Girls Gone Canon Cast - House of the Dragon S1E10: The Black Queen

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

in today's finale episode we show our true colors (who could have seen this coming) (it's black)     **** despite earlier claims made on the podcast, we will likely still cover the next season of house of the dragon, even though ryan condal let us down and didn't include a single dick joke about jasper wylde*   * ryan condal you are perfect don't change a thing  (except for more jasper wylde dick jokes)   --------------- SPOILERS: ASOIAF, F&B, KOT7K, TWOIAF, ETC Join us at our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/girlsgonecanon Follow us on Twitter: @GirlsGoneCanon Sound Effects from Pixabay "Night Vigil" & "Big Drumming" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/    

🎵 Hello everyone and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Watches House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 10 The season finale of The Black Queen. I am one of your hosts Eliana. And I am another one of your hosts Chloe. What a phenomenal finale. I'm so excited to talk about it. Glad that you're all back here with us for a final Hot D season one episode. That said, before we jump in, this is a spoilers everything in the A Song of Ice and Fire universe all podcast. So if you're listening to this and you have not read the main five A Song of Ice and Fire books, Fire and Blood, The World of Ice and Fire, the novellas, right? Princess and the Queen, the Dunkin' Egg novellas. Who knows what we're going to mention?

We don't even know what we're going to mention, but we don't want you to get spoiled. So if you have not yet touched some of that, get out of here, kid. Come back after especially if you want to stay unspoiled for some of the major beats right of house of the dragon because obviously some things are changed like when alicent and raniera get married absolutely but um you know if yeah that's i think the biggest thing right like a lot of things are changed from the books but the major beats seem to for the most part be the same so if you don't want that we'll see you some other time we have a bunch of other episodes if you are not a usual listener of girls gone canon please check out our

pov by pov character read through yeah that's where you're going to be able to find us after house of the dragon ends every friday we put out bran episodes except for this friday we will be taking a brief break this friday so you won't see that in your feed but we'll return next week to continue doing bran episodes which are my favorite so far i'm having such a blast and we would love to have you over to listen to that. Yeah, we do not have brand new episodes this Friday. Oh my god. We have also covered the His Dark Materials series in the past, both the books and the show.

We will be continuing doing that in December, so keep your eyes and ears peeled on your feed for that. Feel free to give us a follow on whatever platform you've been listening to, a review, we would really appreciate it, and thanks so much for listening this season. We look forward next season it's going to be two years i think but uh two years from now we'll be sitting here oh my god and we will be talking about season two who knows if we're lucky maybe it'll be like less than two years right it could be like they're starting production in early 2023 maybe we'll be be super lucky. It comes out early 2024.

Who knows? Yeah. So see you in two years. Two years. Yeah, I'm foolish for thinking like, oh, it'll come out earlier than I think. I should know better by my time in this fandom. Anyway. Absolutely.

Well, there are other places you can check us out and get some bonus content if you are looking for some bonus content. Yes. For example, most of all, you can find us obviously on social media. We'll talk about that in a bit. But you can always find us on Patreon, where not only do we have these episodes, these hot D episodes or our brand new episodes. We also have our Patreon bonus episodes each month. Yeah, this month we're going to be putting out for Stranger tier and above.

That is the $5 tier and up. A bonus episode on the Kingsguard talking about some of their dual roles, some of their jobs. In this show especially, we've gotten to see some of these Kingsguard don't just stand to protect the king or queen. They also stand to do other things like make alliances and go do errands.

I don't know, political things. Kristen Cole, one of them, right? He'll end up a hand of a king at some point. Yeah, he holds the role of most punchable person right now in Westeros. But in and out of Westeros. In and out of Westeros. We also do some events every month. And even for this, we've been doing weekly discussions hosted by our good friend Maddie for the Thunder tier and above patrons who get access to our Discord for life. And we also do a monthly brunch slash happy hour that just happened last weekend.

It was a blast we played some halloween themed reindeer games as we like to call them they're called reindeer games but they were halloween themed this time to clarify yeah they were uh i don't know reindeer skeleton i don't know and yes so oh theirs was the fury yeah I don't know every time you say that I think of like what's his name Zero from the Nightmare Before Christmas but he's not a reindeer anyway he's close

yeah so maybe we'll see you in the times coming and I will probably have some live discussions as well for His Dark Materials but I don't know yet but maybe probably who knows we'll see we shall see we did get a great comment for His Dark Materials, but I don't know yet. But maybe, probably, who knows? We'll see.

We shall see. We did get a great comment over at Twitter, or a tweet, I suppose you could call it. Yes, a tweet. From Jace Dane, or Clemitasoro98, What a name. who said, Enjoying your reviews every week. Off-topic question,

but since the his dark materials trailer came out i got stuck thinking about it what would be the demons of characters in house the dragon who don't have a dragon or an animal as sigil of the house like alicent kristin or harwin so i thought this was a funny question and i have an answer for one of the actors not the character for example i do not know what demon al allison the high tower would have but i know that olivia cook has kind of given an answer for herself in that famous negroni spogliato interview saying that uh if she had a house to jolt would probably be a badger uh she described it as like cute but will fight so house of badger so i think olivia cooks would be a badger that's actually kind of cute but we'll fight that's really cute but we'll fight yes uh i totally think harwin would be some kind of giant

shaggy overly friendly dog right in speaking of his dark materials terms there's a line in labelle sauvage it makes me think of the he was her servant for life oh Oh my god. Oh, whoa. Or as long as he lived. Or Kristen Cole. I think he'd be a kangaroo, right? Because from afar, you're like, oh, you're kind of cute. But then you get up close and he's just a violent asshole. Kangaroos are scary. They are, in fact, so scary.

Yeah. Like, every time. And I wouldn't let him near me because he's scary. They feel like what I imagine the Egyptian god Anubis looks like. Like, I wonder, did someone see a kangaroo and they feel like what i imagine the egyptian god anubis looks like like i wonder did someone see a kangaroo and they're like that's a god you know um so i think that's interesting also very as you said violent yeah very violent very i will say just like kristin this is not this is again the actor emma darcy said for their sigil initially like a squirrel because i guess they thought that like somehow emma mistook their grandmother for a squirrel

at one point which is a story that we were not given um need to understand but then changed later to a cabbage so a great deal absolutely just like the cabbage guy i actually said that yeah emma darcy was about to i think it got cut and edited out but i think emma darcy went like a whole monologue about cabbages that's what it seems like from that interview they are just like us for real for real they sighed and were just like they're just so beautiful it was like fuck that squirrel i was like okay so i would love the uncut version i know i know i think everyone wants it right that like took the world by storm but something else uh you know that is not taking the world by storm

but i want to reassure everyone that the intro which was the same as last week's but also just everyone maylor is basically confirmed everyone. Blood and cheese is probably going to happen. Yeah, it's definitely going to happen. First of all, there's no way it doesn't happen, but you can see it in the new intro. You can actually see from last week's all three of those children have, they have a hand symbol. Their tile is a hand because there's nothing new in this week's intro at all,

but their symbols are hands and they have extra digits on set yeah so yeah maelor is happening like jaharis yeah it's a good thing they give maelor those extra digits on his hand symbol because it just is going to be that much more work for them to tear him into little limbs absolutely i was actually thinking the same know, more, more to go around. Bitter Bridge is never satisfied. Before we go to hell, let's open up this episode and go to Dragonstone instead. Absolutely. We're here.

We're here at Dragonstone. Everything happens at Dragonstone. They put in a lot of work to really flesh the place out. Apparently you can see all about it in the behind the scenes where it's fun. I like what they've done to preserve it. They have a couple pieces that are actually preserved from the original Game of Thrones set. Some original wall murals that you actually can see from the original series. But now they're in different places.

And you can see it was just a different time and different redecoration. Or they've embellished them and added more... It's fun, right? They added more scales and stuff to the dragon relief that's in Rhaenyra's apartments and I kind of wondered were those dragon scales that were supposed to maybe be Valyrian steel or reminiscent of it, were those scavenged after the rebellion or something to be turned into Valyrian steel like x amount of things or they also have like the the wares right like the cloth like the cushions and stuff all have swirly patterns kind of like valyrian steel it's great because it really gives you a sense that

agan either brought over a bunch of their stuff you know when they all left and obviously dragonstone was already there but it's like his family brought over some of this stuff from valeria or they were still able to get in touch with people they had brought with them that could make that kind of stuff yeah so much obsidian true is used in all these props or like things that look like obsidian so it's crazy to imagine this world building of valeria and what you could have bought there or had for your household if you had money. Yeah, I mean, so they can, I guess, get obsidian more easily, but like the steel for sure. Because like, did they bring it? Did they already like have it? Or were they just rich enough to get it? Or did they go there?

Like, because they all kind of maybe had some knowledge of what, how to navigate some of the areas of Old Valyrian. Like, oh, that place got buried, that place didn't, right? Like, before that was all completely lost. I'd love to see more of that. I never thought I'd care about Aegon's conquest, but that and then also, like, not in that scale. You know, I just feel like it's more of a straightforward story. It could be great, but also there's something like that.

I think a movie. Where they could scavenge back. Three-hour movie. movie especially because as children they patroned westeros like they weren't strangers they came to westeros as children they went to the yeah they went to old town when they were kids or like a mini series a mini series yeah i just don't think i just don't think it needs you know a five season thing. It doesn't need the hot D treatment. No, it doesn't. It doesn't.

But like, yeah. And I think we've discussed before, like why we think that. So Luke, speaking about our ancestors, is concerned that Grandpappy Corliss will die, which would then leave Luke as Lord of the Tides. It's great to see this echo after the last episode in the Green Council when they said, that boy can't even sail a ship. And Luke himself is like, I can't sail a ship, Mom, this is really a pretty big thing you've put me up to.

You can see a lot of the pressure getting to both him and Jace. It does remind me, he says, I'm no sailor, and later in the episode at the very end i'm brought to mind what corley said that the wise sailor flees the storm as it gathers or charters its course straight through and poor luke had the rickin zigzag going on there right with his uh disobeying dragon yeah and did not get to flee the storm as it gathered,

nor could he pile straight through. Yeah, Vhagar also could- He is no sailor. Yeah, was not controllable. Zagged and zigged. Yeah, he's no sailor. And he's right, though. He goes, I can't be Lord of the Tides.

And it's true, because he's dead. He wasn't dead when he said that. Eliana. But it's fine, because he was all like, I don't want to be Lord of the Tides, because that means everyone else will be dead when he said that but but it's fine because he was all like i don't want to be lord of the tides because that means everyone else will be dead but it's okay luke you beat them all there um i'm terrible i'm sorry everyone it's really funny because corliss lives yeah he he until the end of the day he makes it he makes it i think corley is i'm so excited to see how his character evolves right like he's

gonna go through a lot of seasons of his of him not like television seasons i meant of his life but also yeah that too it's a it's a really nice interaction between luke and veneera i thought it was really interesting how luke you know was tellingra, like, you had a choice to become the heir or not, and then kind of deflatedly says, like, I'm not you, I'm not perfect. And I love that her response to him isn't like this idea of like, yes, you are, you're perfect. It's not that she tells him I'm not, right? She acknowledges her own faults, which is super important for growing up. We talk about that a lot in our usual coverage of these young characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. What's important about that is also she doesn't put

pressure on him to be perfect. She tells him you have to do your duty, but she doesn't tell him he has to be perfect. And I think that's like such a great show of parenting. Yeah, I really enjoyed this lesson here that she was like, oh, you are my age. This is what I went through. You have to understand. I didn't know what I was doing either. I really appreciated that. And I appreciate the effort to focus both of her sons and how this is affecting them came up in this episode. Luke, especially, obviously, he was kind of just little Muppet bull.

He didn't have lines yet because he was a bull. You know, they're just their kids. They didn't have the big plot points in those episodes besides the amen and the eye so it gave them a moment to shine before murdering him violently in front of my eyeballs which was pretty pretty aggressively horrible i was upset it was it was uh well done i think well i don't know i guess people disagree i liked it but also i will say it's funny because my partner earlier this season was like one of like his critiques is i don't really like that guess people disagree. I liked it. But also I will say it's funny because my partner earlier this season was like, one of his critiques was, I don't really like

that I haven't felt that Jake and Luke were fleshed out. I really don't see them as characters. And in my head, I can't disclose like, yeah, well, Luke's not super fleshed out because he's going to die in like two episodes, so it doesn't matter. Yeah, don't get fucking invested in it now.

That's kind of, I know know it was really hard the whole night when horton was sitting on the couch saying these things you were having fun and me you and that guy i live with you were laughing our asses off i saw it i was watching him during the episode i was looking over through peaked eyes like is he is he freaked out yet it was great it was a great time i love watching it with unsullied that doesn't get to happen that often but now that you say the thing about the age i do think i like that because it's something that we talk about a lot in the books right like literally no one is prepared to become a ruler at 14 years old let's be real absolutely it doesn't

matter what time period it is literally brain development is not different and that's why as we've discussed right there's that period of history in in the real world right um that is discussed as a kind of adolescent age or something um in regards to the monarchies at the time because everyone was too young and doing like dumb foolish very rash political decisions which is because everyone was too young and making bad decisions i made bad decisions at 14 so and well and that's a really big recurring theme in this episode and in the series yeah and yesterday and last week but but that's i mean in this episode you get to see age and wisdom you know corliss finally and also that wisdom doesn't always come with age

right like just because you're a certain age doesn't mean you're wise and there's always something to learn and corliss basically straight up says like ah i made poor decisions and this is where it led me and my family if only i had had some foresight um yeah i think there's a giant theme about that reckless rash behavior especially with damon in this episode that's a giant theme about that reckless rash behavior, especially with Damon in this episode. That's a great point. Something I was glad to see was Lauren Marbrand. I know that I complained in the previous episodes. I was like, is he going to be in it?

Is he here? And he's here. He's not the best dude, but I'm glad he's here. Yeah. I know the Kingsguard aren't 100% the main characters, so we shouldn't worry about where they are here, there. But they are a big deal. Yeah. I'm worried about Harold.

I thought maybe he'd be here and die this week, but he is just fired and going to die off screen maybe between now and the next season. Or maybe we'll get him next season doing something. I would like to see that. If so, not really sure. But I know that his actor, Graham, is a great actor and i really appreciated him getting some screen time now laurent marbrand becomes the lord commander after stephan darkling climbs on a dragon during the sowing of the seeds i wonder if this could happen in the first episode could happen

in passing uh maybe jace gets the idea in winterfell and sends a raven home laurent dies though later in the riot of king's landing that breaks out when helena kills herself under renera's reign yeah so i think that's part of why i wanted to see laurent marbrand because a the way he goes out and b um in the books of apparently renera takes it really hard when laurent passes so we're gonna see renera lose a lot of people not just in this episode but she's already lost three people in this episode so it doesn't get any easier and here's one of them here's one of the people that she loses well well i meant she was bringing word of it but also yeah i guess reynise too now that i think about it fuck yeah her papa reynise comes home and brings word of it but also yeah i guess rainies too now that i think about it puck yeah her papa rainies comes home and brings word of the usurping and also of her papa's death

uh and you need to watch down to navi maybe one day because people are comparing to this but also they say his name is papa i'll have to. Just for the papa. Papa. Rainies brings all this back, and it's kind of a little dramatic, tense scene. Damon pulls the question that every single person on the internet has been asking for seven days, which is, Why didn't you torch the greens? They're evil and bad. And Rainies says, A war is like to be fought over this treachery to be sure but that war is not mine to begin everyone just had to wait a week and you know what this is more or less what they said in the

interviews but i understand that they didn't want to use the line verbatim because a maybe that's spoilery i don't know if there's like an nda thing about it but also like it's it's there it's there in the episode they do address it you know there's a continuity that's going on in house of the dragon that yeah they didn't have in game of thrones but they remember things in this one and i do think when it's phrased like this that war is not mine to begin i think it makes perfect sense that rationale um about declaring war right like rainies doesn't have the power to declare war and you know some people say that like yeah it is her war and like she could do that because of her granddaughters but when it comes to lieges etc like there there is a hierarchy there

and i again think it makes sense for her to understand that hierarchy of respecting i don't want to be the one to start and declare this war on behalf of a the greens or the blacks right um because she knows where that responsibility sits and that's because she was again in that exact same position to make that call more than once in her life she sees that the blacks don't exactly have the allies she literally just saw that they used the time and exploited the time the green faction did to get the leg up and start sending ravens and start making alliances and when you get to dragon stone all that's loyal to them is not a lot right now just like in the main series of dragon stone right like stannis doesn't have rich lord supporting him he only gets his brother's reach leftovers uh even though we haven't gotten

an insight to the tyrells yet obviously and in the books you know they kind of stay neutral but even so the reach has so many warriors ready to spring up so many knights ready to spring up ready to attack have to spring up good call and very good great job you did it well spotted good good job old chap um but that's the thing like they don't they don't have the kind of support right now that could knock down the reach or any portion of the reach uh they don't have the faith on their side that's true alicent has spent a great decade being on the Faith side, right? So I'm not sure the Faith would report immediately to Rhaenyra and her uncle that she married

without leave in a Valyrian ceremony under the eyes of the Valyrian gods. So I don't know. I just, I think there's so much about it. Even later that Rhaenys says, she is particularly impressed by Rhaenyra's behavior and trying not to go to nuclear war like she is although she asked she yeeted all those people in the dragon pit she's particularly impressed that Rhaenyra doesn't want to tear down

everything their house has left in the dragons and their houses just right away we've already discussed the dragon pit and the small folk etc we do think like that is intentional they showed the shots of the small folk as you said getting yeeted for an intentional reason we do think it's set up for the shepherd they literally showed a shot of sheep a shot of sheep oh my god that's so hard to say quickly a shot of sheep the new book from george rr martin a shot of sheep but like it was so unnecessary to put in but that they put it we strongly feel that this ties into that and like i mean the thing is killing small folk isn't a declaration of war it just it just isn't like not not when it comes between

to large political factions unfortunately that's the case um until season two and three yeah well you have to kill like a large amount of them right like larger than that larger than that because it was over and over and over and over and something else that stood out to me in this scene was damon immediately being like the series was assassinated which you know lord beast very also uh raised some suspicions we did at the beginning of the season, have suspicions. We're like, oh, do the Hightowers do this? It does seem a little suspicious, understandably, but at the same time, he had half his face. So not that suspicious.

And I know that this is something that we forgot to discuss last week, but you and I do feel that in a way, the Hightowers did not poison poison the series but but the idea of love is a poison you know that that cersei was talking about with sansa in the main series it'll kill you all the same or he can suffer and rule in his suffering and see how long he can rule for so to an extent it's like you can't be upset with the Greens for giving him some drugs when he felt like shit. Sure. Maybe there were days he could have laid off the poppy. But, I mean, it's both. It's both sides.

And that's actually something I'm really enjoying is that everything is very nuanced. Even the stuff, I had some misgivings in this episode last night when I watched. And today I think they've melted away for the most part. Oh, interesting. Did the dragons melt them away? Yeah. They melted them away. Oh, interesting. Did the dragons melt them away? Yeah. They melted them away. And there's also

something in that he immediately calls Alicent a whore. And Rhaenyra does not. He said that whore of a queen has usurped the throne. And he blames it on Alicent where Rhaenyra says nothing. And Daemon has the anger reactions happening and she

is just stewing and trying to understand she's hurt it does seem that throughout this entire she's hurt yeah she's absolutely just died and she was betrayed right she's very hurt you can see her considering it and trying to understand it in general and trying to piece together her own plan and it's interesting that damon immediately starts to act for her and starts to not act necessarily but just the things he's saying you know his reactions come first not her that's a yeah that's a great point she's as you said considering which i understand i'm a person who likes to consider things before taking action same as you and sometimes yeah i mean she's still just processing her dad died and her i think also processing what that means on an individual

like emotional level but also that means she'd have to assume the throne and then a wrench gets thrown in and then another wrench along with all of that right because rainiera is also miscarrying as this news is delivered yeah she is this kind of pushes her into an early labor it seems i think it's a coincidence but all of it yeah yeah i mean they start to show it during this scene though as she's starting to get pangs and she is in pain so and this leads to her miscarrying and while she is laboring damon is leading war councils so uh this is actually in the book that you can hear her screams while damon leads the war council this is in fire and blood well done i will say we're going to talk a lot about all the little fire and blood references

because some of this episode is verbatim from the book a lot of it i'd say a good 40 to 50 percent of this dialogue in this episode is from the books which is awesome i really appreciated that thanks ryan her sons are sparring in the yard but jace is going too hard on luke um and that's really sad you know the kristen cole style you have that anger and resentment built up and in the background i want to say it's stephan that's watching them stephan darklin and he says now he's not learning anything like go easier on him what is he learning by you beating the shit out of him like this and you can see a lot of Jace's internal frustration starting to come out and him as a

character start to get fleshed out in this episode a little more yeah Jace is like this really I think someone else described the dynamics within the Green's family, and Amon also being very much a parentified child, but Jace definitely is. It's not fair, but also he's the heir, right? Like, he's taking a lot of this really seriously. He's taking Luke learning how to fight seriously, especially, you know, after they maybe maybe it's like a spurred by after that dinner that they had right and being like holy shit Eamon can beat my ass like how can I protect my mom how can I protect my brothers how can I protect my family he didn't seem like this now that I think about it he wasn't like this in previous episodes I do think that now that I uh talk about it out

loud that was a turning point for him and being like I gotta step it up. Yeah that entire episode I think was an eye opener for him in King's Landing coming back for the first time and realizing you know my older uncles, cousins whatever you want to call them in the

you know the incestual way however you relate to me that they are all stronger than i am people respect them more than us even though we're the heirs to the throne yeah it's a lot to grab especially because one of them is definitely not respectable but here he is being crowned whatever here he is um and then rainiest's tele comes in it's interesting that she's the one who delivers this news right who who Who fetches the boys. I guess they just needed characters. But she tells them that they need to go to their mother. And then Rhaenyra, while she is in the

throes of agony, because she's having a miscarriage, delivers the news that Viserys has died. And I love that Luke is like, Viserys? Because obviously he takes it deeply every time someone in their family passes. Rhaenyra's throne has been usurped. I do like that they really kept that highfalutin language of the succession has been repudiated. The succession or something like that. Anyways, she tells... Obeisance to the throne. She tells Jace that no planning for war is to be given without her leave as she sends them off

and impresses upon him, you are speaking with my voice now as the heir. And then Daemon, as you said earlier, continues to war plan as Rhaenyra calls from him in the background and is screaming for his name and one of the maesters is like, or one of the people is like, do you want to talk to the maester?

Daemon makes the Kingsguard swear an oath at Dragonmont, or reswear their oath at Dragonmont he gets up to leave and he says uh oh hold on where's the line he gets up to leave and says I'll show you the true meaning of loyalty come on get the Kingsguard and he calls for them all Jace and Luke come with them uh this is so cool where they filmed this on the Dragonmont in Monsanto they had crazy environmental issues of just you know if it rained it would turn into a mudslide

they couldn't get things up there a vehicle didn't really fit what they needed to bring it up there so they had to helicopter everything up there and they ended up having to make like a miniature town they had to make their own economy and environment for these people to be able to exist up here for filming and it was so crazy uh bathrooms food some sort of place to shelter

very insane that they just took over this little area for a little bit and turned it into a new town what no one's really ever done there i guess at that area of the mountaintop so very cool and it's beautiful i mean it's very beautiful however if the weather changed like the slightest oh man those must have been very rough production days yeah i mean it looks like it they were like i don't know wearing coats and they got their masks on too because like covid and but the people they want entertainment i guess i don't know i gotta say we really got a hand at these people because amazing damon is basically holding the king's guard at gunpoint with caraxes and he's like swear to me swear to me it reminds me of jaharis

with his dragon and fire and blood where rojar has been acting out right he was all we're gonna disinherit them shit we should just put area on the throne at this point which feminist very feminist bro yeah for sure for sure, for sure. Kang Jaehaerys, and why it really makes me think of that is not just the display of power, because Jaehaerys basically says, Rojar's like, so what do you need to ensure my loyalty? A couple of cupbearer hostages, which, again, comes up in this episode as cupbearer hostages. But no, Jaehaerys doesn't need cupbearer hostages because he has Vermithor, gigantic Vermithor who is feasting on flesh. And he says, he grows larger every day. Keep your

nieces and nephews, my lord. Why would I need hostage? I have your word. That is all I require. But Grand Maester Benefer heard the words he did not speak. Every man and maiden child in the Stormlands is my hostage whilst I ride him, his grace said without saying, and Lord Rojar heard him plain. it also quite a bit in some of the different interviews and I don't know I hate I hate Rogar Roger Rojar I'm not sure I say his name different every time I do think I was like this is so extra of Damon to have caraxis here like I thought it was unnecessary but I don't think it's an unnecessary scene I'm just saying like he didn't need to right but? But it is like, in a way, a more plain version of what the Greens did. To be honest, it's very similar to Otto gathering all these lords in the throne room and be like,

all right, time to spare your vows and pledge. And everyone's like, um, I did this a few years ago, and not to that person. Again, where a lady fell and Lord Merrimother, what happened to them, right? Because there is a more implicit threat of death. We see it with Lord Caswell, but person again where a lady fell and lord merry mother what happened to them right because there is a more implicit threat of death we see it with lord caswell but you know here uh he's not sure you're coating it and jace is also like oh my god why is my stepfather so weird i notice he doesn't call him dad he calls him damon he calls him damon and then you can see there are all these little looks between him about damon to damon throughout the episode that they're really setting up some context for this relationship and maybe some distrust and some tension because bringing the lords into a room, into the slaughterhouse, and saying, who dares dissent so I can kill you? That's also what Damon is saying here.

That's, yeah, to die. Knowing, you know, for Jace, this is really rough because he kind of has to go and watch it isn't unlike the bran stark when ned's seen in some aspects i guess in the beginning with the boys where they have to go watch ned kill someone a betrayer it's like look damon will know if you don't look the deserter but seeing how damon rules you can see that jace is watching and thinking is this how my mother would do it is this how i myself would do it? Is this how I myself would do it? Damon says, I'll show you the true meaning of loyalty. And then he says to these men, I'm presenting you with a choice.

But he's not. Caraxes, with his noodley ass neck, as cute as he is, is glaring down at them, ready to unleash flame the moment Damon says so, or the moment that he picks up on a wrong vibe from Damon, as we learn this episode could happen at any time uh it's actually really I mean it's a scene of power is power yeah Damon did this for power's sake which we see him do through the episode we see him get uncomfortable we see him conscious that he is not as powerful as his wife who he crowns queen he does not hold that power. Maybe he even sees her wasting that power in a way

because she's not utilizing it to immediately go blow up the countryside and take her throne back. And she's thinking about others first before their ambitions. But you can almost see Damon is doing this because he didn't want to be in there where those screams were overpowering his war council so he couldn't think because his wife was laboring. And he said, fine, we'll go do this instead.

This is the next fun thing on our list of war. Yeah. Let's go do this for fun and make sure these people are still loyal to us. And you do have to do that to an extent. And dragons are your power. And that's very clearly what he says the entire episode, that our power is dragons.

Our nuclear forces are our powers. Yeah, and that's definitely Daemon's philosophy towards the whole thing. And maybe he has a point, maybe not. Like in regards to you got to make them swear to you, right? And then everything falls because look at what happens with Harold Westerling. Though, I don't know. I know that Stefan Darkland seemed like a little hesitant, but I was also like, I don't know. He seemed on board. He seemed on board with the whole thing. We didn't need to do all this. Everyone was in it. And, but as you said, right, it's the spectacle

of power with the, with the dragon. And maybe part of it was wanting to take out some of that frustration and getting away from there. And I'm trying to whitewash damon at all like i think that a lot of what he does is really obviously like bad in this episode but i'm wondering is part of him refusing to go to rainier a part of it is as you said right he wants this power he's been planning for this war for like lord knows how long he wants to take action right and we've seen that he's someone who likes to immediately he likes to jump first look after is there a part of him that doesn't want to be in the room as rainiera is at risk during this miscarriage and this birthing because of i don't know even though obviously it's more traumatic

for lena who died but the trauma of what happened with lena and not wanting not wanting to be there i mean he's lost three two wives by freak accidents and so two wives have died by that's interesting that you call one of them a freak accident but yeah interesting um what chloe freak accident uh damon in the veil with rhea who could know what happened no one knows oh my gosh but you know like and there's that but also is it that he doesn't want the decision to be put on him again of having to be like so what do you want us to do cut her open um but it also speaks to the trust rainiera has in him to call him because i do think it's an intentional choice that she doesn't usually have other men or or maesters in the room and it's just her and the midwives at that time slash maids yeah i thought

the birthing scene was absolutely emotional it was really well done. They did not cut away. They showed Visenya, who came out stillborn, and it was awful. It was absolutely terrible. And it's all intercut with Rhaenyra and Syrax, which is amazing. So while Daemon is using Caraxes for power over the Kingsguard, you have Rhaenyra in absolute horrific pain trying to give birth to Visenya, and you're flashing between Syrax over in the Dragonmont screaming and I thought that was just great for the grander themes of the bond between the dragon and the rider in this episode and reacting to your emotions and your pain and

interesting in the face of Caraxes being kind of restrained. Yeah I know that know that this is like a scene that kicks everything off in both The Princess and the Queen and in Fire and Blood. And I was kind of wondering, is it me or did it look also like the umbilical cord might have been wrapped around the fetus's neck? It looked like it was wrapped around it one way or another. Yeah. So that was going to be a complicated birth, regardless of whether it was premature or not obviously premature is is complicated and i i thought it was smart the way they did it and had it you know as something that was very stressful and premature and like with with the blood for reynira right as opposed to it being clear or anything because in the books they have reyniera saying get out monster get out

right and kind of painting her in this like really terrible light which ryan condell says that fire and blood is written with a green bias and green propaganda so just putting it out there saying get out monster it's pretty unsympathetic right especially in a world whether that's our current real world or the one in A Song of Ice and Fire, because it's absolutely true in our own real world as well, that women are expected to be motherly regardless, right? Like unconditionally. And the idea of seeing your child as a monster is almost, it's a very taboo thing, right? And it makes sense though, when you put it in the context of the first episode, her life being at stake and wanting this expelled from your body

because it is threatening you, right? There's a real fear that's shown there because of what she knows the risk is to her life with that. Yeah, it's literally life or death for her. And that she got to take it into her own hands quite literally she birthed her so she told her ladies to stay back and there's actually a line where one of her ladies says just keep the same nature you've had this is your fifth you know you or this is you've had five you can do this and that was really sad sweet in a way

that her ladies in waiting there also know all about this there's also something you know the intimacy that was allowed for her to have that child and then there's the parallel scene from the last episode where alicent is watching as viserys is wrapped up and bandaged by the silent sisters and because she's not the heir and because she's not in king's landing giving birth to this child she gets to actually wrap up visenya herself i don't think allison really had a choice to do so for viserys out of love for him i don't think that she had a choice to carefully bandage him herself he's also way bigger silent sisters have to that too but uh i think the silent sisters probably have to right like it's probably impartial that the King of Westeros needs to be taken care of by

the systems of Westeros if that happens to him. Yeah. She's on Dragonstone and has this ability and also that she wouldn't let anyone else do it. That's also very her, that she had to just like when Joffrey's born, right? That she

treks up all those stairs, even though she really didn't have to she could have let Laenor take the baby to go see Alicent or could have even said no the bitch can come here you know if she really wanted to get sassy she wouldn't but she could have she could have said something like that but it was important that she did it herself and this too was important that she couldn't let anyone else do this but her yeah i think she wants ownership over that as well as it's kind of her way of saying goodbye and as you're saying like she's the one who does it right she's the one who sends them off the same as how she was the one who had to send off her mother she was the one who had to give the order for for cyrax or Syrax depending on who you are I'm Chloe and I say Syrax

I say you're Eliana and you say Syrax and I'm trying to be I don't know but they say Rainey's different ways so I don't know whatever don't get me started there's some Valerian that David J Peterson wrote that didn't make it in the show he's been posting I think I mentioned it last week but check it out if you haven't archive of our own look up his account david j peterson who does all sorts of conlang for all sorts of things he did some translations for the following lines that didn't make it in the show that i wanted to share visenya my only daughter born an abomination mayhaps she is a warning from the gods she is an augury born on the day my father died and my crown was stolen. I would have called her Visenya,

but she was not meant to be. So there are a few iterations. This script may have gone through of what they wanted and what they were going to include. And I do wish we could have seen that scene. I love, I mean, I love Amadar C's Valerian and Matt Smith's together they have great

rapport with that and I liked Millie's a lot too. Millie did a fantastic job in the first half of the season so I like any scene we get some high Valerian but there were some scenes written then it seems there were there were and then we get to as you were discussing the funeral

pyre which gets interrupted with I mean it's kind of like a good thing, right? Sir Eric arriving with Viserys's crown in the middle of the funeral, and then he swears to Rhaenyra, which, we love Sir Eric. I know. E for Eliana. I'm gonna be honest, this was so emotional. This entire scene, like these last two scenes, I did shed some tears. Don't make fun of me.

I cried because it was just so beautiful and very sad. And he actually gives Kingsguard vows. They are eerily similar to the Night's Watch. They say, I swear to ward the queen with all my strength and give my blood for hers. I shall take no wives, hold no lands, father no children. I shall guard her secrets, obey her commands, ride at her side, and defend her name and honor. The first time we get Kingsguard vows. Amazing. Thank you, Ryan Condal.

Yeah, and it also tracks with some of what we learn in Fire and Blood, right? Which during the founding of the Kingsguard, we had this line of, Visenya molded their vows on those of the Night's Watch. Like the black-cloaked crows of the king's guard we had this line of vicenya molded their vows on those of the night's watch like the black cloaked crows of the wall the white sword served for life surrendering all their lands titles and worldly goods to live a life of chastity and obedience with no reward but honor a horse a horse of course not a horse. Not a horse. I will say regarding Viserys's crown, I forgot to discuss this last week, but it turns out the whole thing we've been discussing

about the motifs of the binding, maybe part of it is that was just in at the time. Viserys's crown has those lines across it, same as what's on the Kingsguard armor and everyone else's clothes. Oh, that's great. It was just in vogue. Yeah.

Very in vogue. That was the style. It really was. He's serving Targaryen realness to quote Paddy Considine. I don't know. Jaehaerys, you know, Jaehaerys' crown is fine. It's not what I wanted, though.

I wanted the real deal. I get it. Whatever. They have to have some sort of, you know, they have to be some sort of show, show differences in what they do. But Jaehaerys' crown is great in the books. It's the Rainbow Gems, and it's seven Rainbow Gems in a band, and Alysanne has a similar crown.

So I would have loved to see raniera in that one but that would have been cool that would have been cool this is what they gave me instead i'll live with it they didn't even put a bunch of rubies on the conqueror's crown so you know one one little ruby it turns out that agon the conqueror was broke as fuck when he got here he spent it all on the war understandable makes sense it was a big war so the end of the scene has everyone bending the knee to raniera announced his queen as damon crowns her in front of the pyre which i think is very beautiful very sad like the lion king yeah yeah and that actually yes like when luke was looking at the painted map everything the sun touches is yours everything the map

flows is yours everyone is bending the knee except Rhaenys which is a nice tense moment and I actually really love the way she's portrayed that she still hasn't submitted to what Rhaenyra's doing she's there she's

supporting we see in the in the following scenes some moments where she kind of gives approval for her kin to do things in Rhaenyra's council but she's not participating she is hanging back in the book she's described as having been a big part of the dragon conversation and pushing but we have we have Maelys but I actually really like in the show that she is keeping her distance still and watching and observing and it makes the scene after she see after she speaks to corliss that much more powerful right because despite his agreements raniera finally ends up impressing her she finally says wow she could rule this realm that is a queen that i could be behind but here here, she still hasn't bent the knee. Her knees don't bend so easily. They don't.

And, you know, that's what happens as you get older. Yeah, that's for fucking sure, sister. Mine hurt like fuck right now. But, absolutely, I do like that they have her holding out, right? Not sparing two sides. And also, I think it's important that, and we can talk about this a little later with Corlys too like Rhaenyra doesn't hold Rhaenys hostage it actually is a choice for Rhaenys right Alicent was like you're hostage you should swear to me and she was like uh what the fuck then we get the the one of the war councils right there's

like a bazillion of them this one is the post-pyrere one in which Reyna is a cup bearer. She's so sweet. She's so sweet. And also I like that both Bela and Reyna have this spot at the painted table. They are part of these war councils, not that they like really speak during them, which would have been awesome, but that they are in the room and they are there and brought to the table is important training for when they eventually will rule yeah she actually very much makes sure that reina follows her to the table she beckons for her to come after reina offers her her wine after she offers her her negroni actually it's got prosecco come on baila come on uh baila follows her as well but first baila looks to rainies for permission is something that i noticed on my rewatch and rainies nods and gives baila permission and says yes you may go to the table i will allow you which i really like that like you

said she's not being held hostage by raniera she obviously i mean she hasn't bent the knee but she's still kind of supporting from afar and letting her grandchildren be participating in this and learning as she says to corliss this is now our war it is not just their war we cannot separate from it it's too late and she knows that these granddaughters need training to understand that she'd be hurting them yeah it's actually a great point what you're saying because it's not just like she was like what does it mean what does this marriage alliance between our houses really mean is it just like a something to you know appease me right like will bela and reina

have actual like voices and that they are at that table flanking the queen is the opposite of painting is the opposite of chipping away a window in your jail cell yes and it's something that we were discussing last episode that rainies isn't just in this she's in this thinking about the future and what the ramifications would be in terms of like for her granddaughter's future for the future of other uh women heirs lords keltigar massy darklin and bar emin have all declared for renera bar emmet and as a reminder house keltigar uh we have lord bartimos here they got crabs um not in that way the crab is their sigil it's very fun we love them um they are also the blood of old Valyria so that's interesting to note especially because he's the one who calls out like what their what their advantage is

we've got House Darklyn which uh again one of the Kingsguard Stefan Darklyn is in this not exactly in the same way that he was in the books uh he's the one in the books who flees and brings the crown and you know he's supposed to have strong the the house darklin usually has strong ties maybe with the crown in a way especially with queens considering that jonquil dark uh alice ann's queen's guard is from house darklin a bastard daughter of house darklin um and that she was allowed to pursue that path in the first place we also have the fact that house starklin is gone by the main story because lord dennis was like you know it's fun let's hold aries targaryen hostage to get more of what we want and aries was not pleased about that

we also have as you said house mas. There's a couple of them running around in the present day of the story. The most famous is, I think, Justin Massey. He's hilarious. I don't know if everyone would describe him that way. I do. We have Bar Ammon, who also supported Lehner's claim

during the Great Council of 101. And this lord, interestingly, does not have a name yeah not yet who knows maybe he'll get one not like a first name i guess yeah and there's not there's something interesting that geographically rhaenyra seems to have the immediate support of the crown lands right which crown lands i feel like they just like come with a domain geographically for supporting targaryens and dragonstone they're close to dragonstone but they're also not far from king's landing so making them in that close proximity to two of the most royal places in the land gives them you know automatic they they usually support the crown yeah just putting it out there again crusader kings to a game of thrones mod if none of you play you really should it's free to play now i'm pretty sure ck2 is so you can just get that get

the mod for free lose your life it's not a lot of people like those are not big houses they do not have a lot of resources as far as laborers uh yeah it's worrisome. As Damon points out next, which was also an exact quote from Fire and Blood, 30 knights, 100 crossbowmen, 300 men-at-arms made up the rest of the Dragonstone garrison that had always been deemed sufficient for a fortress of such strength. As an instrument of conquest, however, our army leaves something to be desired, Prince Damon observes sourly. They don't have the foot soldiers. That's where we have a big issue.

The Reach has the numbers. Dragonstone has dragons. That's where we end that. That's, I mean, as we see with the dragon pit. In the book, the world is big but little people turn it around. In a chapter, right? The storming of the dragon pit is like, it turns out

if you took hundreds of hundreds of hundreds of very focused people that want to stab some dragons they could they could especially because the people you know were like how come how come you know sunfire and dreamfire and all of them didn't come up and like defend aegon and helena i'm like because they're chained yep they're they're on little leashes in the dragon pit which is i mean what happens also in the dragon pit storming yeah yeah yeah most of their deaths come because they were chained down that's true dragon is not a slave quentin's gets quentin also gets fired up when those dragons are chained yeah 430 men guarding the garrison at Dragonstone and in a song of ice and fire to put it into context Runley has what like 40,000 fucking men of the reach mostly in some of the stormlands so now they don't have

the stormlands they definitely don't have the support. That's a lot of people to go against. Yeah, and they don't have the Lannisters. Yep, as they discuss later. Yep. So they're really hoping for the Vale, which does have usually sizable, they usually have pretty good crops and stuff. And they're hoping for Winterfell, of course.

They're confident in all of their allegiances. Corlys sails to Dragonstone and they're like really hoping he's going to declare for Rhaenyra, but it's not sure. And again, the Westerlyns are out. Daemon would have to smooth things out with the Riverlands, hoping to gather a huge host to Harrenhal. But before they can continue this planning a ship is spotted off the coast it is flying a banner of a three-headed green dragon I'm like wow you just you just threw

all the heraldry out didn't you you were just like we're gonna stop pretending now because they literally did the gold dragon in the last episode I'm sorry not to be an annoying book fan but first of all we literally maybe this is what Otto is choosing or what Alicent is choosing as her sigil, to be fair. Yeah, they wanted that. But Aegon's sigil should be the gold dragon, which we see at his coronation in the last episode. It's not only cooler, not only is it cooler to have a gold dragon, it is also a little, I don't know, sets the stage a little for the Blackfires and the gold. Beneath the gold, the bitter steel. Yeah, the, I can't remember though, golden company?

And I don't know, I'm wondering if that's Alicent's personal sigil now, if she's taking a green dragon as the dowager queen, because this was her that sent the missives. And he does say that he's here for her not for agan he doesn't say he was sent by king agan he says i am here for queen dowager oh my god talk about monster get out that's him monster get out um when you said that when you were talking i was thinking that i'm like yes calling your child a monster is horrible isn't it was thinking that i'm like yes calling your child a monster is horrible isn't it but that's why i'm like maybe this is alicent's new personal sigil she's taking as a green rehatted dragon i love the parallel here that in the last episode alicent was like wow you all plan to usurp renero with my son for years and years and years and now i'm just finding out when i thought about it and here

damon and everybody else has kind of known it was probably gonna come to this and Damon has been planning he has been getting eggs he's like yeah I've been taking eggs from the dragon mount like every other day I'm in the caves every 10 minutes checking out you know if I can lull some dragons out naming off the dragons in the mount that they can use and that they can get other people to hopefully mount uh figuring out allies out loud he's been planning this like he knows where he's going to sail he's like oh yeah i'm getting off at this exit so that i can go to harrenhal don't worry i already have this planned i've been thinking about it for a year or seven or ten he's definitely been planning it this whole time but i guess at least until this episode does

hasn't really seemed to undermine minyura, because you can see a couple of the lords are like, it's really interesting that Daemon's leading all this, and what about that screaming woman that we all pledged to over there? I don't think he's discussed with them yet, prior to this moment in his plans, but he has had it all planned. He's got a spreadsheet somewhere, and he's this is what's waiting yeah he's like i'm ready for this project plan i've got it all prepared yeah i will say it's interesting when they talk about how what dragons they have and reynira is like none of our dragons have been to war the last three that they

do bring up sea smoke vermithor andwing, they actually have all tasted war before. We've seen Seasmoke in war. Vermithor and Silverwing, as a reminder, have both been in war against Maegor. Interesting that Seasmoke was brought up as a viable option to be mounted. I guess we're just never going to see Laenor moving over, moving across that one. Is there something Daemon knows that we don't? Because he's out here also kind of trying, to maybe tame or I don't know, Vermithor we'll come back to that discussion,

but I'm like, is there something he knows that I don't, I don't know. I definitely think he's trying to tame. We'll see. So the greens offer terms. I love Syrax's armor. I never know which way my pronunciation is going to go each time,

but I love that Syrax has accessories now. It's so great uh i loved sirex looks bigger more adult sirex has definitely grown up with raniera i i'm like catch 22 i love that raniera rode sirex it's interesting that fire and blood with its green propaganda says raniera could not fly her dragon right away, which seems like, I don't know, she's a wild girl, maybe she could, but I would have loved her getting on her dragon and going down there as also a show of power, not unlike Caraxes, right? And obviously this is a great parallel to episode two when we had the Dragonstone bridge before, but Rhaenyiera shows up on her dragon as her big show of power and probably good for protection being honest to feel out the situation absolutely it's uh it's it's great and um i guess it's been a few days since after the miscarriage right so maybe that's why like it's got to take

auto some time but who knows how long it's taken auto I don't know I don't know by boat right we should have started measuring this it seems a couple days by boat yeah a day or two Otto will only speak to Rhaenyra to give Alicent's terms so interestingly this is a change right because we know Otto Hightower we all want to punch his face um so it gives a little bit of a better continuity and emotional reaction for the audience here. But in Fire and Blood, it is Grand Maester Orville who goes and delivers the terms. Not necessarily like Alicent's, but Rhaenyra does take the chain from Orville. And is like, you're not worthy of this. And like gives it and puts it on to Girardi's. Oh, which is great.

Because instead she just flings the handspin off of Otto and calls him a fucking traitor. Which is my favorite scene in the whole episode. I love that. She just like takes it. She's frustrated and she like peddly just throws. She's like, you don't deserve this. I'm like, yes, yes, yes. Fucking traitor.

I love it. I love it. It's my absolute favorite. Otto says that if they swear obeisance to Agen, the following will happen. Dragonstone is hers. It will pass to her trueborn son, Jace, which felt very big to me that A, that showed they were willing to legitimize, in their

eyes, her sons if she swore to this and if she stepped down. But also, should ask the Learned Hands podcast on this, right? Does this mean that's a legal document calling Jace her trueborn son? I don't know. Could this be used in a Westerosi court? Either way, they've stolen her house. So whatever, it doesn't matter. But it does show that Alicent is saying, this is your out like I will, I can make this happen for

you. Which is interesting that she feels that that's another part of Rhaenyra's life that like, maybe this is something Rhaenyra wants like she I'm just thinking of these terms coming from what Alicent thinks Rhaenyra wants and what Alicent thinks is a good life for Rhaenyra uh Luke will be the heir to House Velaryon good he doesn't want it but that's okay Aegon and Viserys would then be cupbearers and squires at court. Hostages. On the couch. Me and you on the couch just pointing at the screen going, hostages, hostages. We also have, and these terms are also from the book, right?

That any lords or knights that conspired against Aegon would also be pardoned. And I am kind of wondering, is this like, within the show's version, is this Alicent's doing because she was the one who got to Agen first? Because if it were me and I were Rhaenyra or anyone, I would not trust Otto Hightower with my life whatsoever. I'm not getting on a boat with Otto Hightower where he has control over my safety at all, ever, never, never. Naturally, no one likes these terms they were pretty shit

terms i guess i don't know they were all right i guess if you were someone who's conceding i don't know anyways damon definitely doesn't like these terms and he's just like constantly speaking up speaking over renear and trying to negotiate on behalf of her the whole time the whole entire episode that's like his whole thing this episode uh i noticed that a lot that he is you know 101 training her like no this is what you should be doing it's not even training this time you know he's just like doing he's just doing it's something that like is charming about him in other episodes but now suddenly you're put into a different context right it's really interesting because when you when you do that in a different scenario like this,

suddenly you're like, it's actually super annoying. Well done, I think. Otto quotes Fire and Blood saying Agen has all of these trappings of powers, these signs of legitimacy to prove he's the king, and that they have great lords already considering their proposals. Rhaenyra reminds him those men swore oaths to her, but he calls them stale oaths. That changed when her father sired a son, and sadly she's the last to realize it. You know, in regards to being the last to realize it, I think that's kind of funny, because I'm like, so you admitted Otto Hightower. You admit that Viserys never meant for this to happen, and that you were usurping. I i'm just saying you're going against the king's word

and the king's word is law i do feel for allison because it's like no one believes her and she's like no i'm actually serious she's like literally i am serious it's kind of funny i feel for that girl it's like okay jam whatever honey you can just say that to people but you don't have to say it in private allison you know it's kind of the vibe they're giving her even agan agan as y'all remember is like uh yeah right he's like i'm really sure my dad didn't say that and he does not care for me he hates me one fig yeah she pulls his hand of the kingpin off like we said and calls him a fucking traitor. Fucking traitor. Yes, yes, yes. Best part. Then he hands her the last knife. The final, yeah, the last knife,

which is the page that she had ripped out of Nymeria's book when she said, fuck septas, for the love Queen Alicent and her once bore one another. So, of course, in episode one, she and Alicent talk about Nymeria and how Princess Nymeria led her Rhoynar across the Narrow Sea on 10,000 ships to flee their Valyrian pursuers. She took Lord Mors Martell of Dorne to husband and burned her own fleet at Sunspear to show her people

they were finished running. But on the Torn page, the specific page has, Lashed together with ropes and cables, cables numeria's fleet dispersed at the coming of the first storm sweeping them across the sea east west and south yeah i guess that's that sailor fleeing from the storm thing but whatever um there's a lot going on there there's something that i'm like allison you're sending her the page from the book about the woman that helps to get towards gender gender neutral succession in dorn for terms that would require critical thinking and going against what people think um she should do and i can't believe allison kept this page that whole time she's like when you're a touch didn't give it to me probably presses it to her heart you know every every like few days it's a sad bitter irony of what

it represents and that she doesn't realize that yes she's sending it like begging from her heart let's not set this nation ablaze we love one another this is my last plea and this is what i can give you for the bed that i've made and that I have to lie in and this is yours now. But also that she doesn't realize what a slap in the face it also is. It is. She, again, wants to make a window in her prison, right? She doesn't really understand the truth of what Nymeria stands for for her bunch of people. Also, they're not part of the Seven Kingdoms.

Reminder. Yep. Six. Six kingdoms. also they're not part of the seven kingdoms reminder yep six kingdoms i think it's hilarious that otto says no blood need be spilled even though beesbury is already dead caswell's dead for trying to to let rainier and no and again where are lady fell and lauren merriweather are they dead um and also yeah sure a bunch of the small folk also they are dead blood has already been spilled shut the fuck up otto get out of my face i will say at least he did whether or not he meant to care whether or not otto meant to carry out his daughter's wishes like had raniera said

yes whether or not otto agreed to it i will say that it does seem these are her wishes. Like, at least he came with her wishes and had the honor to read what she told him she wanted. As you wish, right? He said in the last episode, even though he knew how it would go. Even though he knew the answer to all of this and what would happen. No matter what, it means war. I agree,

but keep Wesley's words out of your mouth. Otto Hightower. Damon once more tries to interrupt and she says that she will give her the queen reminder uh she will give her response on the morrow to king's landing bad news about how that goes yeah thanks to sirax you know interrupting and being yeah she's hard of damon finally talking over her that's her inner emotion too i mean that sirax gave a great roar that's how she was feeling she's like of Daemon finally talking over her. That's her inner emotion, too. I mean, that Syrax gave a great roar. That's how she was feeling.

She's like, shut the fuck up. Let me fucking talk, Daemon. And I think that's important, right? Like that even if you're not voicing it, that, you know, again, those subconscious thoughts with the dragons. So we come back to another war council. We've got like a million of these this episode. Rhaenyra does not want to go to war because as a defender of the realm she feels like that would be bad and would also say bad things about her

reign and she doesn't want to reign over ash and bone interesting repetition what could it mean she clears the room to speak to daemon warmonger targaryen and says you as previous heir to the iron throne obviously know my duty is more than crushing oath breakers and has to do with the Song of Ice and Fire. Daemon, however, obviously does not know all of this. It turns out Viserys never trusted him with this information. He is very unhappy, unhappy enough, and he turns to domestic assault and begins to choke Rhaenyra.

While choking her her he says my brother was a slave to his omens and portents anything to make his feckless reign appear to have purpose dreams didn't make us kings dragons did we finally hear the line from the trailer who could have guessed that this line from the trailer was spoken while damon strangles his wife great literally no one none of us could have guessed that. Actually, some people thought it was already like written out of the show, you know? Yeah, that does happen a lot of times with these trailer bits. Yeah, succession is the worst about it. Like if you watch succession, any trailer you see for succession,

you're not seeing that footage in real life. Get lucky. Yeah, they did that all the time in the rest of development too yep amazing amazing renero responds to him and her response throughout this is he never told you did he wow wordlessly that like she understood that because he was you know abusing her strangling her that's how she realized that he is jealous that he is feeling like he has a lack of power and he's trying to power trip on anyone near him he's punching up at her or strangling up at her uh 93 letter jamie in the house viserys never trusted him enough probably to tell him about the song in full or worse damon spoke like this and was like, you and your fucking omens and portents, brother, this is stupid, I don't care about this.

And maybe that's what made Viserys realize he was not a worthy candidate for the throne. Maybe he realized Daemon would never take this seriously. And now Rhaenyra has access not only to all of this power as a queen. Sure, she doesn't have quite the backing that Aegon has at King's Landing right now, but she has access to a whole lot of power. And she's more worried about her realm, right? She's more worried about the safety of the realm and how she can protect this realm than accessing that power and using it. Where Daemon, I mean, I think he sees it. He wants that. He wants to be able to feel that power she she sees him kind of for the first time you can see Emma Dayar sees eye movements here watching Matt Smith Rhaenyra sees someone she never maybe thought capable of doing that but now realizes oh

this was always within you the next scene really ties in right where you have corliss who had just quit chasing this legacy he's like wow chasing legacy power and ambition has done nothing but ruin my house and maybe i should hold my loved ones close to me return home and quit this but damon doesn't see that now damon is chasing that yeah he's chasing i guess power there's also pride there right because he's like aren't he's chasing i guess power there's also pride there right because he's like aren't you angry aren't you angry there's vengeance wrapped into there too right that the high towers stole your seat and maybe he thinks that they actually killed viserys which he'd have a face dude and as you said like the jealousy aspect not just of the

power but that maybe the love aspect too right of viscerys never believing in him we see the outburst that daemon has in like episode three when the messenger shows that viscerys did not show faith in daemon right and finally does something for the good of the realm right by backing this war which is again thinking of the realm in totality as you're saying that rhaenyra is doing and he does that in reaction to what Viserys does and he's doing this again like in reaction I'm not saying like he's doing it because Viserys hurt him absolutely not people are people should control their own reactions and actions to things right that that's that's I don't know I feel like I

shouldn't have to explain that but I'm gonna going to explain that. Like, absolutely, this is Damon's own actions here, but like just dissecting what's going on. And also it's interesting because, you know, when you and I were discussing, because unfortunately this episode did leak early, we did not watch the leaks, but it was a difficult weekend of avoiding things on the internet. And every now and then things would slip.

Like we saw like hints that maybe damon does something right we weren't sure what it was you might have seen a bit more i thought it might be like a slap right like a snap out of it like either way like it's not like excusable it's still you know domestic violence but that it's a trope is interesting considering he's been speaking over this whole time right like cutting off her voice silencing her yes and something else that's going on there is like you know uh damon is almost kind of in this role as you were saying earlier about him in the plotting of reyniera's auto and all this trying to undermine her power uh i will say interestingly it seems that a lot of casual

audiences right they don't seem surprised by damon's actions they they they see this completely in line with the damon that they've seen in earlier episodes so i do want to say that which insinuates that you know many people thought that his progression to this moment was set up well this this turn this or not turned like this action is in line with all that and there's also i think you know you were talking about callbacks to episode two with uh that's enough between damon and ot when Rhaenyra gets in his face and tells him that, you know, she is the thing standing between him and power. She's the object of his ire. And now he's finally acting upon maybe those pent up feelings. I mean, Viserys isn't there for all of it. And now she truly is for the first time he's seeing she was always in pain emotionally and humiliated and that's really what this was over renera too how do two women who are

the queens in westeros two separate queens but how do two queens still get treated this way right you know like it shows it shows that their power is limited obviously because how is the queen of westeros being strangled how is the Queen of Westeros being strangled? How is the Queen of Westeros being fetishized in this gross manner in order to protect herself in a way? Just interesting scenes to contrast from the last episode in this. Yeah. And it's also something that we see echoes within their house, right? That this idea that the people, unfortunately, who are supposed to love you, who were supposed to care for you and protect you,

who are your family, but also maybe your lover, but also your family, don't. We see Viserys no number behind him because he never gets crowned except for with molten gold. We see Viserys do the same things, right, to Daenerys. That's the thing,

right? And, like, even then, it's interesting because Rhaenyra doesn't give it to him daemon she as you said right she realizes he never told you did he right she doesn't tell him the prophecy she doesn't give it to him or give him what he wants and i also kind of wonder is it like a last last gasp to an extent like he's starting to realize that he's irrelevant without rhaenyra i would say so so. With Viserys gone. It's a lot of, I mean, I think this is a lot of, we've been saying before,

this is a daemon that we see in the books earlier on when we were seeing that very roguish side of him. But this is also a daemon that people have speculated upon being in the books, right? The maesters say this is part of who daemon is. And I think he's a complex character. Yeah, maybe there's a part of him that feels an affection for his niece but is it more than his is it more than his pride his masculinity and his desire for power i think there's a lot of this too in his scene with

vermithor we're going to come back to soon there's something with viserys and with ranira and the relationship between all three of these heads of the dragon that i think we'll talk about yeah and yeah it's a it's an exertion of its power it's the only language he knows that's why he only knows the dragons and not the other sides of he's actually trilingual he speaks american westerosi he speaks high valyrian and he speaks power i'd like you to respect his trilingual languages oh my god oh my god uh but but yeah those are the i mean this is the only other kind of power that he knows that that hard power versus soft power speaking of soft power let's talk about rainies and corlees rainies reunites with him

and she tells him she feels abandoned that he abandoned their entire family when he left to go fighting east or when he left to go fighting south now vaymond is dead for bringing the bastard he claims to court and rainies feels like they've lost all everything yeah so you had the domestic drama that's unfolding within each of these couples right and this idea of being a united household but we're looking at the houses within the house. And I love that Corlys goes, I lost everything. And Rhaenys corrects him with, we lost Corlys. All right. They were a couple. They're a unit. They're both parents. They're both this house. They're equals. They're supposed to be equals in this partnership, right? Because Corlys we see follows Rhaenys' advice here. They are both, they've both been grieving all of these past few years.

It's an interesting contrast to Daemon and Rhaenyra, whom we see they are divided. Even in their grief, they are apart. Daemon's over by the sea, emoting, and Rhaenyra is alone as she was cradling her child. And Daemon just looked on, watching her grieve, and didn't go and comfort her. Which, you know, to be fair, that was kind that was kind of what happened with Corley's and Rainey's. But they're they're working on mending that. Yeah, I think this was a great scene. There's this line from him that he says.

It's very John Connington. Yes. I think I reached. Yeah, we were both like John Con. Ryan Condal, we love you. I reached too far, and for nothing. Our pursuit of the Iron Throne is at an end. We shall declare for no one.

We will retire to High Tide to be content with our grandchildren and... But it's too late for that, Rhaenys says. To save their family, they betrothed the granddaughters to Rhaenyra's children. The safety of those boys is at risk while Aegon's king, or while they're alive.

Actually, though, I will say, I expect Jace might, like, if Rhaena does go to the Vale, it might be for Rhaena's safety, right? For A, for putting a dragon rider there for Jeyne, as she'll request, and B, for Rhaena's sake. You know,

maybe he worries, what if something happens to Rhaina now that luke has been killed what if she's next what if amon comes after her uh especially for their role in vagar too as children you know that might be a suspicion beating up they were they were there you know all veiled on him yeah it's a good point yeah corley's doesn't quite like renera he's like everything she touches is gone and ruined and destroyed and he blames her for their son's death which okay understandable but rainies defends her she says renera is the only person stopping the realm from going full nuclear right now in dragon stone yeah i do think it points to when

she refused to run away with kristen cole right that that was serious she was taking her responsibility her duty and the prophecy seriously i came to the throne and also i like that when they're transitioning there to that moment with that voiceover they have reneara sitting and i think on one hand it's showing that she's obviously recovering from this miscarriage but also on the other hand it's i think a status symbol that she's sitting and the others cannot right yeah she's the queen she is the queen corley's descends after this scene with rainies and the lord of the tides turns the tides and joins the war council swearing full allegiance to raniera's cause raniera is so grateful you can

see that rainies has also given her acceptance they enter as a team once more her corliss and the girls but as i said to my bannerman i made a promise to my father to hold the realms strong and united if war's first stroke is to fall it will not be my hand it will not be by my hand renera says what by my hand like the hand of the king maybe i don't know she makes it a point that unlike as we were saying earlier damon and otto they're threatening people for their allegiance right and their vows renera is just reminding people of it right as she points out to corley's that that's how she's ruling right now she's not taking people hostage and forcing them at whatever. She's just like really hoping and crazy. Like that's kind of dumb, but that's admirable.

Corlys tells them that this war, Corlys tells him that his war in games that almost led to him dying has now yielded fruit, that now they hold the stepstones and he has left troops there, which is what Rhaenyra said they should have done in the first place. It also gives them access to the gullet to begin restricting the shipping lanes, which is what Rainier said they should have done in the first place. It also gives them access to the gullet to begin restricting the shipping lanes, which Otto did not give a fuck about in the beginning of the season because he's a big dum-dum and we hate him. George R.R. Martin is very clear that he's very interested in a lot of the other aspects of war, like a lot of these other socioeconomic parts of it, both in the Song of Ice and Fire and in Fire and fire and blood right um here we're kind of looking at those economic ways it can be fought and its impact

which is something that george did right into this so i appreciate that this is being addressed in the show that they are looking at that because i think that's a huge strength of martin's writing i really just appreciate it was brought back and that it meant something right because corley's like literal first line is that he walks into the council and is like, why don't you care about my ships? You know that's what he cares about. He very, very much so cares about his ships, about his family's money,

and how it's being spent, and how it's being used, and how his people and his soldiers are being treated, and maximizing that labor, and maximizing those resources. So it's actually really true to his character throughout all of it. Rhaenys plans to patrol the Gullet herself. And if they can dry out King's Landing, they can press inward and take it themselves.

But to do so, they have to secure the Eyrie, Storm's End, and Winterfell's support. Jace volunteers that he and his brother Luke should take the messages on dragon back. I thought that was very astute of him to volunteer as he does in the book to do so, especially though because he just went and watched Daemon display his power with Caraxes. So he straight up says it would be convincing if we went on our dragons. And you can see when Luke goes, Luke is very unsure unsure he doesn't have that confidence he doesn't quite understand how to leverage and harness that power yet um let alone having some issues yeah he's 14 let alone the connection with his dragon not being quite as

strong as damon sociopath hargarian's connection he's out there like caraxis will eat all of you if i move my eyebrow too hard he's always had had a weaker one, too, as we've been shown. Yeah. There's something notable here, again, hearkening back to the beginning, that Rhaenyra, just like her father, has found the best way to have Daemon at a council and to keep him out of trouble is to give him jobs, to give him tasks. He is out of sight, out of mind. Corley's comments, he says, where's Daemon?

She actually pretty much says what her father said in the beginning, that he's focusing on other activities. He's doing other things. He's on a side quest in order to keep him out of my fucking business. It's kind of funny when you put it that way, because when she was younger, right, she didn't quite understand because she wasn't there during the times that they were dealing with Damon. He was more or less gone from the small council by the time that she was really taking a more active role in it. When she says he never told you, you can see in her eyes that she's like, oh, this all makes sense about you and who you are now.

Yeah, she's like, I understand now why my dad dealt with you the way that he did. I thought you were just like, smarmy dude. She's starting to see that he i mean some of the things that he does as we've discussed earlier on in the episode earlier on in this season right they are some of them are good ideas sometimes you do need to balance the soft power with the hard power and damon shows a great understanding for that right and if they'd work together they could maybe balance it out but it's the different dynamic with reyniera who is his niece and a woman so like there's kind of like I think there's um something going on there but also it is a pretty big task right it's one that he's really wanted to take on because the riverlands are indeed crucial and we'll see that that turns

out to be very fruitful and fire and blood they actually talk about that portion before they get to Storm's End and what Daemon does he does take C Carrenhal first because as we know, Laerys is in King's Landing and then, you know, wrinkles the Riverlands. It's a pretty big deal. But I think Jake and Luke didn't just learn from Daemon's example, right? That's part of it. But as we've been saying, a lot of this is also reminiscent of earlier episodes, such as episode two when Daemon and Otto clash again on that path at Dragonstone. Rhaenyra earlier on in this episode said she was trying to raise her children and mentor them as Viserys did for her as a father and king. But Viserys did cling a little bit too tight, right? Like Rhaenyra

in episode two offers to retrieve the dragon egg herself. Viserys refuses her and she disobeys him because Viserys doesn't always acknowledge her suggestions even though sometimes they would be good ones for example the substance anyways and that would require her being out there right and taking an active role giving her agency as a political figure but also as a dragon rider right it would put her in a bit of danger but she was refused that by Viserys she herself volunteered in that council and when Jake and Luke do the same thing, I think Rhaenyra recognizes that. She recognizes the importance of letting her children

learn by doing in a way that her father didn't let her do. But unfortunately, things are bad luck. It storms end, right? Like she gives this to Luke because it is supposed to be the safe bet due to blood and geographic proximity. It doesn't end up that way, but it was in fact

a calculated and like on paper, it's a safe option of letting your children step out a little bit more and learn to do things. And I think she is trying to do the things she feels her father failed to do as a parent and mentor them while still keeping that peace that he did value when he was a ruler. Sending them individually is an impressive feat. mean it does show yeah that you're not above just coming yourself you don't need an army of men to accompany you to show up at storm's end or to show up at winterfell great point but it is interesting because boros is said to be so rash and she knows that he's prickly and proud she does say so soon right she kind of charges them with each of theirs and it's interesting because it makes you think maybe jace should have gone to storm's end maybe jace should have gone to storm's

end because luke was not ready absolutely was not ready he is uncertain when he gets there he is shuffling kind of i mean how would you hold yourself in confidence when you get there and you're like oh shit my fucking 80 foot, 45 year old teenage uncle is here with his Vhagar with Godzilla. Yeah. I'm like, both of them are like 800 feet tall. Holy shit. Aemond and Godzilla.

I mean, Vhagar. He's tall. Yeah. He's big. I can't get over it. I'm like, damn,

that boy hit puberty in that time skip. But yeah, how are you supposed to, I mean, that's not an easy thing, especially like like she said our dragons have never seen war damon jace gets charged to go to the eerie the lady jane and then he gets double duty to go to cregan stark of winterfell i don't know about that one i liked cregan but i guess i like cregan i bet some other people will say cregan we'll see how it goes you know we get both yeah are so many different ways. Yeah, we could get both.

Luke is going to head to Storm's End. She makes them swear that they go as messengers, not warriors, on the seven-pointed star, which happens in Fire and Blood. And she tells Jace that Cregan is near his age. She hopes they find common interest. And Luke, she says, borrows is a proud man and would be honored to host a prince and his dragon maybe not two princes and two dragons but one prince and one dragon she

says uh she also tells him he has baratheon blood hmm all right rhaenyra all right i mean honestly i guess i understand why meles is holding the gullet, right? And it makes sense that Jace goes on the like longer journey. I guess Rhaenys would have also been another good safer bet to send to Storm's End. That's what I was thinking. Daemon is singing in Valyrian to Vermithor, which I loved this scene. I actually really did love it. It was I love hearing matt smith sing that was beautiful yeah he's good he's good yeah he's got a he's got a great voice yeah does he sing he's actually really of course he is fucker he's good at like everything does he sing in any of

like the doctor who episodes have you heard that side of him before he might hum a little a little ditty but not really he does have some very soft side to him here and there uh to give you some context like the tardis the way that damon is about caraxis and dragon eggs and like the uwu that he like goes into the dragon mountain he's like i'm gonna find dragon eggs today and how he's handling vermithor that that's very Doctor Who. Matt Smith's Doctor is very in love with the TARDIS, and, you know, he's, I mean, all of them love their TARDIS, let's be real, but he's in love with his TARDIS. Oh, okay, interesting. I didn't know that.

Well, you should watch Doctor Who, as I tell you every week. So... Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? You know, historically, I'm going to go ahead and say that yes i would like that that's you're doing great so i looked up to see if david peterson had posted up the lyrics for this because i was really i was like what is this about what is this about this valyrian song so he created this with ty mckell and it is called haros bartasi, and in translation, it's called With Three Heads. And there's something about this that made me kind of think of

Viserys, Daemon, and Rhaenyra as their own little three-headed monster together. Right? They were the three heads at one point. Rhaenyra was training to be heir and training to be kind of the diplomacy. Viserys was the head that held it together as the king, and Daemon found himself fitting in almost as the Visenya, right? Rhaenyra as the Rhaenys and Daemon as the Visenya, as we referenced in the start of the story. So the lyrics translate roughly to,

Fire-breather, winged leader, but two heads to a third sing. From my voice, the fires fires have spoken and the price has been paid with blood magic with words of flame with clear eyes to bind the three to you i sing as one we gather and with three heads we shall fly as we were destined beautifully freely interesting that he's singing about the three heads of the dragon to Vermithor, likely to lull Vermithor out of the cavern and see if maybe Vermithor would be pliable to being tamed or to being ridden, I would guess. Yeah, kind of reminding him of all that. And I don't know, also even speaking of other rulers who were three heads, I mean, obviously, right, obviously, like the Conqueror, whatever, but also Jaehaerys and Alysanne and Septon septon barth also acting as three maybe reminding hey bermothor remember like remember your other writer and it's a it's a very interesting song because speaking of songs of ice and fire there's a lot there that speaks to

is this something else right like why does there have to be three three is obviously as we all know a very important number when it comes to like a religion and b magic and and tales in general but then they talk about the blood magic and binding three very interesting um also set it's important for seto kaiba i mean danny three fires you'll light yeah yeah child of three right that's part of it child of three we talked a lot about this back when we had joe magician on in our john episodes actually uh we talked about that idea of like the three and the three different betrayals that danny will have and john you know he himself kind of has a few different betrayals that happen and they all kind of align. Aemond has it too. Aemond. Oh my god. Aemond has it too.

So three is a huge number for Targs not just in the Heads of the Dragon and in their sigil. Yeah. It's interesting that we finally get a song in High Valyrian. There are a couple times in the books that we hear of a song. There's the Iron Suiter. I want to say they have the Valyrian song and the monkey

jumps off the boat and kills itself. Oh my god, what the fuck? Yeah, it's like a chilling, very high wailing song. And then Tyrion, eight in a storm of swords, a haunting ballad of two dying lovers amidst the doom of Valyria might have pleased the hall more if Colio had not sung it in high Valyrian, which most of the guests could not speak. Probably would have been more popular in popular in the free cities wrong audience but glad that man's a multilingual people just don't like culture these days the monkey understood why can't they yeah the monkey was like this is terrible or was the monkey like this was horribly sung so then we have there we go luke at storm's end uh the guards i i thought it was kind of fun when

he shows up and the guards are like what's going on but you know you can't really doubt who he is i guess it when he claims to be the prince because he also parked his dragon in front of there and then he also just leaves eric's right there out in front which i'm like would i be annoyed if i were dragon but vagar doesn't really seem to mind. I'm also imagining like, how would a dragon valet service make function? I guess it doesn't really work. You just have to, you know. Not without the tamers. That's true.

Who apparently are fight. They're trained to fight. We learned. Yeah, Daemon plans to conscript them, which was interesting. There is, there's this moment when he lands where the guards are confused. When they see him show up, they all kind of look at each other like, uh-oh, another dragon.

I really loved that. I loved a lot of the little motions and context that were happening in this scene between guards and people. It was so exciting when he finally got in. I mean, first of all, Storm's End is gorgeous. What a gorgeous look at it. And when you step inside of that beautiful dome, we have Baratheons. We had all

four of the Baratheon siblings. We don't know which is which. Aemon's betrothed, though, is wearing Baratheon black and gold. Loved that. It was so exciting to see a dark, brunette-haired Baratheon wearing black and gold. Is that why they did it? Because they didn't want to confuse

us with the Baratheons and Aegon's colors, I wonder? Now that you say that and remind us. I don't know. It was kind of hilarious when he enters the hall. I'm like, as an awkward gathering, everyone's just kind of formally standing around the edges of the room. And then they're like, oh, someone's entered. Regarding the design of Storm's End, yes, it is gorgeous. So excited. We were all so excited to finally see it. It's not the way I imagined it, but not in a bad way, right? Like, they've got this, like, huge tower kind of jutting out, and it really does feel like a defiance of the gods, right? A defiance of, like, the storm god, etc. Because you would think that wouldn't be very structurally sound somewhere

that there's like so many hurricanes but it's fun right they said they designed it to be something it doesn't really have any counterparts not in west rose's world nor in our own real world right so they have to really pull from their imaginations to create something that would hopefully function yeah i don't i'm not perfect at visualizing things from the book. Like there are a lot of places that I don't actually have a picture for in my head. So when I thought Storm's End, I did just think of like a drum shaped tower. I didn't know what to think exactly. I let the better artists articulate that for me and give me the creative vision.

But I found that to be very beautiful. Yeah, it was an interesting choice. I guess I kind of imagined it Harrenhal-ish, you know, or Colosseum-esque, you know, very flat and round because of the storms. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that when you got sword in on the dragon, you could actually see where everyone else lives,

like outside of the tower. You could see that there's little domes all populating along the gates and you can see that Storm's End becomes an actual place not just a big castle on a hill you can see how others live there which is cool you don't always get to see that with these castles of where other people live not just the seven baratheons it's harder to be a voyeur without a dragon you know yeah the baratheon sisters don't get any lines which is a bummer to me I would have loved Aemond being egged on by Floris like in the book but that's okay yeah I mean I guess they don't

really keep that that could have been made up I guess and it wouldn't match his character I mean it couldn't match his character actually he does seem he's very prideful right yes kind of like his uncle anyway luceres is when he like you know runs away after the whole thing where uh there starts to be a little little tiff kind of just like the last time we were here in storm's end also like the last time in storm's end uh we have luceres fleeing trying to be set up with suitors just as rainiera did so a lot of parallels there between that episode and then amand keeps trying to remind first of all awesome awesome we got his sapphire eye which everyone really wanted amazing amazing yeah they executed it pretty well it's very very lit. So creepy.

Just like the painted table. It didn't look fake, though. Well, I mean, it was fake, but it didn't look fake. I mean, I thought it was real. It didn't look fake, though. It fit in well. It didn't look chintzy. It didn't look too, I don't know, too CGI or uncanny. It looked like it could be a part of him because I was wondering how bright it would look.

And it actually blended really well with his scar and with his person. Yeah, I think it went well, but it kind of would have been interesting if they had gone for the sapphire that they have. It's kind of like cut, you know, in, I don't know, some sort of way, right? Like the flat surfaces. But there is a way of cutting sapphire slash a specific kind of sapphire that is called a star sapphire that is very perfectly like cut much more round and i'll send a picture to you chloe but like it looks like a little star um is inside the stone especially with the way that the light hits it etc that could have been a fun choice but i am really happy with it i'm just

happy that they did it you know like that's talk about camp having a starry like gem or like sapphire in your eye oh yeah that's cool right it would have been very cool a star sapphire amand is very very keen on reminding luceri said he owes a debt he's like you owe a debt you know what the cost of that debt goes even higher at the end of this episode. We got new debts now. No relief. So I didn't like at first how this next bit started and went. I wasn't sure how to feel about it in the moment.

But on rewatch of this entire scene I think it flows so well and it's written really well. Because as they go out and as he chases him out and gets out on Vhagar and we get that, oh my god, that crazy shot of the shadow of Vhagar over top Ereks's. Oh my god, yeah. It's really good. They did it. When they did that, I was like, congratulations, you guys did this because they fulfilled the scene. They killed it. But...

And Luke. They also killed Luke. luke okay well anyways really like the flow of the dragons losing control because the moment that luke says to eric's eric's you know shoots a flame at vagar as they're fighting and chasing through the sky and eric's turns and shoots flame and immediately luke goes no, no, Eryx and Valyrian, and Aemond hears him say no, and he realizes it was a mistake, and he feels Vhagar jerk in his own hands and start to go after Eryx, and that's when Aemond immediately says no, and he's like, no, no, no, no, no, Vhagar, so you can see that both of these boys are immediately regretting

that they can't control their fucking dragons. And also, you can see that he panics because we called this out when we were watching we're like i knew that boy was the only one in his family from his siblings to learn high valyrian right so amon is speaking valyrian high valyrian quite well he's speaking in full sentences versus like the the jerky commands that uh luke seems to be giving i did not look or learn any high valerian this is my assumption but he panics and when he's yelling no to vagar it's in common tongue aka english he's not doing it in valerian right yeah he's freaking out he's panicking because he's losing

he's losing control of this giant truck in the middle of a storm which again driving in storms is scary he's hydroplaning right now and or just on a plane i don't know that is a semi of a dragon but it does like i know some people are like while we see other people they have a really close connection with the dragons they're reacting to their emotions like we see with caraxis and cyrax earlier in this episode. But I think this is consistent with what we see, right? And how dragons are so in tune with someone's emotions and can fail to heed like conscious commands that both Aemond and Luceres give.

For example, Arya and Balerion, right? I know that our friend Ara asked the question, like, do you consider Arya to be one of belirian's riders like formally ara does and a couple of other people do because i mean she had to have been able to ride belirian to some extent to get belirian all the way fucking back to king's landing like that counts and also it's something that ryan condell actually cites in his interview on the official podcast you know he does talk about that moment he doesn't use like the exact name of area but he is talking about that moment i don't know if like he's refusing

the name because he thinks it'll be adapted one day i don't know i'm just being hopeful but he does talk about valyrian yeah and and those riders and being uncontrollable and it's not just with dragons right when we talk about magic we saw in that one Bran chapter, Greywyn, Summer, and Shaggy Dog are attacking Tyrion, basically, when Tyrion is at Winterfell. And even though we know they have very close connections with their direwolves, they're reacting to the emotions and the fear and the anxiety in that moment. And even Rob is like, oh my god, I don't even know what that was. I'm so sorry. And it's also even reminiscent of speaking of family members, in which you do and you don't intend. Something of very hot debate, the shadow baby that is set on Renly, right?

Yeah. Stannis being like, I didn't actually want to be responsible for killing my brother of kinslaying, right? But like, where was that in Stannis' subconscious? Because he's the one dreaming that he's the shadow that kills rendly right so that that sort of desire but lack of it and then also of course danny's dragons we see that throughout her entire plot of being able to control them absolutely like drogon eats the shepherd's daughter and danny's like wow i definitely didn't want that and her wondering how do i heal like call my dragons to heal right like and drogon

being like daenerys let's go on an adventure out into the dothraki sea and she's like what the fuck we need to go back and we have in danny 10 when she laid the whip across drogon's right side he veered right for a dragon's first instinct is always to attack sometimes it does not matter sometimes it did not seem to matter where she struck him though sometimes he went where he would and took her with him neither whip nor words could turn drogon if he did not wish to be turned and then also we see you know quentin finding out the hard way like dragon's gonna do what they want a dragon's not a slave even from the very first scene we got in the entire show xerax is being chained and put back away into the caverns but a dragon is no slave

yeah even to your emotions they're in tune with it and they're a way of kind of manifesting your desires and unfortunately sometimes we don't always like desire good things don't we don't want our desires to be careful what you wish for yes and we see that imaging throughout

the entire episode between Damon and Caraxes being cool and collected with one another and feeling powerful and in control raniera in pain in her labor shot shots between her and cirax screaming uh and then eric's and vagar and vagar making a big old ericryx Luke sandwich and then deciding that she doesn't like the taste and dropping it. She's like, oh, that's not very digestible. That was rough to watch. That was really hard to watch that dragon ripped in half. That was damn. And dragons don't like sushi.

You know, they like to cook their meat before they eat it. Yeah. She and she couldn't light them up in the rain easily. So she just let him go yeah i could just let the little parts go down fall to the ground and amen going i made a huge mistake yeah and i have to say i love that he was just a super villain like an anime super villain in the sky just cackling he was just like villain laughing through the clouds but i do now like kind of that concept too of like words are arrows arianne right once loosed they do not return and amand is out here

he's like come here nephew i'm gonna cut your eye out just like you did mine come on buddy uh and it's also kind of like you're still playing a game. Amen? Because you're on your giant fucking old flying nuke. You're in the sky chasing your nephew to get his eye. What did you think was going to happen? What did you really think? I mean, dragons don't plant trees, especially not at fucking an altitude of that high, motherfucker. Holy shit.

Like, what did you think she was going to do? Yeah. She was going to eat him. Come on, Amy on especially if she didn't know you know she's been trained as a machine of war in many ways you know i like that you called out like that he's treating it still like a game because auto thinks he has to remind alice i'm like this isn't a game yeah you know like and i mean that's the whole thing you know in the game of Thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground. Amen. They're not even on the ground.

There is no middle sky. This is going to be huge. I mean, this is this is exactly what Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, everybody talked about this episode about not wanting to cast the first stone. I don't. Neither did Alicent. about not wanting to cast the first stone i don't the person who's innocent which is silly because it's like obviously that gives them a moral insurance and high ground to the people right like the important part is that they do not want the people to foresee them as the first ones to have started this war amand made a huge mistake as we see on his face he knows he made a huge

mistake because now he has to go home and interface with his mama and say mama i have made a terrible decision on accident without actually deciding it ish yeah oops it is an accident but it's also like his fault just like you know if you're speeding in a storm with a semi just come come back to driving again. Play stupid dragon games, win stupid dragon prizes. Mm-hmm. Or not win? Die? No middle ground?

I will say I do wish they had, uh, I don't know how they could have exercised that more. Maybe just had Aemond lean all in on it. But I do like the uncertainty of it, and i can't wait to see how he brings that home and how that's taken in king's landing yeah and it is like fuck around and find out and i also am like luke's 14 he's an idiot right amon's not that much older

than him we saw we saw baby amon not being of like that different of an age from luke and and just series right and you know what teenagers are fucking stupid and do dumb things with cars like when you know my partner's cousin was like you know what let's put a pool in the back of a pickup truck no and as they were making a turn turns out you know the car might turn but the water keeps going in one direction and then next thing you know he's flying out of the car and his leg's not at the correct angle. That's like this, but everyone survived, thankfully. Thank God no dragon came down to chomp him in two. Yeah.

Well, then we get to that scene. The final. This is it. This is the last scene of the show and it's wordless. It is Rhaenyra at the fire and damon damon who the entire episode has undermined her and kind of been a shit ass to her in his grieving in his way of grieving and his emotional issues the way he was working through them his abusive tendencies raniera is at the fire just watching and damemon has to be the one to come and tell her that Luke has been eated and yeeted by Vhagar.

Christ. I'm guessing that Ereks washes up at Storm's End and maybe Boros has to tell them? I'm not sure who would have told them, but I'm sure they get word somehow. but I'm sure they get word somehow. Realistically, I would not want to be the one to tell her that my entire keep is responsible for somewhat of the death of her child, or, hey, your kid left and drunk drove in the sky after partying at my house is really what it comes to. He didn't drunk drive.

He wasn't drinking. He didn't have time for a drink. It was a very short stay at Storm's End. He was attacked. So it turns out I I kind of let Aemon chase after him. Sorry. We see later in the story that doesn't go well for people who suddenly

tell them when that happens and their entire town gets vengeance taken down upon them and murdered. Right now, Rhaenyra is a much more benevolent queen than she will be in the future seasons. Benefit of the doubt is now out the window you know i mean it's more it's a powerful scene right like they talk about

you know in the interviews emma darcy's talking about you know you think you know grief once you've lost you know your father or or um i forgot like another family member right or your lover right but now em uh rainier is experiencing it the death of a child and as we know like that's father or, or, um, I forgot like another family member, right. Or your lover. Right. But now, um, uh, Rhaenyra is experiencing it, the death of a child. And as we know, like, that's, I think a big thing in the series. It's something George is interested in, in, in exploring with how that affects Rhaenyra. We see how it affects Catelyn over and over that grief. Right. And we see it with Alysanne, right. How that eats away at her and i do think like i'm excited to see how this goes next season right because her reaction upon luke's death is

like no holding back we're going to war like that's obvious from the acting you don't need you don't need the words you know what it means as she turns around and looks at the table and the camera. That in contrast to how Rhaenys and Corlys, right, they react to the deaths of Laena and Laenor. Obviously, Laena died in childbirth and chose that herself, but they're talking about, you know, they have long suspected Rhaenyra of killing their son, and yet they didn't go to war for it, right?

Like, so it'll be interesting to see how they react to reyniero's decision when they had been so restrained so that was i mean the floodgates are open it is kind of a slow show and tell for her that you know at the front of the episode she's like i don't think that this is real i don't think i don't know if she necessarily would do that let's just figure it out we can figure it out and now she's like oh shit damon was right about one thing those bitches stole my crown and they killed my kid yeah oh and then we'll get blood and cheese yeah i really look forward to seeing how that plays out i uh i think there were a lot of really strong parts of the season and a lot of great buildup for season two.

There are definitely a couple of weak parts. Episode nine stands out to me as one of the weaker episodes. However, paired with this episode, episode nine is great. Like if you watch these two in succession, in succession, ha ha. If you put them aside one another. We did get a trailer. That was the other best part of last night. If you put these aside one another. We did get a trailer. That was the other

best part of last night. If you put these next to one another though I think they make a really compelling story that tells a lot about the other and I

definitely think that the Black Queen standalone is very strong. I think the Green Council mixed with the Black Queen is stronger for the Green

Council but not for the Black Queen. If that makes sense. I agree. I agree. The Black Queen is stronger for the Green Council, but not for the Black Queen. If that makes sense. I agree. I agree. The Black Queen can stand on its own. Absolutely. I just don't think that episode nine worked.

Yeah. And she's going to have to. That's part of her storyline. Rip. Eliana, if you had to pick one favorite thing from the entire series, whether it's a sentiment. Oh, the entire season one. God, I don't know if I could. Maybe, maybe Rhaenyra, Alicent's standoff with the knife.

I think that one's really strong for me. The swearing scene for Rhaenyra. Powerful. But also, also yeah that one's good and also i mean how that parallels right the end of this episode oh brilliant like both of those together they do a great job of making it a very cohesive season um this is recency bias the petty throwing of the pin how about you what do you what about you what would you pick i love the weirwood shot did you expect this to be thrown back oh yeah i i had a feeling you might do this to me yeah so i had to i was thinking while you talk um yeah definitely i like the weirwood scenes uh obviously the addition of

alice in renear's friendship and built up in this manner really helped the tensions of course helped a lot of this kind of drive home for the finale uh i love the dinner scene and jace and helena dancing and the song being played while they dance oh and uh that that beautiful round shot where viserys is watching everything that he fucked up at but at the same time everything he did build like he did obviously kind of fuck it up with his stagnation not stagnation uh but at the same time like it was beautiful and it was bittersweet and it was this moment that he was like maybe they will be fine without me maybe they will be able to go on and of course it didn't it devolved it but it was just a perfect scene it was a very well done scene the song especially and probably yeah oh it's probably a toss-up between her coronation honestly was amazing but also um like this coronation

or okay her coronation in this episode out at the pyre and what it means for you know death to pay for life for death to give that life to the rebellion but then also the scene where she's begging him to come to court and help her when she's in his room in episode eight eight yeah in episode eight when she's in his room and she says that the weight is too much to bear if you love me and you love my children, then I need you. I need you. And I thought that was really just beautiful. I think Emma de Arce did such a crazy, amazing job with the age up on Rhaenyra and that time jump and being able to bring some of that same emotion, but at the same time as that same emotion, being able to also subdue it in a way, like to show a changed Rhaenyra,

not just the plucky Rhaenyra we met in the beginning of the season. I thought that was great. And obviously, anything to do with Olivia Cooke or Emily Carey are big standouts to those four. I mean, the main four are God stand out. They did a great job. Yeah, absolutely. It feels like a lot of your favorite moments are in episode eight and i do think i think yeah that's probably the strongest episode right of the season i will say like you know when it comes to game throne seasons episode nines are like notorious but every now and then they did the big moments in episode eight or like it would be an eight and nine like for example the the the set right exploding right wasn't that an eight or maybe it was um i

don't know one of the battles something like every now and then it's in episode eight the sept was i think that was oh oh never mind not the sept it's one of the battles like a couple of them every now and then they do the big moments hard home i think hard home was an eight home was an eight um i want to say wasn't watchers on the Wall in episode 8? Maybe that was a 9. Either way. I think that was a 9. But I mean, the show can't follow that same pattern because next season there's no way for it to be a pure

episode 9. There's so many things that have to happen throughout the season to keep the show and the plot moving that are big fucking things. Jace's death and the gullet getting the kids swept away towards the end of the season. That's huge. Rainey's death will the gullet getting the kids swept away towards the end of the season that's huge rainies's death will have to come an episode before that or so in order for the impact to mean something to us uh there's so much blood and cheese it's gonna be straight bangers it's uh

while season seven of game of thrones didn't have a lot of substance it's gonna be the same amount of like killer moments i think as a season seven. Literally killer. Literally killer. Yeah. And hopefully with filler. I agree with you. It can't. It can't be the exact same.

It cannot be the exact same formula. A because of the moments that happened. But B, I think it's strong that it wasn't right. And that rather than it being like a flashy net execution or like big battle, whatever um even though we have those moments in this that the the core moment that like i think defines things as you're saying like a lot of your moments are in episode eight that it's episode eight and that it was a huge emotional rather than like spectacle it was actually not rain rainies coming out of the dragon pits floor that wasn't it it was viserys's death and you know god that was yeah it was very emotional and i think it was a culmination of the hard work they

did in the prior episodes i think a lot of people acted great point as if they were maybe bored in the first few episodes and the pacing was too slow and i think a lot of people had issues with the time jump and the pacing but but I really felt comfortable with it. I was able to fill in some of the blanks. And there are some things I mourned for. I mourned for more Lena Velaryon, for Harwin Strong and Rhaenyra's relationship that was kind of off screen. The wedding scene. Yeah, I mourned for a couple of those things, but I got over them very easily. And I do think that it was fulfilling otherwise.

And I think the the slow burn at the front of the season did great payoff slow burn yeah yeah though slow burn oh god well i'm just i agree i agree like it episode eight wouldn't have hit the way it did if they hadn't i think as you said set all those up well emotionally yeah so i i'm happy i'm happy about the season i had a happy there's things obviously yeah i could be happier but like i'm still really happy you know yeah so a huge thank you to um god the whole production cast and crew everything they did for this it was a beautiful show it was 10 sad emotional funny horrific weeks and while i'm very excited to get my life back a little bit because it you know sunday nights and sundays they became religious

holy days uh it will look back on season one fondly yeah i enjoyed family dinner that was my other favorite part but i didn't really want to open with it lead with it my favorite part was enjoying it with you. And not just you, but everyone listening. You know, every week it's been great to rehash our thoughts. Sometimes it's been immediately and we haven't been able to get all of our thoughts out, but there are so many other great podcasts and people writing blogs and reviews

that I know there's no need for us to cover at all. You wonderful people have that. So thank you to you guys. You all listening right now, too. You're one of my favorite parts, too, because I know you have some wild takes, whether you're tweeting at us or you're on our Discord. We've gotten to read some really insightful thoughts and insightful interpretations of the show.

It's just also fun to have something, you know, there again for all of us and also strong memes this season. But as you said, you know, thank you to everyone who's who've been on this 10 week journey with us. Well, there's still a journey you can take with us. But if you're more interested in this dragon dance, you know, see you again in 2024. Yeah. Otherwise, come. But it'd be great if you stuck around. Yeah. Come hang out. Come chat Bran with us while we're on our journey with Bran. The hero's journey with Bran at our normal A Song of Ice and Fire reread podcast. Not so normal, though, because we read POV by POV. And there are a couple other places you can chat with us if you're

going to miss us for the next couple of years. If you have any thoughts, I don't know. Maybe we'll do a retrospective, but I don't know if we will or not please don't hold us to that but if you want to keep up with like if that happens you can always find us on twitter.com slash girls gone canon that's c-a-n-o-n or you can shoot us an email at girls gone canon at gmail.com i almost forgot how email addresses worked there oh you give me so much shit doing this. I legitimately did. And if you haven't already, please like, subscribe, review at a podcast platform near you. Throw us some stars, throw us some words. We are on all of them.

Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Acast, iHeartRadio, Audible, Amazon Podcasts, and more. And of course, you can always find us on patreon.com slash girlsgonscanon, where patrons in the $5 tier and above get access to bonus episodes. And this month is the Kingsguard and if you want to hear us talk about the dance even more we do have a series of like five to six episodes four to five episodes four to six episodes about the dance based on what we got

in Fire and Blood yeah we cover everything dance and we also cover the life under the regency of Aegon III everything at the very end of the story as well. And we have a couple episodes like House Velaryon or Mothers slash Milfs of the Dragon Part 1 and 2

with further parts coming to you eventually. We also have a series on the Free Cities and we are working our way through that slowly but surely as well as a new series we're starting this month at our Patreon on the Kingsguard. We're going to be talking about the Kingsguard briefly this month

and hopefully next month we're going to talk about a little different, the Queensguard. So a little relevant. The Queensguard! And that's not all. We also have monthly events. We have a brunch slash happy hour that happens every month on either a Saturday or Sunday.

We did just have our last one on October 23rd. We will have one in November. So stay tuned for your harvest feast brunch information for Discord members in the Thunder tier and above, 10 bucks up. And we have been doing these great weekly discussions. Our friend Maddie's been hosting them at our Discord. We've had such a blast with them. A huge thank you to Maddie for keeping these going uh the only green supporter i would trust really

is maddie i'm gonna be really honest did i just out her as a green supporter i'm so sorry the only impartial person i'm just kidding but maddie no maddie seriously a huge thank you from the bottom of our hearts from both of us because it has just been a great thing every Friday 2pm to have this discussion going with our patrons on the episode this week and next week a little bit of fun, a little memeing, a little arguing, it goes great and that's over at our discord

for Thunderdeer patrons yes, again thank you everyone for your help you know, in terms of the community that we have. And also just, again, joining us on this journey, listening and watching this series with us all over again. You know, I have been one of your hosts, Eliana. And I've been another one of your hosts, Chloe.

You know, maybe the hot D was just the friends you made along the way. Maybe it was just a hot D. Thank you, Chloe, for unleashing the D, though. I'm glad that you were here to unleash it with me. Time to release it. Time to release. We're going to unleash it, put it back in our pants. The D is no slave, Eliana.

The D is no slave. The D is no slave eliana the d is no slave no slave goodbye