‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 3 Recap: Dragon(s) In Flight

In Westeros, war isn’t just on the horizon. We’re in the third episode of House of The Dragon Season 2, a gripping chapter full of marching columns and many other moving parts – including a main character returning as a judgemental ghost version of her memorable past self – the assurance of armed conflict is straight up blocking out the sun. Or is that just Lady Baela Targaryen on her sleek gray dragon Moondancer, dropping out of the sky to strafe a few Team Green horsemen caught in the open?

We’ll get back to that thrilling firebreather-in-pursuit moment in a second – glorious terror beasts soaring in daylight! – but let’s begin in the strategically important Riverlands, where the Blackwoods and neighboring Brackens have been hating on each other for so long, the source of the two houses’ feud is lost in time. This particular instance is just boys baiting each other over a boundary cairn, though, right? Wrong. In a sickening twist of editing, we only hear the rush of battle briefly before a quick cut to the same riverbank, now strewn with hundreds of sword-stuck corpses. The Battle of the Burning Mill, as the Blackwoods declared for the blacks and the Brackens for the greens, will be written into Westorosi histories as the first significant clash in what became known as the Dance of the Dragons. Shit is getting real.

“Soon they will not even remember what began the war in the first place,” Rhaenys rues at Dragonstone, as the Cargyll twins are buried together in their armor. Meaning whatever the spark, the fire has been lit. At council, Rhaenyra’s advisors want to unleash the blacks’ dragons, turn more houses to their side. But she’s gotta also be fighting off “Go cower somewhere and we’ll fight our own war, er, for you” from these guys? Come on now. Undeterred, the Black Queen insists (for now) that fear of the firebreathing beasts is itself a deterrent. And besides, if dragons begin fighting dragons, “We invite our own destruction.” Heard.

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In the Red Keep, Alicent also sees men like Aegon II and new Hand of the King Ser Criston Cole rattling their sabers and clamoring for war. When Cole, now sporting a weird Caesar cut, gathers men and prepares to ride toward the Riverlands and Harrenhal, the region’s legendary brokedown castle, Alicent adds a Hightower to their number. It’s her brother Ser Gwayne (an immediately memorable Freddie Fox), who gives Ser Criston, “a man of such modest beginnings,” some shit for supplanting Otto Hightower as Hand. The grave look Gwayne gives Alicent before the column departs can’t be just about Cole’s new haircut. He might be meant to be the dowager queen’s eyes in the field.

As they ride toward the Riverlands, Cole and Ser Gwayne are of two minds about pace and mission security. But once Baela and her dragon spot them on the plain and give chase, it’s all they can do to race for the nearest treeline. These guys are seasoned warriors. But the terror of being incinerated from above is written all over their faces.

Cole and Gwayne and the rest of Team Green do not know that Harrenhal is already occupied. When Daemon and his dragon arrived at the massive, decrepit structure, its castellan Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) immediately pledged fealty to Rhaenyra. (Simon has no love for his nephew Larys Strong, who is now officially Aegon II’s master of whisperers. You might remember a certain inferno set at Harrenhal in HOTD season 1, a blaze that killed Simon’s kin, including Rhaenyra’s secret lover Ser Harwin Strong.) Everybody wants to control Harrenhal, this leaky hunk of flagstone, because it has the capacity to garrison entire companies of troops. Thing is, though, it has a reputation for being mad haunted. And when Daemon tries to sleep, he instead experiences a tortured vision. It’s the return of Milly Alcock (!) as a younger Rhaenyra, who ghoulishly stitches little Jaehaerys’ head back onto his shoulders. “Always coming and going, aren’t you,” the vision guilt trips Daemon. “And I have to clean up afterwards.”

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Now, The King of the Narrow Sea is not one to be shook. But this time he is, and it only gets freakier when he snaps out of it in Harrenhal’s destroyed courtyard. “You will die in this place,” a mysterious dark-haired woman with serious witch vibes intones. Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers, revealed. Harrenhal: full of rainwater and dark arts surprises.

Who else has always wanted to get a good glimpse of the handwriting inside a miniature raven scroll? When Rhaenyra finally open’s Alicent’s correspondence, it convinces her of what she’s been dwelling on. Men will always want to fight. But what if she and Alicent could speak face to face? War just might be averted. Granting Mysaria a spot in her court proves immediately valuable when a secret mission to King’s Landing is brokered. Disguised in the habit of a septa, Rhaenyra infiltrates the Grand Sept and finds Alicent lighting her votive candles. Suddenly they’re close enough for whispers. Or for the point of a blade.

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It’s a white-knuckle back and forth, pulling us all the way back to Viserys’ halting, struggling last words on his deathbed. “My father used those words? ‘The prince that was promised’? He spoke to you of the Song of Ice and Fire?” Rhaenyra’s words are quick, while Alicent is a little bit bewildered inside waves of wariness. Was old King V talking about Aegon the Conqueror and not her son Aegon? Does it even matter, this late in the game?

“There’s been a mistake. You can prevent this, Alicent.”

“It’s too late, Rhaenyra. My father’s gone from court. Cole is on the march.”

The face-to-face failed. Whatever the spark, the fire has been lit. And we’re not talking about that big slab of candles.

• Ulf! Tom Bennett’s shuffling King’s Landing character, who we last saw gazing up at the menagerie of hung ratcatchers, has revealed claims of his dragonseed lineage. Over ales in the pub, he says he’s the bastard brother of Daemon, another uncle to “the one and true queen, Rhaenyra Targaryen. The blood of the dragon runs through these veins.” No wonder his walk up Eel Alley in KL was accompanied by toy dragons flying on long sticks.
• We’ll have to wait for more on Ulf and his Targaryen blood claims, because Aegon II himself shows up to buy drinks for the entire bar before migrating to the same bordello Aemond frequents. Interrupting his brother’s nude reverie with his favorite mothering sex worker, Aegon taunts him in the voice and manner of his younger self. Aemond used to be the one to say he was ready for the throne, while Aegon hid from his responsibilities. Now, it seems like the usurper is looking to put down roots on the throne.
• While her dragonrider sister provides valuable intel to Rhaenyra and the blacks, Lady Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) is charged with what feels like an equally crucial mission, even if she doesn’t quite see it that way. Rhaenyra has tasked her with taking the babes of Dragonstone to a rendezvous with Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin), the Maiden of the Vale. Tyraxes and Stormcloud, two baby dragons, will also make the journey. But speaking of infants, it’s the vented metal litter full of dragon’s eggs that might be most key to Phoebe’s stay in the Vale. “Should all come to ruin here,” Rhaenyra tells her, you will bear our hope for the future.” Human and dragon.

Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.

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