House of the Dragon (2022) s02e05 Episode Script
Regent
- Only one.
- That's enough, stand back.
Behold!
The traitor dragon Meleys!
Slain at Rook's Rest
by your king!
To Aegon!
- It can't be
- They killed a dragon!
Mark my words, this is a black omen.
Rhaenyra will answer this.
'Tis an abomination.
Don't they realize we won the battle?
Strange victory
if it was one.
Behold!
The traitor dragon Meleys!
I thought the dragons was gods.
Slain at Rook's Rest by your king!
It's just meat.
Is he alive?
His Grace
remains with us, for the moment.
Is my son going to die?
I'm afraid I cannot say.
Now, if you'll excuse me, Your Grace,
these next hours are most critical.
Of course.
Easy as you can.
Someone will have to rule in his stead.
- What happened?
- We took the castle.
At the cost of some 900 men.
So I've heard.
I left a meager garrison
behind to protect it
and the king's dragon.
Sunfyre was long in the dying.
The king, Ser Criston, what befell him?
His Grace fought valiantly.
And Aemond?
What was his part in this?
I could not say.
Our largest dragon has been killed.
Criston Cole marches about
the Crownlands unchallenged.
Duskendale and Rook's Rest are gone.
We still have no ground army
but the one we hope
that Daemon will raise.
He who has left us
after some marital spat.
Do you take issue with me, Ser Alfred?
My loyalty to you is proven, my queen.
Your loyalty, perhaps,
but your willingness to give me
deference in a time of war.
I could never doubt your capability,
or your quickness of mind.
It is merely that the gentler sex,
heretofore, has not been much privy
to the strategies of battle,
or their execution.
There has been peace in our lifetime.
You've seen no more battles than I have.
Send to Maidenpool
and to Crackclaw Point.
Let them man their garrisons
and give them stores or weapons
if they find them wanting.
If Cole pursues his campaign,
- our allies must be ready.
- We must answer Rook's Rest,
- and Duskendale.
- They are lost already.
But Vhagar is depleted after such
a hard-fought battle.
If Aegon is dead
We will soon know it.
'Twould be a victory in name only.
They will soon prop up
another in his stead.
The time is ripe.
If we can strike King's Landing
before their dragon is recovered
Then I myself must do it.
My queen, you are the crown.
It is out of the question.
What would you have me do?
Jace?
Where are you going?
To Harrenhal. To treat with Daemon.
Rhaenys is fallen.
He must affirm his loyalty to my mother
and report his standing.
And you think you will tame him
when the queen herself could not?
My mother gladly sends you away
to scout, to fight,
whilst I'm here being forced
to play the coddled princeling.
- It's humiliating, Baela.
- She only protects you.
You are the succession.
Then I must be seen to
act for her claim and mine.
I can sit still no longer.
I must act.
The Freys.
They control the crossing at the Twins.
Cregan Stark's graybeards
are marching south.
If his men had a direct
route into the Riverlands,
we would not have to wait
for Daemon to act.
I will treat with The
Freys to secure it.
She will not like it.
Then don't tell her. Not until I'm away.
The hour is late and
my dragon is hungry.
You have no choice but to submit.
Our terms are simple, Lord Bracken.
Renounce the false king
Aegon as a usurper
and bend the knee to me
or your house burns.
I would sooner be the
Lord of Bones and Cinders
than bend my knee before
some heathen Blackwood cunt
and his hired dragon.
The Brackens were a people hatched out
of the deepest of the
Seven Hells, Your Grace.
It would be a kindness to oblige them
and send them back whence they came.
Did your brother's head
keep on its way back to you, Willem?
I heard the maggots got to it.
That is quite the impression,
Lord Bracken.
But alas, not an answer.
We choose fire.
I did not think they would
be so eager to die.
They made their choice.
- You should've indulged them.
- I need them alive.
I came here to raise
swords, not corpses.
But now you see what my house
has known for generations.
They are pigheaded, intransigent
They would rather burn than succumb.
Exactly the kind of men I need.
It may yet be possible, I think,
for both of us to achieve our ends.
We have fought them for an age and more.
Then perhaps you could try
less fighting and more
persuading.
They are unyielding in battle.
But every man has a weakness.
You take my meaning, then.
There are things the crown itself
must not be seen to do.
Show them your worst.
I am your servant, Your Grace.
Over the centuries, many and more armies
have broken themselves
against my bloody gate.
Are you listening?
My lady.
The Eyrie itself is impregnable.
Unless, of course, we're
descended upon from the sky.
You promised the Queen
Rhaenyra 15,000 swords
In return for protection. A dragon.
Then she has exceeded your terms.
She sent two.
Both still wet from the egg.
I have hunting hounds
that are more fearsome.
They are dragons nonetheless.
I do not recall you specifying
the size of the beast in your request.
Will you goad me, child?
When your bread and shelter
now depend on my pleasure?
The dragons will grow
- in time.
- I don't have time.
I mislike feeling powerless.
So do I.
This will be your chamber.
I'll expect you at supper this evening?
My sympathies for the death
of your grandmother.
The way they spoke
at my small council today.
Do they hold you responsible
for Rhaenys and her dragon?
I would rather they had.
They speak around me, not to me.
They would make me queen,
but they wish to keep me here, confined.
They betray their own smallness.
In truth, I cannot fault them.
I am now the sovereign.
I cannot do as I please.
And war has ever been for men to make.
You are your father's chosen successor.
He did not prepare me to fight.
If I had been a son,
a sword thrust into my hand
the moment I could walk.
Instead, I was given my father's cup
taught the name of every lord and castle
between Storm's End and the Twins,
but not the difference
between hilt and foible.
And they know it.
And Daemon as well
Shall your evening meal be
served here, Your Grace?
Not now.
Will you send to him?
For too long, I have looked
to him for strength.
If I must be supplicant
to my own husband,
what does that make me?
I do not know my part, Mysaria.
The path I walk has never been trod.
Criston Cole made a mistake.
Parading a dragon's head through
the streets like a prize of war,
but the people see an ill omen.
Yes, as do I.
They are afraid, bread is scarce,
the king has fallen,
they whisper to each other
that when Viserys lived,
there was peace.
But will whispers tear down stone
or break shields?
Do not underestimate your subjects.
They are a thousand-thousand
living in the shadow of the Red Keep
and forgotten for too long.
And you think they will turn to me.
To the discontented, rumors are feed.
Your Grace.
What you cannot do,
let others do for you.
There is more than one
way to fight a war.
The thought of her lying in a field,
broken amongst her enemies.
Did your grandmother ever tell you
of the night she claimed Meleys?
She snuck into the Dragonpit.
She knew that place
better than any Elder.
They say she could see in the dark.
My father was furious.
His own mother's dragon,
the fastest beast ever known,
and she'd have none of him.
But bent her neck to Rhaenys.
She was fierce
in love and in anger.
She did not always care for me, but
for what she gave me
in the end, I'm grateful.
I wished I had known her
when she was young.
You are very like her in some ways.
And with her gone I must
rely on you, I think.
Your Grace?
Would you give this to your grandsire?
I do not wish to stand alone.
Daemon.
Daemon.
You were always the strong one.
The finest swordsman
the fearless dragonrider.
Your brother had great
love in his heart
but he lacked your constitution.
Viserys was unsuited for the crown
but you Daemon, you
were made to wear it.
If only you'd been born first.
My favorite son.
Is the duck not to your
liking, Your Grace?
There's also goose, if you'd prefer it.
I like the goose, myself.
Uh, I'm not hungry.
I was saying, given the rather dire news
from Rook's Rest
it appears the winds have shifted
and each side has suffered great loss,
and will be unsure of what is to follow.
A good time, then,
for a show of strength.
I believe Willem Blackwood
is bringing House Bracken to heel.
We must ready the castle
to receive a great host.
You seem sure of this.
All men may be led, Ser Simon.
Even Rivermen.
'Tis a matter of showing them
whom it behooves them to follow.
How does the work here progress?
Oh, um we're drawing
water for the kitchens
- and lighting the forges.
- Very well.
That is merely the beginning, of course.
The roof alone has needed tending
since the reign of Aenys.
And the storerooms.
And
and the Wailing Tower.
The bats have made the
corridors almost impassable
with the quantity of their
Their shit.
I venture there are smiths and armorers
to be found near Nutton and Riverbend.
Well, send for them,
and levy the farmers
from Antlers to High Heart.
Task their huntsmen
to bring us meat and wood.
Um, there is, of course,
the matter of payment.
After the, the tragedy
that befell his father
Larys transferred his family's
wealth to King's Landing.
Is there any gold left in your coffers?
Enough to keep this small establishment
you see fed and warm.
Relatively.
I I rather thought, Your Grace, as
emissary to the Queen
that p-perhaps she could
provide the necessary coin
- if you could only write to her.
- No.
Harrenhal is my command.
I shall guarantee the payment myself.
Up, up.
Very well, Your Grace.
You should address me as "my king".
But you're the prince.
What would you call the
husband of the queen?
- Well, the king
- There it is, then.
consort.
That last bit seems unnecessary,
don't you think?
The armor was Valyrian steel,
but His Grace suffered grievous
burns over much of his body.
He has many broken bones.
I fear there are more injuries within,
injuries we cannot see.
We are grateful for your works,
Grand Maester.
- Has he woken?
- No.
I must admit, I'm not
sure he will ever wake.
I have plied my crafts
to their fullest extents.
Our king's fate lies with the gods now.
A king cannot rule in his sleep.
The realm will have noticed his absence.
Let them hear of his great
deeds at Rook's Rest.
But now we must name
a regent to take his place
until he recovers
or does not.
A wise strategy, Your Grace.
A regency will assure the people
of the stability of the crown.
Did you have a candidate
in mind, Your Grace?
I myself served in this
role for my husband.
I am well-prepared to do it again.
You played your part admirably
in a time of peace, Your Grace,
but circumstances have changed.
And here I had forgotten.
The king does not lack for heirs.
The obvious choice is his immediate
successor, Prince Aemond.
Agreed.
Aemond is young.
And his lack of restraint
has already cost us dearly.
It is experience that offers
the surest path to security.
Queen Alicent ably shouldered
the duties of the realm
when her husband's health failed him.
Experience is valuable, yes,
but the dowager queen is a woman.
I am no stranger to rule
or to sitting at this council.
Aemond is a fearsome dragonrider.
His skill is best employed in the field,
but my experience is
needed here, at this table.
No offense was meant, Your Grace, but
- at a time when we must show strength.
- Lord Larys?
I agree, Your Grace. It
must be Prince Aemond.
What would it say if, in response
to Rhaenyra's crowning,
we raised up a woman of our own?
But, um
but the Hand speaks
for the king's voice.
Ser Criston, what say you?
Aemond is the next in line.
It must be him.
It's agreed then.
What is our standing in the Riverlands?
Uh, the banners of House Tully
are in disarray, Your Grace.
Prince Daemon has little hope
of fielding an army
of any size, for now.
We would do well to send
word to young Oscar Tully.
It's only a matter of time
before he inherits
his grandsire's mantle.
Tell me, Lord Strong,
how I can trust the counsel of a man
who leaves the jewel of the Riverlands
to be plucked by our enemy?
Your brother's host can meet Daemon.
He should quicken its pace
and check the Rivermen
while their banners are in disarray.
I shall send Lord Jason encouragement.
- What else?
- We might turn our attention
to the smallfolk here in King's Landing.
They have grown weary
of the Sea Snake's blockade.
So have we all.
Many are fleeing the city,
spreading word of their fear and unrest.
Mm, then let the gates be closed.
No one is to leave or enter,
save with our consent.
Merchants, so forth.
Go to your tasks.
We shall meet again at first light.
Oh, and someone cut down
the fucking ratcatchers.
The city's safe no longer.
There is no food.
Our neighbors are stealing
from each other.
We must get out.
And where would you have us go?
North, maybe? South?
For all we know, every road
leads into the dragons' teeth.
Like the one they carted
through the streets?
You think Rhaenyra will let such
an affront go unchallenged?
We should make for Tumbleton.
My brother will have room.
You would have me turn beggar?
Are we not beggars already?
Have you been paid for those machines
you were forced to build?
The king has promised payment.
The king has lied!
By all means
stay and wait for his
empty promises, husband.
With them, you can feed
the mouths of ghosts.
Presumed you'd be here.
Seeing faithfully to the
Prince Regent's commands.
Aemond is the next in line.
- It is the order of things.
- You know what he is
what he has somehow become.
Has your loyalty faded?
Or does it flourish only at night
and flee the sunrise like a moth?
What I saw at Rook's Rest
What? What did you see?
Their armor melted.
There were men walking.
They were on fire.
We have given the war to the dragons.
A dragonrider should lead us.
And what of justice, of temperance?
Or is strength now to be our only god?
So you cast me aside.
Have I not spared you?
What we must do now is terrible.
Will you preside over it?
- Is this who you are, Alicent?
- I did not ask to be spared.
And I did not give you
leave to speak my name.
Halt!
Stay back!
We've got to get out!
Somebody get him!
Stay back! No!
Holdfast, holdfast!
Stay back! Hold!
Back!
Disperse, disperse!
By order of Aemond Targaryen,
Prince Regent and
Protector of the Realm
- Aemond?
- Does he mean the king?
- I don't know.
- You cannot keep us here!
- You are ordered to return to your homes!
- We want meat!
- Meat!
- Meat!
Stay back!
Our Lord Grover Tully has
not declared for Rhaenyra.
It means death to bare steel
against your liege,
as I'm sure my prince is aware.
And against your queen?
Hm?
Jason Lannister is
marshaling to the west.
We need to check him
before he reaches Riverrun.
That requires passage.
And if Stark's army is too slow?
The wind's rising.
Winter is nigh upon us.
Our hesitance does not lie
in Rhaenyra as Queen,
nor in the ruminations
of Lord Tully, the oaf.
Our fear lies in Vhagar.
You fear a dragon leagues away
when mine own sits outside your walls?
- Do you offer us your protection?
- I do.
And the protection of my uncle.
And Daemon, I'm sure,
has consented to this?
He will do as his queen commands.
That does lend us some comfort.
Though it occurs to me that dragons
- cannot be in two places at once.
- Or three.
What do you want?
Larys Strong has been
relieved of his castle.
Does the queen intend
to raise up a new lord?
You want Harrenhal.
For that my mother will want
more than your crossing.
What does Her Grace desire?
Bent knees.
Up.
You were born to wield a sword,
but not so much an axe, perhaps.
There are others who would sit idle
and wait for their claims
to be brought to them.
That is not my way.
Does splitting firewood justify
what's followed you here?
Let it not be said that Daemon Targaryen
failed to dirty his hands in this war.
Oh, let me see them.
- Sit.
- Ah.
Sit!
I hear strange things from Bracken land,
from Stone Hedge and Lambswold and Mory.
There's news, then?
News?
No.
What I hear, I hear in the wind.
Cries of anguish.
Children being taken from their mothers,
men coming home to find
their doors unlatched
their wives carried away.
War is a terrible thing.
This is not war.
These are crimes against the innocent,
that any upright man would repudiate.
Surely you haven't mistaken
me for an upright man.
The Brackens had their
chance to do as I required.
They will perhaps think
better of their decision
if their children's lives
are staked on it.
Is that the kind of army
you would raise?
Men who hate you
who serve you under duress?
Well, once they agree to serve
me, I'll treat them fairly.
Set an example for the rest
of the Riverlands to follow.
And once again, in the name of power,
it's the weak and the women
who must endure.
That fool, Aegon, is unlike to survive.
The realm will suffer
if Aemond One-Eye rules.
You should pray you never meet him.
He will cut you down
soon as wish you good-day.
I'd heard the same thing about you.
But I'll cross you no further.
I'm sure your tactics are, after all,
approved by the queen.
She cannot succeed, Alys.
Even if I willed it to be so.
The people who support her
will not be led by her.
They look to a man for strength.
Who's better suited to it?
The Hightowers with their scheming?
Or Viserys's first true heir?
When I take King's Landing
Rhaenyra is welcome to join me there
and take her place by my side.
King and queen ruling together.
- And if you lose?
- Then I'll be dead,
and none of this will be my problem.
It's a pity, don't you think, that
you never knew your mother?
A message, Your Grace.
Uh
uh, fresh news from Stone Hedge.
The Blackwoods have
overwhelmed the Brackens,
and, uh, Lord Amos has
pledged his banner to you.
House Bracken is yours.
Call Ser Willem here so that
I might congratulate him.
The Blackwoods will be
feted in these halls.
I sought you at High Tide.
I was surprised when
they said you were here.
My castle is a tomb.
Empty. Haunted.
I am sad to have missed
its highest days.
I imagine your Hall of Nine
filled with lords and kings,
all eager to treat with the
legendary Lord of the Tides.
The wealth you brought back
from Yi Ti and Asshai,
inspiring awe and envy.
I wonder if any of them
knew it was all for her.
Queen Rhaenyra wishes to name you Hand.
Even the death of my wife
does not content her.
Has she not asked enough of my house?
It is a sign of her great esteem.
Or does she think the position
will compensate me
for my loss?
Pledge your peace
to King's Landing, then.
They will accept it most gleefully.
Rather I would sail into
the West and be lost.
You have done so before,
at great cost to yourself
and those who loved you.
Rhaenys was not only your wife
not a thing to be taken from you.
She was a Targaryen princess.
The Queen Who Never Was.
And she flew to Rook's
Rest of her own will.
- In defense of her kin.
- And she died.
She died as she would
have wished to die
with honor, in dragonfire.
The way my mother chose
and the way I myself
wish to meet my end.
I grieve my grandmother who loved me
but I carry her on with me.
I will see Rhaenyra ascend the
Iron Throne, as Rhaenys wished.
As Rhaenys herself should have.
You yourself may do as you see fit.
Granddaughter.
I would make you my heir.
I am blood and fire.
Driftmark must pass to salt and sea.
Your Grace.
You were correct
in saying our best hope of
an army is with Daemon.
And I have, perhaps, erred in
waiting for him to prove himself.
I wish you to go to Harrenhal.
Are you removing me from your council?
Ser Alfred
I-I-I will not deny you have
tried my patience of late,
or that I would prefer a council
more inclined to champion their queen,
but
you and your house
served my father well,
and I know you will never
accept the Hightower claim.
Not while I live, Your Grace.
We cannot challenge King's
Landing without the Riverlands
but I will not send a message by
raven for Daemon to disregard.
I ask you to reason with him.
Find out his state of mind
and his intentions.
Intentions?
Whether he means to raise
a host for me or for himself.
He would not dare.
Have you known Daemon to lack in daring?
Go now with haste.
I'll send good men
to see to your safety.
Have you any message for him?
Tell him I would much like to
finish our last conversation.
Your Grace.
Your Grace.
What is it, Ser Simon? Is
the pudding now served?
The Riverlords have come, Your Grace.
- They wish an audience.
- Now?
- What godless hour is it?
- The wolf.
They are demanding to speak presently.
I see I must begin here
with a lesson in etiquette.
Or failing that, in proper fear
of your Targaryen master.
Is there some reason you feel
free to wake a king in his bed?
Or shall I now begin your education?
House Bracken
have been brought to heel at
the hands of Willem Blackwood.
- That news is stale.
- Yes.
There have been, um, complications.
The sacred septs on Bracken lands
- were looted and burned.
- As were the fields and farms.
The livestock was stolen
and our peasants put to the sword.
They pursued the women and the children.
There were works of barbarity.
Punishing Bracken for his own
treasons is one thing, aye.
- But these other acts.
- The Brackens were given their chance.
- They would not see reason.
- The Blackwoods have exploited
the war for the crown
to visit atrocities
- upon their old rivals.
- I have seen my fair share of their quarrels,
and I tell you, there
is no honor in a fight
- such as this.
- Honor? What of common decency?
These beasts proudly carried
the banner of House Targaryen.
Red dragon on black.
A terrible war is being
fought in these lands.
Have you looked after our girls?
We should've expected
nothing more from a man
who ordered the slaughter of a child
in his mother's arms.
That is a lie. And I will have the man
who told it brought before me.
Well, your man is half
the kingdom, my prince.
Know this, interloper:
the Riverlands are an ancient place,
watched closely by the eyes
of old gods and new.
And dragon or no,
we shall not raise our
banners for a tyrant.
Move along, lass.
I have an errand
for the lady Mysaria.
I thought she was dead.
Would she die without
collecting her due?
I must see an old friend.
Most people want out these days.
Elinda.
Was it worth the price?
Mummy.
Prince Jacaerys, Your Grace.
Visenya.
Vhagar's first rider, and the
first wielder of Dark Sister.
I hope you do not mean
to use her as an example.
Why shouldn't I?
W It was a long time ago.
What is the mood at the Twins?
Did his lordship quibble?
He wishes for the Freys
to be granted Harrenhal.
At war's end. Assuming.
I'm proud of you, Jace.
You have done our cause a great service.
Then, why do you look angry?
You chafed at being
prevented from action.
Imagine my lot. I'm
a dragonrider as well,
with a war being fought
over my ascension.
And yet, I must wait here
always prudent
sending others to fight
and be felled in my name.
Even you have managed to do your part.
You are the queen
the tie that binds us.
- No harm can come to you.
- And you are my son,
and I did not give you leave to go.
You do not give me
leave to go to anything.
But who else is there? Rhaenys is dead,
and Baela cannot bear the burden alone.
And when Aemond comes hunting for you?
Your dragon is young.
Will you fly before Vhagar as Luke did?
Perhaps Daemon could
Daemon is not here.
And Aemond now rules in King's Landing.
Is Aegon dead?
Dead or alive, we have
no answer for Vhagar.
Aemond will not wait long to press
his advantage. And then what?
I have done all I can from here,
sent my messages, invoked my alliances.
But if all else fails,
it is I who must fight.
Vhagar is big, but Syrax is quicker.
So was Meleys.
Meleys fought two dragons
and one of them is slain.
Shall I fight for my birthright?
Or shall I wait here until
we are all destroyed?
I need dragons.
We have no dearth of dragons.
We have two large enough
to stand against Vhagar.
They are called Vermithor and Silverwing
and they sleep just beneath our feet.
Yes, and if only they had riders,
none could stand against me.
I would go forth in strength
and not from necessity.
There is Rhaena.
Who nearly lost her life
in her last attempt.
I would not risk it again.
There are those of our
line who never ruled.
Those who married into
other noble houses,
their children born with other names.
A generation ago, or more.
Their blood would be thin.
And yet
A dragon will only accept a
dragonlord to ride it.
- Or so say the histories.
- Valyrian histories.
Written to gild us in glory.
Are you suggesting we put
a Mallister on a dragon?
- A Tarly?
- It's better than death and defeat.
There are records here,
surely, of our line
and of those who fell out of it.
There could be scores of them.
It's a mad thought.
- That's enough, stand back.
Behold!
The traitor dragon Meleys!
Slain at Rook's Rest
by your king!
To Aegon!
- It can't be
- They killed a dragon!
Mark my words, this is a black omen.
Rhaenyra will answer this.
'Tis an abomination.
Don't they realize we won the battle?
Strange victory
if it was one.
Behold!
The traitor dragon Meleys!
I thought the dragons was gods.
Slain at Rook's Rest by your king!
It's just meat.
Is he alive?
His Grace
remains with us, for the moment.
Is my son going to die?
I'm afraid I cannot say.
Now, if you'll excuse me, Your Grace,
these next hours are most critical.
Of course.
Easy as you can.
Someone will have to rule in his stead.
- What happened?
- We took the castle.
At the cost of some 900 men.
So I've heard.
I left a meager garrison
behind to protect it
and the king's dragon.
Sunfyre was long in the dying.
The king, Ser Criston, what befell him?
His Grace fought valiantly.
And Aemond?
What was his part in this?
I could not say.
Our largest dragon has been killed.
Criston Cole marches about
the Crownlands unchallenged.
Duskendale and Rook's Rest are gone.
We still have no ground army
but the one we hope
that Daemon will raise.
He who has left us
after some marital spat.
Do you take issue with me, Ser Alfred?
My loyalty to you is proven, my queen.
Your loyalty, perhaps,
but your willingness to give me
deference in a time of war.
I could never doubt your capability,
or your quickness of mind.
It is merely that the gentler sex,
heretofore, has not been much privy
to the strategies of battle,
or their execution.
There has been peace in our lifetime.
You've seen no more battles than I have.
Send to Maidenpool
and to Crackclaw Point.
Let them man their garrisons
and give them stores or weapons
if they find them wanting.
If Cole pursues his campaign,
- our allies must be ready.
- We must answer Rook's Rest,
- and Duskendale.
- They are lost already.
But Vhagar is depleted after such
a hard-fought battle.
If Aegon is dead
We will soon know it.
'Twould be a victory in name only.
They will soon prop up
another in his stead.
The time is ripe.
If we can strike King's Landing
before their dragon is recovered
Then I myself must do it.
My queen, you are the crown.
It is out of the question.
What would you have me do?
Jace?
Where are you going?
To Harrenhal. To treat with Daemon.
Rhaenys is fallen.
He must affirm his loyalty to my mother
and report his standing.
And you think you will tame him
when the queen herself could not?
My mother gladly sends you away
to scout, to fight,
whilst I'm here being forced
to play the coddled princeling.
- It's humiliating, Baela.
- She only protects you.
You are the succession.
Then I must be seen to
act for her claim and mine.
I can sit still no longer.
I must act.
The Freys.
They control the crossing at the Twins.
Cregan Stark's graybeards
are marching south.
If his men had a direct
route into the Riverlands,
we would not have to wait
for Daemon to act.
I will treat with The
Freys to secure it.
She will not like it.
Then don't tell her. Not until I'm away.
The hour is late and
my dragon is hungry.
You have no choice but to submit.
Our terms are simple, Lord Bracken.
Renounce the false king
Aegon as a usurper
and bend the knee to me
or your house burns.
I would sooner be the
Lord of Bones and Cinders
than bend my knee before
some heathen Blackwood cunt
and his hired dragon.
The Brackens were a people hatched out
of the deepest of the
Seven Hells, Your Grace.
It would be a kindness to oblige them
and send them back whence they came.
Did your brother's head
keep on its way back to you, Willem?
I heard the maggots got to it.
That is quite the impression,
Lord Bracken.
But alas, not an answer.
We choose fire.
I did not think they would
be so eager to die.
They made their choice.
- You should've indulged them.
- I need them alive.
I came here to raise
swords, not corpses.
But now you see what my house
has known for generations.
They are pigheaded, intransigent
They would rather burn than succumb.
Exactly the kind of men I need.
It may yet be possible, I think,
for both of us to achieve our ends.
We have fought them for an age and more.
Then perhaps you could try
less fighting and more
persuading.
They are unyielding in battle.
But every man has a weakness.
You take my meaning, then.
There are things the crown itself
must not be seen to do.
Show them your worst.
I am your servant, Your Grace.
Over the centuries, many and more armies
have broken themselves
against my bloody gate.
Are you listening?
My lady.
The Eyrie itself is impregnable.
Unless, of course, we're
descended upon from the sky.
You promised the Queen
Rhaenyra 15,000 swords
In return for protection. A dragon.
Then she has exceeded your terms.
She sent two.
Both still wet from the egg.
I have hunting hounds
that are more fearsome.
They are dragons nonetheless.
I do not recall you specifying
the size of the beast in your request.
Will you goad me, child?
When your bread and shelter
now depend on my pleasure?
The dragons will grow
- in time.
- I don't have time.
I mislike feeling powerless.
So do I.
This will be your chamber.
I'll expect you at supper this evening?
My sympathies for the death
of your grandmother.
The way they spoke
at my small council today.
Do they hold you responsible
for Rhaenys and her dragon?
I would rather they had.
They speak around me, not to me.
They would make me queen,
but they wish to keep me here, confined.
They betray their own smallness.
In truth, I cannot fault them.
I am now the sovereign.
I cannot do as I please.
And war has ever been for men to make.
You are your father's chosen successor.
He did not prepare me to fight.
If I had been a son,
a sword thrust into my hand
the moment I could walk.
Instead, I was given my father's cup
taught the name of every lord and castle
between Storm's End and the Twins,
but not the difference
between hilt and foible.
And they know it.
And Daemon as well
Shall your evening meal be
served here, Your Grace?
Not now.
Will you send to him?
For too long, I have looked
to him for strength.
If I must be supplicant
to my own husband,
what does that make me?
I do not know my part, Mysaria.
The path I walk has never been trod.
Criston Cole made a mistake.
Parading a dragon's head through
the streets like a prize of war,
but the people see an ill omen.
Yes, as do I.
They are afraid, bread is scarce,
the king has fallen,
they whisper to each other
that when Viserys lived,
there was peace.
But will whispers tear down stone
or break shields?
Do not underestimate your subjects.
They are a thousand-thousand
living in the shadow of the Red Keep
and forgotten for too long.
And you think they will turn to me.
To the discontented, rumors are feed.
Your Grace.
What you cannot do,
let others do for you.
There is more than one
way to fight a war.
The thought of her lying in a field,
broken amongst her enemies.
Did your grandmother ever tell you
of the night she claimed Meleys?
She snuck into the Dragonpit.
She knew that place
better than any Elder.
They say she could see in the dark.
My father was furious.
His own mother's dragon,
the fastest beast ever known,
and she'd have none of him.
But bent her neck to Rhaenys.
She was fierce
in love and in anger.
She did not always care for me, but
for what she gave me
in the end, I'm grateful.
I wished I had known her
when she was young.
You are very like her in some ways.
And with her gone I must
rely on you, I think.
Your Grace?
Would you give this to your grandsire?
I do not wish to stand alone.
Daemon.
Daemon.
You were always the strong one.
The finest swordsman
the fearless dragonrider.
Your brother had great
love in his heart
but he lacked your constitution.
Viserys was unsuited for the crown
but you Daemon, you
were made to wear it.
If only you'd been born first.
My favorite son.
Is the duck not to your
liking, Your Grace?
There's also goose, if you'd prefer it.
I like the goose, myself.
Uh, I'm not hungry.
I was saying, given the rather dire news
from Rook's Rest
it appears the winds have shifted
and each side has suffered great loss,
and will be unsure of what is to follow.
A good time, then,
for a show of strength.
I believe Willem Blackwood
is bringing House Bracken to heel.
We must ready the castle
to receive a great host.
You seem sure of this.
All men may be led, Ser Simon.
Even Rivermen.
'Tis a matter of showing them
whom it behooves them to follow.
How does the work here progress?
Oh, um we're drawing
water for the kitchens
- and lighting the forges.
- Very well.
That is merely the beginning, of course.
The roof alone has needed tending
since the reign of Aenys.
And the storerooms.
And
and the Wailing Tower.
The bats have made the
corridors almost impassable
with the quantity of their
Their shit.
I venture there are smiths and armorers
to be found near Nutton and Riverbend.
Well, send for them,
and levy the farmers
from Antlers to High Heart.
Task their huntsmen
to bring us meat and wood.
Um, there is, of course,
the matter of payment.
After the, the tragedy
that befell his father
Larys transferred his family's
wealth to King's Landing.
Is there any gold left in your coffers?
Enough to keep this small establishment
you see fed and warm.
Relatively.
I I rather thought, Your Grace, as
emissary to the Queen
that p-perhaps she could
provide the necessary coin
- if you could only write to her.
- No.
Harrenhal is my command.
I shall guarantee the payment myself.
Up, up.
Very well, Your Grace.
You should address me as "my king".
But you're the prince.
What would you call the
husband of the queen?
- Well, the king
- There it is, then.
consort.
That last bit seems unnecessary,
don't you think?
The armor was Valyrian steel,
but His Grace suffered grievous
burns over much of his body.
He has many broken bones.
I fear there are more injuries within,
injuries we cannot see.
We are grateful for your works,
Grand Maester.
- Has he woken?
- No.
I must admit, I'm not
sure he will ever wake.
I have plied my crafts
to their fullest extents.
Our king's fate lies with the gods now.
A king cannot rule in his sleep.
The realm will have noticed his absence.
Let them hear of his great
deeds at Rook's Rest.
But now we must name
a regent to take his place
until he recovers
or does not.
A wise strategy, Your Grace.
A regency will assure the people
of the stability of the crown.
Did you have a candidate
in mind, Your Grace?
I myself served in this
role for my husband.
I am well-prepared to do it again.
You played your part admirably
in a time of peace, Your Grace,
but circumstances have changed.
And here I had forgotten.
The king does not lack for heirs.
The obvious choice is his immediate
successor, Prince Aemond.
Agreed.
Aemond is young.
And his lack of restraint
has already cost us dearly.
It is experience that offers
the surest path to security.
Queen Alicent ably shouldered
the duties of the realm
when her husband's health failed him.
Experience is valuable, yes,
but the dowager queen is a woman.
I am no stranger to rule
or to sitting at this council.
Aemond is a fearsome dragonrider.
His skill is best employed in the field,
but my experience is
needed here, at this table.
No offense was meant, Your Grace, but
- at a time when we must show strength.
- Lord Larys?
I agree, Your Grace. It
must be Prince Aemond.
What would it say if, in response
to Rhaenyra's crowning,
we raised up a woman of our own?
But, um
but the Hand speaks
for the king's voice.
Ser Criston, what say you?
Aemond is the next in line.
It must be him.
It's agreed then.
What is our standing in the Riverlands?
Uh, the banners of House Tully
are in disarray, Your Grace.
Prince Daemon has little hope
of fielding an army
of any size, for now.
We would do well to send
word to young Oscar Tully.
It's only a matter of time
before he inherits
his grandsire's mantle.
Tell me, Lord Strong,
how I can trust the counsel of a man
who leaves the jewel of the Riverlands
to be plucked by our enemy?
Your brother's host can meet Daemon.
He should quicken its pace
and check the Rivermen
while their banners are in disarray.
I shall send Lord Jason encouragement.
- What else?
- We might turn our attention
to the smallfolk here in King's Landing.
They have grown weary
of the Sea Snake's blockade.
So have we all.
Many are fleeing the city,
spreading word of their fear and unrest.
Mm, then let the gates be closed.
No one is to leave or enter,
save with our consent.
Merchants, so forth.
Go to your tasks.
We shall meet again at first light.
Oh, and someone cut down
the fucking ratcatchers.
The city's safe no longer.
There is no food.
Our neighbors are stealing
from each other.
We must get out.
And where would you have us go?
North, maybe? South?
For all we know, every road
leads into the dragons' teeth.
Like the one they carted
through the streets?
You think Rhaenyra will let such
an affront go unchallenged?
We should make for Tumbleton.
My brother will have room.
You would have me turn beggar?
Are we not beggars already?
Have you been paid for those machines
you were forced to build?
The king has promised payment.
The king has lied!
By all means
stay and wait for his
empty promises, husband.
With them, you can feed
the mouths of ghosts.
Presumed you'd be here.
Seeing faithfully to the
Prince Regent's commands.
Aemond is the next in line.
- It is the order of things.
- You know what he is
what he has somehow become.
Has your loyalty faded?
Or does it flourish only at night
and flee the sunrise like a moth?
What I saw at Rook's Rest
What? What did you see?
Their armor melted.
There were men walking.
They were on fire.
We have given the war to the dragons.
A dragonrider should lead us.
And what of justice, of temperance?
Or is strength now to be our only god?
So you cast me aside.
Have I not spared you?
What we must do now is terrible.
Will you preside over it?
- Is this who you are, Alicent?
- I did not ask to be spared.
And I did not give you
leave to speak my name.
Halt!
Stay back!
We've got to get out!
Somebody get him!
Stay back! No!
Holdfast, holdfast!
Stay back! Hold!
Back!
Disperse, disperse!
By order of Aemond Targaryen,
Prince Regent and
Protector of the Realm
- Aemond?
- Does he mean the king?
- I don't know.
- You cannot keep us here!
- You are ordered to return to your homes!
- We want meat!
- Meat!
- Meat!
Stay back!
Our Lord Grover Tully has
not declared for Rhaenyra.
It means death to bare steel
against your liege,
as I'm sure my prince is aware.
And against your queen?
Hm?
Jason Lannister is
marshaling to the west.
We need to check him
before he reaches Riverrun.
That requires passage.
And if Stark's army is too slow?
The wind's rising.
Winter is nigh upon us.
Our hesitance does not lie
in Rhaenyra as Queen,
nor in the ruminations
of Lord Tully, the oaf.
Our fear lies in Vhagar.
You fear a dragon leagues away
when mine own sits outside your walls?
- Do you offer us your protection?
- I do.
And the protection of my uncle.
And Daemon, I'm sure,
has consented to this?
He will do as his queen commands.
That does lend us some comfort.
Though it occurs to me that dragons
- cannot be in two places at once.
- Or three.
What do you want?
Larys Strong has been
relieved of his castle.
Does the queen intend
to raise up a new lord?
You want Harrenhal.
For that my mother will want
more than your crossing.
What does Her Grace desire?
Bent knees.
Up.
You were born to wield a sword,
but not so much an axe, perhaps.
There are others who would sit idle
and wait for their claims
to be brought to them.
That is not my way.
Does splitting firewood justify
what's followed you here?
Let it not be said that Daemon Targaryen
failed to dirty his hands in this war.
Oh, let me see them.
- Sit.
- Ah.
Sit!
I hear strange things from Bracken land,
from Stone Hedge and Lambswold and Mory.
There's news, then?
News?
No.
What I hear, I hear in the wind.
Cries of anguish.
Children being taken from their mothers,
men coming home to find
their doors unlatched
their wives carried away.
War is a terrible thing.
This is not war.
These are crimes against the innocent,
that any upright man would repudiate.
Surely you haven't mistaken
me for an upright man.
The Brackens had their
chance to do as I required.
They will perhaps think
better of their decision
if their children's lives
are staked on it.
Is that the kind of army
you would raise?
Men who hate you
who serve you under duress?
Well, once they agree to serve
me, I'll treat them fairly.
Set an example for the rest
of the Riverlands to follow.
And once again, in the name of power,
it's the weak and the women
who must endure.
That fool, Aegon, is unlike to survive.
The realm will suffer
if Aemond One-Eye rules.
You should pray you never meet him.
He will cut you down
soon as wish you good-day.
I'd heard the same thing about you.
But I'll cross you no further.
I'm sure your tactics are, after all,
approved by the queen.
She cannot succeed, Alys.
Even if I willed it to be so.
The people who support her
will not be led by her.
They look to a man for strength.
Who's better suited to it?
The Hightowers with their scheming?
Or Viserys's first true heir?
When I take King's Landing
Rhaenyra is welcome to join me there
and take her place by my side.
King and queen ruling together.
- And if you lose?
- Then I'll be dead,
and none of this will be my problem.
It's a pity, don't you think, that
you never knew your mother?
A message, Your Grace.
Uh
uh, fresh news from Stone Hedge.
The Blackwoods have
overwhelmed the Brackens,
and, uh, Lord Amos has
pledged his banner to you.
House Bracken is yours.
Call Ser Willem here so that
I might congratulate him.
The Blackwoods will be
feted in these halls.
I sought you at High Tide.
I was surprised when
they said you were here.
My castle is a tomb.
Empty. Haunted.
I am sad to have missed
its highest days.
I imagine your Hall of Nine
filled with lords and kings,
all eager to treat with the
legendary Lord of the Tides.
The wealth you brought back
from Yi Ti and Asshai,
inspiring awe and envy.
I wonder if any of them
knew it was all for her.
Queen Rhaenyra wishes to name you Hand.
Even the death of my wife
does not content her.
Has she not asked enough of my house?
It is a sign of her great esteem.
Or does she think the position
will compensate me
for my loss?
Pledge your peace
to King's Landing, then.
They will accept it most gleefully.
Rather I would sail into
the West and be lost.
You have done so before,
at great cost to yourself
and those who loved you.
Rhaenys was not only your wife
not a thing to be taken from you.
She was a Targaryen princess.
The Queen Who Never Was.
And she flew to Rook's
Rest of her own will.
- In defense of her kin.
- And she died.
She died as she would
have wished to die
with honor, in dragonfire.
The way my mother chose
and the way I myself
wish to meet my end.
I grieve my grandmother who loved me
but I carry her on with me.
I will see Rhaenyra ascend the
Iron Throne, as Rhaenys wished.
As Rhaenys herself should have.
You yourself may do as you see fit.
Granddaughter.
I would make you my heir.
I am blood and fire.
Driftmark must pass to salt and sea.
Your Grace.
You were correct
in saying our best hope of
an army is with Daemon.
And I have, perhaps, erred in
waiting for him to prove himself.
I wish you to go to Harrenhal.
Are you removing me from your council?
Ser Alfred
I-I-I will not deny you have
tried my patience of late,
or that I would prefer a council
more inclined to champion their queen,
but
you and your house
served my father well,
and I know you will never
accept the Hightower claim.
Not while I live, Your Grace.
We cannot challenge King's
Landing without the Riverlands
but I will not send a message by
raven for Daemon to disregard.
I ask you to reason with him.
Find out his state of mind
and his intentions.
Intentions?
Whether he means to raise
a host for me or for himself.
He would not dare.
Have you known Daemon to lack in daring?
Go now with haste.
I'll send good men
to see to your safety.
Have you any message for him?
Tell him I would much like to
finish our last conversation.
Your Grace.
Your Grace.
What is it, Ser Simon? Is
the pudding now served?
The Riverlords have come, Your Grace.
- They wish an audience.
- Now?
- What godless hour is it?
- The wolf.
They are demanding to speak presently.
I see I must begin here
with a lesson in etiquette.
Or failing that, in proper fear
of your Targaryen master.
Is there some reason you feel
free to wake a king in his bed?
Or shall I now begin your education?
House Bracken
have been brought to heel at
the hands of Willem Blackwood.
- That news is stale.
- Yes.
There have been, um, complications.
The sacred septs on Bracken lands
- were looted and burned.
- As were the fields and farms.
The livestock was stolen
and our peasants put to the sword.
They pursued the women and the children.
There were works of barbarity.
Punishing Bracken for his own
treasons is one thing, aye.
- But these other acts.
- The Brackens were given their chance.
- They would not see reason.
- The Blackwoods have exploited
the war for the crown
to visit atrocities
- upon their old rivals.
- I have seen my fair share of their quarrels,
and I tell you, there
is no honor in a fight
- such as this.
- Honor? What of common decency?
These beasts proudly carried
the banner of House Targaryen.
Red dragon on black.
A terrible war is being
fought in these lands.
Have you looked after our girls?
We should've expected
nothing more from a man
who ordered the slaughter of a child
in his mother's arms.
That is a lie. And I will have the man
who told it brought before me.
Well, your man is half
the kingdom, my prince.
Know this, interloper:
the Riverlands are an ancient place,
watched closely by the eyes
of old gods and new.
And dragon or no,
we shall not raise our
banners for a tyrant.
Move along, lass.
I have an errand
for the lady Mysaria.
I thought she was dead.
Would she die without
collecting her due?
I must see an old friend.
Most people want out these days.
Elinda.
Was it worth the price?
Mummy.
Prince Jacaerys, Your Grace.
Visenya.
Vhagar's first rider, and the
first wielder of Dark Sister.
I hope you do not mean
to use her as an example.
Why shouldn't I?
W It was a long time ago.
What is the mood at the Twins?
Did his lordship quibble?
He wishes for the Freys
to be granted Harrenhal.
At war's end. Assuming.
I'm proud of you, Jace.
You have done our cause a great service.
Then, why do you look angry?
You chafed at being
prevented from action.
Imagine my lot. I'm
a dragonrider as well,
with a war being fought
over my ascension.
And yet, I must wait here
always prudent
sending others to fight
and be felled in my name.
Even you have managed to do your part.
You are the queen
the tie that binds us.
- No harm can come to you.
- And you are my son,
and I did not give you leave to go.
You do not give me
leave to go to anything.
But who else is there? Rhaenys is dead,
and Baela cannot bear the burden alone.
And when Aemond comes hunting for you?
Your dragon is young.
Will you fly before Vhagar as Luke did?
Perhaps Daemon could
Daemon is not here.
And Aemond now rules in King's Landing.
Is Aegon dead?
Dead or alive, we have
no answer for Vhagar.
Aemond will not wait long to press
his advantage. And then what?
I have done all I can from here,
sent my messages, invoked my alliances.
But if all else fails,
it is I who must fight.
Vhagar is big, but Syrax is quicker.
So was Meleys.
Meleys fought two dragons
and one of them is slain.
Shall I fight for my birthright?
Or shall I wait here until
we are all destroyed?
I need dragons.
We have no dearth of dragons.
We have two large enough
to stand against Vhagar.
They are called Vermithor and Silverwing
and they sleep just beneath our feet.
Yes, and if only they had riders,
none could stand against me.
I would go forth in strength
and not from necessity.
There is Rhaena.
Who nearly lost her life
in her last attempt.
I would not risk it again.
There are those of our
line who never ruled.
Those who married into
other noble houses,
their children born with other names.
A generation ago, or more.
Their blood would be thin.
And yet
A dragon will only accept a
dragonlord to ride it.
- Or so say the histories.
- Valyrian histories.
Written to gild us in glory.
Are you suggesting we put
a Mallister on a dragon?
- A Tarly?
- It's better than death and defeat.
There are records here,
surely, of our line
and of those who fell out of it.
There could be scores of them.
It's a mad thought.