House of the Dragon Episode 6

The adult stars of House Of The Dragon have arrived at last – and their rivalry is growing ever more intense.

Almost certainly, but Rhaenyra’s desire to get away from the endless attacks on herself and her children is understandable. And Alicent is left terrified of her own ally, having seen what the quiet, mild Larys is capable of. We finish with Daemon once again widowed – it’s becoming a habit – and Rhaenyra leaving King’s Landing for her ancestral fortress on Dragonstone, abandoning the court and its machinations to her rival. Daemon makes no choice, and it’s not clear whether he holds back out of respect for his wife – he does appear to have some – or from horror at the decision itself, a weakness in the face of unimaginable crisis. If her own death is certain and she accepts that, wouldn’t she let them try to save the child? Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) has offered to resign as Hand of the king following Harwin’s brawl, but Viserys won’t hear it – so Lyonel has begged leave to at least escort his son home to their (famously unlucky) stronghold of Harrenhal. In the novel, the baby is born deformed, and Laena simply dies in childbirth. Alicent obviously knows about it, but no one will make the accusation publicly for fear of treason – and Viserys (Paddy Considine) is willfully blind to the whole thing. Aegon and Rhaenyra’s eldest, Jacaerys aka Jace (Leo Hart), team up to play a trick on Aegon’s dragonless younger brother, Aemond (Leo Ashton), in the shadowy depths of the Dragonpit, which prompts Alicent’s fury at her eldest because she needs her sons to stick together against their nephews. With the women confined to bickering by court protocol and a shared deference to Viserys, their rivalry plays out by proxy. The umbilical cord is barely cut before there’s a demand from the queen to see the baby: Rhaenyra, stubborn to the bone, insists on carrying the baby herself as a sort of passive resistance. But perhaps the most illuminating exchange is the scene where Alicent interrupts her son Aegon (Ty Tennant) during his, er, private time (a boy prince wanking over an entire city is quite the metaphor) to explain to him the existential threat that his nephews pose.

Like it was for the Starks in early Game of Thrones episodes, the stakes for child's play are high for these little Targaryens. A recap of “The Princess and ...

It’s the last remaining dragon from the time of Aegon I’s conquest of Westeros, and — funnily enough — the dragon Laena once questioned Viserys about when she was a child, walking with him in the gardens while he contemplated marrying her. They creep and live in the dirt, but is there more to it? This is the kind of writing we need to see more of. (Those tongues are snipped out to keep the arsonists from talking.) If only we had ever seen the two interact together, to understand their relationship better, to get a sense of how one brother can grow up honorable and strong and the other huddle in the shadows and whisper in the ears of the noble. The last we see of him is driving his shoulder into a wooden door in the castle, trying to break his father free from a massive fire. Viserys can’t let go of the notion that his family will someday experience their own after-school special conversion and turn towards each other with love and acceptance, a blindness that is wreaking havoc. Of course, the elephant in this episode’s room was the clear fact that Harwin Strong is the real father of Jace, Luke, and newborn Joffrey. They have lived as guests of the Pentoshi prince Reggio Haratis for many years, raising their daughters Baela (Shani Smethurst) and Rhaena (a doleful Eva Ossei-Gerning) there. Even if Viserys claims this succession is solidified and Rhaenyra and her children will take the throne, their suspicious paternity has opened up a new avenue for Alicent to put Aegon on the throne. (The whole affair weirdly called to mind Kate Middleton, made to march out of the hospital and stand for a photo call hours after giving birth to the future king of England, though Middleton had the advantage of a glam team and modern medicine.) Game of Thrones also established early on that the stakes for child’s play were high; in the second episode, Mycah the butcher’s boy is slaughtered off the King’s Road after Arya hits Joffrey and events spiral out of control. “The Princess and the Queen” is bookended with birth scenes.

Sam Adams: Jack! Welcome to the Worst Person in Westeros. You are a longtime George R.R. Martin fan and diehard Thronesie, as I believe they prefer to be called ...

Larys is both the son of the king’s hand and the brother of Rhaenyra’s lover, but he’s more loyal to Alicent than to either of them—or, put another way, he sees more advantage in being her fixer than he does in being House Strong’s less-favored son. (The actors in this episode seem like they’re in a contest to see who can come the closest to saying the word “bastard” without actually doing so; at one point, Alicent refers to Rhaenyra’s sons as “bbbbb-plain-featured.”) Lyonel dare not risk it, and the king won’t accept his resignation, so poor Lyonel is stuck, although he gets leave to escort Hawin, who’s now been kicked out of the city watch, back to the family seat at Harrenhal. Plus I’m inclined to cut Alicent just a little slack because I do think she’s doing what she’s doing out of a real concern for the well-being of her children, who, bratty as they are, probably should be looking over their shoulders once their half-sister (ew) Rhaenyra ascends to the Iron Throne. As awful as Alicent is, by episode’s end she does seem genuinely horrified when she realizes the atrocities Larys has committed on her supposed behalf, and Larys seems all too eager to let her know that he now considers her in his debt, with no small amount of menace. And let’s not forget Criston Cole, who seems intent on working through the feelings he caught for Rhaenyra a decade ago by subjecting her children to physical abuse at the hands of their cousin. Rhaenyra isn’t about to let her newborn out of her sight, so she pulls herself upright and winces her way up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind her. [faced with in the first episode](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/house-dragon-premiere-game-thrones-hbo-max-recap.html): namely, should we [ perform a c-section](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-c-section-birth-scene.html) that will definitely kill your wife but might save your child? It’s a week of firsts, in fact, since with the show’s sixth episode, “The Princess and the Queen,” the narrative jumps forward by about a decade and introduces new actors to the roles of Rhaenrya, Alicent, Leonor, and Laena (although in one case, not for very long). Unfortunately this isn’t a world where good news always bring good results: She’s still unable to deliver, and faced with the likelihood of slow and agonizing death, she chooses death by dracarys, ordering her own dragon to burn her alive. Adams: “The Princess and the Queen” has a lot of business to attend to, not just introducing the new cast but setting the table for the back half of the season, and perhaps because of that, it actually features people acting somewhat reasonably for once. I have to say, I knew that the great actor-swap was coming this week but it was still a pretty weird adjustment, particularly since I don’t think the characters are really supposed to be all that much older. Martin fan and diehard Thronesie, as I believe they prefer to be called, and yet this is the first time you’re weighing in House of the Dragon.

Well, you might recall that Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) had a couple of interactions with young Rhaenyra, encountering her during her night on the town with ...

It was also the site of one of my favorite random “Thrones” subplots, when [the premiere](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-premiere-recap.html), and “Dragon” remains determined to [show as well as tell](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/arts/television/childbirth-house-dragon-sapochnik.html)us this fact. I love a good entitled doofus character, and Ty Tennant made a strong debut as the adolescent Aegon. The elimination of Lyonel and Harwin also make Larys the lord of House Strong, a real victory. Many things change over the course of a decade, but I’m guessing his and Rhaenyra’s twisted mutual attraction isn’t one of them. Laena was a tragic figure, another illustration of the constraints that even women of privilege face in this story. “I’ve reached the limits of my art,” the obstetrician told Daemon. She’s almost convinced herself that she is motivated by a hope that “honor and decency will prevail,” even though she’s teamed with the dishonorable likes of Ser Criston and Larys Strong to make it happen. The murder of his father cleared the way for Otto to return as Hand — things seem to be heading that way, at least — even as it revealed to Alicent the quality of the company she’s keeping these days. Daemon, the former rogue prince, settled down and even managed to have a couple of kids of his own with Laena. It isn’t clear what effect Harwin’s death will have on the issue of his royal issue — is it better or worse for Rhaenyra, from an optics standpoint, now that he’s out of the picture? This week also saw the emergence of other prominent players, most notably Harwin (also briefly) and Larys.

Plus, I am happy to report that there are finally many scenes involving dragons!