Now this? This feels like a “Game of Thrones”verse season-ender.
The “House of the Dragon” Season 2 finale frustrated with a sense of set-up but no pay off — for that, we had to wait until the Season 3 premiere’s Battle of the Gullet. Episode 8 is the exact opposite, delivering a huge battle, a significant revelation, a despotic turn and lots of death, both on and off the field. Are you not entertained?!
Let’s get right to it: Read on for the highlights of the Season 3 finale.
Grand Maester Orwyle bursts into Rhaenyra’s bedroom with the same news that a crispy bunch of commoners near Rook’s Rest found out last episode. “He is risen,” the Black queen says minutes later as she arrives in Daemon’s quarters, gulping air in her hurry and her emotional distress. “Aegon! Sunfyre is alive!”
Our girl is really and truly beside herself as she reports that Aegon’s supporters are sending ravens near and far, claiming that his (and the dragon’s) resurrection is proof that he was supposed to be king all along. She sobs as Daemon calmly reminds her that dragons care not for the opinions of sheep or whatever, but she’s still fluttering around in a panic, so he switches to High Valyrian to tell her that this is her moment: “The only quality the realm understands is strength. You have always known this.”
The sentiment seems to get through to her. She calms, then orders him to set a watch for Aegon’s dragon, and to go to house-to-house in Tumbleton to “root out every Hightower, and kill them to the last man.” However, she notes, the realm is watching: “Do not make a monster of me.” She vows, once Daeron and Ormund are dead, to kill Aegon herself.
So she’s a little occupied when Baela comes to her, wondering who’s going to go look for the kidnapped and missing-a-finger Sea Snake. When she gets a less-than-satisfying answer, the younger woman blurts out, “It was your fault… that Lord Corlys was out there to be taken.” (Dragon gasp!) Baela is like, what’s more, you aren’t even grateful! It gets more heated — at one point, Rhaenyra grabs Baela’s face harshly and calls her an “insolent child” — and ends as Rhaenyra walks away after a veiled jab/threat at Baela’s sister, Rhaena.
Meanwhile, Corlys’ men arrive in King’s Landing from Driftmark, ready to seek out their lord, but Alyn informs them their duty is to follow Rhaenyra’s orders and keep the city safe. And who the heck is he to say, they wonder? So Addam introduces himself as Corlys’ oldest living son “and named successor… your once and future Lord of the Tides.”