Spoilers below.
If House of the Dragon was set in the 2024 pop music landscape, there might have been a chance that Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, former best friends and now warring queens, could do as Lorde and Charli XCX did and “work it out on the remix.” But sadly, this is Westeros, where conflict leads to battles and bloodshed rather than a summer smash song. Even though both are mothers grieving a child from each of their families, and they don’t want to start a war, the power-hungry and rash men around them are pushing them that direction. And it doesn’t just hurt them and the members of their inner circles (RIP Erryk and Arryk), but also the world beyond them.
Season 2, episode 3 opens with a glimpse of how the brewing war is affecting families outside of House Targaryen. In this scene, tensions between House Bracken and House Blackwood, longtime neighbors and rivals, snowball into a bloody battle when one claims for King Aegon and the other for Queen Rhaenyra. By the end of the fight, corpses blanket the battlefield.
In Dragonstone, Erryk and Arryk are buried together. Rhaenys knows that Otto Hightower didn’t order Rhaenyra’s assissination, but it might’ve been Aegon and his hot-blooded young peers. She urges Rhaenyra to negotiate with Alicent Hightower, who has been sending letters that Rhaenyra has left unopened.
In King’s Landing, the small council is talking strategy. Ser Criston Cole, now Hand of the King, believes the Riverlands are the key to winning the war. He plans to enlist the Brackens, subdue the Riverlands, and take Harrenhal, just like that. Alicent thinks the plan is insane, but Aegon approves.
Rhaenyra acknowledges that Mysaria saved her life when she warned her of Arryk’s arrival. Mysaria now wants a place on her court in return. She also wants revenge on the Hightowers.
But Rhaenyra’s first order of business is organizing her children’s safety, especially after the assassination attempt. She’ll send her son Joffrey to ward for Jane Arryn. Her younger sons, Aegon III (not to be confused with the Usurper Aegon!) and Viserys II (not to be confused with the late King Viserys!), will go far off to Pentos, and she orders Rhaena, Daemon’s younger daughter, to take care of them.
Meanwhile, Daemon arrives to Harrenhal on a stormy night on dragonback. He claims the castle, the largest one in the Seven Kingdoms, for Rhaenyra. Ser Simon Strong, Castellan of Harrenhal, easily pledges fealty. Daemon is suspicious, but Simon assures that even though his grandnephew, Larys Strong, serves King Aegon, they are no longer loyal to each other.
Ser Gwayne Hightower, Alicent’s brother, arrives to King’s Landing from Oldtown. And he’s not happy that his father was just unseated by a less experienced young knight. Still, he offers to join Criston Cole in battle, and watches cautiously from afar as Alicent gives Cole her favor before the knights ride off.
The men on Rhaenyra’s council think they know better than her. They want to fight with dragons, and they think she’s vulnerable and exposed. They essentially tell her, why don’t you hide someplace safe, and we can take it from here? But that would be treason, Rhaenyra says. Rhaenys reminds them that Rhaenyra wears King Jaehaerys’ crown. Put some respect on her name.
When she’s not politicking and strategizing, Rhaenys’ sweet moments with her husband, Corlys, are so cute. As they catch up on his ship’s construction site, she floats that idea that maybe Rhaena should be a future heir to Driftmark. Rhaenys seems to be pushing for women to inherit thrones, because she never got the chance.
Rhaenyra tearfully sends her children away with Rhaena, along with young dragons Tyraxes and Stormcloud, who are owed to Lady Arryn. Rhaenyra also packs four dragon eggs with Rhaena, just in case all goes to ruin in Dragonstone.
Back in King’s Landing, another difficult moment between mother and child: Alicent and Helaena. “Sadness is a condition of motherhood,” Alicent tells Helaena, who continues to grieve her son Jaehaerys. Helaena forgives her mother, probably referring to the fact that she’s the reason why Cole wasn’t around to protect them.
Elsewhere in the castle, Aegon’s getting dressed in Aegon the Conqueror’s Valyrian steel armor, preparing for battle. But Larys Strong manipulates him into staying home. He tells Aegon there are rumors saying that if Aegon flies to war, his mother, Alicent, will take the opportunity to rule in his absence with Aemond. Aegon hires Larys as Master of Whisperers and takes his words to heart. He’ll go out with his bros instead.
In the bustle of a King’s Landing bar, we meet another Targaryen, a barkeep claiming to be a grandson of King Jaehaerys. He’s the son of Baelon the Brave, bastard brother of Daemon and Viserys l, and uncle to Rhaenyra. Like Gendry, he’s got royal blood but has blended in with the smallfolk right under the royal family’s nose. Sure, he doesn’t have silver hair, but neither do some of Rhaenyra’s kids. Before he can explain the family tree further, Aegon walks into the bar and buys everyone a round. Next, he goes to the brothel and embarrasses his brother Aemond while he’s in bed with a woman.
Rhaenyra, alone in Dragonstone and missing her kids, finally gives in and reads one of Alicent’s letters. But we don’t see what it says.
On their trek, Cole, Gwayne, and their fellow knights see something in the sky: It’s Baela on her dragon, Moondancer. She swoops down after them and is nearly on their tails, but they ride into the trees before she can catch them. Baela reports what she’s seen to Rhaenyra and her council. They pressure the queen to strike, but she won’t just yet.
Now, it’s been said that Harrenhal is haunted. (I mean, have you seen it?) When Daemon goes to bed at night, he learns just how much. His door shakes, but when he opens it, no one’s there. In another room, he finds young Rhaenyra (welcome back Milly Alcock!) sewing baby Jaehaerys’ head back onto his body. “Always coming and going around you? And I have to clean up afterwards,” she tells Daemon. He realizes that it’s just a vision. When he wakes back up in the Harrenhal courtyard, he finds Alys Rivers, a wet nurse who tells him, “You will die in this place.”
Rhaenyra wants to meet with Alicent. With Mysaria’s advice, she sneaks into King’s Landing on a fishing boat, disguises as a septa, slips into the Great Sept of Baelor, and kneels beside Alicent as she prays alone.
Alicent is stunned, but Rhaenyra holds her down at knifepoint, threatening to kill her if she cries out. Not the best way to start a conversation. Rhaenyra starts over: She knows that she and Alicent aren’t like the men around them, desperate for blood and glory. Maybe the two of them can still find a path to peace. Rhaenyra clarifies that she’s not behind Jaehaerys’ death and reminds Alicent of what Aemond did to her son Luke. “I repudiate that act with all my heart,” Alicent says. But she can’t quite say the same about Aegon usurping Rhaenyra’s throne.
Rhaenyra tries to make Alicent understand that her father, Viserys, was adamant that she succeed him, but Alicent is firm that he changed his mind at the last minute. Rhaenyra asks what her father said on his deathbed and whether he spoke her name. Alicent says he didn’t, but he mentioned Aegon was the “prince that was promised” to unite the realm. Rhaenyra’s ears perk up. The Prince That Was Promised? Does that mean he mentioned the Song of Ice and Fire to Alicent too? Alicent is confused, so her friend explains: It’s a story Viserys once told about Aegon the Conqueror. It starts to sink in for Alicent. Her late husband was referring to Aegon the Conqueror, not Aegon their son. There’s been a serious misunderstanding.
Rhaenyra says there’s still a chance that Alicent can stop the war. Now that she knows what Viserys intended, she can help clear the air and get Rhaenyra back on the throne where she belongs. But Alicent is stubborn. “There’s been no mistake,” she repeats. Her father, Otto, is already gone from court, Cole is on the march, and Aemond, well, who knows what Aemond might do next. War is pretty much here, and she can do nothing to stop it. “It’s too late, Rhaenyra,” she says. Alicent walks away, the possibility of peaceful negotiations leaving with her.