The seventh episode of House of the Dragon brings the issues between the royal families in front of everyone. The episode is now available to stream on HBO Max.
Recap
All the royal families come together to attend Laena Velaryon’s funeral. Some notable individuals returning include Ser Otto Hightower, who is now back as the King’s Hand after Lyonel Strong’s death.
Rhaenyra encourages her son Jace to comfort the daughters of Laena. Although, Jace wanted to be there for the funeral of Lyonel Strong and Ser Harwin Strong.
Amidst the sad occasion, King Viserys offers his brother, Daemon, to come back to King’s Landing, which he declines for now.
Rhaenys Targaryen wonders if she should have brought her daughter to Driftmark. She argued with Corlys on whether they should stop chasing the crown or not.
Rhaenys tries to propose that they should give their seat of Driftmark to Laena’s daughters. Especially with the fact that Rhaenyra’s kids are definitely not their blood. Corlys disagrees, stating that history remembers names, not blood.
Rhaneyra and Daemon take a walk outside and rekindle the romance they had as they talked about their marriages.
Alicent’s youngest son, Aemond, escapes the castle to form a connection with Laena’s dragon, Vhagar, the largest dragon there is.
A fearless Aemond eventually forms that relationship, and Vhagar accepts him as his dragon rider. As Aemon soars through the sky on Vhagar, Baela and Rhaena notice that someone stole Vhagar.
They wake Jace and Luke up and go out to see the man behind it. The daughters claim Vhagar as their birthright, to which Aemond argues that they should’ve done that before him. The quarrel eventually leads to a fight.
Aemond calls Jace and Luke bastards, resulting in the latter picking up his brother’s blade to stab Aemond’s left eye, thus leaving him partially blind for the rest of his life.
Alicent and Rhaenyra try to defend their kids inside the castle. Rhaenyra accuses Aemond of hurling vile insults at her sons by questioning their parentage.
King Viserys confronts Aemond and demands to know who told him these lies. Aemond takes Aegon’s name, who points out that everyone knows they are not Rhaenyra’s kids, and asks Viserys to look at them.
Viserys makes it clear that whoever questions his grandson’s lineage would have their tongue cut, but Alicent was not ready to let this incident go that easily.
She asks for one of Rhaenyra’s kids’ eyes in exchange for her son losing an eye. When that wish doesn’t get fulfilled, she takes it upon herself and tries to attack Rhaneyra’s kids as Rhaenyra tries to stop her.
The altercation sees Alicent accidentally injuring Rhaenyra in the process. As Alicent calms herself down, Aemond further comforts her by asking her to let go as he has Vhagar on his side now.
Alicent wonders if the people around her have started thinking that she is mad, but Otto Hightower is instead glad to see this side of his daughter.
Ser Laenor comes late to his wife’s aid, but Rhaenyra still sees him as an honorable man, despite not being the husband she wanted.
With her sons’ parentage brought into question, Rhaenyra wonders if her sons will ever claim the Iron Throne. This sees her proposing to Daemon for marriage, but that could only happen if Laenor dies.
Daemon comes up with a brilliant plan where he offers gold to Laenor’s lover, Qarl, to kill Laenor. Qarl confronts Laenor, and later on, Ser Corlys and Rhaenys discover a burnt body that is beyond recognizable.
As they are left to believe that they lost their son, Laenor shaved his head and escaped with Qarl to a place directed by Daemon. With Laenor out of the picture, Daemon and Rhaenyra seal their union as they embark on their way to the Iron Throne.
Review
- Alicent’s character continues to develop one step at a time in each episode, and in this episode, we finally saw her bringing all of her emotions out and her will to fight for the throne.
- Aemond’s character is another one to reflect his emotions as a kid who has been bullied all this time. He stood up and fought for himself and proved that he is a better fit for the throne than his elder brother, Aegon.
- The plan executed by Daemon and Rhaenyra was brilliant, and it was quite unexpected to see Laenor survive and travel to another land.
House of the Dragon season 1 episode 7
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Date Created: 2022-10-03 06:30
3.5