House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 3 Recap and Review

Full spoilers travel for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 3.

They accidental that successful the Game Of Thrones, you either triumph oregon you die. But there’s different stage: sometimes you triumph the throne but are past beset by a 1000 petty decisions that lone you tin make, and each 1 could either unafraid your presumption oregon permission you fatally vulnerable. Oh, and determination are rats everywhere: literal ones, for once, and not conscionable the traitorous kind. That’s the dilemma for Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra successful this episode, and it’s amazingly compelling.

We open, however, with 1 of the much striking images successful Westeros’ TV history. Ormund Hightower (James Norton) rides retired from his thousands-strong service to surrender to Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), who stands alone, his sword inactive sheathed. It’s lone erstwhile the camera pans astir and you spot that Daemon is backed up by not conscionable his ain Caraxes but 2 different dragons that the standard of the menace becomes clear. Ormund’s shiny armour would lone assistance him to navigator evenly; each his neat rows of soldiers are conscionable dragonfeed if helium doesn’t marque the deal. So Ormund swears fealty to Rhaenyra and, aft a Columbo-style “one much thing” from Daemon, precise reluctantly throws successful his nephew Daeron arsenic a hostage. Daeron is the youngest lad of the precocious Viserys and Alicent (Olivia Cooke), raised by the Hightowers, and specifically Ormund, for years. You’d beryllium forgiven for having forgotten helium exists.

But, psych! The large twist of this occurrence is that the kid Ormund hands over, the 1 that Daemon is going to walk the occurrence recommending that Rhaenyra assassinate, the 1 that she wrings her hands implicit repeatedly, is conscionable immoderate kid. The existent Daeron has been harmless with Ormund the full time. Rhaenyra learns this successful an absorbing way: she brings Alicent successful to spot “Daeron” earlier – compromise! – sending him to the Wall for life, and Alicent is visibly disconcerted for a moment. Her caput goes into overdrive, trying to fig retired if this is Rhaenyra playing a instrumentality oregon thing else. Then she conscionable admits it.

It was astir a astute play by Ormund, who’s soon revealed to person instantly breached his oath of fealty and taken power of the tiny metropolis of Tumbleton; we’d ne'er heard of it earlier but arsenic the spot dragonrider Hugh the Hammer’s (Kieran Bew) woman has gone to unrecorded with her brother, which whitethorn go applicable later. After the Hightowers’ precise little intro successful the play opener, and what looked to beryllium a “so long, and acknowledgment for astir fighting” astatine the commencement of this episode, it’s present wide that Ormund volition beryllium a large player, and Norton is going to person thing to do. All this, and helium has fancy armour. Fun!

Elsewhere, Rhaenyra is experiencing decease by a 1000 cuts: not virtually (worth specifying connected this show) but successful the consciousness that everyone wants a portion of her oregon her treasury and she doesn’t person astir capable to spell around. There are rats everyplace successful the palace due to the fact that each the ratcatchers were executed past season. She tries to header with the occupation by inviting immoderate insignificant nobles to dinner, wooing them for a fewer moments and past hitting them with a) a rat-based main people and b) the quality that she’s raiding their houses for hoarded nutrient that she tin stock with the bare smallfolk. Communism is live and good successful King’s Landing! I’m definite nary of these affluent radical volition beryllium profoundly offended.

Rhaenyra wants to beryllium good, and to regularisation effectively, but arsenic Alicent sadly points out, you can’t bash some – particularly with the contents of the treasury missing, the metropolis starving, the palace filled with Hightower loyalists, the dragonseeds asking for their promised rewards, and Corlys profoundly pissed disconnected erstwhile Rhaenyra refuses to legitimize his sons, disquieted that that volition item however intelligibly illegitimate her ain are. She’s been connected the throne for a substance of days, and occupation seems to beryllium brewing.

While she has, for now, taken Mysaria’s (Sonoya Mizuno) proposal to look retired for her people, she’s worryingly obsessed with her coronation, and her confrontation with the High Septon, person of the faith, is besides concerning. He not lone refuses to formally crown her due to the fact that there’s nary motion of Aegon II’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) assemblage – due to the fact that hey, he’s not really dormant – but besides due to the fact that helium considers dragons an abomination and the workings of acheronian magic. This is unfair due to the fact that they’re each bully lizards, Septon, 15 retired of 10. It’s the owners you can’t ever trust on.

Speaking of which, Rhaenyra is besides precise anxious to find the idiosyncratic who rode Sheepstealer and present them to a caller explanation of symptom and suffering, truthful Daemon is dispatched to the Vale to look for the miscreant (unbeknownst to him, the rider’s really his girl Rhaena) and besides to cod immoderate golden from the Lady of the Vale, who promised troops but who has notably failed to nonstop any. Before helium goes, Daemon correctly points retired that they could conscionable accidental buggeration to the full thing, conquer a antithetic kingdom – Dorne, perhaps, for the upwind – oregon alert disconnected into the sunset connected their elephantine scaly pets. “You volition person an empire, unassailable…I benignant america gods, Rhaenyra, arsenic we were ever meant to be.” No 1 ever accused him of having a tiny ego. She resists, pointing retired that her begetter valued restraint much than power, but helium dismisses that arsenic weakness and a deficiency of force. There’s an constituent of information to some sides.

It's the adjacent time erstwhile Rhaenyra learns from a dragonkeeper who hardly escaped the municipality that Ormund has taken Tumbleton and she has to fig retired however to respond. If she flies implicit and torches the place, she’ll beryllium flambéing her loyal subjects. If she ignores the provocation, she leaves a spot to perchance rally the Greens to proceed fighting. And Aemond is inactive MIA, which would beryllium bully quality if helium didn’t person a gigantic flamethrower with him of unpredictable behaviour. Rhaenyra whitethorn deliberation she’s won the war, but she’s uncovering that holding the throne is going to beryllium a full different struggle. The play already feels unbearably tense.