Season 1, Episode 2: “Rogue Prince”
In the future centuries of Westeros, in the same garden (I think) where King Viserys had blind dates with his children on Sundays, Cersei Lannister immediately scatter Oberyn Martell is one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard.
“Everywhere in the world they hurt little girls.” she said.
We saw the truth of these words this week in House of the Dragons. It doesn’t matter if the girl in question is a wealthy 12-year-old or 15-year-old being offered to a middle-aged man to improve her father’s position. A despised woman who was literally sold over and over doesn’t remember where she came from. Or an actual princess being alienated in her own home by her father who is scorned by her bitter uncle and doesn’t even ask if it’s cool to marry her best friend… It will hurt.
Another princess, whose dreams were shattered by men long ago, might coolly describe all this as “the order of things.” But that doesn’t make her pain less. At the very least, this season’s momentum seems destined to be determined by how willing Rhaenyra and others adhere to these devious traditions.
Picking things up almost six months after the events of the premiere, the Crabfeeder continues to feed crabs on the Stepstones, a series of islands between Westeros and Essos. (The Free City that everyone keeps talking about is in Essos.) The Kingsguard’s chief commander, Ser Ryam, has died, creating a dreamy opening for Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). The demon himself crouches majestically on Dragonstone.
But the biggest problem seems to be Viserys’ continued bachelorhood. Everyone worries that his only heir is a woman. Furthermore, we all know how much Westerosi nobles love their weddings.
Details of “House of the Dragon”
HBO’s long-awaited first “Game of Thrones” spin-off debuted on August 21st.
Actually, there were two big wedding announcements this week. One of them paired the visibly corrupt Viserys with the adolescent Aricent. Aricent was placed as honey her pot by her overzealous father, Otto, using her role as the king’s most trusted adviser to secure her own power. It jeopardized Viserys’ relationship with his most important ally, the Sea Snakes, wanting the king to choose his prepubescent daughter, Laena (Nova Feeris Morse). Another announcement of hers was a clever lie from Damon.
So… it’s comparable to the course of a “Game of Thrones” wedding. Both reviews were mixed.
“This is ridiculous!” said the sea serpent in response to Viserys’ momentous announcement, which at first seemed to have a point. The good news, not only because Laena had more strategic implications, but because she didn’t have to put him to bed until he was 14, is that Viserys and Alicent are the world’s best friends with their chemistry. (This is good news, considering she’s 15.)
But all signs pointed in this direction. For one thing, Viserys and Alicent have some things in common. Both are more introspective and sensitive than others at court, enjoying the escapism of stories and myths. Each of them personally suffered great losses. Plus, you don’t even need a ring. Already joined by matching finger trauma. (I wonder if “maggot dishes” will be listed in the marriage registration.)
Viserys is a broken dragon, as his iconic Old Valyrian model figurine shows. His wife’s ashes are barely cold, everyone tells him to remarry, and he’s physically broken.
But he really — and I can’t stress this enough — should have given Rhaenyra a heads-up.
The relationship between the princess and her father is awkward from the beginning. But this week, with helpful advice from Aricent, I finally found them to have real warmth and connection. Enjoying the interlude, and you have some very nasty news to share, but you don’t want to ruin the moment. No.) But it would have been an ideal time to prepare her daughter for the bomb Viserys was about to drop.
What he didn’t do might strike some viewers as a silly narrative twist, but it’s understandable. In oblivion and strategic clumsiness, he sought marriage advice from Randos at the council, which he ignored.
History, indeed, is made of grave deeds of wisdom, courage, and cruelty, but it is also made of simple human error. I don’t know if there was, but I’d throw it at her in front of the gods, the small council, and everyone to shock her and let her know that she’d been tricked and betrayed by the two closest to her. It was the worst possible way. People kept telling her that Viserys would have to remarry, and she supported it out of a similar sense of obligation. No one said, ‘I’m going to start sleeping with your dad.
In the process, Viserys likely did what he most wanted to avoid: sending the country to war. Aricent produces an heir that threatens the already enraged Laenira, but an enraged Seesnake seeks a new alliance with Aricent’s father, Daemon. He has obvious flaws, too, but he also has an early knack for saying what we all think.
The big announcement was the toughest part of a tough week for Rhaneyra, who had largely helped her show her strength up until that point.
She talked about club feeders out of turn in the meeting, and she was probably right too — what if Daemon accepted Seesnake’s offer and essentially did what Raenira suggested? Reinis told her she would never become queen, and she did the best she could. When her dragon turned the demon’s eye across the rift, she resolved the Dragonstone Egg Crisis with her spine and mutually confirmed promises of destruction.
The prince threw stolen eggs like Carly Neal, but eventually gave in. When Otto gazed at Laenira and took a newfound admiration for her soaring formidability, I think he was thinking about future clashes as much as he was about the present.
And so may we. Compact, white-blond and steely, with the flair of “Dracarys”, Laenira is a “Dragon” character who bears the clearest resemblance to a “Throne” character. She may have more challenges in front of her than the Westeros patriarchal order deserves, but her plan to “create a new order”, expressed to Reinis, is to turn the wheel. It sounded like Daenerys’ oath to break.
Like girls inside and outside the realm, Rhaenyra was scarred. But she also seems to be increasingly likely to hurt her back.