Amph Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon — Fire & Blood book spoilers must be TAGGED

I tell ya when Rhaenys was approaching the new king on her dragon I thought , 'oh here we go: Egg-on Toast! '

haha! 'cos his name ... it sounds like .. .



I'll get me coat.

 

Overall I liked the season. There was great acting, pacing, story, characters, tone, sets, but ... it was also a slog at times. I had to save up episodes to binge because watching each week was just too slow for my hunger/attention. And I hate saying that.

The final ep was really well done though. I think Rhaenys wanted to show the Queen/New King that she's not going to fall in line with their coup, and is pissed, but also isn't going to be the one to start the war by roasting them. Not there. Not that place. And maybe she probably just refuses to kill a mom/child because she's lot her own. And I really hate Aegon. The actor looks like Evan Peters younger brother and I kind of find him annoying all around.

So where does S2 go? (Haven't read the books) More time jumps? Or have we now settled into the show's time period. I really hope we start seeing more of the other families and more of Westeros. We've basically been confined to the Red Keep and I'm itching to move about.

 

Next season will be more over Westeros now that the Dance of the Dragons has begun. We already know we will see the Stark family again next season. The Baratheons will come into focus. No more big time jumps.

 

So did Allicent just completely misunderstand the king's dying words? He was talking about the first Aegon and she thought he meant their son - ? But she knows there's a previous Aegon.

 

Well, it's even worse. He said, "You are the prince who was promised," thinking he was talking to his daughter. So Allicent reads this as he meant her son.

 

Doesn’t the war only take place over a year and a half?

 

This episode was horrible.

What the ****

 

Just finished the most recent episode and man… MAN is the writing and directing really killing me. But I won’t air those grievances just yet.

I thought that the episode really dragged and I think Alicent’s standing up to her father moment really didn’t land due to the fact that you’ve let him control your life and trajectory the entire time until you draw the line at what: stopping your son from ordering the killing of your former friend whose throne you’re ACTIVELY TAKING FROM HER?

Please.

Cristin Cole with another douchebag of the week appearance for randomly killing an old man by accident?? For a perceived insult to the queen which no one else thought was an insult.

To add: APPARENTLY if Cole murders someone in the show, the law is thrown out for him. We basically have a random murdering psychopath who literally just showed that he’d kill anyone, anywhere with little provocation and no one else thinks this is a problem because why? He works for the queen?

Very little grieving shown for the passing of the King by Alicent. I was expecting at least her, as she tries “so hard” to hold on to her innocence act, to mourn for the man who loved her and she supposedly loved and fostered children for.

I don’t have a problem with Rhaenys straight murdering the common folk on account of the fact that she was going to be brutally murdered if she did not escape. The decision to not murder the royal family I chalk up to plot armor because there’s no discernible reason for her to not kill them. Sure she swore fealty to Rhaenyra and killing the Highgaryens would help Rhaenyra but in addition to that even if she wanted the throne for herself, it would start with the outright murder of an entire house because then you can give all your focus to taking down Rhaenyra’s house.

Meh. Just a big meh for me.

Highlight of the episode: Aemond making the obvious case that he should be king, but while he may be a complete jerk and hardcore warrior, he’ll do what’s asked of him.

 

It's impossible to disagree with this. He just kills people left and right, and nobody appears to be much bothered. Even their immediate reaction wasn't too horrified.

But apart from that, they solved a moment of good tension with gratuitous violence once again. The lack of subtlety of this show really is impressive.

The other issue I have is with the way the show makes plot twists. They tend to lead nowhere. Few episodes ago there was bodyguard smashing that guy's head. Unnecessary, and with no real consequences. Then we have the dragon here. The king wasn't hurt, and he's still the king, the common people who died will likely never be mentioned again, and the woman was going to flee anyway, so ultimately the things that matter went roughly the way everyone was expecting, while the twist was just for the sake of having an easy wow moment.

 

That episode was neat, more sexposition but with feet this time. Then giant dragon wrecking stuff because that's what there should be dammit.

Is the final episode going to have dragon vs dragon fighty fighty finally or will it be chit chat and then two dragons run at each other then just as it starts cut to black.

 

Thank you for your contribution to the discussion.

 

Okay, so as far as I remember this has happened twice with him. The first time his lack of apparent punishment was fairly inexplicable, however this time actually made sense. Firstly it appears he was trying to get the guy to sit, and in doing so forced his head into the council ball thing. Secondly, I think they were pretty shocked, and the Kings Guard Commander was about to strip him of his duties then and there. The others in the room clearly wanted that guy dead (Otto definitely would have killed him that day) and given whole the situation, they are hardly interested in punishing Cole.

 

Let’s say all of that made sense, my question remains: what makes anyone besides the queen in the room think that he wouldn’t randomly kill them as well? It’s one thing if he was acting as their will. He wasn’t. Both of his murders have been his own calls.

So once again, they have a psychopathic, emotional murderer with no accountability running around and no one seems even the slightest bit concerned. The show has also not given even a slightest reason why they’d let him continue. Not even a throwaway line like “Hey, Queen said he can do what he wants.”

Side note: we immediately need a meme where you’re helping someone sit down, head first.

 

Christians earlier murder didn’t make sense in what we were shown. This one however makes perfect sense. He’s an attack dog for team Hightower. He’s on a leash for the Queen, Otto and their family. So it’s not totally random.

They want and need someone like Christian on their side for what’s about to happen. They also want the other members on the small council to be scared and uncomfortable so they get in line with the Hightower plot. Examples had to be made.

 

All of them could be randomly murdered by any of the others. The fact that Otto or Larys may pay someone else to do it doesn’t make them any less dangerous to be around - in fact I’d argue it makes them more dangerous.

You’ve answered your own question as to why he is kept around - because he has unwavering loyalty to the Queen, and the Queen, and Otto, have been in charge for a while now.

Why is Daemon kept around? He has shown similar violent impulsivity in the interests of himself and those who he is loyal to. People like them are extremely useful in a time and society like this.

 

Except Daemon actually makes sense. He was the King’s brother and the most public murder he committed was a direct insult towards his wife in public. It’s hard to punish the brother of the King.

They’re not the same, in stature or offense. You’re confirming his actions AFTER they happened, but the characters in the show didn’t know they were about to happen. With your explanation, Cole could kill everyone in the room except Otto and Alicent and it would be okay and they would only ask him why afterwards which is, you know, too late.

I’m not arguing his usefulness, I’m arguing how his usefulness is being shown in the show. He’s not being portrayed as a dog on a leash protecting his owner, he’s being portrayed as a dog running around the neighborhood biting people at random and the justification is “well those people *couldve* hurt the owner at some point.”

 

On Cole… DP already answered it. But I’ll add… why do you think this was random? He just called them all traitors (true) and accused one of them of murdering the king (actually false). There is no rule of law, just rule by royals/nobles (and occasionally the faith). He has the protection of the Queen. And we saw they were soon quick to imprison or kill other nobles who wouldn’t bow to Aegon. They’re doing a purge for their coup. Also, if anyone were to do it, it makes almost too much sense for Cole to be the guy for it, due to the previous action at the betrothal party (lack of consequences there made less sense… here it made sense, and even more sense because of that previous action.)

We actually saw a lot more mourning by Alicent than I thought we’d see. But also, he was very clearly dying for a long time.

 

Westeros politics are consistent in this regard. When there is a succession conflict, it’s a common practice for the side with the advantage to kill or imprison their rival’s supporters. That’s exactly what happened to Ned and his household, after all. Cole’s actions are entirely normal in that context.

The same thing happened when Robert took the throne. After he won the war, supporters of Aerys were either killed, imprisoned, or sent to the Wall. Only a select few (Jaime, Barristan) were pardoned.

 

Your argument here is essentially that he has too much autonomy in the actions he takes and that he could kill someone the Queen and Otto don’t want killed. Surely this may become a problem (assuming they don’t see his actions as somewhat of an accident, which they are portrayed as being), however he’s not some chump they can just replace. He’s one of the most skilled knights in the realm and he has unwavering loyalty to the Queen (which is unique amongst the KingsGuard). Two things which would very much outweigh, in the eyes of the Queen and Otto, his impulsivity in killing two people in however many years, one of which they very clearly wanted dead anyway (and they probably accept wasn’t actually done on purpose).

Also, no they probably can’t kill Daemon, but he’s kept close by the family in any case, despite his impulsivity.

 

Robert actually forgave/pardoned a lot of people, sometimes against the advice of his friends. Mace Tyrell laid siege to Storm's End during the war and nearly starved Stannis and the garrison, Doran Martell's sister was Rhaegar's wife, Tywin's loyalty was questionable despite his "gift" to Robert of King's Landing and Rhaegar's children, he let Varys and Pycelle stay on the council. Balon Greyjoy rebelled against him, Bobby B personally invaded the Iron Islands, and he still let the guy keep his seat. Robert only really had enmity toward Targs.