Gruesome death during 'House of the Dragon' royal wedding has fans freaking out
Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 5 of House of the Dragon.
Viewers were getting red wedding flashbacks during House of the Dragon Episode 5 titled "We Light the Way" Sunday night, when the royal wedding between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Lord Corlys Velaryon's son and heir, Ser Laenor Velaryon, ended in a gruesome affair.
It had been decided that Rhaenyra would wed Ser Laenor to join the two most powerful houses: House Targaryen and House Velaryon. While King Viserys ironed out the details with Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys, Laenor and Rhaenyra took a walk on the beach, where they came to an agreement that they would perform their political duties as man and wife, but their marriage would remain open to their separate tastes.
In case you missed it, in the previous episode, Rhaenyra took to bed Ser Criston Cole. Meanwhile, we found out Ser Laenor is gay and his secret lover is a knight, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth.
Jumping ahead to the pre-royal-wedding dinner, however, the night already took a dramatic turn as soon as Viserys's brother Daemon showed up to sit at the head table, followed by Queen Alicent Hightower, who showed up in an emerald green gown, the color of House Hightower when its beacon declares war.
It is when the guests are dancing, that Laenor's secret lover Joffrey approaches Rhaenyra's secret lover Criston and threatens him with blackmail, that triggers Ser Criston into ultimately beating him to a pulp and to the point of his face being completely mangled.
Weddings in Westeros are very rarely nonviolent. It's almost expected at this point, which is why some viewers were triggered before anything even went down. And even though Ser Criston's meltdown didn't end with nearly as high of a body count as the Game of Thrones red wedding, it was still shocking and jaw-dropping, and fans loved it.
Even more savage, despite Laenor's secret lover being brutally murdered, the wedding to join House Targaryen and House Velaryon still took place, while Ser Laenor weeped through the entire ceremony. And at the very end of the episode, Viserys passes out, leaving his fate in question as we head into Episode 6 and its big jump forward in time, introducing new actresses Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra and Olivia Cooke as Alicent.
Video Transcript
- Stop this! Where's Rhaenyra?
KYLIE MAR: "House of the Dragon" viewers were getting "Red Wedding" flashbacks during Sunday night's episode, when the royal nuptials between Princess Rhaenyra and Lord Corlys Velaryon's son, Sir Laenor, ended in a gruesome affair.
- Aah!
KYLIE MAR: Weddings in are very rarely non-violent. It's almost expected at this point, which is why some viewers were triggered before anything even went down. Even though Sir Criston Cole's meltdown didn't end with nearly as high of a body count as the "Game of Thrones Red Wedding," it was still shocking and jaw dropping and fans loved it. One person tweeted, "there hasn't been a wedding this dramatic since the red wedding. OMG, what an ending."
Even more savage, despite Laenor's secret lover being brutally murdered, the wedding to join house Targaryen and House Velaryon still took place.
- I proclaim Laenor of house Velaryon, Rhaenyra of house Targaryen to be man and wife.
