It’s the penultimate episode, my guys, and the Red Sowing has finally happened! Noble-born Targaryens and Velaryons are heading to Dragonstone to pick a dragon, right?! Let’s fly in and find out!
First, however, here’s a quick reminder to catch our show, “Decoding Dragons,” where my co-host Liza Phoenix and I break down all things House of the Dragon (also available on YouTube and podcast format) every week. We dive deep into lore, symbolism, easter eggs, and even more of Westeros and Game of Thrones. If you don’t have 40 minutes to listen or watch, but you do have a few minutes to read, continue forth, my Lords and Ladies. If you don’t want to get burned by spoilers, I suggest watching the 7th episode before approaching dragon eggs and taking your chance!
Dragonseeds are Sowing
After Seasmoke chases Addam to be his rider (LET ME LOVE YOU!), we open episode 7 with a confrontation. Rhaenyra and Syrax tracked Addam and Seasmoke down to discover his purpose of taking a dragon. Is he a friend or foe? Thief or bloodborne? Rhaenyra is poignant, intimidating, and *finally* asserting herself. Addam folds like a lawn chair and says that he has no idea what’s going on. He is loyal to his queen, and please someone hug him and Seasmoke because dragons are scary.
This is the best news Rhaenyra could have asked for after the disaster that was Ser Steffon Darklyn in the last episode. Perhaps it is possible that commoners can ride dragons. Perhaps Rhaenyra has a chance of beating Vhagar in this war with the addition of several other riders and dragons. She takes this news back to Dragonstone, Addam in tow, and immediately begins contemplating how to get the word out. Jace, her eldest son, comes to plead his case about the Red Sowing (which was his idea in the first place). Jace had thought that noble-born folks with Targaryen lineage could ride dragons. He never thought commoners, or low-borns, had the chance to ride them. This makes him question his own legitimacy, knowing he is Harwin Strong’s son, their ability to ride dragons and his family history of dragon riders. This scene made me call back to Season 1 when Viserys tells young Rhaenyra that dragons are magic that man should have never trifled with. Is it magic? Is it luck? Le sigh. One of life’s great questions.
Because of Addam’s success with riding Seasmoke, Rhaenyra calls out for anyone and everyone with Targaryen lineage to come to Dragonstone. Come to Dragonstone and try to claim a dragon, she says. We see the lack of security in King’s Landing, because not only are there a lot of silver-haired folks leaving on boats, but they are also letting them go without questions. There are several people, I am sure, trying to get to a place that has food, too, since all of King’s Landing is drying up. Moving on.
Alicent in Wonderland
Since Alicent’s children are taken care of, in good hands, and well-behaved, she feels like she deserves a momma’s day out. Wait…wrong perception. Let’s try that again. Because Alicent has been dismissed from the Small Council, her younger son ruling over her, her older son being pushed to try to walk again, thanks to Larys Strong’s constant “encouragement,” and her daughter not needing her mother’s embrace after all she’s been through, Alicent decides it’s time for her to take a trip.
She takes one King’s Guard with her, and off to the woods they go. She swims, she daydreams, she retires at 5PM and leaves her King’s Guard fending for himself for food, uncertain if they will ever go back. That’s where we can leave that, I think.
Daemon is #notbookDaemon
TV Show Daemon is all about that LSD tea and won’t stop drinking it from the mysterious witch woman. Seems intelligent. Since he is *still* trying to call the Riverlords to siege for Rhaenyra, we get to see young Oscar Tully make his Lords respect him…by punking Daemon. Listen, I’m not here for show Daemon. We need chaotic Daemon back. The Daemon that single-handedly fought off the Crab-feeders men, went into a cave, chopped him in half, and came dragging his torso back out. We need that Daemon. Not ‘let’s sleep on a weirwood tree bed and have weird dreams with an existential crisis unfolding because you’ve been an asshat your entire life and are finally coming to terms with your subconsciousness Daemon. We need some payoff here. Come on, show, you can do it!
Anyway, young Oscar Tully has Daemon behead a Bracken to choose sides. The end.
Back to the Dragons
There is a conglomeration of hopeful dragon riders and scared-shitless commoners coming to help Team Black. We see Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White shuttled into the parking garage with Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra turns around with Vermithor at her back. Vermithor! Finally! He was Jaehaerys 1 dragon and hasn’t had a rider since. Rhaenyra steps back after prepping her hopefuls. Vermithor thinks about it, sniffs, and decides against almost everyone in the room. He shoves both Hugh and Ulf off the ramp with a swipe of his large head in the midst of setting everyone ablaze. It’s chaos and confusion and dragony and lovely. Hugh watched a young girl get burned right in front of him at the bottom of the cavern they are in, otherwise known as the parking garage, and face Vermithor. He readies himself and yells at him, and Vermithor slowly calms and lets Hugh touch him. That’s him. That’s the one.
Meanwhile, Ulf ran further into the cavern, just trying to escape the flames and doom, clearly doubting his lineage and the likelihood of successfully claiming a dragon. He was starting to calm down and walk when crunch. He looks down and sees that he has just stepped into some dragon eggs. He didn’t break the eggs, but rather the protective casing surrounding them. This causes his backdrop to wake up since Silverwing is large enough to take up the entire screen! Silverwing approaches Ulf with growls, and Ulf lays belly up, ready to die; Silverwing realizes who it is and decides to let him ride her instead of getting pissed that he just stepped on her eggs. Silverwing hasn’t had a rider since Jaehaerys 1 wife, Alysanne, rode her. These are two lonely and old dragons, ya’ll!
Our next shot is Ulf flying Silverwing around King’s Landing like an idiot. Either he doesn’t know how to control her, or he’s showing off for his friends. Either way, it alerts security in King’s Landing.
This is why we’re watching
Once the alarms start sounding in the Red Keep, Aemond sprints to find Vhagar. He mounts her, and they begin to follow Silverwing and Ulf. He doesn’t know if this is an attack, if there is an unknown dragon rider, or what is going on. He goes to be the aggressive King regent but also to gain intelligence. And boy, does he gather some intelligence! We can see Dragonstone in the distance when Aemond is on Vhagar, where he tells her ‘No’ in High Valyrian and to back off. He sees multiple dragons behind Rhaenyra’s back, at her command. The cinematography of this shot alone, with Syrax, Vermithor, and Silverwing all standing at attention behind Rhaenyra, is why we are here, ya’ll!
Honorable Mention: Rhaena is leaving the Vale with her cousin/nephews. She glances back at Jane Arryn who gives the smallest nod to go get her dragon. Rhaena veers off course and disappears before anyone knows she is gone to go get what we think will be Sheepstealer.
We got so many dragon moments in this episode, and it was glorious! The cinematography and CGI were amazing, and the tension is building for the finale next week! What did you think of this week’s episode? Let us know in the comments!
