15 Interesting Details And Moments From "House Of The Dragon" Episode 5
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 5 of House of the Dragon.
What a HUGE episode it was — officially the midpoint of the season, with all the bubbling tensions culminating in what fans have dubbed the Green Wedding. Let's dive into the interesting details and moments from this week's episode...
1.The opening credits have changed slightly — we can see a bloodline, which is no doubt Viserys's, joining up with Alicent's, and a new bloodline extended from it, representing their children (or Aegon, at least).
2.Before her death, Rhea Royce gets in some wicked insults toward her estranged husband, Daemon. Her quip about the Vale sheep being "prettier" is a reference to the crack Daemon made at the small council earlier in the season — indicating the gossip has reached her even away from court.
She also comments, "I knew you couldn't finish," which references Daemon's sexual dysfunction — as we've seen, he had trouble with losing his erection with both Mysaria and Rhaenyra. Notably, it's only after this comment that Daemon seems to decide to bash Rhea's head in with a rock. He likely intended to kill her (or leave her for dead, at least) anyway, but it's obviously a sore point for Daemon.
3.The conversation between Otto and Alicent has huge repercussions.
Otto highlights to Alicent that Rhaenyra poses a risk to her children's lives, and she needs to choose one or the other. It means that when she later realizes she can't totally trust Rhaenyra, she sides with her family, and her children. Thanks to Otto, she knows that to do otherwise would be tantamount to a death sentence for them. This short conversation impacts the course of the whole conflict moving forward.
4.We've seen Joffrey Lonmouth before this episode, fighting alongside Laenor in the Stepstones.
The two have been inseparable...until now (sob!).
5.The last time Viserys (and we) saw Laena Velaryon, she looked quite different.
Several years have passed, and she's now in her mid-teens. Doesn't really make Daemon flirting with her any less creepy though.
6.Larys's reference to the flower in the godswood being "an outsider among the natives" to Alicent was quite an on-the-nose analogy — especially in the way the red flower matched her red dress.
Larys is really living up to his name (that combo of Littlefinger + Varys) — gathering secrets and perfectly distributing them to create chaos, presumably so he can climb it like a ladder.
Meanwhile, this is Alicent's second history-changing conversation of the episode. Following on from what Otto tells her, Larys's revelation leaves her doubting both Rhaenyra and Viserys, meaning she feels more isolated than ever before.
7.Viserys meets Corlys in the Hall of Nine in his castle, High Tide — a power move from Corlys not just in the way he doesn't meet Viserys at the gate, but also because the Hall is basically a giant trophy cabinet displaying Corlys's achievements.
It's full of treasures he's acquired on his nine voyages (which, by the way, are the focus of another spinoff HBO has in the works).
It also includes his latest souvenir — the Crabfeeder's mask.
8.When Rhaenyra is taking a stroll with Laenor, she's wearing her courting dress — the one she wore while looking for potential suitors last episode.
9.After Alicent's talk with Larys (and her earlier one with Otto), she's already switched from the Targaryen red clothes she's been wearing since her marriage to Viserys back into her mother's Hightower gown.
This shows that even before her conversation with Criston, distrust had set in, and she was already positioning herself against Rhaenyra and the Targaryens.
10.Maesters Mellos and Orwyle are seen disagreeing over the correct treatment for Viserys, with Mellos refusing a new treatment — it hints that Mellos could be working against the king in secret.
Is he in league with Otto, perhaps? And/or Larys?
11.The dragons we see heading into King's Landing are Seasmoke, ridden by Laenor, and Meleys, ridden by Rhaenys.
We also saw Rhaenys in her dragon-riding garb when Viserys arrived at High Tide, suggesting she'd just been out having a joyride.
12.This man playing the drums seems to be a nod to Mushroom, a court entertainer who is the source of some of the more salacious stories in Fire and Blood, which House of the Dragon is based on.
13.It's funny that Laenor says dancing is "not much different to combat" considering they're doing the dance of the House of the Dragon at this point (did you notice the dragon-like movements?) — and the Dance of the Dragons is the nickname for the upcoming civil war between Targaryens.
14.Perhaps the biggest moment of the episode goes to Alicent's dress! Wearing Hightower green (very far from Targaryen red), arriving late and in the middle of Viserys's speech so she gets EVERYONE'S attention: This is Alicent's declaration of war.
Larys Strong makes that clear when he talks to his brother Harwin about how green is the color the beacon on the Hightower glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war.
Alicent backs this up by coldly greeting Rhaenyra and calling her "stepdaughter" for the first time. She's letting her know their friendship is officially over.
As I mentioned earlier, this isn't merely Alicent being petty — she's quite literally choosing her children's lives here, after realizing she can no longer trust Rhaenyra.
15.Finally, Daemon cuts in on Harwin dancing with Rhaenyra, which is interesting because Harwin is one of the few people who knows about her night with Daemon.
Remember, he was the goldcloak she ran into that night in the streets of King's Landing. Unlike his brother Larys, Harwin seems to know how to keep Rhaenyra's secrets.
It's also Harwin who rescues Rhaenyra from the fray after his father, the Hand of the King, silently tells him to take action.
Harwin keeps popping up at crucial moments!
