House of R - ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 3 Reactions | Talk the Thrones

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson are back to break down ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 3, “The Squire.” They discuss their favorite moments of the episode, Egg’s big reveal, and what it all means going forward. (00:00) Intro (1:20) CR’s Recap (6:30) Favorite Moment (9:37) Is This Show a Hit? (12:17) The Egg Twist (19:56) Aerion Brightflame (25:47) Aegon Targaryen (32:56) Targaryens and Incest (40:24) Alice and Her Three Fingers (43:01) Humfrey Hardyng (46:33) Robyn Rhysling Hosts: Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, and Joanna Robinson Producers: Aleya Zenieris and Carlos Chiriboga Social: Jomi Adeniran Lighting Director: Sarah Reddy Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to by Borris Head. What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli? Well, Borishead just did that. Bursting with flavor, perfectly seasoned with that indulgent taste that usually means pointing your whole day around it. Presenting the Friars turkey breast only from Borishead. The backyard tradition now available behind the counter. Visit your local deli today.

Discover the craftmanship behind every bite. Borershead committed to craft since 1905. This episode is brought to by. Viori. When it comes to clothes that score high in both comfort and style, Viori is my MVP. Sunday performance joggers, oh yeah. They have the perfect. I could watch a game and then go out to dinner vibe. And the metapant, that's my number one. I need to look like I tried option. Get 20% off your first purchase at Viori.com slash Simmons and discover the versatility of Viori Clothing. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Oh, and welcome to

Talk the Thrones. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at the ringer joining me in the studio, as always, is Joanna Robinson and don't call her Alice. It's Mallory Rubin. We are about to talk about Night of the Seven Kingdoms episode three, huge episode. We'll be back right after this. Wow, a fisting gesture from Mallory. Really good stuff. Yes. We have no idea what that was in reference to, Mal. Oh, Chrissy was a special lad born but a rest of thumb. We're not putting her names in that song. No? Okay. Nobody else updated all of the lyrics to be about one of their co-host. Interesting. Alice earned it. Okay. Yeah. We're going to do...

Oh, Chrissy. I was like, who's Chrissy? Chrissy. We're going to get into this episode. One of my favorites of this season so far. It's only been three, but it's pretty high up there. We'll do the recap. How about that? Oh, man. What a treat. Okay. We're going to do the recap right about now. All right, guys, the recap for episode three of Talk to Thrones of Night of the Seven Kingdoms. What's this one called? The Squire. Squire.

I guess I know why. All right, let's get into it. Egg wakes up and turns into Bob Baffert, which is one of my favorite horse trainers, although he was brought down in scandal and disgrace, right? Did you not know your favorite horse trainers and you don't know what happened to him? I didn't know we were going to have to backcheck your horse takes live. I was just ready for you to make a reference to the silver hair. now that we know who egg is.

No, eggs out there horse whispering. He's got thunder ready for the dunk tournament appearance and who should come upon this squire just doing on the drop training. But Robin Risling, a one-eyed knight who really cares about horse ownership. Once Robin moves on, Duncan, I get back to campsite stuff which essentially entails sewing patches,

talking pubs. Great moments. And singing songs about the Targaryens. And since the first day of the journey is just for one seeds, nights of high birth and renown. So instead, they head into town to get some ingredients for some sick Westerozy bacon, egg, and cheeses. Hopefully they got the salt pepper ketchup.

I thought this looked absolutely delicious. And I think that egg and dung should enter top chef. I mean, they should just work at like a small farm-to-table Los Angeles eatery. I think the bread-to-meat ratio was a little off. Sandwich looked a little dry. That's a chunky, chunky, dry. The one thing that could top their sandwich, getting blackout drunk while watching jousting.

breaking up this reverie is plumber who tries to get Duncan to go in on a gambling scheme that would make Terry Rozier blush. You got a lot of sports references today, man. Allegedly. Because nothing is been proven about Tyroger's. Our legal team advises, allegedly. He wants dunk to Best Lord Ashford's

kids so that Savvy Betters can clean up on the upset. It turns out that Ashford is underwater with his daughter's pageant. Would that be Gwen? Gwen. Gwen? Gwen.

Gwen. She's a tough one. And his son is Andro. So Ashra needs to cash out. Mulling this over, Duncan Egg, go to the Jouse to check out Aryan Bright Flame. Hell yeah. A goat piece of shit in the Game of Thrones universe,

which is really saying something. He's competing in the first round of action against Humphrey Harding. Egg lets his Philadelphia Eagles fan out and shouts, kill him. But key viewers will note he's cheering against Aryan on his second pass, Aryan, which I really pretty close to calling him Aryan, and I might as well, right? Like,

yeah? I think that's the point, right? On his second pass, Aryan kills his opponent's horse, leading to pandemonium in the crowd, with the spectators turning on Aryan for being a horse-killing son of a bitch. This is a party foul in the Westrocy world. Vibes are much different.

Just in Westroles? I'm generally, yes. We're generally anti this. I kind of have a little bit of a zag on this one, but we'll get to that. What? Look, you're jousting. What? Okay, we will be preparing our formal reply and so will thunder and egg. You know how like in soccer it's like hands part of the body sometimes?

The horse is part of the man. No, he dipped his lance too low on purpose. He was trying to stabbing through the nurse. How dare you? I would want to see a booth review on it. Okay, you know what is permissible? I mean, the mountain didn't agree. but Loris, like my mare is in heat.

We're going to do a little bit of dirty pool all in the spirit of good fun. How did the tourney? I want to win. Okay. Spearing a horse through the neck. Intentionally. How fucking dare you?

I just, I just, I want to see slow-mo replay. The vibes are much different in Lionel. This is available to you on HBO Go. My God. On Lionel Baratheans never-ending rave tent where a bunch of nights are singing about a poor girl named Alice who apparently had three fingers and probably never imagined such a fact

becoming the stuff of pub anthems. And yet. And yet, how do you think you spell Alice? Do you think it's ALYS or ALI-C-E? The subtitling said AL-I-C-E, but in Thrones, I just always assume there's a Y in there. So I'm going to hope and assume that the proper canon would be ALYS. No. I can't wait to talk about this song.

Will you be doing a rendition? No. Dunk and Eggmews on heroism of the aforementioned Alice. And then have an impromptu visit with a fortune teller who tells Dunk, he will be richer than a an egg that he will be king and die in a fire. Very chill. Spoilers. Very chill.

She split up and Dunk visits with Raymond Foswey who expresses some anti-Targue sentiment. This is about the horse, but, you know, more broadly than that. At the puppet show around the way, Tanzel gets caught making light of dragons in her show in front of Arian, tough crowd, who proceeds to start breaking her fingers. This is too much for Dunk, who throws Arian off of her. Once Dunk is restrained in one of the most sinister line readings of the franchise, Arian asked Dunk, why did you throw your life away for this horror right before getting curb stomped or stage stomped? Dunk is saved by Egg.

Who is revealed to be drum roll. Agon Targary. Agon Targaryen. Agon Targaryen. Heygon Targary. You can say it. What? I'm so relieved.

What a shock. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming. You deserve a break that actually satisfies. Sweet Green's new wraps have got you. Real ingredients? Zero shortcuts. Everything you love in one hand. Think green goddess chicken.

Garlic aoli. Crumbled bacon. Corn salsa. 40 grams of protein. Made to keep up with whatever comes next. New sweet green wraps hit different. Order now at order.com. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity, to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptide and should not be used with other terseptide-containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known

if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop, Zepbound, and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zep bound with a sulfonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea,

diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit Zepbounds.lily.com. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty, limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda. Perfect for a picnic or brunch, as is their trending mango, Yuzu chantilly cake. But if you're on the go, new 365 strawberry pretzels make a great sweet snack. That sounds delicious. Get savings with yellow sale sign storewide and everyday low prices on 365 brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring. Save at Whole Foods market.

Joe, is your favorite moment the last moment of this episode? Yeah, so we can finally eff-and talk about it? Yes. It's not Lionel Barathean dancing and singing shirtless. It might be Robin Reisling. I'm a big fan of this guy. No, Mallory and I have been so frustrated that we've not been able to talk about this. I don't know if you're frustrated at all that we've not been able to talk about this.

I'm still stuck on this worst stuff, but yeah. Yeah, interesting. How did you feel about what Arian did to Tanzel? Any commentary there? No, I think that was fucked up. That's the price of being an artist, don't you think, in this modern world? No, but... Mallory and I were just exchanging some frosty texts about this last night

because the Game of Thrones official Instagram has been dropping these massive, cheeky little hints where we've been trying to play by the rules and not reveal that this is Agon Targary. But now we can talk about it, which is really exciting. We can talk about knowing who he is. We obviously still will not spoil all of future history. We're going to be behaving ourselves in that respect.

I don't know. What's a spoiler anymore now? Actually, I'm at sea. I remain, I've loved the show. I've loved all three episodes. I thought that this episode was wonderful. And the amount of delightful storytelling, humor, charm, big reveals that packed into this tight little package,

really impressive. I do remain perplexed by the decision to not just say, this is who this story is about, you know, from the jump. Not because it is invalid to, in a six-episode season, have the end of season three, mid-season end on a big reveal on a big note. That's great. But because it was, I think, and maybe this is our bubble and our algorithm, impossible to avoid who Egg really was. It's the first sentence of every Wikipedia page. You Google one thing you're going to have

it spoiled. It's all over Instagram. So I wonder how many people this was actually preserved. Or I would be curious to know. I would be very curious to know. We've been having this debate on the deep dives where I'm just like, I am sure that there are some casual viewers for whom this will be a reveal. Which is great. Who is a casual viewer? who really enjoyed this reveal? My wife. Yeah. And Van said the same thing about Carica.

Yeah. Fantastic. Like gasped and cried for this reveal. My wife Phoebe was just like, oh shit. Yeah. That's him? Exactly. Wonderful.

And so like they exist. Yeah. Whether or not they exist outside of because you guys watched. She was like, why does he shave his head? Is it because he's blonde? Right. Like she was like kind of getting there. But like it wasn't bothering her.

And she wasn't like, what's the deal of this kid? Just telling me. Little tougher in the book when they have distinctly purple eyes to accept that everybody doesn't know there's a show, sure. Certainly some people for whom this will be a reveal, but the majority if you spend any time online, how could you avoid it? Yes. I think even

in early, I would I think if I'm remembering correctly, the announcement of this series did suggest that a little boy who would become blah blah was in there. I don't even know. I'm still like trying to keep it a secret. Zangar Degger-Dargarian and I think in the initial announcement

for the series there was a like a declaration that that was the case, but I could be wrong. So here's my question, Chris. Like, this is something, you run the notes on the show and I put this in anyway because it's a question for you, which is that does, we were talking about this on the deep dive. Does this show feel like a hit? Like, HBO released some numbers. But I'm curious sort of like, have you been hearing from people out in the world they're watching the show? And do you think it can be boosted by establishing what the stakes of this sort of small scale story is? This is an origin story for, I guess,

I don't know how much we can say, but... Figures of consequence. An important term, Gary. Sure. I think that it's doing fine. I mean, like, it's number one on max. I think it's like six and a half million, six point seven million people watch the first episode.

I think it's the kind of thing that will have some word of mouth because of its quality. That's my hope. I always think it was going to be a challenge to sell the non-dragon Game of Thrones show, which is sort of strange because the first few seasons of Game of Thrones, the dragons are first an idea, and then they're just like, little cute

little guys. Little guys. Just little guys. You know, bobbleheads. So, um, Foco pops essentially. Yeah,

they are. Many of Funko Pop. And so, yeah. Yeah, I do think that it's been interesting to go around and have people be like,

oh, right, is that good? You know what I mean? Like, instead of being like, I've been watching every Sunday. I've definitely dialed in. Which is a bummer

because it's great. It's so good. It's delightful. It's so assured and its tone and vision. I'm really, honestly. I kind of blame hot D for this.

Well, for sure. That's a factor. if, yeah, people are a little burned off of like season two of House the Dragon, but like I'm very curious if word of mouth, as you say, like this is a show we all agree is great. And then just knowing that, okay, this kid is a, or people say you have to watch through episode three. And maybe people will binge the first three episodes and not have to like sort of sit in that suspense of I don't know what the stakes of this show are.

I don't really, I mean, I still am a little bit frustrated by the idea of a half hour week to week show. So like I think it works with sitcoms. I think it works when we were all like, it's Thursday, it's 830. I'll turn on this. But I do think there probably would have been a desire if you put the first three up and then did the last three week to week. I think that would have been interesting. My least favorite model is the hybrid model.

Drives me fucking crazy. I don't mind like a two episode drop or especially three episode drop is 30 minutes. Yeah. You know? I don't like the Amazon model of like here are three episodes of the boys and then five weekly. It's like confusing to me. But I do think you're right that having more story for people to fall into right away, frankly, getting them to this point. Because I think you're going into Game of Thrones, any kind of Game of Thrones story, and you're expecting such a significant, dense piece of storytelling.

And this is so comparatively light, even though it has a lot of information in it, if you're listening for it. I think that people are maybe a little bit thrown off. Now, I will say, tell me if you agree with this, this is the exact right time to drop the twist for, how long the season is and how much time people have spent with it. We've basically been in this world for an hour and a half. Nine minutes or so. Yeah, about, give or take. And I think if they had waited to the end,

if this was like the end of the season was this, or if these episodes had been an hour long and people have been like, what is this wrong about? Like, what is happening here? I think if it was the right timing in the season given how they've constructed the episodes. Yeah, I really agree. I think that this first novella,

in general, the novellas that this show is going to be adapting are incredibly well-paced and well-structured. And I think that the show, in following that very faithfully, but picking spots to expand or add or tweak slightly, has been really expertly-paced, whether it should have aired in this fashion, you know, that's, I think the debate is totally valid. But to put something that could have been a season-concluding moment in the middle, my hope, like we've already talked about, is that that would just propel a lot of people to say, fuck, well, what's in the back? half of the season. Sure. You know, and like, obviously this episode ends not just with the, you know, I cut it.

I didn't want to look like you, brother, moment of who is egg. Egg is a Targaryen. But what Dunk has done. Dunk is in such a perilous place now. And we have the thematic richness of him doing something that, of course, feels like. Nightly. Nightly. Syvaric, honorable.

Yes, right. To him, this would be the right thing. But where does it leave him for the next three episodes of the season? So my hope is that people are, like, very excited to find out more. about who these characters are and where they find each other moving forward. Can I ask you a question?

Was there an opportunity, let's say if they didn't want to do it this way? But Ira Parker is very, and I love this adaptation. I think it's incredible. He's very dedicated to directly adapting this novella. Was there a way to let the audience know who egg was while it's still a mystery

to dunk or anyone else around him? Like to have this reveal for dunk in this moment, but the audience gets even a little bit more information than we got, you know, you could argue that. with the mention of Agon and Darren have gone missing. Right. That...

An egg gasping when he sees the Targaryians. I was like a check on the camp. Yeah. His like avoidance of the Targaryens and also his hostility towards him. His knowledge of knights, his knowledge of like the financial backgrounds of knights guard. Loves fishing. Yeah, exactly. He just loves fishing.

I think people probably were getting a little bit more clued in on it. But it's an interesting question. Like if you basically do a two-track story where it's like A-Gon Targaryen undercover as a stable boy and this nice guy he meets who doesn't know he's Agon Targaryen. Like it almost would be fascinating to shoot this more from the POV of Egg where he's like, now I have to step out and reveal myself to save this person. What's really interesting about that point and your question is, if you would ask that a couple weeks ago, I would have said, well, what they've told us about how they're making the story

precludes that possibility. We are firmly exclusively rooted in Dotspeer in this episode. This episode opens with we're in the fucking Egg and Thunder show, which let me say. I buy a ticket for every day. I thought it was just delightful and charming in every respect. But that did then in hindsight make me wonder, oh, could we have been with egg in a couple other scenes where Dunk wasn't? Can I just say like how, I mean, the Egg and Thunder show was so good, but how upset Dunk was when he came back because he was like so sure that he had left him and taken the horse. and he was just trying to be cool and then sort of is harsh with him

because he was so nervous and upset and sad. And having to confront not only the fact that he's one theft away from having literally nothing to his name anymore, but what it would mean emotionally he went from just having Sir Arlen in the horses to now just having egg in the horses and it's like, what would it mean if

egg left, he would have no one. And the way that he falls instantly back into performing a squire's duties in the absence of his squire, I'm sewing. I I stoked the fire and got that going was a really subtle way to show us that he has made a lot of progress. And we should remember, like, this is mere dates that they have known each other. When Egg is saying, well, you keep me on after the tourney before Dunk knows who he is.

It's been a couple days that they've been in each other's lives and the bond that has forged and the reliance on each other. I love the moment with Thunder and Egg where Egg talks about his father. Oh, yeah. That, yes, but also like his father and what his father thinks about horses. And we can see that Egg already is adopting things that Dunk has taught him. about the world in just a couple days. So the impact that they've made on each other is supreme. And obviously we get a lot of lovely egg moments in this episode

before the big reveal, you know, sitting on the hillside. Like, I could be happy in a place like this. Well, assess that scene now that we know that he's a prince of the realm. He grew up in Summer Hall. He goes to visit his grandpa, the king at the Red Keep. Like, you think about that moment then in an entirely different way. We're going to talk about Mr. Eamon and all these other characters. I was thinking a lot about Aria with egg in this episode.

You know that real like, that's not me idea. That's why Ira Parker has been, when talking about inspirations for this show, talking about the hound and aria, because Aria in disguise on the road, like we couldn't really talk about why, but that's like why it's such a good comp here. Extra perfect to have that come to mind for us while Egg is literally using a sewing needle given me like a needle of my own change for Aria. I also, I love that. I also think that like the move that Egg makes at the end of this episode,

Egg does not need to do this for Dunk, right? This is, you know, he'll be fine because he's a Targaryen prince, but he is destroying his own little adventure because he has an honor code of his own. And he is, you know, he's like, we're all Dunk has. And if he loses the tour, you won't even have us. Sure. And knowing that, like, Dunk is about to get stage stomped as you put in,

I was like, oh, my God, they're going to curb stomp him. Like, I can't believe it. But, you know, that he puts himself on the line for Dunk, the way that Dunk put himself on the line for Tanzel is like he's already learning the lessons that his new father figure has taught it. If this was a sports movie kind of Game of Thrones show,

you would be just so anticipating Dunk's entry and then Rocky-esque triumph in the tournament. But I think what we're getting is this guy is being tested the way knights are tested over and over again. And he's just passing flying collars every time.

You know, like whether it's his kindness towards people or whether it's seeing what's good about people or trusting. You know, like, he just keeps being rewarded for making the right decisions and having a good heart, which is like a really nice side of this show and a nice side of this series because it's often mired in incest and interfamily murder. We will get to incest today. Mired or booed, who knows.

But I think I also just like want to talk about the mechanics of how that moment plays out. I love the way it was shot, like a sort of, dun, dun, done, like mystery. reveal moment where we're like zooming in on all these shocked faces. Raymond's there, Tenzel's surprise. He's like, he's like telling like very specific members

of like the bodyguards. He knows their names and he's like, get the fuck off of him. Or you'll answer to my father who's not here. But also, wait until my father hears about this. But like also the music of this episode, Dan Rummer's music,

not just the songs that we get in this episode, which as you know, I'm a huge fan of. But the music, there's this like fiddle jig that plays during the Thunder and Egg show as you have named. it and the music reveal at the end here.

I just love the tone it's setting for the show. For as sweet and lovely as this episode was, my favorite part's Aryan. Like my favorite... It's not like a piece of shit. It's just like it's an edge this show needed. I sometimes wonder like, oh, are we going to get...

Like, can they keep coming up with real asshole Targaryens? Like, can they keep manufacturing these guys? Yeah, guess what? And it's kind of like, you know, it's like the Dodgers. Never count them out. They can always spin what they need to spend. Finn Bennett, we've talked about a couple of times

before he got like one brief moment in episode two. Gets a little bit more to work with here. I imagine we will see more of him now that his conflict with Dunk is sort of at center stage. But just an incredible sadistic piece of shit. I'm a fan. Yeah, co-sign. The performance is fantastic.

The character is wonderful. the way that he is referring to himself as a dragon in this episode really calls to mind one of our other favorite piece of shit targs, Viseris, from the beginning of Game of Thrones and then you think of Jora like he wasn't even the shadow of a snake, you know, let alone a dragon. So I think the thing that I loved most about Arian in this episode is the way that you take Ariens response to the puppet show, right? The dragon ought never lose. Okay. You take what he does in the joust against Sir Humphrey. You know, there are other ways to express yourself in a different way.

Work through the rage and the feelings in a different way. Let's find a productive way to process all of this. Okay, he does what he does in the joust with Humphrey. There's the little, this is like a, there's a moment in the novel about this the way he kind of just like a little nod to Baylor, like a real like, I don't give a shit about who you are. And Baler's reaction to what he does in the tourney field. The fact that he was after Baylor's son, right? Well, he basically mocks him.

Right. He's like makes him think that he's going to knock on Valar's shield and then doesn't and he calls out Humphrey Harting. But he's like, don't worry, I'm not going to embarrass you today. Yeah. And then what, it's not just what happens with the horse, right? It is the response from the crowd. Which there's still like some debate about, yeah.

Among some viewers. Can we hear your hot take? Many people are saying this is fine. It's not fine, but it is jousting, right? Oh, sure. They're not playing pinnuckle. So it's like bad things can happen. Uh-huh.

And, you know, I just, I just think that I would, I was surprised by the crowd's reaction. Did it make, so when the, I will not be facing you in the list after you've revealed this, but so a member of the small, the small folk throws a rock at Ariane's head. Yeah.

This coupled with what we hear from Raymond, which is just border, this downright treasonous and shocking to hear him say, which we'll talk through. The rock from the crowd, I thought was like a great touch and fascinating because you tie that with the response Aryan has to the puppet show and what Raymond says,

and it all falls under this umbrella, Baylor's face when he sees the rock thrown. it makes you think back to like season two of Game of Thrones and Joffrey taking a cow pie to the face, but this is a Targaryen dynasty, right? And so the fat, what does it mean? It made me think of like Taiwan saying to Jamie, like, we are no longer a house to be feared, if X, if why, if they can take one of our members of our household, right? So Viseras Turanira and Haddi, everyone says Targaryans are closer to gods than to men, but they say that because of our dragons. Without them, we're just like everyone else. There's not a person in the realm who would have thrown a rock at Aryan Targaryen's head in

the middle of Ashford Meadow if he had a fucking dragon who could come burn them or eat them. Because you just get on the dragon and torch them. Yeah, yeah. As we mentioned on our deep dive, one of our listeners called this Targaryens in their flop era. And that is like 100% here. But like Baylor is, he's doing all of this work to, to like fix their reputation. And he's just like, look at this fucking piece of shit. My nephew sucks so much. Think about where they are. This is. isn't like, oh my God, we're playing in the Super Bowl. Like, they're in like basically a backwater second city kind of.

Yeah, they're at like a triple A house. The only beginning is like, I can't believe we're here. Like, this sucks. Dad made us. And Aaron turns it into like an absolute disaster. PR nightmare. Yeah. Yes.

Absolutely. And I think that I think your point about the crowd turning on him undercuts what you're saying. Yes, it's a joust, but what we saw in the, in last week's episode about the jousable. We saw, he shouldn't be getting after the door. Sure. I understand that you're kidding. Yeah.

But something that they went out of their way to show, not 100% easy to follow, but in the night joust that we saw in episode two was Leah Longthorne, like, once someone is in danger, he like pulled his horse aside, fell off his own horse to avoid hurting and opponent. So they're play acting war. They're not supposed to be actually injuring each other, you know? Yeah. This is foul. This is abhoring.

Yeah, there are. There's decor in the world. of Westrose, believe it or not. I think also, we talked about this on the deep dive, but I think also the way they've used Dung's relationship to horses and egg at the beginning of this episode talking to a horse as like this save the cat, you love these guys, these guys are horse girls.

Yeah, they care for animals. So this is like shorthand for these are good guys. They love horses. And here comes Arian, stabbing one in the neck. Sure. No. He lost a lot of people. Not everyone.

No, Chris is still in a state. You know, he lost a lot of people. Here's a good way of putting it. One of my favorite genres of Instagram videos is Tom Brady throwing hospital balls and guys getting like concussed. And it's like, I know it's bad and we shouldn't be targeting. But it's your algo. It's your algo, baby. Because he can't stop watching.

I just can't stop watching. This is like Bill revealed. Do you, okay, Bill revealed to me that he gets like a lot of like bar fight or street fight videos. Yes, I know that. And we determined that it was perhaps a result of being a football fan. Yeah, I think it's definitely that. It's just also built. I just never been served.

And I was like, I don't understand that side of the album. How much can we talk about who Aegon is without having to talk about what happens to AGO in the future? I actually don't know where the line is. I'm curious where you think it is. Okay, for instance, where is Agon in line for the throne? Nowhere close. He's the fourth son of the fourth son.

So Darren the second is the king, as we've stated. He has four sons, as we've mentioned. Baylor, Aries, Regal, Mekkar. Egg is Maked. Acar's fourth son. His sons are Darren. Arrian, your favorite. Maister Eman, which we can finally now talk about. This is the master yet, right? He's off at the citadel. He's at the citadel to learn. Raymond kind of changes the time frame slightly with what he says, but he's not, and he should be off of the

citadel learning already. And then egg. So he's the fourth son of the fourth son. He's nowhere, he's nowhere near the throne, but he is a prince of the realm. He's a prince of the blood. But here's what I want to say. Okay. I guess that's where Mallory is setting a line. I'm going to nudge it a little further and say this. If you want to hit 10 seconds ahead, Joe, we'll say this and keep it brief. I'm just going to say an inspiration for Egg is T.H. White's story of King Arthur and Wart, who is a young prince who doesn't know he's a prince or whatever.

But the point is that he grows up among the people and doesn't know what it is to be a prince and what kind of ruler can that turn you into. Yes. Right. And I think that is like a really fascinating story to tell. And like, I don't think this is spoiler to say. The novellas are called Dunkin Egg. So this is not the last Dunkin Egg adventure that we'll see. That feels like I can say that. Yeah. Absolutely. And so the point is, they're saying like we're going, you know, yeah. Right. So the point is many Targaryen leaders of whatever stripe, prince, princess, whatever, have toured Westeroz on Dragonback. Some of the best leaders, you know, Jaharis and Alassane, who were a reformer king and queen. We talked about them when we talked about House of the Dragon. They cared about the small folk.

They changed a lot of rules and laws and regulations to try to better people's lives. They still toured the realm from on high on Dragonback. Egg's going to do it on horseback. And that will probably inform who he becomes. Who he becomes. Sure. Possibly. On the like what's a spoiler and what isn't a spoiler front, and Mastream is a good way into

this. You know, again, this is kind of like all out there. Aryan Bright Flame releases the era of his ways. Because of passion to advocate for animal rights. Exactly. Found the good heart inside. Fabled, loving leaders in all of Westrose. Creating a strong governmental support for the arts. Or a patron.

Exactly. The Aryan Bright Flame Center. He's seen with his hair, his Fitwatch. Like, he likes to do already to express himself in all sorts of interesting ways. Whenever you're on like the PBS Drive, it's like Bright Flame is at the top of the donor list. Bright Flame is just a wonderful moniker, though, it is. The Bright Prince, Bright Flame, it's great. I want your moniker power and can get the end of this season.

Okay. I'm asking you're asking about did Aryan name himself Bright Flame? Yeah. Do you feel like we can say why? Sure. Yeah. Go for it. There's different kinds of Targaryen madness. This particular dude kind of thinks he's a dragon. It's my kind of guy. Self-belief. So when he's like the dragon shouldn't lose, it's because they don't have dragons, but he's like, but we kind of are dragons. As he says in the house. He sees it as an attack not only on the idea of their power, but... I am the dragon, so... What he represents. And he's like that blood confetti? Uh-uh. Not on my watch.

Once again, puppets... Just compliments all around to Tanzal and her uncle and the puppeteers because it looks just... Maybe he's just disappointed as VFX have gotten so much worse. He was never a fan of Surwin of the Mirror Shield, you know? George Lucas did with so much less money. Bring back Floreon the Fool. On the Mr. Eamon front, you know, it is a thrill to now be able to... talk about this because you can think back to any number of moments from Thrones with

Mastor Eman. Some of those, if you go revisit those scenes in full, we should say, we'll just contain full spoilers for the future of Egg's story. And who these characters are, just as was the case in Hot Day, is just flat outstated across the shows. And so this is a tricky spot to be in. This is why I'm a little confused as to what is a spoiler and what is it. Because I think it's even I'm like, they should have just said from the beginning, this is who the story is about. I think it's even trickier than with House of the Dragon because what unfolds from the events of, has such a direct, a character who is alive now is alive in Game of Thrones, bearing on what happens with John Snow, DeNaris Targary and all that sort of stuff. And so what is happening here is so consequential to the Game of Thrones story that we are all the most familiar with. And so even more than Joffrey giving a tour of Decept and spoiling House of the Dragon.

I'm just a fan of history. Mastor Eamon, when he dies, Mastor Eman dies in Game of Thrones. It's okay, most people do. Says, egg, I dreamed I was old. That's his dying word is egg, I dreamed I was old, because he's thinking about his brother and he's like remembering when he was a boy with him.

A moment like that, I think you can talk about and whether if you, a viewer of this program or this television show or spoiler a verse, I don't think that spoils anything. No, not that. That Mr. Eamon saying like when he's looking at Gilly and Little Sam, right, like, there he is that laugh. Egg laughed like that. One of the first things I remember, you can now feel

those connections across time and across the tapestry of the canon and moments like that. You can even think to the John point, the famous season one scene between Mastor Eamon and John, the love is the death of duty scene. Yeah. Mastor Amon is talking about not only egg, but Mekar. Yes. In other members of their family in that conversation. So if you want to better understand all of those connections and everything that they represent. We're going to have a three-hour podcast coming for you in just a few days, but also you can revisit those scenes. And some of that's just waiting for you. This show, to some extent, House the Dragon exists in this kind of funny, newish,

microgenre where... It's like Lucasfilm doing like... Just we're circling the drain on the... Yeah, so we're doing pre-cools because we don't want to change anybody's relationship to the mothership show and make anybody be like, John Snow is not who I thought he was. You know, like, they don't want to mess with that, or Kit Harrington doesn't want to mess with that. And then... But it's also not Napoleon, where you're just like, yeah.

I know what happened to him. You don't, it's not a spoiler to find out. But it's not and or where it's purely imaginative and only Tony Gilroy knows the roadmap of how that happened to get to the Death Star. You know what I mean? Like it is in books. It is in novels. And those novels also have connective tissue to other novels.

Right. And novels that have yet to be finished, you know? And that's a little bit more complicated to talk about. But we're trying to like let people enjoy it. I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of what is hopefully 13 seasons of Duncan. I don't want that. And that will go through, you know, into the future, into things that I could talk about. But I just, I think the reason I'm itching to talk about it, and which we'll talk about in the

spoiler section of our podcast, is how consequential what happens here is. It also imbues the show with a lot more, even more meaning. But you can watch it and you can still enjoy it. I have a couple more things from this specific episode I wanted to get to. Are we going to talk about incest? Do you want to do that? You want to do it now? Do you want to do it later?

What incest? What did you think of Raymond breaking out not only the, the blood magic, but like the ins, what he says about the Targaryians. He says, they're incestuous aliens, Duncan. Blood magicers and tyrants who've burned our lands and slaved our people, dragged us into their wars without a moat of respect for our history or our customs. Then he has the great line about finishing on your wife's tits and then admits that he learned them from Stefan. I've got extant from Raymond.

Very memorable start to finish. I thought this was interesting. Again, it's of a piece with what we were just talking about with Aryan. First of all, the whole doctrine of exceptionalism, basically allowing the Tarant to continue to practice incest earlier in history, we all talked about this during Hot D, was just, they got away with it because of the dragons. That's it, keeping the line pure.

They don't have that anymore. They don't have the dragons. Now people can say things like this and challenge them. But also, as we've talked about the Blackfire Rebellion, 13 years ago, the wake of that war, the toll of that war, the dance previously, incest had a pretty big role in the dance of the dragons being the war that it was.

Right now, though, why I thought this was so interesting is like this is actually currently this exactly, this exact moment, not a very incest-heavy, incest-forward period for the Targary. We're marrying Martell. We're marrying Martel. We're marrying Dane. We're looking abroad. Baylor's married to a Dundarian.

My girlfriend from Camps. Kind of, yeah. Aries is married to a Penrose. Makers married to a Dane. They're really trying to shore up alliances in Dorn or the Dornish Marshes or the stormlands. It's much more about political might and reassuring the strength and the footing that the dynasty is standing on.

But it was just recent enough. Aaron the second and Damon Blackfire are both children of incest. So the war that still cast a shadow overall of this was very driven by the fact that these Targs couldn't stop fucking each other. Even the fact that Damon Blackfire was like in love with the family member was kind of a whispered, is this what this was really about for a lot of people? So they haven't escaped that. Even though they're not currently fucking each other, they were recently.

And they will again. They will again. Not a spoiler, just like these dudes want to fuck their sisters. It's just like how it goes. Can I share a tidbit with you that we can now reveal? So when A is talking about the shooting star at the beginning of the season, his mom is from House Dane, where the Sword of the Morning Arthur Dane. Young Morning Star, yeah.

This idea, that still gets me. This idea of the falling star is connected to his mother's house. So he has like a personal reason why that would be such an interesting omen for him. something we could not talk about because we couldn't talk about who his mom was. Right. Well, we're, you know, I mean, he's getting a lot of omens thrown at him in this episode. Yeah, what did you guys think of that?

The Fortune Teller scene. It was awesome. Great. What can I say? Okay, here's what I think we can say. So the Fortune Teller stops ducking in the market. If you watch this franchise, you're conversant in prophecy. That's exactly it. You're conversant in the importance of prophecy in this franchise.

What happens when Circey hears the Maggie the Frogs prophecy. Right. Obviously, Egg on the Conqueror's dream. Look what prophecies and dreams did to

Viserius. We talked a lot during Hot D about what Damon hears from Alice. That's right. So prophecy after prophecy, the substance of what

is said here to Duncan Egg? Interesting. I think more interesting question is what do characters in fantasy stories in general, but in a George R. Martin story in particular,

this is an idea that he's obsessed with. It's very central. What do characters do when they hear a thing like that about themselves. What decisions and choices does it lead them to make about their own life? And this is

additive. This isn't in the book. This is show additive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, Ira. Interesting. Taking a couple dollars. You were impressed with adding the song lyrics. But my God, how about this? How thrilled were you on the song front? Obviously, Alice's song is just an instant.

An instant bangor, chart top, and classic. But you've been all season wondering would we get the hammer in the anvil? I know. And it was great. It was so good. I could not be more thrilled. So that was eggs, like, vainy, spears. Exactly.

Yeah. Okay. One more thing for. That's a great rendition. One more thing for Mekar to resent about Baylor. Baylor's song lyric is about his gigantic cock. Should we also talk about standing in his arm? So Mekar isn't here, right?

Aryan, bright flame, piece of shit that he is, behaves himself a bit better when daddy's here. But daddy's gone looking for egg who's right under his nose. And Darren, who we met in episode one. And we can now say that the drunken muddard. Lord who said, get the fuck away from me, I dreamed of you, is Darren Targaryen, another Targaryen prince. Was there, was there any super significance to Aryan challenging Baylor's son? Not in terms of, like, the show itself, but like, in terms of, like, what would that do to Baylor and what would that do to Baylor's kid to have him kind of, like, taunted that way?

Well, we already talked about how Valar in the second episode when he's jousting and Dunk's like, I bet he's going to be the best. Meg's like, I'll take that bet. Valar kind of sucks. And then Plummer popped up and he's like, you guys looking for some action? You're talking bets? Right.

So I think that Valar is getting a very soft treatment at this jouse and being put up against people who will not embarrass him. And so Aryan showboating around. Like, there are ways in which Maycar would be upset with what Aryan did. But there are ways in which he wanted Darren there because he didn't want just. his brother's son to get the shine. Better older brother's son to get all the Targaryen shine. We talked last week about Baylor's hair color

and how for some in the realm they'd be like, you're not a real Targaryen is also Mr. I'm a dragon. Definitely looks at his uncle Baylor and at his cousin Valoran is like, check this out. Right. Right. Look at this platinum sheen.

I'm legit and you suck. So he wants to embarrass them. He wants to prove himself superior. This ashy tone I got on my brief job. Yeah, it's very good. What did you guys make up? Can we talk about this Alice's song scene a little bit more? There's a version of this where like...

Can I just say? Yeah. I love that you put Ravel tent in your recap here. Really, really good stuff from you always. When they talked about the vibe that they wanted to capture at this tourney... Glacenberry. Well, they mentioned Burning Man. And I was just like, Lionel Barathean, this like pan figure, right?

This horned god figure is... Just got Burning Man going in his tent at all time. The subtle clues that this is kind of, not a joke, because not the tournament is a joke, but that these guys are like, this is all bullshit. This is an excuse for us to get loaded for like a week. That the Targaryans are like,

what are we doing in this backwater town? That plumber is trying to set up a throwing of the game, basically. And that's what we're dealing with. Like everything that's supposed to be, like the only true person. in this entire story is dunk. You know, the only person who's just like,

I am going to try and do things the right way. And I think I understand what a knight is supposed to be is dug. And everybody else is like... And Mallory's best friend Steely Pate. I would say it. I do love Steely Pete. The armor.

The armor from episode two. Oh, okay. I just didn't catch us me. I'm sorry. Everyone else just came to cheer you on. He didn't leave an impression on you? Did the lyrics of Alice's song leave an impression on you? Do you want to do a textual breakdown of this?

I'm just curious. How's the meter? How's the rhyme scheme? I thought it was very compelling. Who made more of an impact? I hope we get more than one verse in it. It's like, oh, we did. Everybody was contributing. I mean, I thought that the Laughing Storm did great.

Manfred Dundarian redeeming himself a bit in my eyes with his contribution here. The chorus, wonderful. What a beautiful way to capture shared community. Who do you think has made more of an impact across history, West Rosey, or a real world? Alice. With three fingers. Three fingered hob. Three fingered hob.

or Three Finger at Brown The pitcher? Correct. You got to pick. Do you want to tell him who Three Finger Hobb is? Are you a big deadball-era

Pitchie guy? Yeah, Three-Finger Hobb, you remember him? Night's Watch. Chef? I don't remember, no. Okay, so it seems like Alice is your winner. What did you make of the like, there's a version of this where the scene happens

and we come on a podcast like this. The characters say nothing about hope or honor or the way that, oh, and they don't even remember your name. And we come on a podcast and we textually analyze it and say those things. And people are like, you guys are crazy. Nuts, right? But they incorporated it into the scene.

Do you think that's what you do or do you would make more fistic gestures? I mean, I like to think that our podcast contains multitudes and why not. But a lot of positive feedback on the House of Our episode two thumbnail. I know. Great work, Carlos. Really good job, Carlos. The question, this is obviously funny, it's goofy, it's silly. Tales grow in the telling.

Tales grow in the telling. What is, what's in a name, Egg, who is currently still hiding who he is, the identity that you craft for yourself, who people think you are, right? But like, how does the myth and the legend, whatever it might be, build over time and what do people remember about what you did? And I think also, like, it's interesting that for, I do, it's interesting. I put it in the book. But it's interesting.

Like for Alice and Dunk. This question of... This would be a different kind of show. For Alice and Dunk. The tales of Don't... I mean, I would watch. But it's like a very cripples, bastards, broken things. Classic Game of Thrones idea.

I wrote Wear Like Armor in my notes. And if I egg, it's the opposite. It's like, can you... Could you find the ability to live a little bit more freely and purely than you were brought up to live? Sure. It's interesting. I definitely... I don't disagree with you.

I think you're on to something. Oh, Alice. With Brink. Was there anything else in the episode you wanted to discuss before we get out of here? I do. I have a couple people I want to talk about. I want to talk about Humphrey Harding. Oh, yeah.

And why this matters what Aaron did here. The guy whose horse got killed. The guy whose horse and his... Shattered leg. Shattered like a baking dish. So Humphrey Harding, we talked about this on the deep dive. But for context, when we had the like five champions who started the journey in the first place, it was Lord Ashford's two sons.

And so, like, he's like nepotism, right? My two sons are going to be in here. Leo Longthorne, the Tyrell, the Lord Paramount of the region, right? Yeah. Prince Valar, the heir to the heir to the throne. And Humphrey Harding, because he's such a fucking badass. So this guy was just like the hottest shit, did not need a name or rank or whatever to get in there. He's just like the baddest bitch in the realm.

And he's like, I'm going to show you all what it means to joust. And that's who Arian was like, I'm going to take that guy down. Do you think Aryan thought I could take this guy one-on-one? No. No. He didn't even try. On the first he did one pass on him. Come on.

He did like a faint. He had his plan the whole time. The whole time. And Egg knows right away. Raymond knows right away. Arian has a certain reputation, but also it's clear. And Dunk is not prepared to admit it because it, as he says in both the novella and the book, he's like, well, he's just like, how could a knight do that and how could a print?

do that. Right? Like, I, it is such an affront to his ideal. But that's also a throughline of this episode. I thought that was present in the plumber scene too. On the, like, I don't know what is a spoiler or what is not a spoiler front. I will say this very carefully. I will not give any specifics about the characters in question, the context. I'll just say, in a future plot point in a later novella, match fixing is a plot point. So I was baffled by the inclusion of this here, because I think that kind of makes, it's going to make it feel like a little less. Oh, I don't agree. When that happens.

But the flip side is, it is maybe priming us for the fact that this happens, priming the characters for the fact that this happens. Okay. And there's like, I liked the energy from Plummer of the like, you know, I believe we're both men of honor, real like any, any man who must say I'm king is no king energy. You're like Pete Rose. You never bet yourself to lose, you know? So that was the genius part of it.

Not asking him to lose, but asking him to win. It's such a subtler test of what Dunk actually wants and why, right? It's like, it's not, is it just about coin? Is it about renown? No, it's about proving something to himself. It's about real worth. And I really particularly love the mind-your pride line at the end from Plummer because it's the inverse of what Sir Arlen has always said to Dunk.

A hedge knight must hold tight to his pride. Without it, he's nothing more than a sell sword. So like, Dunk has to confront Arian, a knight, a prince would do this thing. Plummer, a steward, a master? the games that Lord Ashford's Meadow, Turney, would ask me to do this. Every encounter he has, other than, of course, Baylor is like, wait, these people all suck.

Like, what does honor mean? And what is chivalry if this is how people behave? She's also betrayed by Egg in this. He's very like, yes, egg comes in to save him, but the look on his face is not like, thank you for saving me. He's like, what the fuck did you get me into? Yeah, and he's also like, so I've been treating a prince like my squire for the last couple. to be in so much trouble for this. I wonder whether what you're saying plays differently when you're,

if the character had been depicted as being like 16 in the show. Oh, more innocent. More innocent. Yeah, a little bit like more of a babe in the woods. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Can I talk about Robin Reisling? Oh yeah. Great walk and stick. Great eye patch also. It's like metal and segmented. Yeah. So this is a, this is another example of Ira Parker expanding a character who has like a a line in the book, right? We know that he lost his eye an attorney. That's all we know. We get a full flashback.

We get to see it like dangling out of the socket. And then they give him this other part of his personality where he's like this deeply religious zealot. We are a vessel for the warrior when it is madness bid. It is madness delivered. Like similar to spending more time with Raymond Fasaway or Lionel Barathean. Like this is just an interesting way in which he's making or Humphrey Harding like making these characters

who will matter going forward actual characters. I just loved. I thought it was so... Is Ira doing this in consultation with Martin or is it... Have to imagine so, given... The way that George has talked about it,

you know, he's like... The way his reaction to the shitting scene, Ira's running these things by him. And I think he's like, yeah, that sounds great. Make Reisling a weird guy who loves to talk about the warrior. Got some like Thoros of Mirr vibes

from him. Obviously, he's not serving the Lord of... light, he's serving the warrior, that aspect of the seven, but this idea of like, some sort of faith or righteousness, he's the one resurrecting. A resurrecting. Yeah. But like this idea of like if you are a warrior and you're out in the joust or an actual

battle and you think that you are emboldened by something else driving you, that's the warrior, a reminder that the warrior god is sort of, yeah, the god, I mean, duh, it's in the title. like the god of war and courage and strength and all of the sort of thing. And Jamie Linister's favorite god. That's crazy? Oh, my guy.

We can wrap it up there. I can't wait for next week's episode. I think we'll probably get a lot more post-game reaction to eggs reveal, I would imagine. We can listen to you guys on House of R do a deep dive on episode three. Andy and I will hit it on the watch on Monday. Will you be talking about how episode one

opened with a shit scene, episode two, opened with a piss scene, and episode three opened with a, shit scene. Thunder took a shit. What do you think we'll get in episode four? Will we just keep alternating? Will someone take a piss within the first few minutes? I think I've never felt you more dialed in.

I'm just observing the text. There's a pattern. Mallory, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks. We will be back next Sunday. Pay off your home, travel for life. Drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly

Big Board Bucks slot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. You can't reason with the sun. Trust us. We've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute.

Columbia's Omnishade Technology is engineered to Protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on allotion. You're welcome. Columbia, engineered for whatever.