Alicent comes to invite her to join the royal hunt, but conditions are frosty indeed between the two former pals. Rhaenyra is reading up on history while getting dutifully serenaded by a minstrel named Samwell. Rhaenyra, between Casterly Rock and a hard place What's you're rush?' Bluff Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall) hits on Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). (It's in this same wood that King Robert I will later be mortally wounded by a boar, kicking off the events of Game of Thrones.) This hunt, you'll note, takes place in the Kingswood, a forest south of King's Landing that contains a private hunting area for the occupant of the Iron Throne. But Viserys dismisses him, too preoccupied with his son Aegon's upcoming second birthday, and the royal hunt that has been arranged in his honor. In the process, Daemon plays Godzilla to one of his own soldier's Bambi, because dragons are many things, but dainty is not one of them.īack in King's Landing, Ser Tyland Lannister nervously reports to Viserys that Daemon and Corlys are losing the Stepstones, and begs the king to intervene. Meanwhile, Daemon and Corlys, without seeking the permission of the king, have been attempting to take the Stepstones back from the Triarchy admiral known as the Crabfeeder.įirst, Daemon rides his dragon Caraxes into battle, chasing the Crabfeeder and his men into the caves on the island of Bloodstone, where they dig in for a siege. Alicent is expecting a second child, as well. King Viserys has married his teen bride Alicent and they've had a son named Aegon, after the founder of the Targaryen Dynasty. Three years have passed since the last episode.

I venture to say that the HotD credits will change from week to week as well, to reflect the growth of the Targaryen dynasty - more members, more marriages, more blood from other Houses (or, you know, the same old House) entering the machine. GoT's opening credits gave viewers a heads-up as to which geographic locations would feature in a given week's episode. Yep: this represents siblings marrying siblings, a grand, gross, Targaryen family tradition: For richer, for poorer, in sickness, and incest. You'll notice a couple of times when two different bloodlines branch off from one pair of sigils and then kinda. The cool thing: Each of these sigils represents a different member of the royal family - so what the camera's really up to, of course, is following the literal bloodline(s) - get it? - of House Targaryen. The first symbol we see is the Doom of Valyria, the volcanic cataclysm that destroyed the ancestral home of the Targaryens and Velaryons (both Houses only survived because they'd relocated to Westeros years before).īlood flows in rivulets through the machine, gathering in pools around pairs of sigils, then branching off again. Which is to say: These credits very much represent what House of the Dragon is all about, neatly teeing up the central conflicts that drive it. But instead of one that looks out at the wider world, this one looks inward - and to the past. We're back to an elaborate clockwork apparatus, like O.G. (Didn't mention them last week because the episode that was screened for press didn't have 'em, but this one did.) We'll get to it all, but first: A word about those deeply snazzy opening credits. But you can't deny that the pace is quickening, the plot is thickening, and a third dragon gets added to the slooowly growing roster, with a fiery and efficient debut. If you're just joining us, here are recaps of episode one and episode two and a glossary of people and places you may have forgotten.ĭon't get me wrong: House of the Dragon remains as listlessly talky as ever, and is still telegraphing its each and every narrative punch by having different characters make the same point over and over, for our putative benefit. well, for House of the Dragon 's third episode. This recap of House of the Dragon 's third episode contains spoilers for.

Drawing cloaks and capes