[0:00] Emma Darcy does something subtle and
[0:02] brilliant in the way Raya sits the Iron
[0:04] Throne. But did you catch it? I'm Eric
[0:06] Boss of the New Rockstars channel and
[0:08] this is a breakdown of House of the
[0:10] Dragon season 3 episode 2. Let's go
[0:12] through this eventful episode scene by
[0:14] scene to explain what's going on, the
[0:16] details you missed, and for any theories
[0:18] or spoilers for future plot events from
[0:20] the book. We're going to save that for
[0:21] the spoiler dungeon at the end of this
[0:23] video. New Rockstars has some
[0:24] interesting House of the Dragon themed
[0:26] merch designs like this house crest
[0:28] design. and grabbing one of these shirts
[0:29] is the best way you can support what
[0:30] we're doing here at New Rockstars. Okay,
[0:32] the opening family tapestry animation
[0:34] has been updated since last week to
[0:36] include new embroideries reflecting the
[0:38] events of the Battle of the Gullet. We
[0:39] see the blue threads forming the waves
[0:41] and then we see Corus Valarion and
[0:42] Shurco Lohar dueling on the deck of the
[0:44] sea snake with Shurocco defeated.
[0:46] Interesting how the tapestry credits
[0:48] Corus with this kill when it was really
[0:50] his bastard son Alan Apo because as
[0:52] we've seen before the tapestry shows the
[0:54] historical record as recorded by outside
[0:56] observers as a form of propaganda for
[0:58] the family story. We also see Prince
[1:00] Jiharis dead from the Miroshi arrows. No
[1:02] sign of Vermax's corpse in this
[1:03] tapestry, but hey, maybe the dragon is
[1:05] embroidered on the underside of it. We
[1:07] open this episode underwater like many
[1:08] memorable shots of the Battle of the
[1:10] Gullet from the season premiere. Except
[1:11] now we begin beneath the hull of a
[1:13] sunken ship, seeing a body that might
[1:15] have been Jayce's corpse still floating,
[1:16] but I don't think it is. We see dragons
[1:18] overhead finish off the battle. A
[1:20] flaming projectile followed by a plume
[1:22] of dragonfire. Then a creepy long-haired
[1:24] figure floats into view from the right.
[1:26] I thought maybe this could be Shurako
[1:28] Lohar's body. She did have long hair,
[1:30] but notice how this corpse seems to be
[1:32] wearing a sleeved jacket. and Shurco
[1:34] fought her final fight with leather
[1:35] bracers that fit tightly over her
[1:37] knuckles. So, could this be a Merlin
[1:39] spoken about in Ironborn Legend? Could
[1:41] it be the aquatic race known as the Deep
[1:43] Ones mentioned in the World of Ice and
[1:44] Fire? Or could this be Alice Rivers
[1:47] watching from the waters as she takes
[1:49] stock of the fish feed in the marine
[1:50] battle of the lake shore across the
[1:52] God's Eye Lake from where she is? Q on
[1:54] Vermathor, Ulf on Silver Wing, and Adam
[1:56] on Sea Smoke now join an exhausted BA on
[1:59] Moondancer as they sweep the Gullet,
[2:00] torching any last remaining Triarchy
[2:02] ships and sailors they can find. Smoke
[2:04] from the fire they're all cooking up
[2:05] makes visibility even harder. In the
[2:07] Fire and Blood text, these other three
[2:09] Dragon Seed riders were at the battle
[2:10] from the beginning alongside Jason
[2:12] Vermax and Nettles on Sheepsteeler. So
[2:14] having these three come in at the end of
[2:16] the battle does reconcile why historians
[2:18] might remember all five of the Black
[2:19] Dragons torching the Triarchy. Baya
[2:21] tearfully rides Moon Dancer with Chase's
[2:23] body under her arms. I was trying to
[2:25] figure out the logistics of how she got
[2:26] that body on her dragon. Like, did
[2:28] someone swim out there and push Jace to
[2:30] an overturned ship or a nearby rocky
[2:32] shore where Moon Dancer could land and
[2:33] then the body could be loaded on? Can
[2:35] dragons do aquatic landings and takeoffs
[2:36] like pelicans? Back at Dragonstone,
[2:38] Jace's body is carried by the Valyrian
[2:40] dragon tamers. It kind of looks like
[2:41] they have some specific old Valyrian
[2:43] ritual by which they handle the remains
[2:45] of dragon riders who died in battle. Sir
[2:47] Lawrence Marbrand steps up heartbroken
[2:49] and knowing the seven hells he's in for
[2:51] from the queen.
[2:52] >> The battle
[2:53] >> it is won.
[2:54] >> Yes, we forget that despite the
[2:55] heartbreaking loss of the crown prince
[2:57] and his dragon, from a strategic
[2:58] perspective, Rineer's forces
[3:00] successfully repelled a naval assault on
[3:02] the Gullet and wiped out the Green's
[3:03] naval threat. And though this wasn't the
[3:05] case in the book, they took out Master
[3:07] of Ships Tailand Lannister. While last
[3:09] episode he drowned in the Dragonstone
[3:10] Pass, the book version of Thailand
[3:12] Lannister is caught with his pants down
[3:14] when they invade King's Landing and is
[3:15] thrown to the torturers. so that they
[3:17] could try to find the Lannister gold.
[3:18] Reineer's first stage of grief is denial
[3:20] as she addresses her son's corpse like a
[3:22] child she's scolding.
[3:23] >> What have you done?
[3:25] >> She's taking the motherly tone that she
[3:27] once took to reprimand him as an
[3:28] 8-year-old for airing in some kind of
[3:30] way, but now she just breaks down in
[3:32] tears.
[3:32] >> How could you do this to me?
[3:35] >> She blames Jace for leaving her behind
[3:37] to mourn yet another son. Sir Lawrence
[3:39] pulls her off of Jace and now she turns
[3:41] on her queen's guard who barricaded her
[3:43] in her chamber. Sir Lawrence admits his
[3:45] failure and offers his sword to the
[3:46] queen to behead him. Good thing Reara
[3:47] doesn't go through with it in this
[3:48] moment. Based on her aim later with Auto
[3:50] High Tower, it would have taken a few
[3:52] hacks. Rea rightfully rages at everyone
[3:54] here because yes, her grounding did
[3:56] amount to a temporary coup d'etat in
[3:58] which everyone on Dragonstone with an
[4:00] earshot was a conspirator. They are all
[4:02] supporting a system in which this queen
[4:04] does not have the full power over her
[4:05] ranks that she should. And so in this
[4:07] episode, that feeling of powerlessness
[4:09] will lead Rineer, I think, to shed off
[4:11] the throne of Dragonstone, to claim the
[4:13] throne where her power and demands
[4:14] cannot be ignored, where she will truly
[4:16] be feared. Though, we should note that
[4:18] one of the changes they made for the HBO
[4:19] show is the fact that Reineer at this
[4:21] point in history thinks she lost a
[4:22] second son in the Battle of the Gullet,
[4:24] when the ship that gay abandoned
[4:25] carrying Aegon the Younger and Vizeris
[4:27] headed to Pentos, also gets caught by
[4:28] the Charish ships, and only Aegon the
[4:30] Younger comes back on his dragon. She
[4:32] thinks Viseris died or drowned and it's
[4:34] the resolve of the second son dying that
[4:35] historians believe lead her to next turn
[4:37] to King's Landing. This episode takes a
[4:39] different approach to how Reero works
[4:41] through her grief to make her next
[4:42] decision. Raina returns to the gates of
[4:44] the veil to face Lady Jane Aaron. I like
[4:46] how Sheep Stealer stays back kind of
[4:48] with his head lowered like a dog that's
[4:49] being punished. Lady Jane already knows
[4:51] that Jace is dead. Seems like the
[4:53] message carrying ravens beat Raina and
[4:55] Sheepsteeler to the veil which is kind
[4:56] of funny because it means that Sheep
[4:57] Stealer made a few pit stops after
[4:59] leaving the battle before taking Raina
[5:00] here. probably saw a few sheep over in
[5:02] the five fingers that he just had to
[5:03] taste. Rea begs for asylum, but Jane
[5:05] rejects her, please. Rea took a wild
[5:07] dragon into battle and killed the crown
[5:09] prince, meaning the full forces of Rea's
[5:11] faction will come down on the veil at
[5:12] some point. It's also possible that Lady
[5:14] Jane could have her suspicions about how
[5:16] things really ended between Damon and
[5:18] Rya Royce in the veil in season 1.
[5:20] Because remember, Rya's cousin Gerald
[5:22] straight up accused Damon of murder at
[5:24] Rea and Leanor's wedding in season 1. So
[5:26] Jane probably does not want Damon and
[5:28] Caraxis anywhere near the veil. Jane
[5:30] reminds Raina that she was supposed to
[5:31] be on a boat to Pintos with her half
[5:33] brothers Agon the Younger and Viseris.
[5:35] Ryan Condle did explain the missing gay
[5:37] abandon ship at the battle of the Gullet
[5:38] as a kind of complication of having two
[5:40] young actors in a big dangerous water
[5:42] set like this, but that the writers
[5:43] still have not forgotten about these
[5:44] princes and where they currently need to
[5:46] be. Raina reminds Jane how the lady once
[5:48] told her that she was deceived in her
[5:50] dealings with the queen, referring to
[5:51] their spat in season 2, episode 5 when
[5:54] Jane was complaining that she gave
[5:55] Raineira 15,000 men, but in exchange got
[5:58] only two tiny dragons, referring to
[6:00] Joffrey's dragon, Tyraxis and egg on the
[6:02] younger's very small dragon, Stormcloud.
[6:04] So now Rea offers Sheepsteeler as a
[6:06] fully grown dragon to truly defend the
[6:08] veil with Sheepsteeler in the background
[6:09] hunched in a ready put me in coach
[6:11] stance in this great three-point shot.
[6:13] While Rea is offering this as a gift,
[6:15] Lady Jane knows it's also in a way a
[6:17] threat because Raina could right now
[6:20] order Jakaris take the veil and send
[6:22] everyone with the last name of Aaron or
[6:23] Royce through the Moond door or into
[6:25] Sheep Steeler's Underbite. So Jane has
[6:27] to play it cool.
[6:28] >> The veil is vast. I cannot stop a dragon
[6:31] from abiding redes.
[6:33] >> It was her ancestor Shara Aaron who bent
[6:35] the knee to Aegon the Conqueror and more
[6:37] specifically his sister wife Vzinia in
[6:39] Vagar as we see in the opening tapestry
[6:40] of every episode. So that's effectively
[6:42] what Jane does to Raina and Sheep
[6:44] Steeler here. Meanwhile, in the
[6:45] Riverlands, Damon Targaryen, Oscar
[6:47] Tully, Black Alley, Rodrik, Dustin, and
[6:49] the Winterwolves, and all the other
[6:50] Riverland lords and soldiers celebrate
[6:52] with seafood and me with Jason
[6:54] Lannister's head on a pike next to the
[6:56] lion's head. They all sing a victory
[6:57] song with a chorus chant of fish feed.
[7:00] Sir Simon Strong arrives with his
[7:02] grandsons from Harrenhal and drops the
[7:04] exposition that they're all celebrating
[7:05] victories from the Battle of the Red
[7:06] Fork and the lake shore. Thus why
[7:09] they're chanting fish feed, confirming
[7:10] my thinking last week that they were
[7:12] showing us the ending of the Battle of
[7:13] the Red Fork. That is where Jason
[7:15] Lannister dies. But they would be
[7:16] bringing in the Winter Wolves a little
[7:17] early, suggesting that we'd be in the
[7:19] proximity of the Battle of the Lakes
[7:20] Shore. It's kind of a bummer that we
[7:22] won't get to see the Battle of the Lakes
[7:23] Shore on the show. And Fire and Blood is
[7:25] described as the bloodiest land battle
[7:26] of this entire war. After losing Jason
[7:29] Lannister, the Greens, now led by the
[7:31] infirmed Lord Humphrey Leford, set up
[7:33] their defenses on the western shore of
[7:34] the God's Eye Lake behind a line of
[7:36] pikes with the lake to their backs. At
[7:38] this point in the text though, Aemon is
[7:39] already at Harrenhal with Vaggar. The
[7:41] combined blacks forces have to shoot
[7:43] arrows at the Lannister raven that are
[7:45] trying to send word across the lake to
[7:46] Aean for help. And the blacks worried
[7:48] that Vagar will come over to torch them
[7:49] at some point, sending the winter wolves
[7:51] five charges one after the other right
[7:53] into the pikes, losing 2/3 of the winter
[7:55] wolves numbers. And then from there, the
[7:57] fighting goes into the reeds of the
[7:58] lake. And when the Greens were defeated,
[8:00] estimates range from 30,000 to 48,000
[8:03] men died in a single battle. Since this
[8:06] battle was conducted mostly in the reeds
[8:08] of the lake, that's why it's called fish
[8:09] feed by the participants of it. And it's
[8:11] what they're singing about now. How they
[8:13] fought them into the muddy shores and
[8:15] the water got too thick with blood that
[8:16] they could no longer see. They're
[8:18] laughing. 48,000 men died and they're
[8:20] laughing. I mean, hey, you got to laugh
[8:21] and sing so you don't cry. But this
[8:23] context and the lyrics of the song,
[8:25] specifically sung by Oscar Tully, does
[8:27] echo Oscar's need to return his fallen
[8:29] rivermen to the mud. And it struck me
[8:32] that they're now dining on seafood that
[8:34] they probably caught in those same
[8:35] waters as they're laughing about how
[8:37] their enemies are now fished. And all of
[8:39] these waters are flowing in and around
[8:41] the god's eye lake where this series is
[8:43] telling us very spooky [ __ ] is going
[8:45] down on that aisle of faces with
[8:47] prophetic woods witches and antlered
[8:49] green men. Simon Strong with his
[8:51] grandsons German and Paxter carry and
[8:53] wine for the feast. And he also gives
[8:54] Damon a raven missive that reports Jace
[8:56] is dead and summons to join Reineer to
[8:58] take King's Landing. Damon orders Dustin
[9:00] to march the Winterwolf South and we'll
[9:02] meet him there, which I think just tells
[9:03] us that the winter wolves aren't the
[9:04] ones that get torched in Harrenhal
[9:06] later. You don't cast Tommy Flanigan
[9:08] from Braveheart and Gladiator just to
[9:10] kill him off that fast. Caraxis gulps up
[9:12] some water from the shore of the God's
[9:13] Eye. Maybe the exact reads where
[9:15] thousands of corpses are still
[9:17] submerged. Alice Rivers tells Damon,
[9:19] >> "I've seen that your coming has been an
[9:20] omen of the end."
[9:22] >> Damon asks, "The end of what, and Alice
[9:23] cryptically says, of many things and the
[9:26] beginnings of others." Ooh, see you in
[9:28] the spoiler dungeon for that. Alice
[9:30] tells Damon that she did Rene a service
[9:32] by helping Damon unite 40,000 men in the
[9:34] Riverlands. As repayment, Alice just
[9:36] wants the little old thing of Harrenhal.
[9:38] >> I've lived there all my long life and
[9:40] I've seen it given from hand to hand,
[9:42] and yet none seem to cherish it.
[9:44] >> Her long life. Yes, this HBO series
[9:47] whole impetus for establishing Alice as
[9:49] a woods witch just really comes from her
[9:50] description of Fire and Blood as seeming
[9:52] never to age. We cannot forget that this
[9:54] whole series began at the great council
[9:56] of 101 at Harrenhal. I kind of have a
[9:58] feeling that we're going to learn that
[9:59] Alice was present for that and who knows
[10:01] might have even manipulated the vote.
[10:03] Damon reminds Alice that she has no name
[10:05] or title or husband and that the crown
[10:06] doesn't give castles to midwives. But
[10:08] when Damon proposes some other kind of
[10:10] payment, Alice says,
[10:11] >> "I ask for food and you offer me rubies
[10:13] for all their worth. They will never
[10:16] satisfy my hunger."
[10:18] >> Hm. I get the sense that this witch
[10:19] feeds off of Harrenhal and the magic of
[10:22] its weirwood tree. the God's Eye and the
[10:23] Aisle of Faces. Alice must know it's a
[10:25] huge ask to expect one of the biggest
[10:27] castles in Westeros to go to her, but
[10:29] this witch has ambition. She wants to
[10:31] raise her status in the realm. And I
[10:33] think I have a really great theory about
[10:34] this, but for further speculation on
[10:36] this, I got to direct you to the spoiler
[10:38] dungeon along with the deeper meaning of
[10:39] what Alice says here when she storms off
[10:41] shouting,
[10:41] >> "Do not come back here. Remember I told
[10:44] you." Now, we get this interesting scene
[10:46] between Baya and Allan as they look for
[10:48] Corass and compare their childhoods as a
[10:50] high-born granddaughter of Corass versus
[10:51] the lowborn bastard of Corus. It is
[10:53] important that the show brings these two
[10:55] characters together at this point given
[10:56] the futures they both have in the text.
[10:58] For now, I'll just say that it's
[10:59] interesting that Bayless sees the world
[11:01] through loyalty to one's spouse as in
[11:03] Corless to Rainees. Whereas Allan sees
[11:05] the world through the naval conquest
[11:06] that the sea snake represented with his
[11:08] sourced dragon water as Alan looks out
[11:10] seawward as his life, his love and his
[11:13] ladies is a sea. Allen's brother, Adam,
[11:15] rides Sea Smoke and actually does spot
[11:17] Corless's bright platinum hair
[11:19] contrasting with the Dark Rocks. You
[11:20] know, that might be a natural advantage
[11:21] for white-haired Valyan bloodlooded
[11:23] dragon riders over the ages. It's easier
[11:25] to spot them and perform sea rescues
[11:27] like this. Those poor dark-haired,
[11:29] strong bastards Luke and Jace didn't
[11:30] stand a chance. But then, in a twist of
[11:32] events, the Stuntton capttors who were
[11:34] escorting Aegon and Laris to Dragonstone
[11:36] get attacked by surviving and invading
[11:38] Triarchy soldiers. While we did not
[11:40] expect Aegon to be much of a fighter or
[11:42] in any condition to do anything
[11:43] physical, we have to remember from the
[11:45] this is a stuffed Lionel boy fights with
[11:47] his nephews in the red keep courtyard in
[11:49] season 1 episode 6. This jerk remembers
[11:51] what a young fighter looks like when
[11:53] he's scared to death and win to pounce
[11:54] for the kill. So instead of to Dusk
[11:56] andale, Aegon wants to go to Rook's rest
[11:58] probably to reunite with the wounded
[12:00] Sunfire who's still grounded there.
[12:02] Corus says
[12:02] >> this be victory. I hope I never see
[12:05] another. This is the direct quote that
[12:07] Corus is credited by historians with
[12:09] saying after the battle of the Gullet in
[12:10] Fire and Blood. In the distance, you can
[12:12] see High Tide burning. Yes, he did lose
[12:14] his entire treasure vault there. And the
[12:16] port of Spice Town was completely
[12:18] destroyed and never rebuilt in history
[12:20] thereafter. In the aftermath of Fire and
[12:22] Blood, it is said that Adam on Sea Smoke
[12:24] did not join the other dragon seeds to
[12:25] celebrate at Dragonstone. He instead
[12:27] went to Corus. And it's not known what
[12:29] they talked about. I don't think Adam
[12:30] says anything in this episode, so we
[12:32] still don't really know what they talked
[12:33] about. But in this scene, it's really
[12:34] Corus with his daughter and his two
[12:36] sons. Almost all of his actually blooded
[12:39] descendants except for horse girl Raina
[12:40] in the veil as he honors Allan by making
[12:43] him an official Valyrian.
[12:44] >> I count that of more worth than a
[12:46] mountain of gold. This line is an
[12:48] interesting parallel to Alice Rivers
[12:50] considering treasures like rubies
[12:51] worthless. Allison sees Aemon flying
[12:53] Vaggar north of the dragon pit on top of
[12:55] Rainees's hill and she breathes the sigh
[12:56] of relief. Then she goes into the
[12:58] Goldcloak's bath house where a bunch of
[13:00] guys are hanging dong to talk to the
[13:01] goldcloak's captain Luther Larent. He
[13:04] was a goldc cloak during the time when
[13:05] Damon Targaryen was captain of the city
[13:07] watch in season 1 and now he's the
[13:09] captain appointed to this position by
[13:10] Otto High Totower in the past. Allison
[13:12] warns Larent that Reineer is coming and
[13:14] to open the city gates to her forces
[13:16] when they arrive. We kind of have to
[13:17] accept that everything with Allison at
[13:19] this point on the HBO series is just a
[13:20] major departure from the text. In Fire
[13:22] and Blood, Allison never made this back
[13:24] rooms deal with Reineer, and she
[13:26] actually fought to fortify the Red Keep
[13:27] when Reira approaches. In the text, it's
[13:30] actually Larent himself, who just
[13:31] decides to turn the gold cloaks in favor
[13:33] of the blacks out of loyalty to Damon,
[13:35] even killing his number two, Gwane High
[13:36] Totower, who in the HBO series is, of
[13:38] course, shifted to be with Kristen Cole
[13:40] in the Riverlands. So, why does Allison
[13:41] hold this meeting in the bath house?
[13:43] Well, because this is an HBO show and we
[13:45] need Dong. But really, she probably
[13:47] doesn't want her visit to be seen as
[13:49] official business since she's basically
[13:50] asking him to commit treason against all
[13:52] of the Greens, dooming a lot of the
[13:54] castle guard. She's also probably hoping
[13:56] to catch him in this vulnerable moment
[13:57] when he can be honest and not have to
[13:59] put on heirs in front of any other
[14:01] lieutenants around him. But though it's
[14:02] not stated in this episode, I'm assuming
[14:04] one of these nude dudes was the one who
[14:06] snitched on her to Master of Laws Jasper
[14:08] Wild, who probably also made some
[14:10] assumptions about her for the sorted
[14:12] detail of her being in the presence of
[14:13] these unclothed men. Back on
[14:15] Dragonstone, we see the long necked
[14:17] Caraxis doing a lap around the island.
[14:18] Demon finds Hugh and Ol. And Ol kind of
[14:21] goes in for a hug that Demon rejects. He
[14:24] grills the two of them for abandoning
[14:25] their post at Harrenhal. And I love how
[14:27] Ol pulls the guilty kid move. Adam left,
[14:29] too.
[14:30] >> Yeah, Adam left, too. Go yell at him.
[14:32] But now just finally shares what scared
[14:34] him.
[14:34] >> There's something wrong in those woods,
[14:36] though. I'm telling you. Heard all kinds
[14:39] of sounds like voices. I'll sort of
[14:42] >> now while he was about to say which as
[14:44] Hugh soon gets to I wonder if he was
[14:46] about to say I saw a furry dude with
[14:48] antlers but I don't know if it was Ul
[14:49] who saw that or just Adam and Hugh but
[14:51] Damon also saw that green man at the end
[14:53] of season 2 but Hugh confirms that a
[14:55] woman was there with news of the battle
[14:57] that he thought must have been a maester
[14:58] but was actually a witch. So now in this
[15:01] moment Damon knows that the woman I just
[15:03] pissed off is also spooking these other
[15:05] three dragon riders with some
[15:06] supernatural scaries. He's getting a
[15:08] sense that there are higher powers than
[15:10] he is at play. Specifically since he
[15:13] left his garrison at Harrenhal after the
[15:14] fish feed singing. He is feeling like he
[15:16] might have gotten played by Alice Rivers
[15:18] to doom Damon's garrison without any
[15:20] dragon protection for when Vagar
[15:22] arrives. It was Alice who told them to
[15:24] leave without Damon knowing that she
[15:26] told them that. She did not bring it up
[15:28] with him lakeside when they talked.
[15:29] Damon runs into Misaria and kind of
[15:31] takes out his anger at being played out
[15:33] on her. He remembers that the last time
[15:34] they saw each other, she was behind
[15:36] bars. Because remember, these two
[15:37] characters started together in the aisle
[15:39] of silk in season 1. And throughout the
[15:41] first season, Misaria proved to be the
[15:42] spy master, the white worm, who plotted
[15:44] to have the drunken prince Aegon
[15:46] kidnapped. And she ended up tustling
[15:47] with Otto High Tower. And then at the
[15:49] end of the season, she had her mans
[15:50] burned down by an agent of Laris Strong.
[15:52] So in season 2, fleeing King's Landing,
[15:54] her ship was caught by the Valarians in
[15:56] the Gullet, and she was taken prisoner
[15:57] on Dragonstone, where Damon accused her
[15:59] of serving the Greens. And to get her
[16:00] freedom, she felt like she had to give
[16:02] Damon the name of her blood and cheese
[16:04] conspirators. And then after the
[16:05] assassination of the young prince, Damon
[16:07] just took off and went to Harrenhal,
[16:09] leaving her still behind bars. So Reara
[16:11] had to choose to honor Damon's promise
[16:13] to release Misaria. Mizaria further
[16:14] gained Reara's trust by warning the
[16:16] Dragonstone guard about Aric coming to
[16:18] assassinate Reara. So after that, the
[16:20] two women ended up very close as
[16:22] Mazzaria is kind of moving her way into
[16:24] becoming mistress of whisperers on Rea's
[16:26] small council. Now Damon just mistrust
[16:28] Mazaria as the other bed fellow to his
[16:30] wife threatening to get closer to Reara
[16:32] than he is an adviser who actually
[16:33] respected Reineer's needs and wants
[16:36] before Damon figured out he needed to do
[16:37] that. But then there's this interesting
[16:39] turn in the scene when the two of them
[16:40] sit next to each other and share their
[16:42] common angst as someone who might know
[16:43] Raineer even better than both of them.
[16:45] Allison Misaria is frustrated that she
[16:47] wasn't in that season 2 finale meeting
[16:49] and kind of echoes the frustrations of
[16:51] book readers that there might be some
[16:52] weird connection between these two women
[16:54] from their time as girls that no one can
[16:56] understand. June is men's mental health
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[18:06] go through anything alone. BetterHelp is
[18:08] here with you. Allison returns to the
[18:10] Red Keep and gets immediately scolded by
[18:12] Sir Rickard Thorne for slipping his
[18:13] detail. She seeks the captain of the
[18:15] castle guard, Sir Saurin, and refuses to
[18:17] let Rickard summon him for her because
[18:18] she knows these honorable brothers of
[18:20] the king's guard are going to be sworn
[18:21] to snitch. Sure enough, offscreen, it's
[18:23] implied that Rickard did snitch over to
[18:25] Sir Saurin. Allison really proves
[18:27] correct Demon's description of her as a
[18:29] conspirator by so brazantly screwing
[18:31] over all of these green loyalists. I
[18:33] know she feels like she's lost control
[18:34] over her sons and their dragons and it's
[18:36] going to ultimately spell doom for her
[18:38] and her daughter and granddaughter, but
[18:39] the HBO series decision to have Allison
[18:42] herself as the one sneaking around
[18:44] basically unlocking all the doors and
[18:46] dismantling the defenses is just a bit
[18:47] hard to buy. Like as opposed to this
[18:49] subtrafuge that we see, I would have
[18:51] been interested to see the city forces
[18:52] like the gold cloak start to break rank
[18:54] on their own when they see Ra's forces
[18:56] arriving and Allison could just kind of
[18:58] push things more in that direction and
[19:00] then ride that wave of panic as she
[19:01] tries to escape. But it's really another
[19:03] example of what the show does by trying
[19:05] to make Allison a more active character
[19:07] at this point of history than she is in
[19:08] George R. Martin's text. They force the
[19:10] character into some outlandish behavior
[19:12] that really asks the audience to accept
[19:14] some unrealistic responses from the
[19:15] characters who serve her. Ray in her
[19:17] grief suggests to Damon that sheepaler
[19:19] had somehow been mounted by the Greens
[19:21] forces and that it was the Greens who
[19:23] deliberately set this trap to draw Jace
[19:25] to his death. I guess Baya didn't see
[19:27] her sister Raina on Sheepstaler's back.
[19:29] Or maybe to spare her sister, Baya
[19:30] didn't tell Rara that part of it. But I
[19:32] suppose this is another reason why the
[19:33] writers replaced Nettles with Raina and
[19:35] created this new arc with Rea being the
[19:37] one on Sheepsteeler. Maybe they felt
[19:39] they needed to create this confusion and
[19:41] dramatic irony where Reara thought
[19:43] Allison went back on her word and sent
[19:45] another dragon controlled by the Greens
[19:46] into the gullet leading to Jayce's
[19:48] death. It seems like the writers did
[19:49] this to justify Reineer being as
[19:51] bloodthirsty as she is when she gets to
[19:53] King's Landing. And maybe the writers
[19:54] felt that they couldn't make the green
[19:55] aligned dragon in the gullet be Vagar or
[19:58] Tisarion or Dreamfire or Sunfire as all
[20:00] those dragons are just in other places
[20:01] or indisposed. So I guess to get that
[20:04] chaotic force of Sheepsteeler, it had to
[20:05] be an accidental rampage with Raina at
[20:08] the helm in order to preserve Allison's
[20:10] innocence from that event. When Damon
[20:11] tells Rea that Vagar has left King's
[20:13] Landing, at first this grieving mother
[20:15] doesn't even want the now undefended
[20:17] Iron Throne, equating the swords that
[20:18] made that throne as part of the
[20:20] bloodshed that claimed the lives of the
[20:21] sons who clung to her skirts. But now
[20:23] Damon switches to high Valyrian, the
[20:25] language these two characters only speak
[20:27] in when they really want to connect with
[20:29] each other so that no one else will be
[20:30] able to hear or understand. He confesses
[20:32] to her the vision that he saw at
[20:33] Harrenhal.
[20:42] >> He's describing what he saw in the
[20:43] Weirwood Tree Vision in the season 2
[20:44] finale, including a white walker and
[20:46] their future descendant of Daenerys,
[20:48] daughter of the mad king Aerys II in the
[20:50] red waist with the dragon hatchlings.
[20:52] He's basically saying, "I saw it,
[20:54] Rainineer. I saw the massive
[20:55] monocultural HBO series that our lives
[20:58] are the prequel to. There's going to be
[20:59] watch parties and bars, random Ed
[21:01] Sheeran cameos, and millennials adopting
[21:03] huskys in climates that are too warm for
[21:05] them." Now, interesting that Damon does
[21:07] not mention seeing blood raven because I
[21:09] guess to Damon, he'd be like, "Who the
[21:10] [ __ ] is that guy?" But it's also
[21:11] interesting that the future he witnessed
[21:13] skipped over the full history where
[21:14] dragons would go mostly extinct because
[21:16] in Fire and Blood, Rea does not end up
[21:18] with Sheep Staler Nettles, but instead
[21:20] Rea ends up with the pink she of
[21:22] Mourning. And Mourning is one of the
[21:23] last known dragon hatchlings at this
[21:25] point in history until the never named
[21:27] last dragon in George R. Martin's lore,
[21:29] who was deformed and ended up dying in
[21:31] 153 AC. is really appealing to Reineer
[21:33] in the language of their dreamer
[21:35] ancestors to instill in her the faith
[21:37] powered mission that her father
[21:39] activated in her in the pilot episode.
[21:41] Basically, if vengeance won't work to
[21:42] get Reara out of bed, a sense of duty
[21:44] and destiny might. Master of Laws Lord
[21:46] Jesper Wild catches Allison packing in
[21:48] her chambers. He says he remembers her
[21:50] as a young girl snaking into the halls
[21:52] of power and accuses Allison of finding
[21:54] enjoyment with Sir Christristen Cole.
[21:56] Now, later, Allison says Sir Rickard was
[21:58] the one who betrayed her. And I think
[21:59] the detail about Sir Kristen Cole is
[22:01] something that Sir Rickard knew about,
[22:03] so that's why she said it. But I think
[22:04] the gossip of Allison going to make this
[22:06] secret deal with the Goldcolaks could
[22:08] have been snitched by any other
[22:09] Goldcolaks in that bath house. Or also,
[22:11] we got to remember there are spies all
[22:12] over the streets of King's Landing that
[22:14] snitched to each other to get paid.
[22:15] Also, I think it was Sir Rickard who did
[22:17] go talk to Sir Saurin, and that's why
[22:19] Sir Saurin did not initially come into
[22:21] the room when Allison started screaming.
[22:23] Not until Orwhile went in the room. So,
[22:25] in an affront to any Fire and Blood
[22:27] reading Iron Rod fanatics out there,
[22:29] turns out Iron Rod is a moniker for
[22:31] being a violent predator who assaults
[22:33] women. And based on what he said about
[22:34] noticing Allison when she was young,
[22:36] potentially he's on the Epstein list,
[22:38] too. Now, to be clear, in the book, the
[22:39] name Iron Rod really comes from Jasper
[22:41] Wild being unbendable in matters of law.
[22:44] But Mushroom does say that he sired 29
[22:46] kids and his last wife died from sex
[22:48] exhaustion. To be honest with you, dear
[22:50] viewer, I did not like this scene. I
[22:52] honestly never like it when these HBO A
[22:54] Song of Ice and Fire shows add essay as
[22:56] a plot point when it was not there in
[22:58] George R. Martin's text. And honestly, I
[23:00] think this was really added by the
[23:01] writers to suggest that Allison met some
[23:03] resistance while she was trying to sneak
[23:05] out of King's Landing and leave the
[23:06] doors open for Reneer. I just don't
[23:08] really like the narrative's implication
[23:09] that Allison had this coming in any way.
[23:12] Even if the episode ultimately punishes
[23:13] Jasper Wild, Orurh Wild does eventually
[23:16] burst in and Lord Jasper seems to think
[23:17] that saving Our Wild from Aean beheading
[23:20] him last episode might keep Orhile loyal
[23:21] to him in this moment. But Orurow
[23:23] defends Allison and orders Jasper
[23:25] arrested. Rea ignores the caution of
[23:27] Bartamos Celtic and Grandmaster Gerardis
[23:29] and sets out for King's Landing. And she
[23:31] also says,
[23:31] >> "Let Sir Lauren choose how he will die."
[23:33] >> So much for her refusal of his life
[23:35] forfeiture. We don't really see how Sir
[23:36] Lawrence does it in this episode, but he
[23:38] doesn't die this way in Fire and Blood
[23:40] because of course it was the HBO series
[23:41] invention to have Sir Lawrence lock Rain
[23:43] in a room to begin with. I wonder how
[23:44] Sir Lawrence's going to react to hearing
[23:45] this from Keltar or Gerardis. Is he
[23:47] going to be like, "Yeah, okay, but how
[23:49] did she say it?" Mizaria hands Rea the
[23:51] crown of her father, Vizeris,
[23:52] >> remember which one of us has been
[23:54] faithful.
[23:54] >> Mizaria doesn't want Demon or anyone
[23:56] else ousting her from her position of
[23:58] trust that she's earned here at
[23:59] Dragonstone. But these words will also
[24:01] be something Rara thinks about in the
[24:02] context of Allison. When Reara gets to
[24:04] King's Landing, she's going to initially
[24:06] see that Allison was faithful. Well,
[24:08] somewhat. Damon checks in with Ul and
[24:10] Hugh, who are now dressed in the red and
[24:12] black riding leathers and cloaks, with
[24:14] Ulf wearing the three-headed dragon
[24:15] clasp, which I assume is part of the
[24:17] pageantry and theatrics of making these
[24:18] dragon seeds appear from the ground to
[24:20] be part of the ranks of Reineer's black
[24:22] faction. Specifically, the way Damon
[24:24] just presses Ul's forehead. In the words
[24:25] of the Telltale games, "Ol will remember
[24:27] this." Cirax, Caraxis, Vermathor, and
[24:30] Silverwing depart Dragonstone with their
[24:31] riders soaring over the broken ships of
[24:33] the Gullet. Another reminder of what
[24:34] Gerardis said. These four are flying
[24:36] into King's Landing without any Valaran
[24:38] backup. Helena is back to her buggirl
[24:41] roots, noticing a caterpillar in the Red
[24:42] Keep Godswood. Remember, this is the
[24:44] same garden where Allison and Reineer
[24:46] used to spend their time, where Allison
[24:48] stops Sir Kristen from ending his life.
[24:49] Helena says, "It isn't the season for
[24:51] this caterpillar to be crawling on this
[24:53] leaf." We see a nature book that Helena
[24:55] was either reading or perhaps a journal
[24:57] that she's keeping with her with her own
[24:58] drawing of a butterfly. The inscription
[25:00] reads of Nath something something no
[25:03] other shade. The lines are distinct as
[25:05] if drawn with a quill. They are said to
[25:07] cause death to people around them while
[25:09] living, but so far I remain alive.
[25:13] Nth is known as the Isisle of
[25:15] Butterflies. It's an island in the
[25:16] summer sea off the northwestern coast of
[25:18] the southern continent of this world,
[25:20] Sos. Remember in the later era,
[25:22] Daenerys's adviser, Miss Mande, is from
[25:24] Nth. Helena is a Targaryen dreamer who
[25:26] often devised cryptic prophecies from
[25:28] the insects and arachnids that she would
[25:30] fiddle with. I think she's surprised to
[25:31] find the caterpillar that will molt into
[25:33] the yrium of Nth butterfly already
[25:35] active earlier than she expected, which
[25:37] could foreshadow death, which is true.
[25:39] We already start to see heads of the
[25:40] greens rolling this episode, starting
[25:42] with Helena's grandfather, Otto. Though,
[25:44] notice how Helena's notes say she has
[25:46] been around these butterflies before and
[25:48] she is still alive. Helena and Alice
[25:51] Rivers are the two most interesting
[25:52] characters to theorize about. So, we're
[25:53] going to talk about this more in a
[25:54] spoiler dungeon. Allison tries to assure
[25:56] Helena that fleeing is the right move
[25:58] and that she just wants her to be happy
[25:59] like she was before becoming queen. And
[26:01] Helena says this,
[26:02] >> "I think I might like to keep chickens.
[26:05] >> God bless this sweet, sweet bug girl who
[26:08] loves her chickens." Allison tells Sir
[26:09] Frederick on the battleman to stand down
[26:11] by the order of the queen. And Helena
[26:13] dutifully says,
[26:14] >> "I will not have any beast harmed." And
[26:17] then as Allison scares Sir Frederick
[26:18] about Reineer coming with Dragonfire,
[26:20] Helena speaks up trying to take the good
[26:21] cop approach.
[26:22] >> Her sons were always kind.
[26:24] >> Helena is recalling when Jace danced
[26:26] with her on Drift Mark in season 1
[26:28] episode 8. Now we don't know if this
[26:29] moment if Helena knows that Jace is
[26:31] dead, but for Helena, she always held
[26:33] the niceness of Jace of Luke and Joffrey
[26:36] when they were all in the Red Keep
[26:37] together compared to her own freaky
[26:39] brothers. That that goodness must have
[26:41] reflected on the kind motherly qualities
[26:43] of Reineer. Lord Hand Kristen Cole and
[26:45] Gwane High Tower see Vaggar and Aean to
[26:46] fly overhead and charge to Harrenhal. We
[26:48] see bats swarming out of Harrenhal as
[26:50] Vagar looms in the fog of her head. I
[26:52] mean maybe Alice Rivers is just a goth
[26:54] girl who wants a big bat castle. The
[26:56] garrison that Damon ordered to occupy
[26:58] Harrenhal gets torched. We don't know if
[26:59] Oscar Tully is with them though. I think
[27:01] for a character that big they would have
[27:02] shown his death. The kaiju sized dragon
[27:05] of Vaggar topples pillars with his
[27:07] massive bulk and sprays these Tully men
[27:09] with fire while Aean just cuts through
[27:11] all of them alone without much effort.
[27:13] It's pretty interesting that this
[27:14] episode shows two sequences of these
[27:16] dragons taking the two largest castles
[27:18] of Westeros without much resistance. But
[27:20] that is in a sense how it goes down in
[27:22] Fire and Blood. It's all kind of like a
[27:24] silly game of chess and out thinking and
[27:26] outmaneuvering the dragons on the other
[27:27] side. I mean really Aean is following
[27:29] the same path Damon did in season 2. He
[27:32] even bursts into the same room finding
[27:34] Lord Simon Strong and his grandsons
[27:36] German and Paxter dining just as Damon
[27:39] found them. Aemon wants to duel the
[27:40] elderly Lord Simon, who tries to bend
[27:42] the knee the way he did to Damon, but
[27:44] the young prince won't accept it. He's
[27:45] less patient and he stabs the old lord.
[27:47] Now German shouts father. Even though
[27:50] I'm pretty sure these two guys are his
[27:51] grandsons, but German dies too, but
[27:54] Paxter, good old Paxter, lunges in with
[27:56] a steak knife behind Demon and stabs him
[27:58] through his armor right in the kidney.
[28:00] Now, according to Fire and Blood, these
[28:02] killings do mark the unceremonious end
[28:04] of House Strong, an ancient house
[28:05] descended from the first men. But in the
[28:07] show continuity, Lord Lar Strong remains
[28:09] alive and Alice Rivers is technically
[28:11] the bastard daughter of Lord Lionol
[28:13] Strong or at least they think she is.
[28:14] And of course, Prince Joffrey is a
[28:16] strong bastard, son of Harwin Strong. So
[28:18] the bloodline does live on. It's just
[28:20] the Riverland house now historically is
[28:22] done. Alice Rivers approaches Aean just
[28:24] as she did to Damon. But bleeding from
[28:26] the wound from Paxter, he crawls to her
[28:28] feet to help. He's not dead, but she's
[28:30] in control right now. The rest of the
[28:31] episode is spent at King's Landing, the
[28:33] sacking of King's Landing. We're already
[28:35] here. It's happening. Rineer squadron
[28:37] flies toward the city from the
[28:38] Blackwater Bay. Sir Frederick does stand
[28:40] down from a scorpion and a second of
[28:42] command removes his helmet. Notice how
[28:43] this guy is heterocchromia. Maybe it's
[28:45] just an interesting casting choice. Then
[28:46] there's some panic in the streets of
[28:48] King's Landing and Fire and Blood.
[28:49] There's way more panic. There's looting.
[28:51] There's rioting. There's people fleeing
[28:53] the city for the hills. There's people
[28:54] who just start burrowing underneath
[28:56] their homes hoping to escape the fire.
[28:57] Tunnels that fire in blood nodes are
[28:59] still there in future generations. We
[29:01] see Hugh Hammer's wife, Cat. The dragon
[29:03] she sees is Vermathor. and she sees the
[29:05] back of it where Hugh would be riding.
[29:07] This would be the first she has seen her
[29:08] husband since he left. It's not like he
[29:10] could send word with a raven as to where
[29:11] he would be flying with his super
[29:13] important dragon. While Silverwing flew
[29:15] over King's Landing in season 2 as a
[29:16] show of force by Raineer to Aeand in the
[29:18] Greens, none of these people have seen
[29:20] the bronze fury Vermathor in their
[29:22] lifetimes because remember in season 1
[29:23] he was still hauled away in a dragon
[29:25] cave. So it must be terrifying to see a
[29:27] dragon that's nearly as big as Vagar,
[29:29] but one that is clearly a different
[29:31] color in the sunlight flying overhead.
[29:32] As Caraxis lands outside the gates, we
[29:34] literally see green cloak soldiers
[29:36] throwing open the gates for them. And
[29:38] when Rara lands on Cyrax, they all offer
[29:40] their swords and bend the knee. It is
[29:42] pretty wild to see Damon and Rara by
[29:45] themselves working their way through the
[29:46] red keep before waiting for the gold
[29:48] cloaks to help them take the castle like
[29:49] they do in Fire and Blood. They get all
[29:51] the way into the throne room, which in
[29:53] fairness to the loyalist Greens might
[29:55] have been a deliberate defense strategy
[29:57] to lure these enemies into the thing
[29:59] that they would be going after the most
[30:00] and then try to kill them there at the
[30:01] feet of the throne. Because the iron
[30:02] throne is like basically a series of
[30:04] pikes. It's a brier patch of swords that
[30:06] was designed that way in part to make
[30:08] anyone who would try to climb over
[30:09] themselves to take this musical chair
[30:11] style would die on that climb. Sir
[30:13] Rickard leads Green soldiers to defend
[30:15] the throne from Rara and Damon. Damon
[30:17] asks where Aegon is. Is the upstart pup
[30:19] too craven to face his queen?
[30:21] >> Upstart tart is some incredible word
[30:24] play. Raineira draws her sword getting
[30:25] last from Sir Rickard and the gold
[30:27] cloaks led by Sir Luther Larent rush in
[30:31] >> Sir Luther. The city watch remembers our
[30:34] commander Damon Targaryen.
[30:36] >> I like to think this all might have
[30:38] hinged on just Damon remembering the
[30:40] name and face of this gold cloak that he
[30:41] once served with. Similar to Ned Stark
[30:43] trying to confront Cersei in this same
[30:45] room decades in the future from now just
[30:47] to find Littlefinger betraying him with
[30:48] the gold cloaks. The ultimate control
[30:50] over the Iron Throne really does just
[30:51] come down to who has control over the
[30:53] city watch. Many of the green soldiers
[30:55] drop their swords, but the honorable Sir
[30:56] Rickard refuses to surrender. Rea
[30:58] initially refuses to sit the throne
[31:00] until she can get blood, the blood of
[31:02] Aegon the usurper, but Orhwhile reports
[31:04] to Damon that Aegon has fled as has
[31:06] Allison. We see Allison and Helena
[31:08] fleeing with Princess Jiara through the
[31:10] streets. Though some women recognize
[31:12] them, probably some women in attendance
[31:13] of that funeral procession where their
[31:15] carriage got stuck. These are probably
[31:17] part of the same spy network that
[31:18] snitched on Allison to Sir Rickard and
[31:20] Jasper Wild. We see Damon going down to
[31:22] the dungeon to free the political
[31:24] prisoners always loyal to Rea down there
[31:26] and taunt Jasper Wild, the replacement
[31:28] offered by Orw. But then this other
[31:30] dungeon keeper says,
[31:31] >> "A gift from Lord Laris Strong."
[31:34] >> Inside the cell is Auto High Tower. Now,
[31:36] remember we saw Otto leave King's
[31:37] Landing in season 2, episode 2 after
[31:39] Aegon removed him as hand of the king.
[31:41] He had told Allison that he was planning
[31:42] on going back to Oldtown to mentor his
[31:44] grandson, Darren. But then in the season
[31:46] 2 finale, we randomly saw him in a cell
[31:48] somewhere. So now it's confirmed he's in
[31:50] the Red Keep dungeon, captured by some
[31:52] agent of Lord Laris strong, probably the
[31:55] same network that burned Misaria's
[31:56] house. Why did Lary keep Ottoa prisoner
[31:58] all this time? I assume Allison didn't
[32:00] even know her father was down here. I
[32:02] assume we'll get this question answered
[32:04] in a future episode, but it is very
[32:06] confusing and I don't really have an
[32:07] answer for it other than we had to rush
[32:09] the writing of season 2 and couldn't do
[32:10] rewrites cuz we shot it during a strike.
[32:12] Back in the throne room, Lord
[32:13] Merryweather and Lady Fel are presented
[32:15] to Reineer. Remember back in season 1,
[32:17] episode 9, these two were lords who were
[32:19] living in the Red Keep who refused to
[32:21] swear to Aegon II as that would break
[32:23] their oath to Vizeris the first and
[32:24] Reara and Otto had them escorted out.
[32:27] Now we know where they were all this
[32:28] time. In the Fire and Blood text, they
[32:30] were actually beheaded for refusing.
[32:31] They appear to be the same actors here,
[32:33] just looking more haggarded. Jasper Wild
[32:34] is dragged before Raineira, followed by
[32:36] Lord Otto High Totower.
[32:38] >> I assume everyone else is dead.
[32:40] >> Otto has been so isolated, he assumes
[32:42] that King Aegon, Aemon, Allison, Helena,
[32:45] even young Jihara have all been killed
[32:47] before they got to him. But he hears
[32:48] Damon whisper that Aegon has actually
[32:50] fled. And Reese Eiffens, what an amazing
[32:52] actor that I will miss on this show. The
[32:53] way he drops his head in disappointment,
[32:55] almost like he wanted it to all be over
[32:57] for his shitty grandsons. And now Otto
[32:59] knows that it's going to be him who gets
[33:01] scapegoed. In the dying of dragons
[33:03] chapter in Fire and Blood, it is stated
[33:04] that Otto High Tower is the first to be
[33:06] executed, followed by Iron Rod. But it
[33:08] doesn't say that Rara is the one to
[33:10] behead Otto. And Otto and Iron Rod were
[33:12] not previously imprisoned by the Green's
[33:14] own forces in these dungeons at the time
[33:15] of the sacking. In this scene, Damon
[33:17] tells Rea it needs to be her who does
[33:19] it. Otto requests Damon to spare him
[33:21] from being hacked at, and Otto says,
[33:22] >> "If your father could see what it's come
[33:24] to, he would never have imagined it.
[33:26] >> Speak no more."
[33:27] >> Yeah. Truly, this was the fruit of
[33:29] Otto's own manipulations at the end of
[33:31] season 1. Otto turns back to look at Rea
[33:33] one last time and then leans his head
[33:35] forward to show the bare flesh on the
[33:36] back of his neck. The same kind of
[33:38] target that we saw on the back of Edard
[33:39] Stark's neck in the Bor episode. As Rea
[33:42] brings the sword down, Otto starts to
[33:44] say,
[33:44] >> "I did my best."
[33:46] >> He was saying, "I did my best." He was
[33:49] going to try to say that he did his best
[33:51] to serve the realm in House Targaryen,
[33:53] but Reineer's miss leaves him with this
[33:55] undignified end. She missed by a mile,
[33:57] fully wedging the sword in Otto's upper
[33:59] back. So Otto's real final moments alive
[34:02] are in tremendous pain, gasping for
[34:03] breath. It's similar to Theon Greyjoyy's
[34:05] failed execution of the Winterfell
[34:07] Master at-arms Rodrik Cassell in Game of
[34:09] Thrones season 2 episode 6. But with the
[34:11] second swing, Reara lobs Otto's head
[34:13] clean off. She is using Demon's Valyrian
[34:15] steel sword to Dark Sister, which was
[34:17] first carried by Vizenia, sister wife to
[34:19] egg on the Conqueror. Within seconds,
[34:21] Damon takes Dark Sister and swings for
[34:23] Jasper Wild, who begins to say to tell
[34:25] his lady wife whatever she hears and
[34:27] slice. So, confirmed Iron Rod was
[34:29] married. I just think he doesn't want
[34:30] his wife hearing about what he did to
[34:31] Allison in his final hours. The violin
[34:33] strings in the sequence are haunting. We
[34:36] go from a light motif of the High Tower
[34:38] green theme from season 1 upon seeing
[34:39] Otto again to just these dramatic cries
[34:44] kind of set the rhythm of a heartbeat.
[34:46] stepping through the blood of Otto, her
[34:48] father's council, who is most
[34:50] responsible for denying her ascension,
[34:52] Reineer steps toward the Iron Throne,
[34:54] leaving a trail of bloody bootprints.
[34:56] Now, Emma Darcy here does an amazing job
[34:59] of seizing their body with a sense of
[35:01] shock, but then showing how Rene is able
[35:03] to collect herself and takes the walk up
[35:05] to the throne. We see her literally
[35:07] reflected in the puddle of Otto's blood.
[35:09] Reara sits the throne with this awkward
[35:12] angle to keep her holstered sword from
[35:14] getting tangled in the swords of the
[35:15] throne itself. For a moment, she shows a
[35:17] bit of relief, but then Allison and
[35:18] Helena are walked in in front of her,
[35:20] and notice how Rene now shifts awkwardly
[35:22] in her chair, as if one of the swords
[35:24] might have cut her. Allison looks down
[35:26] at her beheaded father, Otto, probably
[35:28] not knowing that he had been imprisoned
[35:30] by Laris and handed over to Damon and
[35:31] Reara that way. Probably assuming that
[35:33] Reara just found him as a prisoner of
[35:35] war first and did this to him. Once
[35:37] again, confusion leads these two women
[35:39] to assume the worst about each other.
[35:40] Allison looks up at Rea with a look of
[35:42] betrayal and fear. Raineira tears on her
[35:45] face knowing that the entire court is
[35:47] watching her for any sign of weakness.
[35:49] Struggles to maintain composure,
[35:50] tightening her face while her eyes
[35:52] express a perfect mix of regret, anger,
[35:55] grief, and pain as she sits this iron
[35:58] throne. Yes, emotional pain and physical
[36:01] pain. I imagine she feels like her dead
[36:03] son Jace with another queen coming into
[36:06] the room to ask, "What have you done?"
[36:08] But on that note of pain, we right now
[36:11] have to go into the spoiler dungeon
[36:12] here. You're welcome to stop watching if
[36:14] you don't want to know what comes next
[36:15] from the book or have anything from
[36:16] these upcoming episodes accidentally
[36:18] spoiled to you. In Fire and Blood, this
[36:19] chapter ends with a specific account
[36:21] from Septan Eustace, who said that Rene
[36:23] sat the Iron Throne all night as
[36:25] everyone in the Red Keep was brought
[36:26] before her to kneel and plead for
[36:28] forgiveness and swear. Eustace also
[36:30] notes that cuts were visible on Rea's
[36:33] legs and palm, and drops of her blood
[36:35] fell to the floor as she walked past,
[36:37] and wise men looked at one another,
[36:39] though none dared to speak the truth
[36:40] aloud. The Iron Throne has spurned her
[36:43] and her days upon it would be few. I
[36:46] think this episode was trying to convey
[36:47] that with the blood on the floor left by
[36:48] Reineer's bootprints from Otto's blood.
[36:50] Also, the way Rineer awkwardly sits on
[36:53] the throne, the way she jumps, the way
[36:54] she conveys this physical pain on her
[36:56] face. I just won't be surprised if
[36:58] episode 3 begins with her standing up
[37:00] and we discover cuts on her body just as
[37:02] her father Vizeris was pricricked by the
[37:04] throne when he sat upon it. This is the
[37:05] curse of the Iron Throne. If it cuts the
[37:07] leader when they sit on it, the throne
[37:09] is spurning them. And of course, book
[37:11] readers know that Reero will not be a
[37:12] long-term monarch. While she scores her
[37:14] vengeance on the Greens here, it won't
[37:16] be long until it all comes to an end in
[37:18] season 4. But let's talk about Damon and
[37:19] Alice Rivers. The omen Alice mentioned,
[37:22] I think referred to the end of Damon's
[37:23] selfish ambitions in the beginning of
[37:25] Rineer's true reign, but also the
[37:27] beginning of the end of the civil war.
[37:29] Why does Alice want Harrenhal? Well, I
[37:31] think now that she's tending to Aean's
[37:33] health and recovery, her goal is to
[37:35] marry into the Targaryen bloodline and
[37:38] be Lady of Harrenhal, producing an heir
[37:40] with Aemon. Like, if she couldn't do it
[37:41] with Damon, she's going to do it with
[37:43] Aean. And I think Alice's ultimate goal
[37:45] is to bring an end to the madness of
[37:47] Targaryen dragon power in Westeros by
[37:49] restoring things to the natural balance
[37:51] of the old gods in this continent. I
[37:53] think she's going to work all sides to
[37:55] try to make both Targaryen factions wipe
[37:56] each other out, and then their heirs
[37:58] will be left without dragons. Like we
[38:00] could find out that the manipulations of
[38:02] Alice Rivers and the old gods is what
[38:04] leads to House Targaryen to end up being
[38:06] dragonless. The diminished status that
[38:08] they have in Night of the Seven
[38:09] Kingdoms. The sighting of Blood Raven
[38:11] and the vision that Alice showed Damon
[38:13] at the end of season 2. Blood Raven is a
[38:15] character alive during Duncan Egg's era.
[38:18] I think that's going to be continuing
[38:19] that old godpowered agenda. Alice's
[38:21] warning to Damon to never return here
[38:23] reminds us of her warning in season 2
[38:24] that Damon will die in this place.
[38:26] Indeed, he will at the battle of the
[38:27] God's Eye Lake. Seeing Caraxis lap up
[38:30] that water from that same lake as that
[38:31] water rained down over Damon and Alice.
[38:33] I think that shot was definitely setting
[38:35] that up. The Allen and Bais scenes. Yes,
[38:37] setting up the marriage that these two
[38:39] will eventually have. Looks like these
[38:41] two final seasons are going to make some
[38:42] time for that subplot. That's fun to
[38:44] see. And let's end the speculation with
[38:46] Helena Bug girl. This yrium of Nth
[38:48] butterfly inscription is awesome. I
[38:50] think it's a potent of Helena's own
[38:52] death. Now, I'm not excited for this,
[38:55] but last week's coming up on this season
[38:57] trailer included a shot of Helena seen
[38:59] from above looking like she's seconds
[39:00] away from being torched by dragon fire,
[39:03] making me worried that Helena is going
[39:04] to go over to the dragon pit and get her
[39:06] dragon dream fire to do this to her,
[39:08] ending her life the same way Lena did
[39:10] with Vaggar. I really don't want that to
[39:12] be how she goes out, but that might be
[39:14] what these writers are doing. Comment
[39:15] down below with your thoughts on this
[39:16] episode. And a special thanks to one of
[39:17] our NR Underground subscribers, Rick
[39:19] Denman, for supporting us at the
[39:21] executive producer level. You can get
[39:22] all of our exclusive bonus content by
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[39:28] Big thanks to Studio Tech Brian Kim, New
[39:30] Rockstars editors Joshua Steven and Abby
[39:32] Freel and all of our supporting editors
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[39:37] Thanks for watching and I'll see you
[39:38] next time. And bye.