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1:10

Regular Westeros, House of the

1:12

Dragon season one episode

1:15

nine. the green council.

1:34

Hello,

1:34

and welcome to Radio Westeros.

1:36

I'm Yolk Boy, and it's great to be here to

1:38

talk about the ninth episode of House

1:41

of Dragon called The Green

1:43

Council. Today, we'll be reacting

1:45

to and evaluating this episode as

1:47

well as making plenty of book comparisons

1:50

because we are fans of the books We

1:52

will avoid spoiling the future

1:54

plot of House of the Dragon though

1:56

and we'll have a spoiler section at the end

1:58

and give you giant heads

1:59

up for that. So whatever you're a song

2:02

of ice and fire Game of Thrones background, we

2:04

have a lot to offer tonight. Following

2:06

on from last week, episode about the

2:09

death of King Viseries. This episode

2:11

didn't have a time jump with just a few

2:13

hours transpiring before the king's

2:15

body is discovered by a young page. With

2:18

Reneer and family having left king's

2:20

landing for Dragonstone the night before,

2:22

the focus this time was about the reaction

2:24

of the green faction to Viceroy's

2:27

death. with alla Alison

2:29

misunderstanding, Vocera's final

2:31

wishes and believing that he had changed

2:33

the order of succession to favor her

2:35

son, Aegon, with his last breath. She

2:38

felt justified in calling up

2:40

upon her fellow Greens to support

2:43

Aegon's claim and organize themselves

2:45

as quickly as possible. However

2:48

other Greens, including her father,

2:50

Otto, were already on a front

2:52

footing and seemed less inclined

2:54

to be merciful to Reneer and her children

2:57

than Alison wants to be. The

2:59

episode examines how even

3:01

within appeal political faction

3:03

with common goals, there are differences

3:05

of an opinion and conflict

3:08

While others scrambled to find Aegon

3:10

and prop him up as a figurehead

3:12

king, he seems wholly reluctant

3:15

to take on that role after

3:17

a of feeling rejected by

3:19

his father. It's clear

3:22

he's not going to make a great leader,

3:24

but does anyone really care In

3:26

placing a son on the throne without

3:28

sending word to Dragonstone, has

3:31

laid the final foundations for civil

3:33

war. It's been a long and

3:35

wonderful setup this season, but

3:37

we know with Aegon's crowning,

3:40

there will be no turning back. So

3:43

we have so much to say today and

3:45

I can't wait to go into more depth.

3:47

So without further ado, I'm gonna

3:49

say hello to my radio westeros cohost

3:52

Lady Quinn.

3:52

Hi. Hi, everyone. Thank

3:55

you for being here. Happy to

3:57

see you all. Have you all here listening

3:59

or watching.

3:59

This episode like

4:02

you said, we have a lot to talk about, featured

4:04

a couple of big major

4:06

departures from the sourced material.

4:08

Probably, I would think maybe

4:11

some of the most significant departures and

4:13

get into that shortly.

4:16

Welcome back, Emily. Hi.

4:19

We just wanna mention to you all that

4:21

Radio Westeros is supported by our patrons.

4:23

We will start this stream as always.

4:26

with a quick shout out to

4:28

our flaming Lightbringer patron T.

4:30

J. Harrington, our Dragonsteel patron

4:32

Peter, and our Palos Note Class

4:34

patrons, Alex, Daniel, Crispy,

4:36

The Song of Ice, Seth, Kelly,

4:38

Laura, Sister winter, multitude, John

4:40

Wiggarian, and empty walls, first of

4:42

his name, as well as b word

4:44

mister j, the bear in the maiden fare, and

4:46

sir Tim of House, Jib Jab, Hot

4:48

Dog Shop, House Motto, we forge

4:50

the chains to be wearing life. So

4:53

I'm gonna get it started tonight in

4:55

the Red Keep. As

4:58

Yolked Boy said, the episode opens

5:00

probably just a few hours after the end of

5:02

episode

5:03

a, which I think would make it the shortest

5:05

time jump of the

5:06

season or in the red keep

5:08

at night. hallways are deserted.

5:11

Everything is in darkness. You've got

5:13

a sad and somber mood, which

5:15

is accentuated by this gorgeous

5:17

piano piece called Lament. It's

5:20

highly reminiscent

5:20

of the music

5:22

from Light of the seven. from Game of Thrones

5:25

season six finale. The title

5:28

of that episode was the winter winter. But

5:30

if you'll remember, that is the episode

5:32

where Cersei blows up the sept. And

5:35

once again, Romaine Givotti

5:37

just hits it out of the park and helps

5:40

the show prove that

5:42

sometimes the most compelling way to

5:44

tell a story is just

5:45

pure visuals accompanied

5:47

by a very simple score.

5:50

So I just I

5:51

loved the scene. I think it might have been my

5:53

favorite part of the episode. we

5:55

see a young page boy making his way long

5:57

quarters down in down some stairs.

5:59

Eventually,

6:01

he finds Alison's

6:04

made Talia and gives

6:06

her the news of the king's death.

6:08

And then it's Talia who breaks the news to

6:10

Alison. But remember that

6:12

episode eight confirmed that

6:14

Talia also works for Myseria

6:17

feeding her information about the goings on at the

6:19

Red Keep, and sure enough, In

6:21

spite of Alison's order to

6:23

tell no one, we

6:26

soon see Talia lighting a

6:28

branch handles in a

6:29

tower window, which undoubtedly

6:31

is a signal to someone

6:33

outside the castle. Allison,

6:35

on the other hand,

6:36

Harish, to tell her father, the

6:39

news, and also

6:42

to tell him that Vocera's as she

6:44

understood it. altered this

6:46

succession with his final words to

6:48

her, which no one else witnessed.

6:51

But autopia, autopia, autopia needs no

6:54

more than this to immediately put his

6:56

long laid plans into

6:56

action. And one has

6:58

to wonder given the depth and breadth of

7:01

those plans that are soon revealed,

7:03

how he would have reacted if the Saras

7:05

hadn't spoken to Alison in

7:08

that way. I'd have to assume that

7:10

he would still have sort of steamroller to

7:12

head, but you know,

7:14

in the aftermath of the dinner from

7:16

the previous episode with Alison apparently

7:18

accepting Reneera as the

7:20

future queen and both making these

7:23

kind of motions toward reconciliation.

7:24

asian That

7:27

would have made it a lot more complicated, I

7:29

think. So Allison's

7:31

mistaken belief, I think,

7:33

is a very convenient relief

7:36

to her father, freeing him

7:38

of

7:38

the necessity of convincing

7:40

her to support him in

7:43

this

7:44

plan that he's been, you know,

7:46

laying out probably

7:47

for years in spite of

7:49

Viceroys' very public, final

7:52

wishes. Fire

7:54

and blood actually describes Viceroys'

7:56

passing

7:57

in its immediate aftermath like

7:59

this,

7:59

long simmering the conflict

8:02

burst open, On

8:04

the third day, the third moon of one hundred

8:06

and twenty nine AC, when the ailing,

8:08

bedridden, king daenerys the first Targaryen,

8:11

closed his eyes for a nap the red

8:13

keep of king's landing and

8:15

died without waking. His body was

8:17

discovered by a serving man at the hour of the

8:19

bat when it was the king's custom to

8:21

take a cup of hippocross. Servant

8:24

ran to inform Queen Alison to his apartments

8:26

were on the floor below the kings. So

8:29

minor

8:29

differences Gilding goes

8:31

on to know that the plans for how to handle the

8:33

king's death were laid

8:34

long before and that servants had

8:36

been instructed on

8:37

exactly what to do when

8:40

it came to pass, which certainly seems

8:42

to be the case

8:42

here. Although we do have a slight

8:45

change in the timing because I'm very nerdy

8:47

about the West ROCE hours of the

8:49

evening.

8:49

The hour of the bat is actually

8:51

early in the evening right after sunset.

8:53

Pecerus' death actually takes place

8:56

following this family

8:58

dinner and definitely much later

9:00

in

9:00

the evening. So

9:02

probably in order to make the that

9:04

empty red keep seeing much more impactful.

9:06

This

9:06

is taking place overnight.

9:09

Maybe it's the hour of the ghosts or the hour of

9:11

the owl, not really clear,

9:13

but Then we get

9:14

the small council convened

9:16

and Thailand Lannister wants to know what

9:18

couldn't wait another hour. So we think that's

9:21

probably the hour of the wolf which

9:23

is one hour before dawn. And

9:25

so having said that, we

9:27

move on to this small council

9:29

meeting that gives the episode

9:31

its title. Yeah, Lady Gwen.

9:33

We've finally arrived at this

9:35

inauspicious meeting, which originally got

9:37

its name from Grand master Moncken in

9:39

his true telling. no

9:41

doubt

9:41

that this is a scene that book readers have been eager

9:43

to see unfold for a long time.

9:46

Otto opens the council meeting with

9:48

news also serves as a

9:50

sharp rebuke to Tylen Lannister.

9:52

He styles Luceris

9:54

the peaceful and calls him their

9:56

friend. as if these

9:58

words will override the fact that they are about

9:59

to betray their friends, lifelong

10:02

wishes, and plunge a peaceful realm

10:04

into

10:04

war.

10:05

Allison frazzled by the death of her

10:08

husband and previously

10:10

unaware of all the plans that the council

10:12

begins to just roll out Once again

10:14

shows her naivete as she asks if

10:16

they've been planning to install Aegon

10:18

without her knowledge. There's no attempt

10:20

to deny it with

10:22

Staunch Aegon supporter, Lord Wilde,

10:24

saying there was no need to selly her with

10:26

darkling schemes. It's not

10:28

that Alison was entirely unaware of

10:31

course back on Driftmark six years ago,

10:33

her father promised her that they would succeed

10:35

in making Aegon King. But the

10:37

reality of how much scheming has already

10:39

happened, seems to hit her like a ton of bricks

10:41

here. You know, fresh from her

10:43

tentative reconciliation with Reneera, she

10:45

appears to be trying to guide

10:47

the realm towards peace, even if her

10:49

version of peace, you know,

10:51

means Aegon is king. It's

10:53

a major

10:53

departure from her character in fire and

10:56

blood

10:56

who flung slurs at Reneera

10:58

and hope the princess would die in

11:00

childhood and rid the greens

11:02

of her troublesome claim. The

11:04

show

11:04

has clearly given us a very different elephant

11:06

from the start, and it seems like her

11:09

hesitation to charge had long into the

11:11

conflict that her father largely

11:13

lamented continues to drive her

11:15

actions at the council and afterwards. She's

11:18

not alone in her

11:20

shock, the rest of the council plotting as

11:22

we see both lord commander

11:24

Westerling and master of coin, Simon

11:26

Biesbury Exchange, concerned

11:28

looks as well. Lord

11:30

Biesbury then stands and reminds them of the

11:32

oaths that were sworn decades ago

11:34

to Reneera and states that he knows

11:36

viserys would not have changed his mind.

11:38

goes on to claim that the king was well the night prior,

11:41

which is, of course, a bit of a silly claim because

11:43

we saw what Osiris looked like.

11:45

But it does nod to something from fire and

11:47

blood quite cleverly. The

11:49

text says the dwarf mushrooms

11:51

suggest a more sinister scenario,

11:53

whereby Queen Alison hurried king

11:55

vesarius on his way with a pinch of poison

11:57

in his hippocasts.

11:58

unlikely to be true since his

11:59

body was discovered before

12:01

the Hippocrats. Kristen

12:03

Cole takes his last bit

12:05

as an insult to the queen's honor and slams

12:08

Biesberry back into a seat, which is

12:10

done so forcefully that it

12:12

bludgeones Lord Biesberry's head against the table

12:14

on his, you know, stone attendants

12:16

tracker. It feels a bit

12:18

anticlimactic compared to its descriptions

12:20

in fire and blood, which were divided on how

12:22

B. S.bury died, but there's no

12:24

avoiding it the first death of the dance

12:26

the dragons has occurred. Westerling

12:28

then draws a sword on coal and it seems

12:30

like they'll come to blows next, but Ellison

12:33

deescalates the situation and her trained

12:35

dog cole steps down. Otto

12:37

refuses to allow the body to be cleared from the

12:39

room until their business is finished, which might

12:41

be another nod fire and

12:43

blood this time to the green's disrespectful

12:46

treatment of the king's body. The

12:48

text says, a day passed than

12:50

another. Neither septons nor silent

12:52

sisters were summoned to the bedshaver where king

12:54

vissiris lay, swollen, and rotting.

12:56

No bells rang. Raven's flu,

12:58

but not to Dragonstone. They instead went

13:00

to Old Town, to casterly rock, to

13:03

riverrun, to high garden, and to many

13:05

other lords and knights whom Queen

13:07

Allison had caused to think maybe sympathetic

13:09

to her son. Otto

13:11

starts up talk again about how to deal

13:13

with Renee around her children, wanting them

13:15

executed and out of the way for a clean

13:17

coup. Allison really

13:19

loses it here. She can apparently

13:21

handle you surfing, but she'll draw the line

13:23

at killing her childhood friend and

13:25

Reneer as children who remember are her

13:27

step god's sons or

13:28

grandsons, excuse me.

13:30

Highland quite cunningly asks her what

13:32

she suggests and said. It seems that most

13:34

of the green council is practical

13:36

enough to realize leaving Aegon's challenger

13:38

alive is a very dangerous choice

13:40

to make.

13:41

Allison, clearly

13:42

many steps behind the rest of the council hasn't

13:45

thought this through, and when she doesn't have a ready

13:47

answer, Otto orders the lord

13:49

commander at his knights to Dragonstone to

13:51

quickly and cleanly take care of Reneera and her

13:53

son.

13:54

Yeah. Harold Westerling,

13:56

Lord commander of the King's

13:59

Guard, let us recall was

14:01

Reneer's sworn shield

14:03

before he was Lord

14:04

Commander, and he's been

14:06

visibly uncomfortable during these

14:08

proceedings. Lord Biesbury

14:10

mentioned how long he's known viserus.

14:12

A long time, probably

14:14

viserus his entire life, But

14:16

sir Harold is probably a close second.

14:18

He served in the King's Guard of Johannes

14:21

prior to serving Vocera's probably

14:24

for longer. It was probably with

14:26

Jaredries longer than Otto was.

14:28

For instance, Otto was only the

14:30

hand to to Harris for a year

14:32

or so. So,

14:33

Harold knows

14:36

Viceris. He knows his

14:39

wishes. He's the ultimate Targaryen

14:41

loyalist. and he said be a paragon of

14:43

chivalry. And so the idea of

14:45

killing his princess who

14:47

was established as the heir to the throne

14:49

under his watch more than

14:51

twenty years ago, and

14:52

her children really doesn't sit

14:54

very well with him.

14:55

At Serrado's command,

14:58

Westerling

14:58

removes his cloak. You gotta love those

15:00

quick release kings guard cloaks and

15:04

states that he answers to

15:06

the king. and in the absence of a kidney, he

15:08

has no role in these proceedings.

15:10

and In Fire

15:11

and Blood, speaking of having

15:13

no role in his proceedings, how

15:15

Westerling died in one hundred and twelve

15:17

AC. In fact, the only mention of him

15:19

in fire and blood is saying

15:21

that he died. So many,

15:24

many years before Vocera's died,

15:26

and he was

15:27

succeeded in the

15:28

book at that time by sir Kristen

15:31

Cole.

15:31

So with his expanded role here

15:33

in the show, allowing the show

15:34

runners more time to allow

15:37

to align Kristen Cole more firmly

15:39

with the Greens, Sir Harold's

15:41

continued presence is

15:43

a bit of a mystery, meaning

15:45

that it's very hard for us to predict

15:47

what he'll do next. We

15:50

will say that his exit from

15:52

the small council chamber is highly

15:54

reminiscent of

15:55

another lord commander's

15:56

hasty exit following the death of the

15:58

previous king. and

15:59

here is the relevant part of

16:02

Barriston Selmy's exit

16:04

from the Red Keep.

16:05

says he reached up and undid

16:07

the clasps that held his cloak in

16:09

place and the heavy white garments slithered from

16:11

his shoulders to fall in a heap on

16:13

the floor his helmet dropped with a

16:15

claying. I am a knight he told

16:17

them. He opened the silver fastenings of his

16:19

breastplate and let that fall as well. I

16:21

shall die a knight. Finally, he

16:23

drew his sword. He flung it at the foot

16:25

of the iron throne. Here boy,

16:27

melt it down and add it to the others if you

16:29

like. It will do you more good than the swords in

16:31

the hands of these five. Perhaps

16:33

Lord Stannis will chance to sit on

16:35

it when he takes your throne. Ouch.

16:37

He

16:39

took the long way out, his steps

16:41

ringing loud against the floor and echoing

16:43

off the bare stone walls.

16:46

I did cut out some of the

16:48

some of the parts

16:51

where people were making fun of Aristan incenses

16:53

in her thoughts, but there you go. That's the gist

16:55

of it. Very similar.

16:58

Barristan kinda storms out. and

17:00

is not heard from again

17:03

for a very long

17:03

time. So since sir

17:04

Harold has no real role in the story that's

17:07

dictated by fire and blood,

17:09

his exit leads

17:11

to the possibility that likes your

17:13

Barriston, he'll reappear at some point in

17:15

the future, perhaps looking to serve

17:17

the rightful ruler of the Seven

17:19

kingdoms, could it happen next week? Maybe

17:22

we have struggled to find any sign

17:24

of him in, you know,

17:25

spoiler shops, but potentially

17:29

season two. Like, who knows?

17:31

Could be something completely different

17:33

happens to him. This is one of those

17:35

rare occasions in the show where

17:37

we're not going by the book. So

17:40

as George would say, I guess

17:41

we'll just have to keep watching.

17:44

Absolutely. you

17:45

know, one successes for me in this

17:47

scene where the lords and counselors who

17:50

are our secondary characters We

17:53

get so little time with our small counselors

17:55

and get the actors and the relatively

17:57

scant dialogue characterized each of

17:59

them really

17:59

well and faithfully in the scene.

18:02

I

18:02

I talked about the small council in our spoiler

18:04

section last week, so

18:06

I will get back to that here.

18:09

Lord Jasper Wilde aka iron rod, you

18:11

know, being one hundred percent down to

18:13

clown with these dark link schemes as long

18:15

as it ends up with a man sitting the

18:18

throne. Very to his character.

18:20

We also have the Grand Mesa saying very

18:22

little, but taking time to check

18:24

Biesbury for signs of life right after in

18:27

Fire and Plug, Orwell is one of the primary

18:30

sources for the events of the

18:32

dance. And claims that in this meeting, he,

18:34

you know, spoke

18:36

up for Reneera while others say

18:38

more reliably it seems that it

18:40

was Biesbury and Biesbury alone.

18:42

Or while lack of dialogue support

18:44

the idea that he might retroactively claim that

18:46

he said more than he did. There's an

18:49

argument that fire and blood being an in

18:51

world history was written by the victors,

18:53

and so this little rewriting of his own

18:55

role at the Green Council plays into

18:57

that theme nicely. As

18:59

for Tyler Lannister, we see him being smug and prideful

19:01

once again. Our friend, Sergio,

19:03

on the radio Westeros Discord, said that

19:05

he enjoyed Tyler quietly jumping out of

19:07

the way of kings Guard and then

19:09

sitting back down when the danger between Cole

19:12

and Westerling

19:13

past. Last week in our

19:14

spoiler section, like I said, we talked about this and

19:17

what side of the war ultimately come down too.

19:19

So if you missed that, but are interested, go

19:21

back and check it out. I was really delighted

19:23

to see all their contributions to

19:25

the council. Yeah.

19:26

A very interesting scene there. And

19:29

what

19:29

happens next is described

19:31

by the showrunners in the

19:33

inside the episode segment as a race against

19:36

time, a hitchcockian suspense

19:38

story as the Greens race

19:40

to consolidate power. as

19:42

well as establish which person within

19:45

their own ranks will be calling the

19:47

shots. There's

19:50

a scene in the beginning, in

19:52

Helena's room where she

19:54

is embroidering while her

19:56

and Aegon's children Young,

19:58

Johannes, and Johannes are playing

20:00

together. When we

20:02

first met Helena, we saw that

20:04

she was a bug fanatic, and

20:06

here she's stitching together what appears

20:08

to be a bug of some sort, maybe

20:10

a spider. We also know

20:12

from previous episodes that Helena

20:15

has a special wisdom about her having predicted

20:17

that Eamon would need to lose

20:19

an eye to gain a dragon way

20:21

before that sequence of events ever

20:24

happened. She has the gift of Dragon

20:27

dreaming, but it seems like no one

20:29

around her listens to her

20:31

or understands that she's always making

20:33

these offhand prophecies, and it's a

20:35

shame that this isn't explored

20:37

further. Here, she

20:39

tells her children's nanny that

20:41

It is our fate to crave what

20:43

is given to another. If

20:45

one possesses a thing, the other

20:47

will take it away.

20:50

So here she's speaking with great clarity,

20:52

I think, about the nature of possession

20:55

and power that is very apt

20:57

given there's a sort of coup

20:59

developing following her father's death.

21:02

Personally, I love Helena

21:04

and despite not getting much

21:06

screen time these snippets

21:08

of wisdom and prophecy have

21:10

really enriched recent episodes

21:12

in a way that feels very

21:14

Georgia or Martin, I think. So

21:17

Allison Anotto burst into her room asking

21:19

where Aegon is. Helena seems embarrassed

21:21

to admit that she doesn't know where

21:23

he is and remembering

21:26

things she said in previous episodes about

21:28

him only coming to her when

21:30

he's drunk, we can guess that

21:32

she's probably quite scared of a brother

21:34

stroke husband and not the

21:37

sort of person to stand up to him given

21:39

she present as quite timid.

21:42

when Helena asks Alison,

21:44

what's happened? It

21:46

seems although

21:49

she doesn't does get glimpses of

21:51

the future. They are either so

21:53

random or so cryptic

21:55

that she doesn't get a good grasp

21:57

of what's happening at all times

21:59

so she's a bit confused. Alison tries

22:01

to sit next to her to tell her that her

22:03

father is dead, but Helena seems

22:05

extremely uncomfortable being touch,

22:08

and she visibly flinches. She

22:10

cuts Alison off and tells her mother

22:12

urgently, there is a beast

22:14

beneath the boards. which of course is a

22:16

line of prophecy. She first

22:19

muttered last week around the dinner table

22:21

when viserias were trying to bring the

22:23

family together. There was a lot of

22:25

fan speculation about what this

22:27

line meant. I personally thought it

22:29

was something from the future of

22:31

the story that it can't

22:33

really go into because of spoilers, but but readers will probably

22:35

know what I'm talking about. However,

22:38

at the tail end of the episode,

22:40

we now know Rainy's comes up

22:42

through the floor of the dragon

22:44

pit on the back of her dragon

22:46

malaise. So that

22:49

was probably I think what

22:51

Helena was seeing in her dragon

22:53

dreams remembering that prophecies are

22:55

often figurative in

22:57

their language. Of course, there

22:59

will be more on that scene later.

23:01

But here, we see how

23:03

uncomfortable her seeing snippets of

23:05

the future her. She's clearly

23:07

tormented by the idea of this

23:09

beast beneath the boards. Being

23:11

married to a brother who has already

23:13

being shown to be abusive. Helena strikes

23:15

as a as a very sympathetic

23:18

character who, given she'll

23:20

soon be queen, will

23:22

surely be caught up between

23:24

the political machinations of

23:26

those around her. In this cutthroat

23:29

world, there's an innocence about

23:31

Helena and it's no wonder

23:33

that fans love her for it.

23:35

The scene ends with

23:37

Eamon walking into the room, he must

23:39

have heard that something's going on

23:41

The framing, Alison talking

23:43

to Helena, and then Eamon coming

23:45

in is very similar to the scene

23:47

from episode six, where we first

23:50

see Alison interacting with Helena and then

23:52

Aymond, which was also written by

23:54

Sarah Hess for what what

23:56

it's worth. as

23:57

this is a race against time,

23:59

we quickly cut to the

24:02

next move.

24:03

Yes, we do. So I

24:05

don't know if I'd start Eric, that's

24:07

Eric with an e, sharpening

24:09

his sword, wanting to know

24:12

Aegon's whereabouts. Eric basically says he's not

24:14

sure admitting that Aegon uses this

24:16

authority over his sword shield

24:18

to order him away so that he could then

24:20

escape into the city to

24:22

associate his basis desires. Eric appears

24:25

ashamed of that fact, and once again, we're

24:27

reminded of the conflicting loyalties that come

24:29

with knighthood, and particularly an

24:31

appointment to the King's Guard. He

24:33

admits he knows where

24:33

to look for Aegon and Otto orders him and

24:35

his twin, sir Eric, Eric with

24:38

an a, to find a

24:40

again. And he does not want them wearing their white

24:42

cloaks, which is both practical for his

24:44

self mission. I've gotta say, also

24:46

help obscure the fact that anything is

24:48

wrong. Remember, news of the king's death

24:50

is still for all

24:52

they know completely locked down within the Red

24:54

Keep at this point. Auto closes

24:56

the scene by saying that they must bring

24:58

Aegon to him and him alone. Given

25:00

the exchange between Auto and Alison

25:03

earlier, it's clear that the hand is attempting to control as many

25:05

pieces on the board as possible to

25:07

ensure that his long laid plans go

25:09

off without a hitch even if that hitch

25:11

might be his own daughter.

25:13

True.

25:15

The next scene is

25:17

very brief. It's

25:20

Rainy's Prince's rainy

25:22

sleeping in her chamber. We see her

25:24

wake up. Some noise has

25:26

disturbed her. She's aware that she's just

25:28

been

25:28

locked in. And when

25:30

no one answers her calls at the door, she

25:32

goes to the window and looks out to see that people

25:34

are being rounded up. We

25:36

get to see where some of the people are taken.

25:39

Servants

25:39

go down to

25:40

the black cells immediately to keep

25:42

the news from spreading, and Talia is

25:44

actually among them. And she's

25:46

shown asking for a guard and

25:50

then we get to see Lara strong

25:52

lurking ominously in the corridor.

25:54

Fire and blood tells us

25:57

Those servants

25:57

who knew of the king's passing were sent

25:59

to the dungeons, sir Christian Cole was

26:01

given the task of taking into custody

26:04

such acts as remained at

26:06

court Those lords and knights who might be inclined to favor

26:08

Princess Reneera, do them no

26:10

violence unless they resist sir Otto

26:12

High Tower commanded. Such men

26:14

as bend the knees where fealty to King Aegon shall

26:17

suffer no harm at our

26:18

hands. So

26:20

we'll see what happens to the Lord's

26:23

nights that were rounded up shortly. Okay.

26:26

Let's talk

26:26

about Alison and Kristen.

26:29

Following Otto sending the cargo

26:31

twins out to find Aegon.

26:34

Kristen Cole comes into see Alison and

26:36

informs her the latest

26:38

developments. Alison is trying to

26:40

find a son first because she wants

26:42

to influence him before her father

26:44

does. I really like that there

26:46

are factions and then there are factions

26:48

within factions throughout this

26:50

story. It gives more nuance to

26:53

this whole setup than simply

26:56

saying, he's one side against another.

26:58

Everyone has their own idea of

27:00

what they would like to happen politically.

27:02

And I think this is a good reflection

27:04

of real world politics.

27:07

Allison concede that given

27:09

Eric is Aegon's sworn shield,

27:12

Otto now has the advantage.

27:15

Allison gives an impassioned plea to

27:17

Christian to find Aegon, show

27:19

his loyalty, and bring him

27:21

to her first. then she

27:23

whispers in his ear that

27:25

everything you feel for me as

27:28

your queen and that

27:30

line seems strangely intimate

27:32

there. I'm not sure where

27:34

the show will go with the Kristen Allison

27:37

Romance but there is certainly

27:39

some groundwork going on if

27:41

they chose to take that

27:43

path. At the least Allison

27:45

is sort of manipulating Kristen,

27:48

and we'll get to

27:50

this more later, but there's

27:52

definitely some power games going

27:54

on, but between her Christian and Larry,

27:56

and she seems to be manipulating

27:58

and is, in turn, being

28:00

manipulated by

28:02

these people at different times in the episode.

28:05

So some complex dynamics

28:07

are going on. That's great character

28:09

work, I think, and no less than

28:11

the index spect from this story.

28:14

Kristen, of course, vows not

28:16

to fail his queen, and they're

28:18

behind him Aman's voice

28:20

interrupts the intimate moment by

28:22

saying, I'll come with you. Allison

28:25

protests but it makes sense that Eamon

28:27

does go along with Kristen because he's

28:29

one of the few people to know

28:31

of his brother's doings.

28:33

It's interesting to consider

28:36

here what Eamon's motives

28:39

are. He seems

28:41

very quick to volunteer himself

28:44

to go along. I find it very unlikely

28:47

that Eamon just simply wants to

28:49

tag along and just genuinely be

28:51

helpful. We know he's an ambitious

28:53

guy who feels more

28:56

worthy and fit for rule than Aegon.

28:58

So the question is, What

29:00

would he have done with Aegon if

29:02

he'd managed to find him down

29:04

some dark alley somewhere

29:06

out of view? And we did

29:09

discussed this. We're on Joe Magicians channel

29:11

on Sunday evening. We did talk about

29:13

this. Would Eamon

29:16

have told his brother to run off

29:18

somewhere and make sure none of the king's

29:20

guard got to him before

29:22

he left, or does the possibility

29:24

that he could kill Aegon

29:26

cross his mind. It's interesting

29:28

to wonder how far Eimand

29:30

would go in this situation if

29:32

he thought he could get away with murder

29:34

he's certainly keen to go

29:37

along, and when Christian

29:39

Nods' approval, the pair leave in

29:41

haste, and we see the deep look

29:43

of worry on Allison's face,

29:45

she's now left alone to consider

29:47

what might transpire if Otto

29:49

is able to exert

29:51

his influence before her.

29:53

Well, speaking of

29:57

Otto, now

29:57

we get to

29:58

see what happened to

29:59

those nobles and

30:02

knights who had been rounded up and

30:04

brought before him to

30:07

sort of give their pledge

30:08

of loyalty. Not being a member

30:10

of the royal

30:11

family, there he's in the throne room

30:13

and he's standing in front of the

30:15

iron throne, but there are no kings guard

30:17

present because it's just

30:18

the hand. So all the guards

30:20

are dressed in high

30:21

tower green. When

30:24

auto demands that these

30:26

people

30:26

who were judged to be

30:29

potentially loyal to

30:31

Reneera, bend the knee to Aegon.

30:33

Most

30:33

comply immediately, but we

30:35

see Lord Merryweather

30:37

attempt to leave, saying he must consult

30:40

his house. The hand makes it clear that

30:42

no one's gonna leave without making

30:44

their

30:44

choice. And so, Lord Maryweather

30:46

and the lady fell declined

30:48

to bend

30:49

the knee, stating

30:50

that they'll be they're gonna keep their

30:52

vows to Brineira and their primarily

30:55

removed by high tower guardsmen.

30:57

That's enough to convince most of

30:59

the others who had been hesitating to comply,

31:02

but Lord Kaswell looking

31:04

especially

31:04

nervous is the very

31:06

last to do so. Throughout

31:09

these proceedings, you see that Lara Strong

31:11

is watching no doubt

31:13

observing

31:13

exactly how each individual reacted

31:15

to the demands of the hand.

31:18

Fire and blood does

31:18

report that eventually lady fell and Lord

31:21

Maryweather were executed for staying true

31:23

to their vows to

31:24

Minera. following old Lord Biesberry to

31:26

the grave for their loyalty. One twist

31:29

missing from the show. So far

31:31

is that one of the kings guard whose

31:33

service areas and then Aegon is

31:35

actually a sir Willis fell. So

31:37

it's related to one

31:39

of these early

31:41

nobles who's executed. Their

31:43

exact relationship isn't known, but I

31:45

think that's interesting. He kind of

31:47

put me in mind of the

31:49

of the

31:50

one Swan. He was

31:51

the Swan family in the main series who

31:53

just

31:53

sort of covered all bases with

31:55

their loyalties. Shortly

31:58

afterwards, we do get to see a

31:59

scene of Lord Castwell,

32:02

mounting a horse in the Castle yard and

32:04

waiting for the gate to be open for him

32:06

and what follows is the slowest gate

32:08

opening scene I think in history. I

32:11

think it actually cuts back and forth to

32:13

other things while the gate is being

32:15

open. It seems like it should have been a

32:17

lot easier than that. But, of course, we're

32:19

building tension the

32:22

viewer as probably get arrived at the

32:24

conclusion that this isn't gonna end

32:26

well. Of course, it doesn't. because

32:28

Larry Strong had been observing

32:30

Lord Caswell's

32:30

hesitation to kneel in the throne

32:33

room and had

32:35

him followed.

32:35

So Lord Cazwell is seized

32:38

just at the last moment and

32:40

brought before Sir Otto who orders

32:42

him pretty quickly to be given to the

32:44

king's justice. We'll see later

32:46

that Caswell was hung

32:48

inside the Red Keep, which is

32:50

another

32:50

departure from fire and blood.

32:53

just if no,

32:54

hanging is a grave insult to a

32:57

man of this rank, usually nobles if

32:58

they're gonna be executed or given the

33:01

sword. and, thus, you get all the heads

33:03

mounted on spikes. But, yeah,

33:05

he's hanging right inside the inside

33:08

the courtyard of the red keep. So far, what

33:10

we're seeing are mostly minor

33:11

lords declaring their support for Renera

33:14

with Otto suggesting that many of the

33:16

more significant houses will

33:18

be persuaded to support egg on. Of

33:19

course, time will tell on that front,

33:22

and I'm actually gonna talk a little bit more

33:24

about Reneera's loyalist

33:26

in the spoiler section.

33:28

So let's right now move on

33:31

to the next scene.

33:34

Yeah. We get small

33:36

scene that shows the silent

33:38

sisters preparing the body of the king.

33:41

Alison's

33:41

there overseeing this,

33:43

but it's a very different setting than Vamin Valerian's

33:46

burial preparations, which

33:47

were done in a more public part of

33:49

the Red

33:50

Keep.

33:51

instead it seems that the

33:53

sisters have come to the king's apartments and

33:55

that they're alone. As silent

33:57

sisters, perhaps they can be trusted to

33:59

keep

33:59

the news quiet, whereas maesters and servants

34:02

aren't

34:02

bound by vows of silence and are

34:04

therefore less trustworthy. This is a

34:06

nice nod to that same bit we

34:08

mentioned towards the beginning of the stream where the news of Acerus'

34:11

death was very suppressed as his body

34:13

began to decay alone in

34:15

a sealed room.

34:17

Allison is more sympathetic in this portrayal.

34:19

And as she griefs over her late

34:21

husband shutting tears alone

34:23

where no one can see it, it's hard to imagine

34:25

this version of the character being so uncaring that she would

34:28

let him rot. Regardless,

34:30

it's clear that both she and Otto are

34:34

prioritizing crowning Aegon before laying viserus to

34:36

rest. You have to wonder what the small folk of king's

34:38

landing must have been thinking, being

34:40

told that the king has

34:42

died, but really having none of

34:44

the traditions surrounding a king's death to communicate that period

34:46

or change, you know, there's no

34:48

bowels rung, there's no viewings in

34:52

the sept no cremation by dragon fire. We'll

34:54

get back to that

34:56

later though.

34:59

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35:31

Okay. So next

35:33

up, we're gonna go back to Rainey's

35:35

locked in her room.

35:36

She

35:37

gets a visitor. It's Allison,

35:40

come to talk to her. Rainy's

35:42

is extremely indignant at being held

35:44

in her chamber with no

35:46

explanation. When she sees Alison, she quickly guesses the reason,

35:48

though,

35:48

and the usurpation. Rainey

35:51

really doesn't believe for a moment

35:53

that Vocera has changed

35:56

his mind that Alison doesn't energy

35:58

convince her. Instead,

35:59

she appeals to Rainy's

36:04

history as the queen who never

36:06

was and her rights being passed

36:08

over. She's so eager

36:09

to find common ground,

36:11

obviously placing her own son in

36:13

that role of the rightful heir being passed over,

36:15

that she totally misses the irony of

36:18

the role that sex played in

36:20

the decision of the

36:22

great council of 101 in

36:24

Vocera's succession and actually the

36:26

justification that's now being used

36:28

by her own father and

36:30

small council to elevate Aegon over his older

36:32

sister. In an effort to turn Rainy's

36:34

against Rainy's, she goes on to

36:36

catalog, all the woes

36:38

of Rainy's life, her

36:40

children are dead, her son

36:42

cuckolded, her husband gone in the stepping

36:44

stones for these past six years.

36:46

And seems like she's

36:48

just gonna laying everything at Rainier's door,

36:50

although maybe there's a bit of shorthand

36:52

for Damon's involvement in this

36:54

as well. The

36:56

ratings

36:56

relief sake states the

36:58

word if my house is not fickle. Remember that just

37:00

the day before she declared in

37:02

court that, you know, she supported

37:05

Renewera. And

37:06

while with those words,

37:09

Chamois certainly meant house valerian

37:11

whose house words are, the old,

37:13

the true, and the brave. Don't

37:15

forget that Rhaenice was born a

37:17

Targaryen, something that I think is

37:19

emphasized when she later addresses

37:22

Allison as Allison

37:24

High Tower. If Alison is to be identified by

37:25

her birth name, then so should

37:28

Rainy's be after all. The queen

37:30

continues in her effort to win Rainy's

37:32

to her

37:34

cause addressing her as cousin, yet another reason for

37:36

Rainy's to make that decision, that

37:38

that distinction, Allison High Tower, telling

37:42

her

37:43

telling her You

37:44

should have been queen by blood and temperament, but here we are. We do

37:46

not rule, but we can guide the men that

37:48

rule. Allison seems to

37:51

be dismissing her husband as a

37:54

king and seeks to place Rhaenys

37:55

on her own level. Placing themselves

37:57

in the shadow of powerful men seems

37:59

like

37:59

a strange tactic

38:02

to take with Rhaenys who might have been queen in her own right. But

38:04

when Rhaenys asks about her

38:06

dragon, we realized why she's

38:08

so important to

38:10

the greens. Allison tries to

38:12

brush past this issue by suggesting that with Maylies, Reneera

38:14

might be or

38:17

without Maylies. Renewera might be

38:19

persuaded to negotiate. We know that Allison is desperately seeking a

38:22

solution where her son is

38:24

safely installed

38:24

on the throne but

38:27

without the ugly necessity of killing his

38:30

half sister, his uncle, and their

38:32

five children. If convincing

38:34

Rainey to use her dragon for the greens

38:36

helps her to achieve that, Allison would probably pay any price. In

38:38

in fact, she offers Rainey's Driftmark

38:40

for herself and her granddaughters,

38:42

which is you

38:44

shorthand for saying, you know, the girls will be

38:46

safe from whatever purge

38:48

happens.

38:48

Rainey seems impressed with

38:51

Allergan's Allison's negotiations for a moment

38:54

to which Allison Primarily

38:55

responds. A true queen counts the cost to

38:57

her

38:57

people, but

39:00

Reina's lot older

39:01

and wiser than Alison High Tower, and she sees exactly what

39:03

underpins Alison's

39:06

power. It's not true agency,

39:08

but the machine of patriarchy,

39:10

and yet you toil

39:12

still in service to men.

39:14

you desire not to be free, but

39:16

to make a window in the wall

39:18

of your

39:19

prison. I love that line. Have

39:20

you never imagined yourself on the iron

39:23

throne?

39:23

And Alison has no answer

39:25

to that, leaves and

39:27

instructs Rainy's on the way out to

39:30

ring the bell when she's ready

39:32

to give

39:32

her answer. Yeah.

39:34

Now come to the streets

39:36

with this high stakes game of hide

39:38

and seek kicking off. we see

39:41

Aymond taking coal through the street of silk. It's worth noting

39:43

that they appear

39:44

to have their own kind of crime hoodies as

39:46

the fandom has dubbed them, but

39:49

and and cold with a kind of beanie hat,

39:51

but their disguises don't work as well

39:54

given that Eamon has a very noticeable

39:56

eye patch. The show is really

39:58

establishing a connection

39:59

between Sir Kristen and Prince

40:02

Amon with their long history in the training

40:04

yard that we've seen, and now

40:06

there were together to serve Alison's interests. Anticipate we'll

40:08

see them working together quite a bit more

40:10

from here on out.

40:12

Eamon, certain that he can

40:14

provide valuable support to Cole

40:16

here because of his history with his

40:18

brother, leads the night to a brothel,

40:20

which he admits Prince Aegon took him

40:22

to and he was frankly way too young

40:24

for that. Aymond clearly

40:26

was affected by this and sounds uncomfortable

40:28

repeating some of what Aegon said to

40:30

him about it being time to get

40:32

it wet. Cole looks about as uncomfortable

40:35

as I felt with that turn of

40:37

phrase, saying every woman is an image of the

40:39

mother and must be treated with

40:41

respect. release or Kristen, every woman.

40:44

This is a severe departure from the language

40:46

that he used to refer to princess

40:48

Reneera in the past as

40:50

we know. A sex worker opens the door and after a little

40:52

back and forth basically laughs the

40:54

idea that Aegon is there. He hasn't frequented

40:56

the brothels of the street of silk

40:58

in years. and has far more

41:00

depraved taste now it

41:02

seems. This sets

41:02

up how little Eamon really does know Aegon

41:04

and indicates that the two have not

41:07

been close for some time. After

41:09

getting some more information from the worker,

41:11

the realm's two least sex

41:14

positive men take their quest to flee

41:16

bottom, hoping that this new lead

41:18

will steer them to their

41:20

quarry. There are some

41:21

scenes that are intercut with this, but

41:23

we do return to Kristen and Eamon a bit

41:25

later in the episode. and they've made

41:27

their way to flee bottom, which doesn't quite as raucous during the daytime as

41:30

it did when Damon and Reneera

41:32

visited back in

41:34

episode four. Eamon

41:36

chooses this moment to soft

41:38

launch his pitch for taking

41:40

Aegon's place on the throne. He

41:42

appeals to Cole who he

41:44

generally can there's an honorable man for some reason contrasting

41:46

himself with his brother. He calls

41:48

Aegon an unworthy, wasteful,

41:52

while he himself has studied, trained, prepared for a

41:55

role that he cannot have due

41:57

to his birth order. he

42:00

revisits the

42:00

scene that we've seen

42:02

from Eamon previously in

42:04

that if Aegon doesn't

42:06

want his wife, his duty, his

42:08

throne, Eamon is more than

42:10

ready to step in. He's plainly

42:12

ignoring a unsung Harry's in

42:14

all of this and potentially a

42:16

second son, although I don't know that

42:19

it's clear the second son has been born yet. Jihiris would

42:21

definitely come before Eamon and the

42:23

line of succession being

42:25

Aegon's eldest son I've

42:28

seen some people suggest that Eamon wouldn't

42:30

let the child get in the way of his ascension

42:32

while others seem to wonder at Jihiras

42:35

is even a gun son given the

42:37

closeness that we've seen between Helena and Eamon.

42:40

Either way, not looking to get into that right

42:42

now, but you

42:44

know, a toddler with a claim is entirely ignored in this quick exchange.

42:46

We really don't even have a chance

42:48

to get much of a reaction from coal

42:51

as the action cuts away. Yes.

42:53

It cuts away

42:54

yes it cuts away to

42:56

Eric and Eric who, in the

42:58

meantime, head into the heart of

43:01

flea bottom and we see that

43:03

they are clueless to the fact that

43:05

they're being tracked by one of

43:07

my serious spies.

43:10

The twins, he allowed cheers coming from one of the

43:12

buildings and head inside

43:14

to look for Aegon. The

43:17

crowd noises are coming from a

43:19

fighting ring but not just any

43:21

fighting ring. This one revolves

43:24

around children

43:26

who are being pitted against each other for the amusement

43:28

of adults. Eric looks

43:31

rightfully disgusted and asks how

43:33

old these children are. Eric

43:36

guesses at ten years old and

43:38

says the children grow their

43:40

nails and have their teeth

43:42

filed for the fighting. This really

43:45

puts us in mind of the main series with Rorsheim

43:48

Baiter. Baiter had also

43:50

had his teeth filed to sharps points

43:53

probably so he could fight dogs and be

43:55

more effective in the pits like

43:57

these children. Very,

44:00

very dark. yeah, what are seen in flea bottom

44:02

really disgusted to see this.

44:04

And we can guess that the gold cloaks

44:06

must be turning a blind eye

44:08

to these despicable events,

44:10

meaning there's a lot of corruption

44:12

going on in the city that's

44:15

manifesting here in the abuse

44:17

and exploitation of children. Although

44:19

in fire and blood,

44:22

Eric is Reneer a sworn shield

44:24

and by now is on Dragonstone

44:26

and not part of the events, here

44:28

he's shown in this canon to

44:32

actually be Aegon's sworn shield

44:34

and therefore

44:36

his Pravita Aegon's lifestyle. He seems disgusted

44:38

but not surprised at this scene

44:40

and tells his brother that not

44:42

only does Aegon frequent this place

44:46

but he's also father children here, which paired

44:48

with the fact that young

44:50

children are being exploited in this

44:53

scene, does make us consider how

44:55

old the mothers of Aegon's

44:58

children might be. After

45:00

last week, there was already

45:02

every reason in the world to really

45:04

hate Aegon. but

45:06

now it just gets worse and worse.

45:10

What's interesting in the scene between

45:12

Eric and Eric is that the

45:14

former begins to try and

45:16

convince the latter that, quote,

45:18

Aegon is unfit to

45:20

rule. Eric, though, puts the emphasis on doing duties

45:22

and says that they

45:24

swore a vow. In

45:27

the main series, we get a lot

45:29

of commentary via King's Garden members like

45:32

Barisan Selmy and Janie

45:34

Lannister about the theme of honor

45:36

versus duty. If you swear a sacred

45:38

vow to a king and the king wants

45:40

to do terrible things that dishonor

45:42

you as a knight, then how

45:44

do you react? It's a really uncomfortable

45:47

question and usually causes a high

45:50

degree of cognitive dissonance

45:52

within the heart of King's

45:54

Guard members. But here

45:56

we see the tension not

45:58

within one heart, but

45:59

between two twins who

46:02

both seem to have very

46:04

different ideas. We haven't known Eric and Eric for

46:06

long, but already we can see that

46:08

cracks are opening up between

46:10

them and

46:14

as identical as they may be,

46:16

their ideals are not aligned, and I

46:18

think it's gonna be really interesting to

46:20

see if this friction grows

46:22

and how these cracks

46:24

grow with them. Before

46:27

the conflict can

46:30

grow on here, though, my Sarria spy

46:32

approaches them and says that

46:34

she has knowledge of Aegon's whereabouts.

46:38

with the spy working for Messaria and

46:40

the twins doing Otto's bidding. We're

46:42

seeing the layers of the onion in

46:45

the information trade. These

46:47

complex webs that make up spy networks.

46:50

And, ultimately, this

46:52

leads to OTO later meeting

46:55

with MySaria herself. Yeah.

46:58

As

46:58

it turns out, the promise of a conversation

47:00

with the White Worm will get Otto to

47:02

come do his own dirty work.

47:05

The whereabouts of Aegon are critical

47:07

to his plotting. And even if Otto

47:09

is a big Aymond fan, as he's shown

47:11

to be in previous episodes, explaining

47:14

away Aegon's absence and crowning

47:16

Aymond is an unnecessary

47:18

complication that, you know, probably threatens the

47:20

iron grip that the

47:22

green council currently has over the city. Otto tries to

47:24

confirm if

47:24

the woman before him really is

47:26

indeed the white worm, which

47:28

tells us that she's kept her identity

47:31

Sarry well hidden despite selling secrets to him

47:34

for at least the last fifteen years or

47:36

so. She offers him

47:38

condolences on the

47:40

death of King Viseries, which is such a power play. It lets him

47:42

know right away that she knows the secret

47:44

that he thought he'd been doing a great job of

47:46

keeping quiet.

47:48

She

47:48

gets paid to keep talking and makes it clear

47:50

that she has the prince safely tucked

47:53

away. Given the news from

47:55

the Red keep, someone might have

47:58

come looking for him. She's demonstrating her

47:59

wisdom and her

47:59

network here, and auto

48:02

takes note, He for

48:04

the location of the soon to be king,

48:06

but my Saria isn't willing to

48:08

give up the information without, you

48:10

know, the payment that she desires.

48:13

Rather than more coin, she says she

48:15

wants the the those child fighting

48:17

pits the Aegon frequent dealt with.

48:20

She says the crown either

48:22

tolerates or ignores them because they

48:24

can, but now it's she who has Aegon

48:26

and therefore has the power.

48:28

This reminds me a little bit of

48:30

Varries, a Spider who is often

48:32

ruminating on the meaning and the source of

48:34

power. He's another spy

48:36

master who threw his backstory and his

48:38

connection to the commoners in their spine

48:40

network now recognizes how much power the common

48:42

people really do have.

48:44

Instead of intimidating auto

48:46

with this statement, he plays a

48:48

cool and tells Mis area that he'll remember their conversation. At

48:50

the time, it's open ended whether

48:53

he meant that he, you

48:56

know, promise to look into those fighting pits or into her

48:58

for, you know, threatening him, basically.

49:00

She presumably gives away the

49:02

location and it's safe to assume that

49:05

Kristen Eamon who'd been spying on the conversation from the

49:08

beginning, also over here, or could

49:10

just follow the twins to the

49:12

hiding place. Yeah.

49:13

They're

49:14

not exactly really great.

49:16

COVID-nineteen. They

49:18

haven't exactly been subtle, but

49:22

they do managed

49:22

to find egg on at the

49:24

great

49:24

sept once they

49:26

have him

49:27

in hand after

49:30

considerable resistance. who tells him at one

49:32

point that he wants his mother, which

49:34

is kind

49:34

of pathetic. They tell him that,

49:37

nope, they're gonna go instead to meet his

49:39

grandfather outside the city walls. it's

49:41

kind

49:41

of unclear what Otto's intentions were.

49:44

We probably he was just hoping to

49:46

keep egg on away from Allison and her

49:48

own hunters. although considering both

49:50

Eamon and Aegon mentioned the prospect of

49:52

him taking ship for the

49:54

Far East it is kind of

49:56

tempting to wonder if my hands

49:58

intention was

49:58

something a little

49:59

more nefarious. Probably not,

50:02

though. He's been building towards this moment for

50:05

you

50:05

know,

50:06

decades probably. So just

50:09

wants to keep him away

50:11

from

50:11

his mother. However, as it

50:13

happens, Kristen and Ewald are

50:15

waiting outside. So

50:18

when Eric and Eric and

50:20

Aegon come out

50:22

the door, Kristen and Eric immediately

50:24

draw swords and begin to fight on the steps

50:26

while Aegon makes another break for

50:28

it only to be stopped by

50:30

his brother. Eric,

50:32

that's Eric with an e,

50:34

Aegon's sworn sword is

50:37

just standing to the side

50:39

watching the action. he is now

50:42

fully convinced that this isn't the king that he

50:44

wants to serve and he just sort

50:46

of melts away during the course

50:48

of of the

50:50

struggle. The the two pairs of men continue to

50:52

struggle. Eamon agrees with his

50:54

brother a

50:56

thousand percent. when he says he's

50:58

not suited to rule, but Eamon is

51:00

doing his best to be

51:02

dutiful. Aegon

51:02

begs Eamon to let him

51:06

do what KRISTEN SUGGESTED TO RENIRA AND WHAT

51:08

LAYNOR ACTUALLY DID WITH

51:09

KALGORRY RUN AWAY TO ESSOS TO

51:11

LIVE OUT HIS LIFE UNDER

51:13

AN ASSUME NAME and let his

51:15

brother take the throne.

51:17

Personally, I gave him about three

51:20

months to survive if they

51:22

were to allow that. But as

51:24

Eamon appears to sort of hesitate, at

51:26

least he's he's thinking

51:28

about it because we know that he would love

51:31

love nothing more. very tempted

51:34

and Kristen

51:36

shows up

51:37

and that's it. Kristen takes Aegon

51:40

in

51:41

hand and leaves a

51:43

defeated Eric behind while they take

51:46

possession of the wayward Prince

51:48

and Checkmate

51:50

Allisense. Speaking

51:52

of Allison, we see her next with

51:54

her father. Otto showed again in the

51:57

tower of the hand writing letters.

52:00

Ottohive Tower is known to be a prolific letter writer throughout

52:02

the pages of fire and blood and particularly during

52:04

the dance. So I love that they've been

52:06

showing us this ass respect to

52:08

his character. So that's really early on. He knows that getting word out

52:11

to key allies now is critical. And even after

52:13

a very busy day of

52:16

chasing out, down aegon, meeting with spies. He continues hard

52:18

at work. Now Alison

52:20

arrives and he treats her very

52:22

childishly saying well played

52:24

in reference Kristen

52:26

getting to Aegon before the Car Gal

52:28

twins could. She refutes that it's

52:30

not a game and he says she treats

52:32

it like one. say what

52:34

you will about his morals, but Otto has certainly

52:36

been working hard at his goal for a long

52:38

time and clearly finds this new found

52:42

backbone that Alison is displaying frustrating. The language

52:44

he chooses here is

52:45

meant to belittle or manipulate her,

52:47

and when he notices that

52:49

she's not taking well to

52:51

the insinuations that she's playing, he

52:54

switches TAC, trying to

52:56

evoke an emotional, familial

52:58

connection that will get her back under

53:00

his power. We

53:00

get that delightful line from one of the trailers. Whatever

53:03

our differences, our hearts remain as one, he says, to

53:05

what she refutes, our hearts

53:07

were never one. Despite

53:10

Otto's words to her on Driftmark years ago,

53:12

he never really, you know, transformed

53:14

into treating her as an equal.

53:16

He just let her believe that, you know,

53:18

she was a player instead of his

53:21

pawn to move about the board. She's

53:23

beginning to accept this now after the

53:25

green council, the race find aegon

53:27

and the especially eye opening conversation with Rainy's about the nature

53:29

of power. Otto then argues

53:32

that he's doing what

53:34

he must. and he really

53:36

lays his philosophy out here.

53:38

Sacrifice aren't easy, but rut ruler

53:40

hasn't had to choose the safety of the many

53:42

over the lives of the few. This reminds of

53:44

some other characters from the main series,

53:46

such as Tywin asking Tyrion, explained

53:48

to me why it is more noble to kill

53:50

ten thousand men in battle than a dozen

53:53

at dinner. We see Santa Scrapple of sacrificing

53:55

the lives of those who have kings blood in

53:57

order to, you know, bring on victory or

53:59

fulfill or for fill a prophecy a

54:02

prophecy. This

54:02

idea that killing a few in the name of future

54:04

peace or realistically future success

54:06

for the murderer and their cause

54:08

is all over a song, voice, and fire, and

54:11

pages of our own histories as well. But Alison has

54:14

a great reply to this, saying

54:16

reluctance to murder is not

54:18

a weakness. She then

54:20

reminds him who has the power in this

54:22

situation. She has Aegon, she calls the

54:24

shots. They will send real terms

54:26

to Raneera because Vesteros would

54:28

have wanted see for his

54:30

daughter. Kristen

54:30

Cole will become Lord commander. Aegon

54:32

will be crowned immediately at

54:34

dawn using the crown of

54:36

his namesake Aegon the conqueror. all of

54:38

king's landing will attend, and the king will wield Blackfyre. She's

54:41

pulling in all

54:42

these symbols of Targaryen power and

54:44

linking them to Aegon, a wise

54:47

branding decision when you think about it. You know,

54:49

we know later in the history as Damon

54:52

Blackfire has been given possession of the

54:54

sword Blackfire, and that's

54:56

seen as huge signal that he, not his trueborn and half

54:58

brother, is meant to rule.

55:00

Elsa understands that the illusion of

55:02

power is critical now as

55:04

they seize the throne. The small folk must

55:06

buy it into the idea that Aegon is their

55:08

king, and all these props and set

55:10

pieces in the audience will help

55:12

authenticate that. The only thing more Targaryen than a king named

55:14

Aegon wearing the Converse Crown wielding

55:16

Black Fire in the Dragon pit would be, I

55:18

don't know, a

55:20

real dragon. Anyway,

55:22

Alison says her piece and Otto, you know,

55:24

doesn't get much of a rebuttal.

55:26

He likely agrees with much of the plan

55:28

and sees the wisdom and her desire to act fast, but, you

55:30

know, he has to still get in the last word

55:32

here in an attempt to wrestle back

55:34

some control of the daughter

55:36

that he's used to

55:38

maneuvering a lot more easily. So he

55:40

says, you look so much

55:42

like your mother in certain

55:44

lights. She's you know, grossed out by this I think in size and

55:46

walks out and he says to himself as you

55:48

wish. After

55:50

after otto

55:51

makes this creepy. You just

55:54

like your mother comment,

55:57

which signifies the control

55:59

he had

55:59

continues to have over his

56:02

daughter and calls back to those

56:04

early scenes of him telling

56:06

her to wear her

56:08

mother's dress she leaves

56:10

the room, no doubt

56:12

seeking a moment for

56:14

herself. But as

56:15

she pulls herself a drink, Larry's

56:17

strong sort of creeps out from the

56:19

shadows, and there's another eye

56:21

roll from Alison. We

56:24

can tell immediately that she does not want to be alone in

56:27

this room with Larry's. The

56:29

hour is late,

56:31

she tells him Laris replies

56:34

that he's found out something

56:36

she should know, and Alison

56:38

looks almost like she's about to cry

56:40

and we sent on between these

56:42

two. In previous episodes, we've

56:45

seen them dining

56:48

together And then after Larry had his family killed,

56:50

and we know he used these

56:52

circumstances to sort sort of bind

56:54

them together in a way that

56:57

seems increasingly creepy as time

57:00

has gone on. And

57:02

all the time, we've been wondering,

57:04

what exactly is driving Larry's

57:08

character. What are his

57:10

motives? Remember that

57:12

after the burning of Harenhall, Larry

57:14

has told Alison that he would find

57:16

a way for her to repay him. And

57:18

this scene here answered a lot of

57:21

those questions a lot more bizarrely than

57:23

anyone would have guessed. Not

57:26

that this footage is

57:28

unusual or bizarre in

57:30

itself, but having it as your

57:32

character's central motive

57:34

certainly is. So

57:36

Lara's has information

57:39

on how Otto found

57:41

Aegon first, Alison size and

57:44

looks down on the floor in shame

57:46

and we sense there's a quid

57:48

pro quo situation going on

57:50

that is demeaning to her. There's

57:53

already been a close-up of Lara's

57:55

club foot, and now we see

57:58

Alison taking off her shoes.

57:59

Lara's responds by conveying some more

58:02

information about a web of

58:04

spies that Otto has been

58:06

using. But

58:06

he stops short of telling

58:09

her his full knowledge for that,

58:11

she needs to take her stockings off. And

58:13

Lara's Lara's watching on

58:16

and he's seems

58:18

transfixed. The back and

58:20

forth between them very

58:22

much reminds me of silence of the

58:24

lands where

58:26

Clarice dialing has to reveal information about her

58:28

childhood to Hannibal Lecter in

58:30

return in return for

58:32

details of a serial killer she's trying

58:34

to capture. But

58:36

anyway, in return for the stockings off, Lois

58:40

reveals that one of the spies was

58:42

Talia her lady

58:44

in waiting we've previously

58:46

seen Telia imprisoned with Larry's

58:48

luck while Larry's

58:50

was lurking outside the cell, So

58:52

it's a good bet that he had a tortured in

58:54

order to unravel this web.

58:58

He concludes that the head of the

59:00

network needs to be

59:02

killed, and we realize that Larry is

59:04

offering to do it for her,

59:06

providing he gets something in

59:08

the bargain. By now, we

59:10

can pretty much tell what he

59:12

wants. And Alison puts her

59:14

feet on the couch and looks

59:16

away as

59:18

Larry unzips, Well, it's a shocking scene. Lady Quinn

59:20

was next to me when we watched it and

59:22

GHG burst out with. This is

59:24

the worst thing that's ever happened in Game

59:26

of Thrones. And,

59:28

yeah, the idea

59:29

that Larry is motivated primarily

59:31

by a foot

59:34

footage is you know,

59:35

quite a silly character motive, I

59:38

think. And there has been many memes and

59:40

jokes and people finding

59:42

humor in the darkness of

59:44

this scene But for Alison's character, this is certainly an

59:46

abusive situation for all

59:48

of her ambition to be an autonomous

59:52

powerful woman men are

59:54

still seeking to control her. And in

59:56

this case, Laris has a

59:58

strange hold over her and is

1:00:00

using her for his

1:00:02

sexual gratification. From his perspective, it seems he's

1:00:04

feeding on obsession with feet

1:00:06

stemming from his own disability,

1:00:08

but of course, dynamics

1:00:10

like this are often

1:00:12

about power, surely he

1:00:14

gets off on the fact that of

1:00:16

all the feet in the seven kingdoms, he

1:00:18

has access to the queen's feet.

1:00:21

and I guess he must feel extremely

1:00:24

powerful here as abusive

1:00:26

men do in these types

1:00:28

of situations. So,

1:00:30

yeah, I don't know what you all think of

1:00:32

these scenes, but as I said,

1:00:34

it was something of a shock

1:00:36

And after a brief

1:00:37

montage of the Greens, then we

1:00:39

return to princess Rainey's

1:00:42

and she is still locked in

1:00:44

her chamber.

1:00:46

Yeah. She she's

1:00:47

locked in. It's dark. Clearly, very late

1:00:49

at night, but she hears a voice outside her

1:00:51

door and in

1:00:54

bursts sir Eric with an e, cargo. Last

1:00:56

scene, letting his brother fight Kristen

1:00:58

one on one over who could

1:01:00

deliver Aegon to their patron first.

1:01:04

It's clear in this moment what that he means what

1:01:06

he says, that he cannot let this treachery

1:01:08

stand. Well, he may not have

1:01:10

a particularly strong allegiance to Reneera. He

1:01:13

has had enough of Prince Aegon and the schemmings of the Greens

1:01:16

to crown an unworthy candidate for their

1:01:18

personal gain.

1:01:20

Raynius needs very little prompting and off the pair goes,

1:01:22

sneaking through hidden passages and corridors with

1:01:24

a red key. They passed

1:01:26

through a courtyard

1:01:28

where Lord Kaswell has been

1:01:30

hanged confirming varenis that the

1:01:32

greens have already drawn first blood in

1:01:34

their

1:01:34

quest for power. She gets

1:01:36

one good long look at the skull

1:01:38

of Baleeryn on her way out, and this likely sticks

1:01:40

in her head as she makes

1:01:41

her next moves. Earlier, we

1:01:43

saw valkyries Tell

1:01:44

Reneera that the dragons are

1:01:48

the true power of house Targaryen, not the throne or the sword

1:01:50

or the crown, not even valyrian

1:01:52

blood. And I think she's

1:01:56

remembering this about her house when she

1:01:58

later makes her appearance at Aegon's

1:02:00

coronation, which is full of kind of

1:02:02

those false or less lesser symbols

1:02:04

of

1:02:04

Targaryen power. As they escape

1:02:06

in the middle of the night, we

1:02:08

get a very quick shot of my serious

1:02:10

man's burning, a cloaked

1:02:12

man is fleeing the scene, and he's got a

1:02:15

small pin on his cloak, which may or

1:02:17

may not have been that, you

1:02:19

know, symbol of Larry's

1:02:21

club foot. I think the audience is supposed to be

1:02:23

unsure at this point. Was it auto

1:02:25

getting retribution on his source for daring to

1:02:27

speak truths of power?

1:02:29

Was it Larry's making good on his agreement with

1:02:32

Alison to take care of the queen

1:02:34

bee and scattering the

1:02:36

the hive? who spy

1:02:38

on her and her family. I think the

1:02:40

latter is much more compelling as Otto

1:02:42

is generally pretty intelligent and has been

1:02:44

leveraging the WhiteWave's intel for a long time.

1:02:47

Besides, Lara stands to gain the

1:02:49

most of mysterious killed. Those

1:02:51

worker bees may go looking for

1:02:53

a new queen. Nobody said the queen bee had to be

1:02:55

a queen or a bee, perhaps a firefly

1:02:58

instead. You know, Dawn

1:03:00

breaks and we

1:03:02

see Eric and Rhaenys again on the streets of king's landing.

1:03:04

Rhaenys makes it clear she will not leave

1:03:06

Malaise stating it as a fact rather

1:03:08

than as a plea to

1:03:10

her protector. Eric says there's

1:03:12

no way she could get into the dragon pit

1:03:14

thinking they'll be they'll be safer on

1:03:16

foot. There'll

1:03:16

be Shirley, you know,

1:03:18

guard station and waiting for her

1:03:20

assume this is where she might go.

1:03:22

He reminds her. Considering

1:03:24

all the evidence in both book and

1:03:26

show that the Greens have been preparing for this

1:03:28

moment for a very long time, this is

1:03:30

a pretty reasonable assumption for Eric to make. And besides, he

1:03:33

knows Maley's will likely accept her

1:03:35

rider, but what about

1:03:38

a spare? Before the conversation goes much further, there's yelling and

1:03:40

prodding and we see the gold cloaks beginning

1:03:42

to corral and direct all the small folks

1:03:44

somewhere. Raynies and

1:03:46

Eric gets get forced

1:03:48

apart. It's a little scary for a

1:03:50

second and all seems lost

1:03:52

until the queen that never was realizes

1:03:54

where the crowd is heading. the sight of

1:03:56

Aegon's coronation, the dragon

1:03:58

pit. So get Rainy said

1:03:59

love

1:03:59

that look on her face when

1:04:02

she realizes. where they're

1:04:04

going. She's just getting swept away to

1:04:06

exactly where she wants to

1:04:08

be. Inside the dragon

1:04:10

pit, there's some

1:04:11

preparations going on. Allison

1:04:13

had decreed

1:04:13

to her father that Aegon would be

1:04:16

crowned at dawn in a ceremony at the

1:04:18

Dragon pit with

1:04:18

all the residents of King's landing commanded

1:04:21

to attend. she was savvy enough to

1:04:23

decide, like Emily was saying earlier that

1:04:25

her son would be given all the

1:04:27

visible symbols of Targaryen kingship, he had

1:04:30

the name of the conquer He

1:04:32

would, in fact, be only the second king to

1:04:34

bear that name. And he would

1:04:36

also wear the Converse Crown,

1:04:38

carry his famed Malyrian

1:04:40

steel

1:04:40

sword. And

1:04:42

speaking of Veleering Steel, I wanna mention

1:04:44

that there's been considerable

1:04:45

confusion amongst fans about the

1:04:48

Converse Crown. both the World of

1:04:50

Ice and Fire and

1:04:51

George's descriptions of the

1:04:53

Targaryen Kings from two thousand five for

1:04:55

the artist, Amok, for

1:04:58

his contributions. to the Fantasy Flight Games Artbook

1:05:00

described the Converse Crown as, quote,

1:05:02

a simple circuit of valyrian

1:05:04

steel set with big square

1:05:06

cut rubies. but

1:05:08

the same crown is repeatedly

1:05:10

called an

1:05:10

iron and ruby crown in fire

1:05:12

and blood. So whether this is

1:05:14

a retcon or an error, the

1:05:18

part

1:05:18

of George

1:05:18

and his

1:05:19

editors is up for debate, but

1:05:21

the fact is the show seems to be using

1:05:23

the fire and blind description.

1:05:25

The crown of the conqueror that we saw definitely

1:05:27

seemed to be made of a dark gray

1:05:29

heavy metal, probably iron

1:05:31

set

1:05:32

with large rubies.

1:05:34

and then we see a brief scene of it made ready for the

1:05:36

coronation along with the sacred

1:05:38

oils that will be used to anoint Aegon

1:05:40

in the name of the seven.

1:05:43

Following this, we get a scene

1:05:45

where Allison and Aegon are speeding

1:05:47

towards the Dragon pit in

1:05:49

that

1:05:49

royal wheelhouse. Yeah. And

1:05:51

we get a look inside

1:05:54

that wheelhouse.

1:05:55

This is going to be the final

1:05:58

moment of privacy between

1:05:59

mother and son before he

1:06:02

is prevent presented

1:06:04

to the small folk.

1:06:06

Aegon cuts a reluctant figure for someone

1:06:09

who is about to be named king and inherit so much

1:06:11

power. Alison tells him to

1:06:13

have the decency

1:06:16

to look grateful sort of shaming him. But

1:06:18

Aegon is so despondent. He

1:06:20

can't even fain an interest in

1:06:22

his position, a position others

1:06:26

would certainly kill to be in. In the

1:06:28

past couple of episodes, we've seen

1:06:30

how awful Aegon is, and

1:06:34

watchers by now having serious reservations, how

1:06:36

things are gonna go,

1:06:38

granting someone of his dark

1:06:40

character with even

1:06:42

more power yet

1:06:44

we've never fully understood why exactly

1:06:46

he is the way he is

1:06:49

until this scene, I think. When

1:06:51

he announces his mother's encouragement, he says

1:06:54

my father never

1:06:56

wanted this. As

1:06:58

I said, Aegon's

1:06:58

done some horrific things recently

1:07:01

and there's certainly no forgiving him

1:07:03

for his illties, and I'm not trying to do

1:07:05

that, but in terms of understanding

1:07:08

the character and his motivations,

1:07:10

these few lines about the

1:07:12

relationship with his father's speak

1:07:14

volumes. He

1:07:16

says, Vicero's favored Reneer's claim

1:07:18

because he simply didn't

1:07:20

like Aegon. And although Vicero's

1:07:23

had made up his mind about Reneera before

1:07:26

Aegon was born, we can see that

1:07:28

from Aegon's point of view that

1:07:30

it might have seemed that his

1:07:32

father was rejecting

1:07:34

him on a personal basis.

1:07:36

The truth is that while

1:07:39

the series was gonna stick with the refineries there no matter what,

1:07:41

probably, he did also seem to

1:07:43

neglect his children with

1:07:45

Alison, I think, So

1:07:48

it's easy to see why Aegon feels

1:07:50

rejected by his father, feeling

1:07:53

like one of your parents doesn't

1:07:55

love you and internalizing that

1:07:58

pain can be a destructive force, and

1:07:59

it's clear from this scene

1:08:02

that that is the root of his

1:08:04

self loathing.

1:08:06

Like I

1:08:07

said, given the gravity and the gravity of his bad behavior,

1:08:09

this excuses nothing. But I think it was important

1:08:11

to take a minute to

1:08:14

understand Aegon's in

1:08:16

a demons right before he accepts

1:08:18

the power of the crown. Alison attempts

1:08:21

to encourage

1:08:22

him by telling him that

1:08:24

viserys ultimately wanted you to

1:08:26

be king. And Aegon just he can't believe it. He he laughs at the suggestion

1:08:29

and says, don't toy

1:08:31

with me mother. when

1:08:34

Aegon

1:08:34

Alison produces Aegon the Conquerors, Valyrian Steel Dragon, Daga,

1:08:41

which Vocera is always kept by his

1:08:43

side, Aegon seems tempted by the

1:08:45

power and he starts

1:08:48

listening to to

1:08:50

what his mother's telling him.

1:08:52

She asks him that when

1:08:54

he's empowered not to heed Otto's

1:08:56

advice to kill Reneera and her

1:08:58

children, But then given what we've learned about

1:09:01

Aegon sadism in recent

1:09:03

episodes, viewers would be right

1:09:05

in not banking on Aegon taking

1:09:07

a virtuous path here. When he doesn't

1:09:09

answer,

1:09:10

but instead asked his mother point

1:09:13

blank if she loves him, We

1:09:15

see his torment served up on a platter. Aegon just felt

1:09:17

unloved. So he self he

1:09:19

he loathed himself as a

1:09:21

result, and that led

1:09:23

to bad behaviors. which led to his

1:09:25

parents chiding him and that sort of creates a feedback loop of more

1:09:28

negative attention from his

1:09:30

parents and more self loathing

1:09:34

and spirals down like that.

1:09:36

And, yeah, unforgivable

1:09:40

behaviors that are

1:09:42

not relatable in that sense. but

1:09:44

it's good to know

1:09:45

where these villainous traits are rooted. He's a boy who

1:09:48

felt rejected

1:09:51

by his parents. and that part of

1:09:54

him is relatable. Yeah. I agree.

1:09:55

Well well summarized. So

1:09:59

oh

1:09:59

presumably from the wheelhouse, they eventually

1:10:02

arrive at the at the dragon

1:10:04

pit,

1:10:04

and this is where

1:10:05

the coordination is going

1:10:08

to happen. Seems pretty safe to

1:10:10

say that

1:10:10

Aegon's coronation is modeled after real world ceremonies, specifically

1:10:13

that of the

1:10:15

kings of England, and

1:10:18

let me read you a description that which lifted from old

1:10:20

Wikipedia. The

1:10:25

essential elements of the coronation have remained largely

1:10:27

unchanged for the past thousand years. The Sovereign is first presented

1:10:29

to and acclaimed by

1:10:32

the people The

1:10:34

Sovereign then swears an oath to uphold the law in the church. Following that, monarch is anointed with invested

1:10:40

with Regalia, and crowned

1:10:42

before receiving

1:10:42

the homage of their subjects. So Aegon's ceremony follows

1:10:44

this model

1:10:46

more or less exactly. He's

1:10:49

presented to the people by his

1:10:51

grandfather and his hand, sir Otto, and enters the dragon pit under

1:10:54

a very

1:10:55

long saber art. formed

1:10:58

by Gold

1:10:59

Cloak's. This is a

1:11:01

real world custom too,

1:11:03

but a much less

1:11:05

ancient one typically used in military

1:11:07

weddings and

1:11:10

wouldn't have happened in

1:11:13

the time period that we're usually

1:11:16

emulating in Game of

1:11:18

Thrones, out of

1:11:19

the dragon, which is

1:11:21

according to George, supposed to be

1:11:23

about the fourteenth century. So this is one element of the ceremony

1:11:24

that I found took me

1:11:26

out of the moment. It didn't

1:11:29

quite fit

1:11:30

the period. There were some other things to really history nerdy objections. But

1:11:34

nonetheless, it

1:11:36

was very

1:11:39

impressive looking and cool

1:11:40

bit of choreography. I don't know

1:11:42

how they pulled that off with just,

1:11:44

you know, basically an

1:11:46

hour to plan it. So kudos

1:11:49

to them for doing that. Then you get on

1:11:51

the dayous egg and is anointed with

1:11:53

the holy oils

1:11:55

by septon eustice.

1:11:56

Royal

1:11:57

Regalia is basically are the visible symbols of kingship. Generally, you get this

1:11:59

receptor visible symbol

1:12:01

or

1:12:04

a ceremonial sword or something like

1:12:05

that. Of course, Aegon is already bearing the most potent symbol of

1:12:07

Targaryen kingship, the

1:12:12

sword, Blackfyre, And by the way, he

1:12:14

also has the valyrian steel dagger that was

1:12:15

always carried

1:12:16

by his father.

1:12:19

So he has all

1:12:21

of the Regalia. And then after being anointed, he

1:12:24

is crowned

1:12:28

by Kristen Cole, the new lord commander, the

1:12:30

king's guard, the man who was known to history as the kingmaker.

1:12:32

And this is

1:12:35

the reason why. egon was then presented

1:12:37

to the crowd by septon Eustace for the

1:12:40

acclimation, and

1:12:42

he gets quite an enthusiastic reception when he

1:12:45

brandishes Blackfire for them.

1:12:47

They they

1:12:47

love that sword,

1:12:50

but they also maybe a proof

1:12:53

of

1:12:53

him. This and this could be

1:12:55

the first time in his life where he basically experiences

1:12:59

this unconditional acceptance The

1:13:01

smile on his face certainly seems to reflect that that he's

1:13:03

very happy with positive attention.

1:13:08

So It

1:13:10

is, however, worth noting that

1:13:13

none of the small

1:13:16

folk would be

1:13:17

in the know

1:13:19

as to exactly what the

1:13:20

ins and outs are of

1:13:22

the succession. They have no idea that Aegon is technically usurping his sister.

1:13:27

and that she doesn't even know yet that

1:13:29

her father is dead. So, you

1:13:31

know, they're just going

1:13:33

along with it because this is

1:13:35

what they've been told is happening. Real world

1:13:37

coronations also are typically

1:13:40

held

1:13:40

many

1:13:42

months after the death of the previous sovereign for

1:13:44

the reason that death usually entails

1:13:46

some period of mourning, and

1:13:49

it's seen as quite inappropriate to have

1:13:51

a joyful ceremony like a coronation

1:13:53

during that time of morning.

1:13:56

Only successions that are bound to

1:13:58

be challenged. will feature this sort of hurried coordination, and

1:14:00

we know that the greens fully

1:14:03

expect to be challenged. to be challenge

1:14:07

basically Basically, crowning

1:14:08

Aegon within twenty four hours of

1:14:10

Acerus' death. In Fire and Blood, the announcement

1:14:12

of the King's death and

1:14:14

Aegon's coronation were actually too separate

1:14:18

events. The first, the

1:14:21

announcement came ten days

1:14:23

after Viceroy's death. we

1:14:26

mentioned earlier that they basically just left his body to rot while about laying their

1:14:28

plans for the

1:14:31

use of patient. About

1:14:34

ten days later, riders went out into the

1:14:36

city to spread the word. It says,

1:14:38

riders went forth on pale horses

1:14:40

to spread the

1:14:41

word to the people of king's

1:14:43

landing crying king viserys' dead long

1:14:45

live king Aegon. Hearing the cries,

1:14:48

some wept whilst others cheered, but most

1:14:50

of the small folks stared in silence, confused, and wary, and

1:14:52

now and again have always

1:14:54

cried out along with our queen.

1:14:58

the coronation and un

1:15:00

held an unspecified number of days later,

1:15:02

was held in the Dragon

1:15:04

pit because quote, the

1:15:06

pits, thick walls, strong roof, and towering bronze doors made it defensible should

1:15:08

traders

1:15:09

attempt to

1:15:11

disrupt the ceremony.

1:15:14

kinda regret that we didn't get at least a

1:15:17

handful of people looking

1:15:18

confused and crying

1:15:20

out for Vinera, but Here we

1:15:22

are. Like

1:15:23

I said, there were quite a few changes

1:15:25

in this episode. While, you know, in

1:15:27

House of the Dragon, these

1:15:30

greens, surely

1:15:30

do expect a challenge,

1:15:32

which is why they're rushing

1:15:35

through this coronation

1:15:36

so quickly. Perhaps

1:15:38

they even anticipated that one might come from outside as stated in fire

1:15:41

and blood as

1:15:44

the bells rang

1:15:47

out to celebrate Aegon's obsession?

1:15:49

Surely

1:15:49

none of them.

1:15:52

Well,

1:15:52

maybe one

1:15:53

of them. expected

1:15:54

the challenge to come from

1:15:57

beneath their feet. Aegon

1:15:59

is

1:15:59

enjoying being crowned

1:16:02

more than he'd imagined. And

1:16:04

as Lady Gwyn

1:16:05

said, there's a brief moment where this kid who

1:16:07

feels that he's been unloved

1:16:10

is suddenly very loved by

1:16:14

this crowd through their cheers,

1:16:16

perhaps he wasn't expecting that

1:16:18

reaction. He looks very happy

1:16:21

and Allison manages a smile too.

1:16:23

Then from out of nowhere, rocks go flying

1:16:25

and there's a big

1:16:27

puff of dust and

1:16:31

the small folk begin to scream,

1:16:34

that's right. It's Maylies. Rainies

1:16:38

had been swept into the

1:16:40

dragon pit along with all the smoke small

1:16:43

folk and managed to slip away

1:16:45

into the lower levels to find

1:16:47

Malaise as all eyes were on Aegon being anointed by

1:16:49

septon Eustace. Remember that

1:16:52

Alison had told

1:16:54

her to ring the

1:16:56

bell when she had to answer back

1:16:58

at the Red Keep, well, this seems to be an answer as the bells ring out for Aegon's

1:17:04

coronation. She wanted to desperately desperately

1:17:06

to escape with her dragon, not only for the

1:17:08

importance of dragons

1:17:11

in any upcoming hostilities, but

1:17:14

also no doubt due to

1:17:16

their lifelong bond. However, given

1:17:19

that the Dragon pit was

1:17:21

full for the coronation

1:17:23

and heavily guarded as indicated

1:17:25

by Sir Eric, the path of least

1:17:28

resistance seemed to

1:17:30

have been to crash through

1:17:33

a solid stone floor and cause all kinds

1:17:35

of mayhem. Small focus swept away and

1:17:39

no doubt some of them died in the chaos of

1:17:42

the rockfall and then maylies

1:17:44

swatting them away

1:17:47

with a tail, So it certainly wasn't

1:17:50

a maneuver without casualties. I guess, from Rainy's perspective,

1:17:52

imprisoned, and with

1:17:55

her life under threat, This

1:17:58

was the only way she could

1:17:59

manage and escape with

1:18:02

her dragon. By

1:18:03

now, the dragon is trying

1:18:05

to turn around small folk are running to the door. And through

1:18:07

the carnage, we see rainy's looking

1:18:12

absolutely badass. in her

1:18:14

armor on Maylies. The greens look absolutely shocked and order the doors

1:18:16

to be opened otherwise they're gonna

1:18:18

be trapped with the with Maylies.

1:18:23

at this point, they are they are trapped and at

1:18:25

the mercy of Rainey's who only

1:18:27

has to say

1:18:30

one word to

1:18:31

roast all of them. Alison's first

1:18:33

thought

1:18:33

is of a daughter, and

1:18:35

she says, get Helena. As

1:18:38

we mentioned earlier, Helena had

1:18:40

been uttering a prophecy about a beast beneath

1:18:42

the boards, so this could be what

1:18:44

she was singing her dreams. coming face

1:18:46

to face with the raging dragon would

1:18:49

be frightening enough for anyone.

1:18:51

But given Helena seems so

1:18:53

timid, it must have been

1:18:56

especially terrifying if if this was the what

1:18:58

she was profiting in her dreams and she she could see this moment coming.

1:19:00

And there she was not being

1:19:02

able to do anything about it.

1:19:05

and watching the scenario unfold in front of her,

1:19:07

book fans did have other ideas, what the prophecy

1:19:09

meant, and so do

1:19:12

other people But,

1:19:15

you

1:19:15

know, all the book fans were

1:19:17

probably wrong because, of course, this moment

1:19:19

doesn't happen in the books. So if

1:19:21

this is the answer, then there was

1:19:23

no way of for

1:19:25

seeing that this would turn out the way it did. As Meli's

1:19:27

inches forward and the

1:19:29

music reaches a cus

1:19:32

crescendo, Rainey's

1:19:34

is on the verge of saying Drakaris.

1:19:36

You can just see her. She's just

1:19:39

about to do it. The camera

1:19:41

goes to Alison who closes her eyes and

1:19:43

I think she's expecting to

1:19:45

get roasted any second.

1:19:47

While the dragon lets out

1:19:50

a sonorous screen that would not be out of place in Jurassic

1:19:52

Park. She does not

1:19:54

release any flame renee

1:19:58

rainy's has decided to show

1:19:59

mercy. Isn't a mistake to show

1:20:02

mercy? Is it better to murder

1:20:04

a few people to save

1:20:06

money? can he justify this sort of killing when it

1:20:09

might serve the greater good?

1:20:11

All of those

1:20:12

questions come to us

1:20:14

at this moment. Questions that have been floating around

1:20:16

in this episode, and of course are

1:20:18

well rooted in the original book

1:20:20

series. We've already touched upon

1:20:22

it, but to add some Yeah. Ned

1:20:24

Stark, for example, believes that mercy is never

1:20:26

a mistake, and he says that says

1:20:29

as much to

1:20:31

Renli Baratheon, whereas Reney's

1:20:33

brother, Stannis, would gladly sacrifice a cell to protect the realm. Here, Reney's

1:20:36

according to an eve

1:20:38

best interview and information presented

1:20:40

in the

1:20:43

behind the episode chooses to show

1:20:45

the green faction mercy

1:20:47

on account in part

1:20:50

of Alison being a mother who

1:20:52

wants to protect the kids. And

1:20:54

to this, keep in mind that we see Aegon sort

1:20:57

of cowering behind his

1:20:59

mother in this scene. Another

1:21:02

thing

1:21:02

to keep in mind, and this is courtesy of one of our patrons,

1:21:04

so Gladworth, is that

1:21:07

George has recently confirmed that

1:21:11

there's an yet unintroduced third son of

1:21:13

Viseries and Allyson serving as

1:21:15

a squire with the

1:21:17

high towers in old town

1:21:19

So his entire family would

1:21:21

undoubtedly set up

1:21:24

Daeron who

1:21:26

who a dragon rider himself as a challenge

1:21:29

to Reneera. So

1:21:32

she wouldn't

1:21:35

have exactly solved everything by doing this. Darron still

1:21:38

exists. And so anyway,

1:21:40

after

1:21:40

and so anyway after her

1:21:43

moment of mercy, rainy's wheels

1:21:45

mailings around to fly off

1:21:47

through the doors, presumably

1:21:50

to find Rainyra on Dragonstone and fill

1:21:52

her into all this

1:21:54

information that's being withheld.

1:21:57

Time

1:21:57

will tell if that was a decision

1:21:59

that

1:21:59

rainy's will later regret.

1:22:02

One thing's for

1:22:03

sure. She will not get

1:22:06

the opportunity to take out almost the entire

1:22:08

green faction in one

1:22:10

fell swoop again. Now, surely,

1:22:14

were headed to Civil War

1:22:19

instead. Okay. So There

1:22:21

is our left to right analysis, but we've got plenty more to

1:22:23

say. We've got a couple of feature ads for a

1:22:25

bit of fun, and then we've

1:22:27

got a spoilers section

1:22:32

and

1:22:32

then we'll

1:22:33

address some super

1:22:36

chats. So Why don't

1:22:38

we begin with our called Dragon Watch

1:22:40

watch lady quinn show was

1:22:42

dragon much today today? Well,

1:22:44

this week on dragon watch your toy. I

1:22:46

have just one word for you. It's me, Lisa.

1:22:50

mainly What'd you what'd you think, Emily? Do you

1:22:52

like mainly his parents there? You

1:22:54

know, I I

1:22:55

certainly wasn't expecting it,

1:22:58

definitely a departure from the book cannon, but I think that they work

1:23:00

with the themes of this episode that

1:23:02

they were exploring. And I think we

1:23:04

were all just really excited

1:23:06

that we got to see Rainey's

1:23:09

in her armor on her

1:23:11

dragon up close this season. I I know lady Gwen was.

1:23:12

Okay. So

1:23:14

let's move

1:23:15

on to our

1:23:19

chomp or

1:23:20

chomp. We name a character that's

1:23:22

won the day, and we also name

1:23:24

a chomp who is you know, made

1:23:26

a fool of themselves or has done something

1:23:29

weird. So Lady

1:23:32

Gwen, who is your

1:23:34

champ

1:23:34

of the week? Well, again,

1:23:36

I'm going

1:23:37

to be quite quite brief

1:23:39

with my selection in

1:23:43

this

1:23:43

category. I'll hail the bee. Just Laura

1:23:45

Biesbury for

1:23:46

standing up for his principles

1:23:48

for

1:23:50

pointing

1:23:51

out exactly what was

1:23:53

going on and thought backing

1:23:55

down from accusing

1:23:57

the queen of some

1:23:59

Yeah. Pretty

1:23:59

pretty serious misdeeds. Gotta

1:24:02

love him. Seventy

1:24:04

six years old

1:24:07

and speak truth power. So

1:24:10

RIP Lord Biesbury. Okay. So always

1:24:13

many

1:24:13

jumps in

1:24:16

an episode But

1:24:18

let's we try to keep things lighthearted. So Emily, what's who's your chump of the week? Yeah.

1:24:20

So many chumps

1:24:23

to choose

1:24:23

from this I

1:24:25

I, like, wanted to say auto or Larry's or so many more. But honestly, I think, like,

1:24:27

you in the spirit

1:24:30

of of being chumpy, This

1:24:34

is meant to be a little bit

1:24:36

more of a lighthearted section. I don't really wanna cover a

1:24:38

bunch of horrific misdeeds. So chatting with our pal and and chat moderator

1:24:43

egg six, he gave me the idea, and I think

1:24:46

I'm gonna go with Kristen Cole this

1:24:48

week. You know,

1:24:49

of course, for his actions against the b, his

1:24:51

lord

1:24:51

commander, and, you know, most

1:24:54

importantly for being Westeros' biggest hypocrite.

1:24:59

Okay.

1:24:59

So now I want

1:25:02

to introduce the spoiler

1:25:03

section because we try

1:25:06

and keep it spoiler free.

1:25:08

So Anyone who hasn't

1:25:10

read the books can still enjoy the show, but we do sort of have to

1:25:12

bite our tongue sometimes. So

1:25:14

here we go, Lady Quinn.

1:25:19

SPoilers

1:25:20

are books. Yeah. Spoilers are

1:25:22

books. Why don't we start

1:25:24

with you, lady, going, what what spoilery

1:25:26

topics do you wanna get off your chest?

1:25:29

Well, I

1:25:30

didn't have anything really significant that I wanted to talk about today, so

1:25:32

I'm

1:25:33

going to

1:25:34

talk about the Loylesticks.

1:25:37

sick who

1:25:38

are the nobles identified in

1:25:41

fire and blood that were

1:25:42

beheaded for refusing to bend the

1:25:44

knee to egg on? along with

1:25:46

a number of others, having your heads

1:25:48

mounted above the city gates as a warning to

1:25:51

anyone else who would support the

1:25:53

blacks and here's passage for you. Lord

1:25:55

Hayford, Lord Maryweather, Lord Hart, Lord

1:25:57

Buckler, Lord Kaswell,

1:25:58

and Lady Fell, valued

1:25:59

their

1:26:00

sworn word more than

1:26:02

their lives and were beheaded each in turn along

1:26:04

with eight landed knights and two

1:26:06

score servants and retainers. Their

1:26:09

heads were mounted on

1:26:11

spikes above the city's gates.

1:26:13

Lord Mary Weather from and Lord Caswell

1:26:15

from the Reach, and Lady Fell

1:26:18

of Stormlands,

1:26:20

did feature in this episode. We

1:26:22

talked about them while Lord's Hayford and Hart from the Crownlands and

1:26:27

Lord Butler. from the storm land so

1:26:29

far up here

1:26:30

only in fire and blood. In spite of the executions, all of their houses would

1:26:34

continue to support Rainiero.

1:26:36

in

1:26:37

particular, the

1:26:38

homes of House Caswell and Merryweather, Bitterbridge

1:26:43

and Longtable respectively, will

1:26:45

be significant locations during the word come with long table besieged at one

1:26:47

point by the Greens massive high

1:26:50

tower army in the

1:26:52

south. and

1:26:55

Bitterbridge being the location of

1:26:57

the death of prince of

1:27:01

well, king Aegon's

1:27:03

son, Prince Malor, one of the

1:27:05

more horrific events of the war, as I'm sure you all agree.

1:27:07

I think it's also noteworthy if

1:27:10

we can dig in a little

1:27:12

bit that

1:27:14

a number of these houses supported

1:27:17

king Maycor three generations

1:27:19

earlier in his war against

1:27:22

his nephew a few egg on the uncrowned before

1:27:24

all changing sides to Jairus.

1:27:26

So

1:27:26

I have to wonder if

1:27:28

their

1:27:28

staunch support for Lanier and

1:27:31

now came as a result of their

1:27:33

kind of ancestral shame at backing the wrong horse

1:27:35

in that previous civil war, they more

1:27:37

than anyone would have

1:27:39

reason

1:27:39

to know what Migor

1:27:42

really was. And

1:27:44

given that, and

1:27:46

the Green's constant comparisons

1:27:48

of

1:27:48

Rainier and Damon

1:27:51

to Migor, I think that it's telling that people who

1:27:53

actually or houses that actually

1:27:55

supported

1:27:55

Magor in

1:27:59

the past boiled to

1:28:00

Reneera and Damon. Not because they thought

1:28:02

B agonist was great, but because they know just

1:28:06

how terrible he And

1:28:08

in spite of that, they're

1:28:10

still supporting Reneer and

1:28:11

Damon. So finally, we

1:28:14

get to Lord Hart who

1:28:16

was executed for his support

1:28:18

of Reneera. His relationship to a member of

1:28:21

his house named Lady

1:28:23

Hazelhart isn't specified whatever

1:28:26

it is, whether he's an uncle,

1:28:28

a grandfather, a cousin, he

1:28:30

is definitely a relation of

1:28:32

Lady Hazel and her two year

1:28:35

old daughter, Daenera Valerian, who is

1:28:37

the future wife of King

1:28:39

Aegon III. And even as

1:28:41

these executions are taking place

1:28:43

in king's landing, She is growing up,

1:28:46

presumably happily with her Valerian family on Driftmark. So it was obviously

1:28:49

connection with

1:28:52

house Valerian. between

1:28:52

with how with the

1:28:54

hearts, so I can get another reason for them to be steadfast

1:28:57

for Lanira.

1:28:59

I know that's a lot of history genealogy, but I love

1:29:02

how much George flushes

1:29:06

out

1:29:06

these history of even tertiary

1:29:08

or lesser characters in

1:29:10

houses to make their

1:29:14

motivations believable giving us, you know,

1:29:16

very

1:29:16

much fleshed out characters

1:29:19

and stories, breathing life into

1:29:21

his world by threading

1:29:23

those stories throughout generations of Westerosi history. I

1:29:25

just can't get enough for the

1:29:27

world building. So

1:29:30

This week, I'm

1:29:31

talking about the twins. Was that that specific

1:29:34