legend, in a pact with the
[25:59] Valarians, a legend that the Triarchy
[26:01] would obviously hate. The idea that this
[26:03] mythological figure would gift the
[26:04] bloodline, the Valyrian invaders,
[26:06] something that ancestrally would belong
[26:08] to the three daughters. This whole idea
[26:10] of the power of driftwood, it's an
[26:11] interesting parallel to season 1.
[26:12] Remember when Damon showed up with the
[26:14] driftwood crown that he threw at his
[26:15] brother's feet? Meanwhile, Reineer
[26:17] anxiously picks at the skin of her
[26:18] fingers, a nervous tick that her
[26:20] counterpart, Allison, has shown
[26:21] throughout the series. As really being
[26:22] locked in a room away from the action is
[26:24] the most Allisony. Reineer has been cast
[26:26] in the series. She stabs and slashes at
[26:28] her writing leathers as if admitting
[26:29] defeat that her so-called supporters
[26:30] will never really let her fly into
[26:32] battle. Jace on Vermax and Ba on
[26:34] Moondancer arrive and torch two triarchy
[26:36] ships. His confidence restored, Corass
[26:38] orders Allen to set course for the
[26:39] Dragonstone Pass, to isolate Shurako
[26:41] Lohar's flagship and leave the rest of
[26:43] the rudderless fleet for the Dragons.
[26:44] This is another benefit of Corus'
[26:46] experience. He's a naval captain who
[26:48] knows how to work in tandem with dragons
[26:50] after collabing with Damon on Coraxis
[26:52] and his son Lighor on Seasmoke. Now,
[26:54] it's not clear if his wife Rainey son
[26:55] has ever fought in the Stepstones, but
[26:57] she at least patrolled the waters around
[26:58] Drift Mark in ways Corless would have to
[27:00] calculate, but Shurakhar is undeterred.
[27:02] The Triarchy also has experience in
[27:04] dragons thanks to fighting Caraxis and
[27:06] Sea Smoke and they whip out this grapo
[27:08] firing scorpion similar to the character
[27:10] Quint and Jaws lining up his harpoon to
[27:12] plug the shark with barrels. We see
[27:14] Lowhar's point of view as she lines up
[27:15] her aim on Vermax. It's similar to
[27:17] Corass taking the helm himself. We see
[27:19] how her command comes from her doing
[27:21] this complex task herself. She
[27:23] successfully hooks Vermax, but if you
[27:25] look closely, it only pierces the
[27:26] leather harness of the saddle that Jace
[27:28] rides on, not Vermax's flesh. It does
[27:30] weigh the dragon down, but Lowhar
[27:32] prematurely celebrates.
[27:33] >> Lowhar, dragon slayer.
[27:35] >> We see how the grapo line snares on
[27:37] another ship, tearing apart the planks.
[27:39] I appreciated this as a possible
[27:40] reference to one of the other ways Fire
[27:41] and Blood reports Vermax's eventual
[27:43] fall, getting tangled on the raiding of
[27:45] a ship. But we also see the true
[27:46] advantage of the Blacks. Not just one
[27:48] big dragon, but a squadron of dragons
[27:50] working in harmony. Baya orders Moon
[27:52] Dancer to aid, and Moon Dancer is
[27:54] trained enough to know what that means.
[27:55] They've run drills on this exact
[27:57] scenario. That's awesome. Moon Dancer
[27:59] swoops down and snaps a line, freeing
[28:01] Vermax. Now, for book readers, this
[28:02] cleverly gives us some false hope that
[28:04] Jayce's fate could play out differently
[28:06] than how we're expecting. We think, "Oh,
[28:07] maybe this wholesome couple working so
[28:09] perfectly in tandem on their dragons
[28:11] could end up being a better Jiharis and
[28:13] Alisanne." We get this little gleeful
[28:15] smile from Jace where he could see that
[28:17] hope in his eyes. Meanwhile, the Sea
[28:18] Snake sails into the Dragonstone Pass. I
[28:21] loved this sequence. On a personal note,
[28:23] I grew up in a Navy family, spending
[28:25] many days on boats in my youth,
[28:26] navigating rivers and channels that were
[28:28] just barely deep enough to cross,
[28:30] questioning if my retired Navy captain
[28:32] father knew what he was doing. I would
[28:34] feel this huge anxiety whenever I would
[28:35] hear the whole scrape against something.
[28:37] And then ultimately, I would just feel
[28:38] this tremendous relief that my captain
[28:40] knew the tides perfectly to see his sons
[28:42] through. It's honestly a feeling that I
[28:45] haven't thought about in like 20 years.
[28:46] So, we see how this pass is basically
[28:48] Corus' beggar's canyon. He's navigated
[28:50] this channel countless times, probably
[28:52] crashed against these rocks countless
[28:54] times and had to swim to keep himself
[28:56] from drowning. He knows where all the
[28:57] traps are. He knows how they can appear
[28:59] or disappear based on the tidal clock.
[29:01] And he's probably taught a lot of this
[29:02] wisdom in varying degrees to different
[29:04] parts of his crew. So, when we see
[29:06] Corass peering through this spy glass,
[29:08] he's looking past the haze and the smoke
[29:10] of the battle to the position of the sun
[29:11] on these exact rocks at this exact time
[29:13] of day in order to calculate the precise
[29:16] tidal clock and how much time he has
[29:18] exactly before the tide goes out. in
[29:20] this pass, how fast exactly to move in
[29:22] order for his ship to clear it, while
[29:23] doing the [ __ ] fist in the exact length
[29:25] behind him to run around. And I really
[29:27] like the idea that there may be some
[29:28] secret magic in the exact
[29:30] crystallization of this spy glass that
[29:32] only the sea snake can have, a specific
[29:34] type of vision that he would want to
[29:35] pass on to his heir someday. But he also
[29:37] has to do what every great captain has
[29:39] to do. Know your crew. He has to know
[29:41] how much everyone weighs, how much their
[29:44] armor and cargo weigh, every plank of
[29:46] his ship, how fast they can possibly row
[29:48] when they're tired, what their emotional
[29:50] breaking points are, and how far he can
[29:52] push them. The lead lines that they drop
[29:53] in the water are for measuring the
[29:54] current depth. And once Corass gets this
[29:56] info,
[29:58] >> SIX,
[29:59] BARRELMAN REPORT.
[30:01] >> He asks the barrelman up top to report
[30:03] and the barrelman says, "Breakers ahead,
[30:04] tides going out, currents are strong,
[30:06] set to lar, meaning the left side of the
[30:08] ship when you're facing the bow." So, I
[30:10] appreciate that. Even in a moment like
[30:11] this, Corass also tries to teach his
[30:13] helmsmen at first. He instructs him to
[30:15] steer Larboard, meaning against the
[30:17] current to keep the current from pushing
[30:18] them directly into the breakers.
[30:20] Meanwhile, Shuraka Lohar foolishly
[30:21] orders to just follow the sea snake's
[30:23] wake. But with the tide receding this
[30:25] fast, that's not necessarily the safest
[30:27] path for them cuz it's all based on the
[30:29] exact timing. So, when Corus' helmsman
[30:31] steers too hard, notice that Corus does
[30:33] not lose his cool. He just calmly puts
[30:35] his hand on the other guys and takes
[30:37] over because he knows that the last
[30:38] thing he needs his crew seeing is the
[30:40] captain losing his nerve as that would
[30:41] cause them to start making mistakes of
[30:43] their own. So Corass then orders his
[30:44] cockwain, referring to the collar of the
[30:46] oresman, to tell the others to bank
[30:48] their orars right now because that means
[30:50] they have to draw them in so that the
[30:51] ores don't get caught on the rocks. And
[30:53] so now Corless will use the current
[30:55] momentum to just glide the ship without
[30:57] any propulsion beyond that through this
[30:59] super narrow part of the teeth. Like
[31:01] maybe I'm obsessing over this too much,
[31:03] but again, I grew up learning these
[31:04] various simple lessons of naval command,
[31:06] and this sequence just reminded me of
[31:08] all of those lessons of good teamwork
[31:10] and leadership. Also, we get to finally
[31:11] see the cunning of Corus, how he's
[31:13] really an Odysius-like figure, bravely
[31:15] navigating his crew through the
[31:17] impossibly narrow path between the
[31:18] mythological Caribus and Hydra, like
[31:20] they call these rocks the teeth, like
[31:22] there's some beast below about to devour
[31:24] them. Really, in the narrative structure
[31:25] of this episode, it ends up giving us a
[31:27] false victory because then we cut to
[31:29] this wildcard element of Sheepsteeler
[31:31] arriving at Dragonstone to Rea's
[31:33] short-term relief. But rising over the
[31:35] island, she sees the smoke of her
[31:36] grandfather Corus' fleet burning, and
[31:38] she feels like she has to act. Really,
[31:40] the ultimate sin of all of the dragon
[31:42] riders is an innate hero's complex.
[31:44] Meanwhile, Shurakhar orders three hands
[31:46] to starboard, meaning a sudden hard turn
[31:48] of the rungs of the helm, hand over hand
[31:50] over hand. the exact opposite of the
[31:52] gentle turning that Corus told his
[31:54] helmsmen to do. So Shurako's two sister
[31:56] ships run ground on these teeth. But we
[31:58] see the contrasting leadership style of
[31:59] Shurocco where she decides she wants to
[32:01] go faster by going alone, lightening the
[32:03] load at all cost. Something Corus would
[32:05] never do because his strength relies on
[32:06] him knowing his crew mates. So she
[32:09] chaotically dumps cargo and anchors and
[32:11] all of these armored Lannisters,
[32:13] including Thailand Lannister. Yes,
[32:14] Jefferson Hall has to play dead
[32:16] characters twice this episode. Even
[32:17] though these Lannisters were soldiers
[32:19] who helped them in the past ships that
[32:20] they raided before the past in this
[32:22] battle. So we watch as Thailand and
[32:23] these other Lannisters reign of Casemir
[32:25] down on these rocky teeth and struggle
[32:27] as their armor and swords weigh them
[32:28] down. RIP. But it's important to note
[32:30] that Corass does not know that Shurocco
[32:32] Lohar made this sacrifice. He just
[32:34] thinks the Bitchfist luckily and
[32:36] magically cleared the teeth. Like you
[32:37] always have to assume the worst about
[32:38] your enemy. Though you never know when
[32:40] they're secretly bleeding and how they
[32:42] are bleeding. On the other side of the
[32:43] pass, I love how they show the bitchfist
[32:45] speed with strong wind and waves
[32:46] crashing against Abigail Thorne's face
[32:48] while Corass's locks don't really move
[32:50] at all because they're just turning for
[32:52] a broadside defense. But this pivoting
[32:54] allows him now to see the castle of high
[32:56] tide on drift mark burning. He's
[32:57] completely missing the fact that the
[32:58] bitchfist is not also turning for a
[33:00] typical boarding party where the ships
[33:02] would be parallel. Allan notices it just
[33:04] a second too late, so they have no time
[33:05] to turn back and avoid getting rammed.
[33:07] So, we also see the great captain's
[33:09] folly, his love for his home, and his
[33:11] treasure vault, which is also Odysius's
[33:13] folly, his fixation on Ithaca,
[33:15] Penelopey, and Tmicus. Because the [ __ ]
[33:17] fist is too narrow and moving too fast,
[33:19] Allen's orders of crossbow and catapult
[33:20] releases miss, and the camera movement
[33:22] braces us for impact. I love how THIS
[33:24] PUSHES IN.
[33:25] >> HOLD ON [ __ ]
[33:28] SO, THE bitchfist rams the sea snake and
[33:30] chews a fatal gash into its hole and
[33:32] deck. We see the Triarchy raid with
[33:34] planks and this awesome swinging boom,
[33:36] meaning the Valarian sailors would not
[33:38] be able to repel them one at a time.
[33:40] Meanwhile, our hearts sink as sheep
[33:42] stealers claws scrape the waves toward
[33:44] the battle. Raina's voice CRACKS AS SHE
[33:45] SCREAMS.
[33:47] >> AH, NOT A GOOD SIGN. She's already
[33:49] losing her voice from all the screaming
[33:50] she's been doing this episode, and it's
[33:52] going to be less likely that Sheep
[33:53] Stealer will hear her future orders.
[33:55] Sheepaler burns one Triarchy ship, but
[33:57] then gets hit by arrows and flaming
[33:59] projectiles. So, the dragon gets
[34:00] flustered, clips a ship, and then just
[34:02] aims at the first non-dragon thing that
[34:04] it sees, a Valaran SHIP
[34:08] [screaming]
[34:12] EXHAUST.
[34:13] >> SO, NOW ALL bets are off in the battle.
[34:14] It's like an Uzi's been dropped down a
[34:16] stairwell, but Corless needed a
[34:17] bitchfist slap to regain his senses. His
[34:20] helmet is immediately knocked off. We
[34:21] can't show everything in this battle,
[34:22] but they went to a lot of effort to make
[34:24] this a viscerally red, bloody battle.
[34:26] There are bloody arm stumps. We see
[34:28] sailors on the deck, slippery with blood
[34:29] and intrails. But the chaos of the
[34:31] aerial theater causes Baya to order Moon
[34:33] Dancer to attack Sheepstealer. After
[34:35] all, to her, this is a dragon she's
[34:36] never seen before. So, she assumes it's
[34:38] on the side of the Greens. But again,
[34:39] because Raina mounted Sheepstaler with
[34:41] no saddle, she's lower on the dragon's
[34:43] scales and harder to see over its head.
[34:45] So, only at the last second does Baya
[34:47] see her sister Raina on its back in
[34:49] orders to evade, putting her at a
[34:51] disadvantage. We see this incredible VFX
[34:53] shot going from the evasion to Sheep
[34:55] Steeler clawing directly at Baya
[34:57] directly at camera, missing her by
[34:59] inches, and then Moon Dancer has to go
[35:00] into this chaotic dive, missing a crow's
[35:02] nest, and then the camera pivots around
[35:04] to show Sheepsteeler chasing Moondancer.
[35:06] And by the way, I love how this is all
[35:08] shot in the daytime with the fiery glow
[35:09] of an increasing number of galls that
[35:11] this is all just thankfully easy to
[35:12] track. Smart choice to limit it to three
[35:14] dragons instead of five. As Corass
[35:16] swashb fuckles with Shurocco, we see his
[35:18] burning home in the background of all of
[35:19] this. We cut to some below shots of the
[35:21] two ships in their wrecked states. The
[35:23] crashing waves against both of these
[35:24] ships cause the two fighters to keep
[35:26] losing their footing from each other as
[35:27] the glor crumbles beneath their feet.
[35:28] Corass goes into the water and
[35:30] disappears. And we don't know about his
[35:32] fate in this episode. So Allan has to
[35:34] step up and engage Shuraco. Meanwhile,
[35:36] Jace makes the same mistake Baya did and
[35:38] orders a strike on this mystery dragon
[35:40] and again realizes too late that it's
[35:41] Raina on the back. So, this directs
[35:43] Sheepsteelers rage on Vermax. This fiery
[35:45] chase causes Jason and Vermax to lose
[35:47] their focus. They fly too low past these
[35:49] Triarchy ships. And notice how Jason
[35:51] Vermax's heads are turned back around
[35:53] when Oh [ __ ] Another grap. No hook is
[35:56] deployed. And this time punctures
[35:57] Vermax's lung. You can actually hear
[35:59] Vermax's screeches sound deflated by his
[36:01] ruptured breathing.
[36:09] And notice how smoke emits from the
[36:10] puncture as all dragon breath is fiery
[36:13] hot. Poor Raina turns around and sees
[36:15] what her chaos caused.
[36:17] >> Jeez.
[36:18] >> Bay tries to dive Moon Dancer to save
[36:20] Vervax again, but the dragon is too low
[36:22] and the hook is too embedded in its
[36:24] flesh. But it's not a glorious victory
[36:26] scored by the Valorians. Meanwhile,
[36:27] Allan tries to drown Shurocco in the
[36:29] flooded guts of his father's sinking
[36:31] ship and ultimately just stabs Shurco in
[36:33] the neck and allows her to sink in the
[36:35] water. The promise Corless made to
[36:36] redeem his strained relationship with
[36:37] his bastard son, it really falls on the
[36:39] bastard son Allan to carry that load.
[36:41] Bayless screams after her betrothed
[36:43] Jace, but a Grapnell line just nearly
[36:45] misses Moon Dancer and she can't get
[36:46] closer. So, we see poor Vermax thrashing
[36:48] in the surf again. Incredible VFX here.
[36:51] They really had Harry Klet in a water
[36:52] tank for his part of it. We see Jace
[36:54] from below the waves, reminding us of
[36:55] the shots of Tailwind Lannister and how
[36:57] his heavy armor and sword weighed him
[36:59] down. Black blood billows from Vermax's
[37:01] corpse, but Jace is able to swim to the
[37:03] surface, and we're like, "Oh, he's
[37:04] okay." And just as he finds a piece of
[37:06] driftwood, boom, my Roshi arrow. We hear
[37:08] them cheering as a second, and then a
[37:10] third plunges into his chest and neck.
[37:12] We're reminded of poor Rob Stark. And
[37:14] the way the arrows of the phrase and the
[37:15] Boltons hit him at the Red Wedding, and
[37:17] then we see his body from below, far
[37:19] below. And here's the details at the
[37:20] top. Based on how deep we are, I think
[37:22] we are seeing this as a point of view
[37:24] shot from Vermax, the last thing the
[37:27] dragon sees of his writer. helpless to
[37:29] help this boy. We are left with the
[37:31] setting sun over the smoke and haze of
[37:32] the sea battle with no clear victor as
[37:34] Bao rides Moon Dancer helpless
[37:36] casualties on all side. Now, a big
[37:38] thematic change for this series is the
[37:40] emphasis that these humans do not have
[37:42] full control over their dragons and
[37:44] every dragon battle we see is impossible
[37:46] to predict the ultimate outcome of and
[37:48] will always lead to a mass casualty
[37:50] event on all sides. We end this episode
[37:52] in the spoiler dungeon. If you haven't
[37:53] read the book and you don't want to know
[37:54] what happens after this historically
[37:56] according to the text, you can stop
[37:57] watching now. Okay, book readers know
[37:58] that Corless Valarion actually does
[38:00] survive this, though he has a haunting
[38:02] line that he says, "If this be victory,
[38:03] he never wants to fight again." Also,
[38:05] book readers know that this whole
[38:06] episode omits the involvement of the gay
[38:08] abandoned ship. That's a ship headed to
[38:10] Pintos, carrying Rineer's youngest sons,
[38:12] Agon the Younger and Vizeris. In the
[38:13] text, the princes were intercepted by a
[38:15] triarchy ship before the battle breaks
[38:17] out. Aegon the Younger escapes with
[38:18] Stormcloud back to Dragonstone. Vizeras
[38:20] goes missing with the dragon egg, but
[38:22] Reineer has thought she lost two sons
[38:24] and it's not really clear if Aegon the
[38:25] Younger has Storm Cloud on the show. All
[38:27] we saw were four dragon eggs. It's also
[38:29] not clear where the gay abandoned ship
[38:31] is in the show. Maybe we'll learn in
[38:32] future episodes, but we know that some
[38:34] Triarchy ships survived this battle. At
[38:36] least 28 of them according to the text.
[38:38] Maybe their runin with the gay abandon
[38:39] will happen after this. Now, most of the
[38:41] surviving ships are from lease, leading
[38:42] to a future conflict among the three
[38:44] daughters, thinking that Shurakhar
[38:46] spared her own ships at the expense of
[38:47] the Mir and Teros ships. Meanwhile, the
[38:49] mention of Aegon and Larry headed to
[38:51] Dragonstone this episode. This is going
[38:52] to set up a very fun Aegon on
[38:54] Dragonstone subplot that I hope we see
[38:56] in this season where Aegon manages to
[38:58] stage a sort of coup at Dragonstone.
[38:59] Take the island and fight Baala for it.
[39:01] And the Milk of the Poppy addiction
[39:03] referenced in this episode when Aegon is
[39:05] injured in that fight. He's going to
[39:06] have to restrain himself from Milk of
[39:07] the Poppy and he's going to come out
[39:08] stronger in his recovery. I'm really
[39:10] excited for the Aegon Redemption arc.
[39:12] Then the mention of Ulf wanting to be a
[39:13] lord more than a knight. Of course, it's
[39:15] going to set up his shifting loyalty in
[39:16] the Battle of Tumbleton. Reero will only
[39:18] knight them, but the Greens will offer
[39:20] lordship. Seeing Alice Rivers at
[39:21] Harrenhal, she's scared off the dragon
[39:23] seeds to clear a path for Aean, I think,
[39:25] so that she can seduce him. He's going
[39:26] to end up impregnating her. They're
[39:27] going to end up together. I think she's
[39:29] ready to play that part. I wonder if
[39:30] Aean kissing Allison was meant to show
[39:32] how horny and needing a physical
[39:34] affection one eye Aean is. Affection
[39:36] that Alice is going to provide him. Now
[39:38] remember in the season 2 finale, Helena
[39:39] was surprisingly part of the vision that
[39:41] Damon had from the weirwood tree that
[39:43] show all events including Blood Raven,
[39:45] the White Walkers, Daenerys Targaryen.
[39:47] Both Alice and Helena are plugged into
[39:49] that knowledge. And since we saw Helena
[39:51] counseling her mother Allison on how to
[39:53] approach Aean, I wonder if old bug girl
[39:55] dragon demer Helena is secretly working
[39:57] with green seer woods witch Alice Rivers
[39:59] to manipulate the greens in this
[40:01] conflict. I think Alice and Helena may
[40:03] be scheming to lead to the ultimate
[40:05] climactic Aemon versus Damon, wiping
[40:07] each other out over the god's eye lake
[40:09] as the old gods swallow and claim them
[40:11] in the lake in the mud. And also I think
[40:13] it's going to be Helena with her dragon
[40:15] dreamfire that manipulates Rene and the
[40:17] blacks to die at the dragon pit. And
[40:19] coming back to Oscar Tully's return to
[40:20] the mud line and Damon's reaction to it,
[40:23] it struck me as a possible foreshadowing
[40:24] of his fate on this series. Battling
[40:26] with Aean in Vaggar above the God's Eye
[40:28] Lake and Caraxis crawling through the
[40:30] mud of the lake shore before the dragon
[40:32] dies. Now, according to the text,
[40:34] Damon's body was never found, but
[40:35] historians are convinced he died there,
[40:37] too. And maybe it'll just be the mud
[40:39] that swallows him. Throughout this
[40:40] breakdown, I've been wearing this fire
[40:42] and blood shirt that you can get
[40:43] exclusively at our merch store,
[40:44] nerdride.shop, with other fun House of
[40:46] the Dragon inspired designs. A special
[40:47] thanks to one of our NR Underground
[40:49] subscribers, Frederick Price, for
[40:51] supporting us at the executive producer
[40:52] level. You can get all of our exclusive
[40:54] bonus content by clicking on the link in
[40:55] the description below or going to nr
[40:56] underground.supscast.com. Big thanks to
[40:58] Studio Tech Brian Kim, New Rockstar's
[41:00] editors Joshua, Steven Hurd, and Abby
[41:01] Freel and all of our supporting editors
[41:02] for their work on this video. Follow me
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[41:06] Thanks for watching and I'll see you
[41:06] next time. Bye.
[41:15] >> [music]