The fifth episode of House of the Dragon Season 2, titled “Regent”, not only sees the characters deal with the repercussions of the battle of Rook’s Rest. We saw Rhaenys and her dragon, Meleys, die after Aemond’s mighty dragon, Vhagar, attacked him. Criston and his surviving men return to King’s Landing with the severed head of Meleys as a ‘trophy’ of the battle, but he is annoyed to see that the townsfolk see this as a bad omen. They also bring in their nearly dead King, Aegon, whose chances of survival seems quite slim much to Alicent’s consternation. Despite Alicent’s protests, the Council chose Aemond as the regent in place of the ailing King, just as he had planned. Now, perhaps, Alicent knows how her dear old friend was when she got shunned from taking over the throne of her father for being a woman. House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1 Review: The Game of Thrones Prequel Returns is Back With ‘Vengeance’, Literally!
At Harrenhaal, Daemon keeps having strange visions and dreams, like having passionate sex with a mysterious woman who, it turns out, could be his mother! Just Targaryen stuff, we presume. He also has to deal with the even more mysterious Alys, who keeps schooling him on how what’s going on is not war but crimes against the innocent. Little did he know that this warning was going to bite him in the backside a few scenes later. Riverlords are angry with him for sending Blackwoods after Brackens, who indulge in plunder, pillage, murder and rape of the people there, and they refuse to bend their knees to Rhaenyra.
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Meanwhile at Dragonstone, Rhaenyra, grieving over Rhaenys’ demise, has to also deal with the discontent within her council. Her son, Jacerys, goes against her order to the Freys and, in a confident show of his negotiation skills, manages to win over their support. Rhaenyra persuades Baela, after a touching conversation about her dead grandmother, to convince her grandfather to be her Hand. A mourning Corlys is angry with Rhaenyra, blaming her for his wife’s death, but Baela argues she died with honour and taunts him by saying he should go to King’s Landing with ‘peace’. When Corlys says he wants Baela to be his successor, she replies defiantly that she is of ‘blood and fire’ and that the heir of Driftmark should be ‘salt and sea’. Is she hinting at Adam and Alyn? More on them later, even if they haven’t appeared in the episode.
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Rhaenyra also sends out Mysaria to create unrest within the the citizens of King’s Landing, which has been Mysaria’s plan herself. She also sends Ser Alfred, her biggest dissenter in the council, to Harrenhal to find out what her dear husband has been up to when not dreaming about having intimate relations with his mother and seeing visions of his dead first wife.
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Finally let’s come to the last scene of the episode. It is an important sequence that could change the lore of House of the Dragon for good.
A Mad Thought
Jacerys meets his mother in her room, where she is brooding over what to do next. She congratulates him for winning over the Freys but then also shares her frustration on being able to lead from the front, finding herself restricted in her castle for being the ‘queen’ rather than being the born dragon rider that she is. They contemplate strategies on how to deal with Aemond’s nearly undefeatable dragon, Vhaghar, to which Jacerys says they need more dragons, reminding us all that there are two dragons below, Vermithor and Silverwing, who could beat Vhagar. House of The Dragon Season 2 Episode 1: Did JioCinema Censor Sex and Violence in the HBO Show? Here’s What We Know!
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To which Rhaenyra wryly retorts they need more dragonriders, and she cannot risk the lives of present contenders like Baela and Jacerys, as she doesn’t want them to go the Luke way. To which Jacerys has a suggestion – why not expand their search beyond the Targaryens’ incestuous bloodline and find descendants in other houses. When Rhaenyra theorises that their Targaryen blood could be thin, Jacerys replies why not try the method first and see. Rhaenyra finally agrees with his idea, calling it a ‘mad thought’ and suggests they start looking into the genealogical records to find the right candidates.
The Dragonseeds
The readers of George RR Martin’s Fire and Blood know what the ending of “Regent” means – we are getting the ‘dragon seeds’. For the unaware, dragon seeds are the bastard children of Targaryen folk, born into other royal families or as common folk. It is said that they may not all possess dragon-taming skills, but some surely do. And what’s more, we may have already met some in the second season of House of The Dragon.
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Remember Hugh Hammer, the blacksmith whose daughter is suffering from some unspecified disease and who keeps expecting a favour from Aegon that may never be fulfilled? He surely has white hair, and with so much footage given to his character, we believe he has a bigger role that matters to the plot than being the symbol of the sufferings being meted out to Kings’ Landing residents. In the books, the character had ridden the dragon, Vermithor,
Then we have Ulf White, who we met in episode 3 of House of the Dragon S2, a white-haired man who keeps boasting to those who would hear at a King’s Landing tavern that he is a Targaryen, but no one seems to believe him. What if he is telling the truth here…
In the books, he did ride Silverwing, so there’s that.
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Then, of course, we have Addam and Alyn, the sailors who work in Corlys’ fleet. However, it is strongly hinted that they have a deeper relationship with Corlys than being his sailors. Could they possibly be his bastard children or maybe bastard grandchildren and the sons of his dead son Laenor Velaryon? In the books, Addam gets to tame a dragon named Seasmoke. Will we get to see the same in future episodes?
(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on Jul 15, 2024 11:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).