House of the Dragon Episode 4: The Worst People in Westeros, Ranked
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The post House of the Dragon Episode 4: The Worst People in Westeros, Ranked appeared first on Consequence.
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon, Season 1 Episode 4, “King of the Narrow Sea.”]
Game of Thrones was a show that became famous for the shades of grey to be found in its heroes and villains alike, and so far the prequel series House of the Dragon has shown every indication of following in that proud tradition.
Thus, Consequence is happy to introduce Who’s the Worst Person in Westeros, a weekly ranking of House of the Dragon‘s most important characters, and just how unsavory they ended up being each week. Everyone on screen, including dragons, is eligible for this list (though expect for the show’s series regulars to be heavily featured from week to week).
Episode 4, “King of the Narrow Sea,” is especially full of misdeeds, as a homecoming quickly goes awry thanks to scandal. No real battles, no international conflicts, just one big incesty soap opera as Rhaenyra comes home from husband-hunting and Daemon comes back for “the comforts of home.” Shall we get into it?
Least Worst: That Poor Blackwood Kid (Alfie Todd)
According to HBO, this character’s name is Willem Blackwood, but it’s hard to think of him as anything other than “that poor Blackwood kid.” Imagine: You’re too young for chest hair and your family sends you to go propose to the most powerful woman in the land, and some dick twice your age (not saying much) starts making fun of you! Not a great day by any stretch of the imagination, especially when it ends with you stabbing the guy in one of the least heroic battles ever seen on screen. Sure, violence is never the answer, but you really gotta pity this poor so-and-so, who doesn’t seem particularly well-suited to the demands of this world.
09. Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel)
Sucks to be this guy, who just wants to do his job — keep the princess safe — without unnecessary complications caused by aforementioned princess, like running off into the woods or getting seduced by her. It does seem to be a proper seduction, once Rhaenyra pushes past his defenses, and after the previous sexual content of this episode it’s a relief to watch a scene where both participants are indicating enthusiastic consent and aren’t, y’know, related to each other. To be clear, sleeping with the princess is a bad idea and it probably won’t work out well in the long run for Ser Criston, but for right now, he still deserves more pity than judgement.
08. Lady Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey)
This is an opinion largely driven by Emily Carey’s performance, but of everyone involved in the nascent scandal of Daemon and Rhaenyra’s, um, interlude, Alicent is the most honest and honorable in the mix. She genuinely seems to be lonely and depressed, struggling to find contentment in her position, grateful for Rhaenyra’s return from tour, and above all else hopeful that she and her once-dear friend can reconnect.
And even once she hears the scandalous rumor, she goes directly to Rhaenyra to discuss it, and yeah, Rhaenyra lies her ass off, but Alicent believes her, and even defends her to Viserys! In press leading up to the show’s premiere, Alicent was at times compared to Cersei Lannister, but right now it’s really hard to see that connection. #TeamAlicent.
House of the Dragon (HBO)
07. Caraxes
C’mon, Caraxes, get it together! Daemon’s dragon doesn’t cause too much carnage (as opposed to last week) but that drive-by Rhaenyra’s ship could have caused some serious problems, if he’d gotten closer.
06. Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno)
On the one hand, Daemon’s former paramour didn’t have to tip Otto off to Daemon and Rhaenyra’s indiscretions. On the other hand, she has a lot of good reasons to be uninterested in dealing with Daemon’s drunk ass, so applause to her for ending her scene with a delicious exit line: “You can pay for the room on your way out.”
05. That Theater Troupe
Real talk: The theater of this time period is pretty substandard. Guess it’ll be a couple of centuries before Richard E. Grant and his squad can elevate the medium.
04. Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans)
One common theme for House of the Dragon that’s emerging: Being the bearer of bad news is, well, bad news. First that soldier from last week who got beaten up by Daemon, and now this week, as Otto Hightower finds himself out of a job, after telling Viserys about Daemon and Rhaenyra being spotted in the pleasure den. His motives have never been entirely pure, as Viserys points out, but he was just doing his best to deliver “uncomfortable truths” to his king. Another messenger, cut down in blame.
03. Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock)
Rhaenyra is coming from a very relatable place at the beginning of this episode — even though she gets to choose her future husband, the options she’s been presented with suck, and as she tells Daemon, “I have no desire to live in fear, but in solitude.”
But she seems to change her mind about this when lured out to explore the wild streets of King’s Landing late at night, a situation Daemon definitely manipulates her into, because one of the reasons that nieces and uncles shouldn’t have sex is because of that massive power imbalance. When she returns, she once again complicates Ser Criston’s life by luring him into her room, then into her bed, all before telling some baldface lies to her ex-best friend about the status of her virginity.
Look, she’s 17 years old, in a deeply effed-up situation. One can relate not just to her struggles, but her desire to, just this once, do whatever the hell she wants to do. But the ease with which she lies, and her blithe approach to the repercussions of her actions, puts her dangerously on the precipice of potential tragedy.
House of the Dragon (HBO)
02. King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine)
Man, Viserys is just real psyched to be hanging with his brother again! Until he’s not. When the King learns of his brother and daughter’s alleged indiscretion, the only one he’s at all kind to about it is Rhaenyra, using this as a teaching moment to remind her about the importance of their family line. Otherwise, it’s nearly a scorched earth situation with two of the most important relationships in his life. And on his own, Viserys seems pretty vulnerable to manipulation.
01. Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith)
Daemon rolls back into King’s Landing wearing a crown atop his new short haircut, calling himself King of the Narrow Sea, and Viserys is like, cool, welcome home, everything sunny all the time always. By the end of the episode, though, he’s basically getting kicked out of town.
And what happened in between is of course why Daemon’s getting the special honor of the number one slot for the second week in a row. His reunion with his niece didn’t have to go this way. Tons of decisions were made along the path to that “pleasure den,” and at least ninety percent of them were made by Daemon, who coaxed Rhaenyra (again, his niece) out into the wild streets of King’s Landing (even providing her with a disguise), helped her get drunk, and then literally lured her into temptation.
It’s hard to tell in the shadows just how far things progress, but the answer is to be clear too far, and sorry Daemon, as the older and more mature person involved, it’s your damn fault, and he should just consider himself lucky that there was no hard evidence of… Ugh. Incest is bad, y’all. (One could give Daemon shit over being married on top of all this, but the incest really tops things here.)
Could Daemon hold onto his position as the Absolute Worst next week? We’ll see how this ranking shifts then. New episodes of House of the Dragon debut Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
House of the Dragon Episode 4: The Worst People in Westeros, Ranked
Liz Shannon Miller
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