---
title: 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 3x01 BREAKDOWN: Every Detail You Missed!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=L2z6Mj1fpUg'
video_id: 'L2z6Mj1fpUg'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 2487
---

# HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 3x01 BREAKDOWN: Every Detail You Missed!

> Source: [HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 3x01 BREAKDOWN: Every Detail You Missed!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=L2z6Mj1fpUg)

## Summary

This analysis breaks down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 1 scene by scene. The video highlights key details, artistic choices, and character moments from the episode, focusing on the Battle of the Gullet, character arcs, and thematic elements. It provides an in-depth look at the updated opening credits, character motivations, and the chaotic battle sequence.

### Key Points

- **Theme of the Breakdown** [0:00] — The video aims to analyze every scene of the episode, focusing on missed details, artistic choices, and what made the season 3 premiere great.
- **Updated Opening Credits Tapestry** [3:30] — The season 3 tapestry now shows 14 threads from below, likely representing the Doom of Valyria, and includes changes that emphasize the volcanic doom coming from the earth.
- **Raina and Sheep Stealer** [5:30] — Raina continues trying to tame the wild dragon Sheep Stealer, showing her determination and the detailed VFX work on the dragon's design, including its underbite.
- **Aemon and Orwhile** [7:18] — Aemon drags out Arch Maester Orwhile, accusing him of smuggling King Aegon II out of King's Landing, highlighting tensions among the Greens.
- **Damon at the Battle of the Red Fork** [10:30] — Damon is actively leading forces in the Riverlands, a change from the book to give Matt Smith a more active role, and kills Lannister soldiers with Caraxis.
- **Ulf White's Backstory** [14:35] — Ulf shares his past as an orphan abused by a red priest, showing how his bond with Silverwing is part of his healing process.
- **Alice Rivers and the Dragon Seeds** [21:10] — Alice Rivers scares off the dragon seeds from Harrenhal, clearing the path for Aemon and showing she is a witch with old gods power.
- **The Battle of the Gullet Chaos** [33:40] — Sheep Stealer's arrival causes chaos, leading to friendly fire and the death of Vermax, highlighting the uncontrollable nature of dragons.

### Conclusion

The episode uses the Battle of the Gullet to show that humans cannot fully control their dragons, leading to unpredictable and tragic outcomes.

## Transcript

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