The wedding in this week’s House of the Dragon isn’t all that disastrous when viewed in the context of Westeros’ whole history.
Sure, during the rehearsal dinner, someone passes away on the dance floor. Yes, the bride’s stepmother might be just a few steps away from sparking a coup. And it was acknowledged that the groom’s father might have passed away shortly after were exchanged the vows. Nevertheless, a pregnant woman was not repeatedly stabbed in the abdomen, so… success?
The highlights of Episode 5 are listed below.
NICE KNOWING YOU, LADY RHEA
The episode opens in The Vale, where Lady Rhea Royce (hello, Rachel Redford from Shadow and Bone!) is riding and hunting. When she encounters Daemon, she refers to him as “husband” after she has captured a few game birds. So this is the horrible ogre of a wife Daemon has been lamenting since the story’s beginning. I have no idea, buddy. I already like her more than you do after hearing a few words from her and watching her ride her horse like a badass. She wonders if he is there to complete their unfinished marriage after learning that they never had children. She snarks, “The sheep of The Vale might be willing, even if I am not.” She then makes fun of Viserys for choosing someone else over him, but when she sees Daemon’s face, she stops and understands that she is definitely in grave danger.
Even though Daemon is giving his best Obi-Wan impression here (hooded cape, hand extended as if calling upon The Force), it seems that the events that follow are primarily unfortunate accidents: She reaches for her bow and arrow, and the horse rears up (perhaps as a result of Daemon making a feint at it or something, we can’t see), falls backward, lands on her, and likely crushes several internal organs that shouldn’t be crushed.
Poor Lady Rhea lies there gasping as the horse rises and bolts away. Although she appears paralyzed from the neck down, her mouth is fully functional. She consequently receives an exceedingly precise burn when Daemon lightly steps on her forearm before turning to go. She says, “I knew you couldn’t finish,” as if she had seen the previous week’s episode—or the series premiere. Then, mercifully, the camera changes to Viserys and Rhaenyra sailing on the water as he picks up a big rock and moves toward her.
A PROPOSAL IS MADE
However, what we observe isn’t all that pleasant: The monarch waves away a bucket from an attendant before rushing to the balcony and throwing up over the side, proving that he isn’t as suited to ocean travel as his daughter is. (In his defense, things are complicated.)
The royal party travels to High Tide, the home of House Velaryon, after landing. As soon as Viserys, Rhaenyra, Ser Criston, and company arrive, the power maneuvers begin: Lord Corlys sends his daughter Laena out to welcome the guests rather than doing it himself. While Corlys and Viserys, along with the new Hand of King Lyonel Strong and Princess Rhaenys, decide Rhaenyra’s fate, Laena and Rhaeynra are dispatched immediately. Viserys is coughing and sweating right now, and when Rhaenys gives him a hug, she notices that he has significantly fewer digits than he did the last time they spoke.
Viserys then formally proposes a marriage between Rhaenys and Laenor when Corlys notifies the King of Lady Rhea’s passing (her “neck and skull both smashed in the fall,” Rhaenys explains, filling in what that tactical scene change previously left out). Before approving, Laenor’s parents want the succession plan to have a few particular details. Oh, and they also presume that, in keeping with Westerosi tradition, the kids would adopt Laenor’s last name?
However, Viserys makes a concession, announcing that her children with Laenor will use the last name Velaryon up until ascension before changing to Targaryen. Viserys resents the concept of the Targaryen name ending just because Rhaenyra is female. This will ensure that “dragons will govern the seven kingdoms for the next hundred years, just as they ruled the last,” Corlys concurs.
Lenor and Rhaenyra take a stroll on the beach as the grownups converse. She apologizes for making him marry her and tells him in soft, coded tones that she is aware of his preference for male company. She suggests that they carry out their obligations to the Realm and then get their freak on with anybody “as we see fit” because she knows that whatever arrangement is reached up there won’t affect their appetites. An LGBT ally is one we stan! Joffrey, who is also Laenor’s lover, is excited about the arrangement. After all, they will be able to continue their friendship, especially since he is aware that Rhaenyra has a sidekick (though he is unsure of who it is).
Who, however, is not in favor of Laenor’s sexual orientation? His father believes that the child “will outgrow it.” Nothing compares to the joy of bedding a woman. Sigh.
HIGHTOWER HIGHTAILS IT OUTTA THERE
Alice goes outside in the rain to express her sadness to Otto upon his departure from King’s Landing. He tells her angrily that he feels she could have done more to save him. She responds that it was truly his responsibility that Aegon was chosen as Otto’s successor since he pushed too hard for that to happen. He becomes a little more composed as he predicts that the King will pass away sooner rather than later because “He is not meant to be an old man” and that if Rhaenyra succeeds to the throne, the conflict will follow. “She’ll have to kill your kids to keep her position. He continues that she won’t have a choice, which makes Alicent sob more. He then rants at her a little bit more and hugs her before riding off into the rain and saying that his grandchildren are probably dead.
"House of the Dragon” recap: The repercussions of Rhaenyra and Daemon’s illicit adventures continue to reverberate.https://t.co/zrv917unqd
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 19, 2022
When Larys Strong informs the queen that the King promptly, after Rhaenyra’s after-hours walkabout, brought tea (also known as moon tea, an abortifacient, as Alicent swiftly deduces), the queen’s Very Bad Day continues. When Alicent clarifies that Rhaenyra is healthy and traveling, Larys makes this “OHHHHH, I thought she was sick!” noise. I’m so relieved she isn’t! Really?” but I’m here to tell you that he’s far more deceptive than he first appeared to be.
COME AWAY WITH ME
Ser Criston is extremely upset about Rhaenyra’s future being decided for her while traveling back home on the boat. Would you follow a different road if it led to freedom if there was one? To put it briefly, he wants her to board a ship with him. He suggests that let’s put it all behind us and travel the world as a group. As we watch, he draws a picture of a life where they are nameless and free, almost turning into the heart-eyed emoji. You and I may get married in Essos. He claims a union formed out of love, not for the Crown.
Even though she appears to be highly intrigued by the thought, she eventually needs to reject him. And she does put a stop to him. She reminds him, a hint of hardness in her voice, “I am the Crown.” “Or I’ll be,” The good news is that you can be my sidekick, she continues. Cole sobs, realizing he breached his Kingsguard vows for someone who won’t even entertain the notion of eating oranges in the Free Cities with him, “You want me to be your whore,” he cries.
The sad knight hasn’t been back at the Red Keep for more than a few minutes when Alicent beckons him to her rooms. Their ship has just arrived. She falls while requesting information from him regarding Rhaenyra’s encounter with Daemon. Ser Criston assumes she is asking him if he had slept with the princess because she takes so long to clarify what she is talking about and because he already feels so wrong. Your grace, it happened. The offense you mention. It’s something I did. She indeed instigated it, but that shouldn’t be the case, he says. It is not a defense. He begs her to murder him instead of gelding (ugh) and to torture him because he knows what’s ahead is horrible for him (ouch again). Alice soon recovers, thanking him for his honesty and informing a bewildered Criston that he can leave. She had not anticipated this confession to fall into her lap.
In the meantime, Viserys asks Lyonel fatalistically if he will be remembered as a decent king despite suffering greatly from a severely infected arm wound and appearing like a lump of the boiled liver. The end is undoubtedly in sight, even if it hasn’t arrived yet.
THE GREEN WEDDING?
After a while, everyone is gathered in King’s Landing for the wedding of Rhaenyra and Lenor. At a preparatory feast, Viserys is well enough to sit next to the bride-to-be, but neither of them is eager to strike up a conversation with Jason Lannister when he comes over to express his congratulations. Even as Corlys and Rhaeyns and their families come to much fanfare, Alicent is noticeably missing. And just as Daemon enters the hallway with a strut, you know he’s about to eff it up.
The King silently adds a chair to the head table, and Daemon takes a seat. Very start to give a welcome speech, but Alicent arrives late and dramatically wearing a stunning green gown, the same color House Hightower uses in its beacon to signal the start of a war. Viserys then interrupts himself. After she takes her seat, Viserys resumes his speech by extending a warm invitation to the guests for the wedding and the subsequent seven days of contests and feasting.
Later, Rhaenyra and Laenor dance on the ground with what appears to be a lot of flapping dragon wing motions. Joffrey and Criston both observe from the sidelines, looking somewhat unenthusiastic. Until Lady Rhea’s cousin confronts him and informs him that in The Vale, men are held to account for their crimes, “even Targaryens,” Daemon sits up at the table grinning. He charges Daemon with murdering Rhea, and Daemon then demands his inheritance: Runestone, the seat of House Royce, which was to go to her, might very well be his since he and Rhea didn’t produce any successors. The cousin immediately sits down after losing his enthusiasm as a result.
MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR
Several events happen while the celebrations continue. Joffrey identifies Ser Criston as Rhaeynra’s lover based only on the knight’s hangdog expression as he observes the princess from the room’s edge. Then, Joffrey lets Criston know that he is aware of their relationship by threatening to cause some little mutually assured destruction if any of their secrets are revealed. In another location, Daemon approaches Laena, who is still youthful but (thank goodness) a few years older than she was when Viserys considered marrying her.
Eventually, Rhaenyra is left alone on the dance floor, and Daemon asks her in High Valyrian if she wants to continue. She replies in kind, “I was not aware that what I desired mattered to you,” and mocks him by telling him to “cut through my father’s Kingsguard” and take her to Dragonstone if he wants her. Just as Viserys begins to see that his brother and daughter appear to be about to engage in an immoral act on the dance floor, a group of armored warriors burst into the room.
Suddenly, Ser Criston and Joffrey are engaged in combat, which culminates with the latter being killed and missing his face due to the knight’s furious fists. While Laena enters the crowd, Laenor enters a different area of the conflict. Viserys’ inability to locate Rhaenyra is put on hold as he begins profusely bleeding from his nose and wobbling. Everything somehow settles down in the end. Lenor goes to Joffrey as he lies lifeless on the ground and cries out in sorrow.
Time to improvise, then! That evening, only their immediate families are invited to their wedding, between a traumatized Rhaenyra and a sad Lenor. As soon as the vows are over, Viserys collapses to the ground and passes out. Ser Criston is about to commit suicide outside the godswood when Alicent intervenes. Daemon is not present at any point during this entire process.
FAQs
What happened after House of the Dragon Episode 5?
After the King’s brief display of power, Corlys ultimately agrees to his proposal, and Rhaenyra and Leanor’s wedding is set to take place. After Rhaenyra, their offspring will take the throne, although they will still be known as Targaryens.
What transpired at the House of Dragons wedding?
Joffrey, the King of the Seven Kingdoms, perished due to the Purple Wedding. The pre-wedding supper for Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon ends in the murder of its own in the fifth episode of House of the Dragon, “We Light the Way.”
A sequel to House of the Dragon?
The intro to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, is out now. The Targaryen dynasty takes power. The series, which takes place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, is based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood” and follows the tale of House Targaryen.
When does House of the Dragon premiere this evening?
When is the debut of House of the Dragon? The first episode of House of the Dragon premiered on HBO on August 21 at 9 p.m. EST. Ten episodes will comprise the inaugural season, with new episodes released each week in September and October.
What happened after House of the Dragon Episode 5?
After the King’s brief display of power, Corlys ultimately agrees to his proposal, and Rhaenyra and Leanor’s wedding is set to take place. After Rhaenyra, their offspring will take the throne, although they will still be known as Targaryens.
