HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdow...

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I’m your host Paul and in this video, we’re breaking down House Of The Dragon.

Season 2 Episode 5 is now here and throughout this video, we’re going to break it all down. This video is going to be filled with what happens in the episode along with what also happens in the book. So come with me as we talk about the aftermath of Rooks Rest and what the characters are going through.

As always we’ll save future spoilers until the end of the video and I’ll give you a heads-up before we get to that.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON SEASON 2 EPISODE 5 BREAKDOWN

Now we begin at Driftmark and can hear the echoes of Rhaenys’ theme in the score. Cutting to Corlys inside of the castle, the character is shown from the back. Seeing characters like this is something that we get a lot of in this episode with it also being shown in Aemond and Alicent.

The first of these comes when he stands staring at the throne at the end, with it mirroring the shot of Corlys looking at his.

With Alicent, we see as she approaches Aegon being worked on by Maesters and all these shots echo each other. They clearly highlight the gains and losses that have come from the Battle of Rooks Rest, with both Aegon and Rhaenys being two characters that went toe to toe. Both came out the other side a little worse for wear and it was a big defeat on both sides. Though Aegon’s still alive, he’s never going to fight again and his dragon Sunfyre is out of the fight too.

The only one who’s really gained anything is Aemond with him truly fighting the game of thrones.

We will talk about this in more detail later on but originally during the Dance of the Dragons the throne was moved to High Tide. I think they’ve just kept stuff streamlined for the show and merged them into this one location.

Echoing his despair, we also see Rhaenyra shares the same sentiment. The quest for the throne is causing Westeros to rot, which we saw metaphorically with Viserys in Season 1. Cut by the iron throne, he developed a disease that caused his body to rot away and die. It was all about getting that spot which has now caused this gigantic war. Cutting to a market at King’s Landing we see how this has now extended to the fruit there with it rotting away. Melys’ rotting head is carried through King’s Landing and we need a seed of hope. That, of course, comes at the end with the dragon seeds being something that can provide a new avenue. We’ve met some of these through the season before and in our spoiler section, I’ll go more into detail.

Now Melys’ head getting paraded through the streets of King’s Landing is also something we hear about in the work.

This also chronicles the aftermath of Rooks Rest and how many lost their lives:

Eight hundred knights and squires and common men lost their lives that day as well. Another hundred perished not long after when Prince Aemond and Ser Criston Cole took Rook’s Rest and put its garrison to death. Lord Staunton’s head was carried back to King’s Landing and mounted above the Old Gate…but it was the head of the dragon Meleys, drawn through the city on a cart, that awed the crowds of smallfolk into silence. Septon Eustace tells us that thousands left King’s Landing afterward, until the Dowager Queen Alicent ordered the city gates closed and barred.

Now this parading of a head is done for a number of reasons and it’s once more used as propaganda. Similar to how Jahaerys was marched through the streets, we also have Melys on the back of a cart. It’s supposed to show strength in the greens and they’ll parade their wins and losses for political gain. Jahaerys was done to get sympathy whereas Melys was done to show power.

In truth though, Aegon is being moved through silently and hidden away from public view. The greens want to make it seem like they’re in power and I love how these two scenes mirror each other.

This also mirrors Jahaerys as well because…because both lost their heads.

N beyond that dragons were supposed to be respected, with them being beautiful beasts thought to Gods. This is something Jace touches upon later with it being thought that only the Targaryens can ride a dragon. This is because they carry the blood of the dragon.

Thus the bastards and so on, they’re people who are also thought can ride the beasts while keeping up the illusion that only certain people can do it. It’s purposely been brought in to keep the peasants in their place and give them the belief that the dragons are gods.

Hugh Hammer being here is very important and we’ll talk about him more in the spoiler section.

Parading them through the street like this is sort of showing their hand and we see from the reactions that people start to question their invincibility.

Maegor didn’t respect them and he was ousted and it shows that the Greens don’t respect history. Beyond this though, it also highlights how the realms fallen into disarray. The White Cloaks are having a laugh, breaking their oaths and they don’t carry honour. Everyone’s just kinda slacking and this further highlights how far the realm has fallen.

Mysaria later on brings up how this is perceived as an ill omen and if the dragons and Targaryens can fall, then it heightens their feelings of instability.

We also see how the soldiers aren’t regarded as heroes, with it being akin to things like Vietnam. Though people fought for their country, it was seen as a controversial war and thus the return home wasn’t really a celebration. This is something Criston remarks at and it’s clearly drawing real-world allusions.

Also you might notice that they’re saying that Aegon slayed the beast when the guy’s plan was a little half-baked. Little half-baked mate…like him. You can kinda see how the lie doesn’t necessarily sit that well with Criston but they’re doing it to hide away the truth.

We also march past the rotting rat catchers who’ve got worse and worse every time we’ve seen them. I kinda think that this highlights the mood of the people and how they feel about what the war has brought. Though Aegon managed to get revenge on Cheese, he did this by harming a multitude of innocents. It’s sort of like how the war’s cost the people so many and very symbolic on a number of levels.

See mate, you thought I was reaching with that rot comment but Melys rotting away with flies around her. It’s clever.

Now from here, we cut to a very symbolic shot of Alicent and Aemond looking down on the proceedings.

Larys warned Aegon that the pair would take rule if he went to war and this has been the outcome of it. To be fair though they’re better at leading with Alicent ruling in Viserys’ stead.

Now as for Aegon, I feel like we have to talk about the way he was found in order to discuss the full extent of what happened to him. This comes in the aftermath of the battle in Aegon and Rhaenys were found on the ground:

Those closest to the dragons did not live to tell the tale. Those farther off could not see for the flame and smoke. It was hours before the fires guttered out. But from those ashes, only Vhagar rose unharmed. Meleys was dead, broken by the fall and ripped to pieces upon the ground. And Sunfyre, that splendid golden beast, had one wing half torn from his body, whilst his royal rider had suffered broken ribs, a broken hip, and burns that covered half his body. His left arm was the worst. The dragon flame had burned so hot that the king’s armour had melted into his flesh.

 

Which yeah, is exactly what we see when they’re peeling it off him.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories

Now they do alter this for the show as we have Helaena looking at the litter without being too broken up about it. In fact, when we look at the work she’s going in a drastically different direction. There she was so grief-stricken by the death of Jahaerys that she wouldn’t bathe, eat or hit the thumbs up. The show version is a complete opposite with her not being like that.

I do wonder if it’s the major change to Blood and Cheese that’s taken the character in a brand new direction. In the work she chose her son Maelor to die and Blood and Cheese beheaded Jahaerys to taunt her. Thus she went insane thinking that he might be aware that he’d been chosen to die.

So they changed things up majorly for Aegon and we see as he’s hidden away and attended by several maesters. He didn’t take the Battle of Rooks Rest seriously and was drinking and laughing before he and Sunfyre headed out. On the opposite side of this Rhaenys and Meleys clearly knew there was a chance they might not come back and yeah, the guy basically did f**k around and findout.

We see Aegon’s sword Blackfyre lifted out the litter with this highlighting what he was trying to be. In the end though he turned out to just be more like his dad, now bed-bound and blood oozing out the sores on his skin. We get a brilliant shot at the end with him in his bed wrapped in bandages that’s almost shot exactly the same as how Viserys was portrayed. The wounds have swapped sides with Aegon though and it’s a perfect mirror from that scene in season one. Even Alicent’s there…but he meant Aegon the Conqueror love…not this one.

I love the way they play operation with him and Aemond smugly looking over. Got some nerve mate, got some nerve showing your face.

Now Aemond taking over the rule of the realm in his brother’s stead is something that happens in the work with it saying:

He’s clearly suggesting that he should take over, and later on at the council, we see this come to pass. In the work it says:

“You must rule the realm now, until your brother is strong enough to take the crown again,” the King’s Hand told Prince Aemond. Nor did Ser Criston need to say it twice, writes Eustace. And so one-eyed Aemond the Kinslayer took up the iron-and-ruby crown of Aegon the Conqueror. “It looks better on me than it ever did on him,” the prince proclaimed. Yet Aemond did not assume the style of king but named himself only Protector of the Realm and Prince Regent. Ser Criston Cole remained Hand of the King.

Aemond being after the throne is something that we’ve seen throughout the series and this goes all the way back to Driftmark. There he told Aegon he’d wed his sister Helaena because it was his duty. At the coronation, we saw him staring at his brother with envy as he was crowned and we had everything going down at Rook’s Rest last week. He burned his brother and even went to slay him before his hand was stayed by Criston Cole. When he picked up the Catspaw dagger we also saw him pointing it at him.

I don’t think Aemond has any love for his brother and the greens are sort of in their own little civil war. The infighting is something that’s mirrored in the Blacks as we have Daemon there who might want to take power from Rhaenyra. Here though it’s on the surface with Aegon ousting Otto and Alicent from the council. Aemond’s now put his brother in harm’s way and he has a clear route to the throne.

I love how it plays upon the idea of a civil war as we have brother vs brother. This is something that Erryk and Arryk showcased as well and it all ties into the themes of the show. It also makes him the perfect opposite to Daemon as Daemon clearly wanting control as well. Both believe they’re the better leaders but they were both passed over for their brothers.

Both are ruthless and willing to make the hard choice but because of this, they’re also both pretty cruel. Aegon mate, he was wanting to give people payment before they’d even put the invoice in and Viserys just wanted to play with his train set.

You take the D from Daemon and put it on the end of Aemond and yeah…done that before but it’s worth pointing out. This is why Daemon’s dream last week showed him wearing an eye patch and I love how these pieces all fit together perfectly.

I also wonder if this ability to lead will go beyond blood and into knowledge. Aemond now has the Catspaw dagger and it’s possible that he could be aware of what’s on it. Last week he picked it up as it lay amongst the burning forest and bodies of Aegon and Sunfyre.

So there’s even the potential that he saw the song of ice and fire and this may allow him to use it as a powerplay. It’s only passed from king to heir and thus knowing it while others don’t could make him seem more legitimate.

Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts as the dagger is such a wild card in the show. It wasn’t used in this way in the books and they could use it to create some interesting dynamics. Especially with Daemon. Ewan Mitchell brought up how he played into this rivalry in the show by keeping the coin he found when Blood and Cheese had been in his room.

Anyway from here we cut to Criston Cole cleaning his sword and…pfft…it’s like when you work with someone who’s an absolute moron and constantly knacks up every single bit of work and then you get made redundant.

The guy’s just chilling and sort of polishing his sword and just kinda hoping he doesn’t get asked too much. Now they do bring up Sunfyre as well with them basically saying what it says in the book.

Also got a nice picture of Rhaenys there, so burned that you can’t even recognise her body…yaaay.

The king’s dragon, Sunfyre, too huge and heavy to be moved, and unable to fly with his injured wing, remained in the fields beyond Rook’s Rest, crawling through the ashes like some great golden wyrm. In the early days he fed himself upon the burned carcasses of the slain. When those were gone, the men Ser Criston had left behind to guard him brought him calves and sheep.

The guy’s just walking it off…just walk it off…can’t fly though.

So it’s messed up and I think it highlights how much the realm was in disarray. The green flag has Sunfyre as its symbol with the golden beast front and centre. It’s supposed to show strength just like Aegon but the reality is a far cry from how it is.

Now Alicent asks what Aemond’s hand in this was with him keeping schtum. Obviously, he knows it’s not good to fracture the kingdom even further and snitches get stitches and end up in ditches.

Anyway, we cut across to Rhaenyra at the painted table with the council mewing over their losses. They’re in shambles, the green council’s in shambles and they’ve lost both Rooks Rest and Duskendale.

The latter of which is what we saw last week with the harbour town’s capture leading to Lord Darklynns beheading.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON SEASON 2 EPISODE 5 EASTER EGGS

They also say Daemons left them high and dry after a marital spat. It goes way beyond that but there’s clear sexism in gaming. You question whether these men question swearing their loyalty to a woman and I wonder if houses are going to switch sides throughout. The fact is though that none of them have really experienced a war like this because the realm’s been at peace since the ascension of Jahaerys.

Wanting to write to Maidenpool and Crackclaw Point, these sorts of areas line the Riverlands. Darklynn wants revenge for his father’s death at Duskendale and they believe Vhagars going to be recovering from the battle. Rhaenyra puts herself forward as the person who should be flying in but they rightly tell her to not risk it. We’ve seen firsthand with Aegon why the leaders shouldn’t be put in the line of fire as the entire war could be lost in an instant.

Over with Jace doing his best Blue Valaryon Steel we hear he’s flying out to Harranhal to make him affirm his standing to Rhaenyra. The guy’s just off being rogue and there’s a lot of suspicion he won’t bend the knee to his wife…slash niece.

Jace is also clearly frustrated he’s being forced to stay back but he needs to look at the bigger picture. He’s now carrying the song of ice and fire and is Rhaenyra’s next in line. Bringing up the Freys you might remember Walder Frey from the main series. He ended up on Arya’s list with him being killed in the final season.

Now Jace’s mission has been slightly reordered as it did happen earlier in the work while he was rallying arms. Initially he travelled out to these locations, the Vale and then Westeros but I do think it was probably better to spread it out.

Then on Jacaerys soared, north across the Fingers and the waters of the Bite. He lighted briefly at Sisterton, where Lord Borrell and Lord Sunderland did obeisance to him and pledged him the support of the Three Sisters, then flew on to White Harbor, where Lord Desmond Manderly met with him in his Merman’s Court.

They’re not specifically outlined here but yeah we do know what having these allies ends up leading to with it worrying the greens:

Meanwhile, the seeds Jacaerys Velaryon had planted on his flight north had begun to bear fruit, and men were gathering at White Harbor, Winterfell, Barrowton, Sisterton, Gulltown, and the Gates of the Moon. Should they join their strength to that of the riverlords assembling at Harrenhal with Prince Daemon, even the strong walls of King’s Landing might not be able to withstand them, Ser Criston warned the new Prince Regent.

He sees gaining favour with The Freys as something that will lead to not only one house joining them but it’ll also allow the Starks to get to march forth quicker. Them not getting there in time was a fear in the work with it saying:

The North was too remote to be of much import in the fight, the council judged; by the time the Starks gathered their banners and marched south, the war might well be over.

He’s basically going behind his mother’s back to do it and he confides in Baela. We haven’t really seen much of their relationship in the show though the pair are betrothed. This bit sort of plays off a bit in the work in which it talks about her on Dragonstone.

Lady Rhaena’s twin, Baela, remained on Dragonstone. Long betrothed to Prince Jacaerys, she refused to leave him, insisting that she would fight beside him on her own dragon…though Moondancer was too small to bear her weight. Though Baela also announced her intent to marry Jace at once, no wedding was ever held. Munkun says the prince did not wish to wed until the war was over, whilst Mushroom claims Jacaerys was already married to Sara Snow, the mysterious bastard girl from Winterfell.

Now the book had it saying that he may have married Cregan’s bastard sister Sara but this has all been omitted from the show. It was all just a rumour anyway and yeah, kind of gutted they didn’t tie it in with Jon Snow.

But on we go across to Daemon who says something very important that kind of plays his hand.

bend the knee to me. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen constant back and forth over whether he wants to seek the throne for himself. This is something that’s haunted his dreams at Harrenhal and several characters have talked about his desire to lead. So, him saying this and not to the Queen or Rhaenyra highlights what his true desires are.

The work sort of discusses this along with the bending of the knee by the Brackens. They wear the red horse as their sigil which should help you identify which characters are which. Either way, this is all building out of the aftermath of the opening of episode 3 in which we saw the battle of the burning mill:

Many other grievous losses were suffered by both sides in what became known as the Battle of the Burning Mill…and when the Brackens finally broke and fled back unto their own lands under the command of Ser Amos’s bastard half-brother, Ser Raylon Rivers, it was only to find that Stone Hedge had been taken in their absence. Led by Prince Daemon on Caraxes, a strong host made up of Darrys, Rootes, Pipers, and Freys had captured the castle by storm in the absence of so much of House Bracken’s strength. Lord Humfrey Bracken and his remaining children had been made captive, along with his third wife and baseborn paramour. Rather than see them come to harm, Ser Raylon yielded. With House Bracken thus broken and defeated, the last of King Aegon’s supporters in the riverlands lost heart and lay down their own swords as well.

Harrenhal was also a powerful place to spring forth from and it gave Daemon a plethora of houses close by to take under his wing:

The sudden, bloodless fall of Black Harren’s seat was counted a great victory for Queen Rhaenyra and her blacks. It served as a sharp reminder of the martial prowess of Prince Daemon and the power of Caraxes, the Blood Wyrm, and gave the queen a stronghold in the heart of Westeros, to which her supporters could rally…and Rhaenyra had many such in the lands watered by the Trident. When Prince Daemon sent forth his call to arms, they rose up all along the rivers, knights and men-at-arms and humble peasants who yet remembered the Realm’s Delight, so beloved of her father, and the way she smiled and charmed them as she made her progress through the riverlands in her youth. Hundreds and then thousands buckled on their swordbelts and donned their mail, or grabbed a pitchfork or a hoe and a crude wooden shield, and began to make their way to Harrenhal to fight for Viserys’s little girl.

Now they play things differently with them refusing to yield and bend the knee as easily. As we’ve talked about in other breakdowns the Brackens and Blackwoods have been enemies for centuries. They’re like…they’re like cats and dogs, Bloods and Crips, Screen Crushes and Heavy Spoilers and are enemies until the end of time.

Still though, Daemon wants the kind of people who would rather burn than turn on their principles and thus he tasks Samwell with trying to sort it out.

Now at this point, we cut across to the Vale which is a big location from the main series. They sort of rework things as we saw it while Jace was on his missions in the work but they’ve combined the two scenes here. As we cut to the location we hear.

Many and more armies have broken themselves against my bloody gate. The Eyrie is impregnable, unless we’re descended upon from the sky. Now this pulls from Jace’s first encounter with Lady Jeyne with the work saying:

“Thrice have mine own kin sought to replace me,” Lady Jeyne told Prince Jacaerys. “My cousin Ser Arnold is wont to say that women are too soft to rule. I have him in one of my sky cells, if you would like to ask him. Your Prince Daemon used his first wife most cruelly, it is true…but notwithstanding your mother’s poor taste in consorts, she remains our rightful queen, and mine own blood besides, an Arryn on her mother’s side. In this world of men, we women must band together. The Vale and its knights shall stand with her…if Her Grace will grant me one request.” When the prince asked what that might be, she answered, “Dragons. I have no fear of armies. Many and more have broken themselves against my Bloody Gate, and the Eyrie is known to be impregnable. But you have descended on us from the sky, as Queen Visenya once did during the Conquest, and I was powerless to halt you. I mislike feeling powerless. Send me dragonriders.”

This set up Rhaena riding out here and this is why she was sent here in the work.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories

As for Lady Jeyne, the passage says:

Mushroom tells us that this famous maiden was in truth a highborn harlot with a voracious appetite for men and gives us a salacious tale of how she offered Prince Jacaerys the allegiance of the Vale only if he could bring her to her climax with his tongue. Septon Eustace repeats the widespread rumour that Jeyne Arryn preferred the intimate companionship of other women, then goes on to say it was not true. In this instance, we must be grateful for Grand Maester Munkun’s True Telling, for he alone confines himself to the High Hall of the Eyrie, rather than its bedchambers.

They also say:

You promised the queen Rhaenyra 1500 swords. This sort of plays off this bit in the book in which they talked about her heading out there and also the dragon eggs.

Even more grave were the tidings from the Vale, where Lady Jeyne Arryn had assembled fifteen hundred knights and eight thousand men-at-arms, and sent envoys to the Braavosi to arrange for ships to bring them down upon King’s Landing. With them would come a dragon. Lady Rhaena of House Targaryen, brave Baela’s twin, had brought a dragon’s egg with her to the Vale…an egg that had proved fertile, bringing forth a pale pink hatchling with black horns and crest. Rhaena named her Morning.

Now we learn these eggs haven’t hatched and know that some won’t in the series.

There is sort of some back and forth at the moment as the director said that these were Dany’s eggs. I was over the moon mate because I called it but then the showrunners walked back the comments.

I feel like they don’t really have a plan either way and were just doing this perhaps as a visual reference. The director clearly intended it but then the showrunner is obviously who’s in charge. So yeah, let me know below what you think but I still stand with the idea that we’ll see the creation of Dany’s eggs at some point.

The pair kind of bicker back and forth because they haven’t hatched yet and…yeah…sort of like when you order dragons from Wish.

I also feel like this is where Rhaena learns her grandmother’s dead and it’s sort of played like she’s blindsided her to give her a bit of a gut punch.

Back on Dragonstone, we see Mysaria and Rhaenyra discussing war and how restricted she is by being a woman. Taught academically, Rhaenyra has always been against this. It all ties back to her ripping a page out of the Maester’s book in season 1 and she’s always done things differently. This is too mirrored in Mysaria who has gone from Slave to the master of whisperers. The scar around her neck highlights the collar that she used to wear and she’s been through a lot.

She knows that there’s more than one way to fight a war and we also see one of her servants get dismissed. This is Elinda Massey who’s a character that’s appeared throughout the series. She was the one who told Rhaenyra that Alicent had requested her appearance right after she’d just given birth.

She also helped in the birth of Visenya and has been a handmaid to the queen for a very long time.

In the books House Massey is extremely loyal to both the Targaryens and Velaryons as their home of Massey Hook is in the middle of both Dragonstone and Driftmark.

We’ll talk about how this character plays into things later on but they get sent out directly to King’s Landing.

Now we also have the pair approaching the skull of Meraxes which juxtaposes the head of the dragon earlier. There it was paraded through the streets whereas here it’s respected as a monument. Meraxes was shot through the eye by a scorpion which caused her to plummet to the ground. This also killed her rider Rhaenys so it’s symbolic of our Rhaenys’ death as well.

Cutting to Elinda heading out you can see the Targaryen symbol on her dress that was originally on the cover of Fire and Blood.

Anyway, with Baela we see her going to Rhaenyra with the latter holding a box which is later revealed to hold a pin that will name him hand. This gets passed from her to Baela to Corlys and this happens during scenes in which they all remember Rhaenys.

Here we hear the time of tale of how Rhaenys claimed Meraxes. This happened in 87 AC with it belonging to Alyssa Targaryen. During this time she was called the queen to be but as we know that was taken away from her.

Rhaenyra passes the box over and says she doesn’t wish to stand alone and it’s clear she’s worried about those around her being loyal.

So probably not a good time for Daemon to be dreaming of sleeping with his mother. She tells him that he was made to wear the crown over his brother and yeah…it’s playing into all his inner desires.

Now she calls him her favourite son and this potentially was the case. We don’t know too much of the ins and outs of their relationship as the work doesn’t go into it too much. However, we do know that within two weeks of Daemon being born that Alyssa took Daemon flying on Melys.

Sadly the next child she had proved to be a long and difficult labour with her giving birth to a boy named Aegon. She died not long after this and Aegon died shortly after that.

This is why we hear how Daemon didn’t know her and it’s sort of him wanting everything he never had.

However that blood is still on his hands which is something that we saw last week. As he woke up he had blood on one side but when he flipped this round it completely disappeared. Last time we talked about how this could be a biblical reference or even a direct nod to Macbeth.

Either way, it’s once more him wandering in and out of fantasies and he looks suspiciously at his cup. Alys Rivers is pouring drinks in the background and it’s a drink that last week put him in a fantasy.

They want to create a great host for the Brackens but we see as they just show up in the middle of the night later on. The plan pushes them further away but I do think we’ll see next week that chapter from before.

Simon brings up how difficult it’s going to be paying all the workers and men-at-arms they want as he says that Larys moved the gold to King’s Landing. This is something that was touched upon after Daemon took Harrenhal with Larys saying it’s why the location didn’t matter.

Simon asks if he can ask the queen for some money and he calls him the Emissary. Daemon tackles them over the title Kings consort and it further plays into his ambition. We actually saw something similar recently with Camilla who was initially supposed to be labelled Queen Consort. However, they changed this upon Charles’ coronation so now she uses the simpler title as well. If Charles dies it’s said she’d become the Dowager queen which is also a term that they use in the show with Alicent.

Now speaking of Alicent, we cut to her at the council and she gets a lot of focus in this scene. Breathing heavily as she learns of what happened to Aegon this is the reaction she also gives when learning she’s being passed over for Aemond. In real time she witnesses something that Rhaenys and Rhaenyra have known about this world for a long time.

I was staring at her fingernails to see if she’d picked away at them further but obviously, her struggles are shown to us here in him trying to seem dignified. Alicent has really made her bed and we see as everyone goes for Aegon over her. Larys mate, she sent you feet pics…Criston…bloody hell and she’s seen what the men of the council truly think of her. She’s by far the most experienced when it comes to ruling the realm and Aemond’s a hothead who gave his brother a hothead. It’s because of him that the war escalated so quickly but it’s all about the optics of letting a woman rule.

Sadly this is what Alicent weaponised in the first place so that this council would support Aegon over Rhaenyra. Obviously, they haven’t changed and this entire strategy to gain power for herself has now shoved her out of it.

Now as we focus in on her we can hear them discussing their standing in the Riverlands. Grover Tully is once more touched upon with us meeting his grandson last week. He and his fate help to change the dynamics of the war and I’m sure it’s something we’ll see play out later in the series.

It’s difficult to focus on it though as we’re drawn into Alicent and yeah, Olivia Cooke says so much by doing so little.

Aemond’s first official order is to cut down the ratcatchers and eh…gonna make me cry seeing that little dog again. Just sad seeing him go along after the cart loyally following his master. It’s kind of like the story of that dog who went to the train station every day waiting for his dead master to return and disembark the train. Really sad and I feel like it’s put here to juxtapose the disloyalty that Criston has. Confronted by Alicent she questions whether he’s only loyal at night and talks about how they know what Aemond’s become.

Honestly though, I feel like Criston is kind of doing what he can to protect her. He’s clearly horrified by what he saw at Rooks Rest and to me he’s cast her to the side to spare her from the horrors about to be unleashed.

Now intercut with this we get some Hammer time and I love how these have allowed us to see the perspective of the small folk. His wife went to the parading of Jahaerys and she did this while her own child was in bed. It shows how those in the kingdom are willing to put the Targaryens on a pedestal even though they ruin their lives and they’ve got the same problems at home.

We will talk about Hugh in the spoiler section but like how they’re beginning to question what’s happened. We also hear about how neighbours are stealing from neighbours which thematically ties into the idea of a civil war.

She’s seen the light though and wants to leave King’s Landing before the war gets too heated.

Unfortunately, everyone’s had the same idea and it’s led to civil unrest in the city. They cry out for Meat with this also being what Hugh said the Dragon head was earlier.

Anyway at this point we cut across to the Twins which is another location you might recognise from the main series.

This is where Robb tried to cross and the events of the Red Wedding went down at. Never forget.

I will remember you. Now the Twins are one of the most important locations in Westeros with it being the only crossing point over the Green Fork. Armies and riders would have to travel hundreds of miles in either direction in order to find another place to pass through. Lying on the route from Winterfell to Riverrun it sees all manners of merchants and traders.

The Freys originally simply set up the location by building a wooden bridge between the two points. Here they ran tolls and charged people to pass which netted them a fortune over the years. At this point in time, the twins have been here for roughly 500 years with them being a monument to the wealth that the Freys have amassed. Charging so much has meant they can upgrade it to this giant stone bridge that’s also got impenetrable archways on either side.

Now once more they mention Grover Tully with him still not casting his allegiance. They also talk about how they fear Vhagar and we know from the work that he terrorised the Riverlands, including the Freys:

Prince Aemond had become the terror of the Trident, descending from the sky to rain fire and death upon the Riverlands, then vanishing, only to strike again the next day fifty leagues away. Vhagar’s flames reduced Old Willow and White Willow to ash, and Hogg Hall to blackened stone. At Merrydown Dell, thirty men and three hundred sheep died by dragon flame. The Kinslayer then returned unexpectedly to Harrenhal, where he burned every wooden structure in the castle. Six knights and two-score men-at-arms perished trying to slay his dragon, whilst Lady Sabitha Frey only saved herself from the flames by hiding in a privy. She fled back to the Twins soon after…but her prize captive, the witch woman Alys Rivers, escaped with Prince Aemond. As word of these attacks spread, other lords looked skyward in fear, wondering who might be next. Lord Mooton of Maidenpool, Lady Darklyn of Duskendale, and Lord Blackwood of Raventree sent urgent messages to the queen, begging her to send them dragons to defend their holdings.

That’s pretty much what happens here while he offers his protection, along with his uncles…while pouting. Magnum. Drag-num.

Harrenhal is negotiated too with Jace requiring a bending of the knee to seal it. These negotiations are kind of all over the place with the houses constantly promising stuff. It was Luc who refused to promise a betrothal and we saw what happened to him. However, broken deals would of course prove a lot of characters downfalls…again with the Freys and Starks being a big one from the main series.

Cutting to Harrenhal we see they’re rebuilding the ruins which were caused by Aegon the Conqueror.

Haunted by screams he ends up speaking with Alys Rivers who sees to the cut on his hand. This further creates the blood effect whilst Alys tells him of the crimes against humanity that the Targaryens are carrying out. Alys is really trying to hammer home the evil he’s committing and this blood on his hand is going to keep haunting him.

Daemon also brings up Aemond and what will happen if Alys comes across him. We will talk about this later on but they’re laying the seeds for something down the line.

Daemon also brings up the reality that people won’t support Rhaenyra and that he’ll need to step up. We’ve seen it firsthand with Alicent and I love there are these fractures within both sides. Aegon fired Otto, his mother’s been ousted and Aemond was willing to slay his brother. War is an ugly thing and Daemon isn’t even that loyal to his wife.

Alys taunts him by saying it’s a pity he never knew his mother and…pffft…judging by that dream it’s probably best he didn’t.

Ser Simon then comes in and talks about how the Brackens have been overwhelmed and have pledged themselves to Daemon.

Over with Corlys we see as they discuss Rhaenys. She also brings up High Tide which is the name of where Corlys’ castle is. I know probably getting some heat in the comments for saying Driftmark before but that’s where he was at and it’s also where the throne was moved to in the Dance of the Dragons. Now in the work, we hear about how badly Corlys takes his wife’s death and he lashed out at Rhaenyra.

East of Blackwater Bay, Queen Rhaenyra was also faring badly. The death of her son Lucerys had been a crushing blow to a woman already broken by pregnancy, labour, and stillbirth. When word reached Dragonstone that Princess Rhaenys had fallen, angry words were exchanged between the queen and Lord Velaryon, who blamed her for his wife’s death. “It should have been you,” the Sea Snake shouted at Her Grace. “Staunton sent to you, yet you left it to my wife to answer and forbade your sons to join her.” For all the castle knew that the princes Jace and Joff had been eager to fly with Princess Rhaenys to Rook’s Rest with their own dragons.

Here though we see a side to him where he’s at a loss without her. He wants to sail into the west and be lost which Baela berates him for. This is where he went to in the wake of Laenor’s death and I wonder if it’s going to come back around with him returning in the show. In the book, the character died but we know from the show that he is still out there.

Baela wants to honour Rhaenys and her sacrifice by making sure that her goals are carried out. Rhaenys never got to see a woman ascend to the throne and she was of course passed over. Baela wants to make sure her death wasn’t for nothing and Corlys makes her his heir in the end.

She turns this down but it shows how much the character’s grown. In the past he only cared about names which is why he put those…those strong boys as the heirs. He was well aware they weren’t his but as he said, history remembers names. In this world women don’t carry on their names and thus in getting married they end up losing it. So him putting this power on her shows how much he’s changed and how he actually cares about blood more than names.

Now with Rhaenyra we see as she sends Ser Alfred to Harrenhal. She does this because she knows he’s loyal and though he disrupts the council, she genuinely seems to trust him. The guy’s kind of like the middle man in all this basically going between a married couple arguing and yeah, I love this curveball they’ve added in with Daemon. He was never out for his own ends this much and we’re starting to see why his nickname’s the rogue prince.

Over with him, he’s awoken by Ser Simon who’s got the river lords banging at his door.

I think what this highlights is that when you give soldiers certain powers in war, there are those that will use it to terrorise others. These have been victims of that with the Blackwoods overreaching in their surrender. I love how the Bracken and Blackwood fights have been laced throughout the backbone of this season with it working as a metaphor for the blacks and greens.

Both believe they’re the victims that are in the right while they see the others visiting atrocities on them. We did a big breakdown on the history of their beef in episode 3 with it going back thousands of years. Neither really know who started it which is something Rhaenys talked about. They also see him as someone who ordered the murder of a baby in the arms of his mother. Obviously, the story has been slightly twisted but it shows how these things alter perceptions. In the end, they refuse to raise their banners for him and Daemon must tackle the fact the war’s getting out of his control. He was the one who opened the door for this though and I love how we get a great match cut here. As he leans against the fire we then cut to Rhaenyra doing the same thing but it’s shot from the opposite side.

This highlights the fractures and she sits down to get her hair done akin to what happened when she nearly faced death at the hands of Arryk.

Now if you wanna show your allegiance then definitely check out our merch store right below the video. We’ve got t-shirts for the greens, blacks and our dragons, drama and destiny one that are the perfect fit for the summer of dragons. We also have our Sith Happens Star Wars shirt and our brand new alien chestburster one along with our classics like theory time.

Huge thank you to everyone who’s picked one up now let’s get into the rest of the breakdown.

Now from here, we cut to King’s Landing to see Rhaenyra’s servant Elinda going in. Wishing to see an old friend we see her heading to the Cock Inn where the door is opened by the servant girl that Aegon assaulted in season 1. This was brushed under the rug by Alicent and we then saw her working here when Ulf White entered. Now I do wonder exactly what’s going on here and have a little theory time theory time theory time.

Now we know that this is a hangout of Aemond and that the woman he’s likely in love with lives here. We see how he scorned her during their last encounter and it’s possible this could come back around. I feel like they might try to poison him or potentially even spy on his battle plans. This would give the Blacks a competitive edge but this is just me kind of piecing it together.

In between these moments we get shots of Aemond so I do feel like it’s connected to him. Let me know what you think below as it’s possible they could also be doing something with Aegon’s bastard. He’s still hanging in the air from season 1 and we saw a blonde girl dancing at the Cock Inn. Potentially they could be pulling these out to delegitimise the king but I think that’s probably unlikely.

Either way, Helaena asks Aemond if it was worth the price to receive the throne and we know how much damage he’s caused.

This is highlighted in the next scene when we cut over to Aegon.

Laying there like Viserys, Alicent hovers there like she did in Viserys’ death. It’s such an impactful moment and all of this could’ve been averted. I also think that it’s purposely put here to reflect a scene earlier in the season. Alicent went to Aegon and caught him crying in the night but there she refused to comfort him. However, now she is desperately trying to provide any love possible for her son and yeah…what a devastating turn for her as a mother.

Parents and their children is something that’s laced throughout the show and the idea of lineage is very important. This is something cemented in the next scene when we cut to Jace going to Rhaenyra.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON SEASON 2 EPISODE 5 ENDING EXPLAINED AND REVIEW

Pouring over the books once more we see her talking about her idol Visenya. Rhaenyra wears a braid just like her and also named her daughter after her.

Bringing up how she was the original rider of Vhagar we also have her wielding Dark Sister. These have been handed down the line in the family and now find themselves on opposite sides. There was even talk online that Melys looked at Rhaenys sadly last week because it was wondering why its old mate was attacking it. Reminds me of when I found out Ryan Arey disliked the videos and was a right kick in the teeth mate.

Rhaenyra is proud that he went out and did his own thing but she’s also a bit angry that everyone keeps disobeying her. It also doesn’t sit with her that she’s forced to remain on Dragonstone and that people are dying in her name. She knows that eventually, they’ll run out of dragons and that she’ll have to throw herself into combat. This is why the dragonseeds are so important and we end the episode with the hope of them looking at the records.

That ends the episode and it also takes us into the spoiler section.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Season 2 Episode 5 Breakdown & Ending Explained | Review, Easter Eggs & Theories

Huge thank you to you if you’ve watched up to this point and for the next part of the video I’m gonna talk about what I think could happen next week.

The first of these is how much Aemond rises to the situation with the work saying:

Supremely confident in his own prowess as a warrior and the might of his dragon, Vhagar, Aemond was eager to take the battle to the foe. “The whore on Dragonstone is not the threat,” he said.

This is something that Criston called her in the past showing the completely toxic influence.

“No more than Rowan and these traitors in the Reach. The danger is my uncle. Once Daemon is dead, all these fools flying our sister’s banners will run back to their castles and trouble us no more.”

Now as for Otto, we haven’t heard from him for quite a while. However, as they said he was banished to Old Town with this then playing into the plot quite a bit:

The tidings from the south were ominous as well. Obedient to his uncle’s entreaties, Lord Ormund Hightower had issued forth from Oldtown with a thousand knights, a thousand archers, three thousand men-at-arms, and uncounted thousands of camp followers, sellswords, freeriders, and rabble, only to find himself set upon by Ser Alan Beesbury and Lord Alan Tarly. Though commanding far fewer men, the two Alans harassed him day and night, raiding his camps, murdering his scouts, setting fires in his line of march. Farther south, Lord Costayne had issued forth from Three Towers to fall upon Hightower’s baggage train. Worse, reports had reached his lordship that a host equal in size to his own was descending on the Mander, led by Thaddeus Rowan, Lord of Goldengrove. Lord Ormund had therefore decided he could not proceed without support from King’s Landing. “We have need of your dragons,” he wrote.

Now on top of this we also have Hugh Hammer and his familial relationship. Though they’re seeing the Targaryens as gods they’ll see they’re just normal people pretty soon. That’s because Hugh is actually a Targaryen bastard and someone who’s known as a dragon seed. These are recruited by the blacks and it allows them to increase their number of dragon riders. Along with Hugh we also have Ulf White who we met earlier in the season. These are both dragonseeds drafted into the war and I love how they’ve already shown the issues they have with the kings. I can imagine things are going to get worse with Aemond in charge and for the final point, I wanna talk about Daemon’s comments.

 

Here she’s talking about how Alys needs to be careful of Aemond but the pair actually hit it off. Alys ends up becoming Aemond’s paramour and she might even be aware of what’s going to happen in the future. Using foresight she may see herself with Aemond and be purposely sending him crazy for this reason. That’s a bit of a reach I’ll admit but hey, videos almost over mate.

 

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