The Madness Of Queen Rhaenyra

House of the Dragon

Credit: HBO

The best part about House of the Dragon’s third episode of Season 3 is the way music is used to underscore how fragile and tenuous Rhaenyra’s grip on sanity is now that she’s queen bee. The Dragon Queen.

In King’s Landing, nothing goes the way she wants, and between the stress of power, Alicent’s sons on the loose and unaccounted for, a rat infestation and her lingering grief over Jace’s death, the budding ruler is slowly cracking at the seams. Worse still, she discovers just before her first public appearance that she’s on her period.

Ramin Djawadi’s score heightens every scene. Eery violins screech a warning when Rhaenyra thinks she sees Jace walking toward her in the halls of the Red Keep. Lilting piano follows her through the darkness of the castle’s chambers. Menacing cellos gnash and gnaw at our nerves. Strange bells ring in the night. This is quite possibly the moodiest episode of the series, or the entire Game of Thrones Extended Universe.

Much of this episode focused on Rhaenyra’s uncomfortable interactions with various lords and ladies in King’s Landing, from a hostile High Septon to Lord Corlys Velaryon to her new dragonriders. It is painfully obvious that she needs to learn to delegate – and maybe invest in cats.

No Gold, Many Debts

It’s a shame the Lannister twins are dead. After all, a Lannister always pays his debts. Rhaenyra’s first shock as queen is learning of her empty coffers. All the gold is gone, and there’s barely enough to pay her soldiers, let alone throw a lavish coronation. Orwyle has no idea where it’s gone and neither do Alicent or Helaena, who Rhaenyra accuses of treachery before Alicent reminds her that no, actually, she did everything she promised, sending Aemond out of the city, preventing the archers and trebuchet operators from firing on her dragons and so forth.

There are other problems. The rats have wreaked havoc across the Red Keep. Candles are in short supply and if tallow isn’t found soon, they’ll all be spending their nights in darkness (though I imagine torches and lamps still exist). The common folk petition Rhaenyra. Food and basic supplies are running out. She suggests hunting in the Kingswood, something Corlys balks at.

Speaking of Corlys, he has his own petition. He’d very much like it if the queen he supported, the queen his wife died fighting for, the queen whose cause led directly to Corlys’s castle being razed and his prize ship sunk, would grant him one single wish. He’s finally recognized Alyn and Addam as his sons and wants to name Alyn his heir. Rhaenyra has the power to legitimize them both, but she hesitates and demurs.

Later, when she knights Ulf the White and Hugh the Hammer, she styles Addam “Addam of Hull” rather than Addam Velaryon. When Corlys finds out, he’s baffled and confronts his queen. She tells him that due to sensitives around her own family, she can’t proclaim bastards legitimate at the moment.

The Sea Snake is livid and doesn’t hold back.

“Your son Joffrey is a bastard,” he growls at her. “Your son Lucerys, who I accepted as my heir, was a bastard. Your son Jacaerys lived and died a bastard. Say aloud the reason your children deserve what mine are denied.”

By the end he’s almost shouting, but Rhaenyra doesn’t respond. If I were here I might say something along the lines of, “Well Corlys, unlike you I raised my sons as my own and never denied they were mine. I loved and cared for them and didn’t shove them off to the side until it was convenient.”

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why Corlys is upset, but he’s not being particularly diplomatic about any of this. Much as it’s a little ridiculous for Hugh the Hammer to demand answers from Rhaenyra about his living arrangements (surely there are people beneath her better suited to managing such domestic affairs) it’s a little much to get this upset because Rhaenyra says “Let’s wait until everything is chill before we do anything that might cause unrest.”

She has to tell Daemon the same thing when he starts rambling about going out and exploring the world and conquering and plundering. “This war is won!” he declares at one point, but it’s bizarre for a seasoned warrior and general to think such a thing, as if the Greens have no dragons, as if Aemond isn’t still a major threat.

Of course, all these illusions will soon be shattered.

A Feast For Rats

Rhaenyra needs gold but she also needs to restore order and faith in the crown. When she learns that the city’s nobles have been stockpiling food and supplies, even while the city starves around them, she hatches a plan. She’ll hold a banquet and invite all of high society so that they can swear fealty and kiss her royal arse.

They seem pleased as punch, even as Rhaenyra offers up little barbs at their expense, until the meal is served: Rats on every platter, cooked to a delicious crisp. They are outraged and aren’t quiet about it, until Rhaenyra chastises them for not considering the common folk. Even now, she tells them, as we sit here Gold Cloaks are going through your estates to redistribute the wealth (a good deal of which I suspect will end in Targaryen coffers).

Rhaenyra also sends Daemon to the Eyrie to demand fealty and gold (or the promise of gold) from Lady Arryn, putting him in close proximity to his daughter, Rhaena and her dragon, Sheepstealer. Of course, in the books this is Nettles, but I think this change can actually work, even if it feels unnecessary and even if the show’s decision to send her and her barely tamed dragon to the Battle of the Gullet was pretty ridiculous.

This episode does a really great job at portraying Rhaenyra’s slip toward madness or, if not madness per se, then a much more unhinged version of her former self. The banquet highlights something else quite interesting: Rhaenyra’s concern for the common folk and disdain for the nobility. It’s not an accident that we’re reminded of her descendent, Daenerys, in this scene, and her own disdain for nobility (and especially slavers). Or Dany’s own far less subtle turn toward madness. The banquet makes a bold visual comparison of the two women, in fact. Behold, this image of Daenerys in the Game of Thrones series finale:

And here is Rhaenyra at the banquet table, facing the assembled minor lords and ladies before serving them rats for dinner:

The same framing, the same pose, the same angular shoulders. Their hairdos are almost identical as well, even if Dany’s is more elaborate. It’s an inauspicious comparison. Between shots like this, the tense music and everything else we see of Rhaenyra this episode, I find myself wishing Game of Thrones had put as much effort in Daenerys’s own crumbling mental state, instead of just having her burn up King’s Landing and countless innocents out of the blue.

Another curious detail. When Rhaenyra is dressing to meet her subjects she tells her handmaiden that she doesn’t want to wear jewelry. A sword, perhaps, she says. Her handmaiden points out that a sword contradicts her message of peace and suggests instead a chain. That’s clearly a bit of symbolism: As queen, Rhaenyra is prisoner to the weight of the world and countless, ceaseless responsibilities. But I think it’s yet another callback to Daenerys, Mother of Dragons and breaker of chains.

Rhaenyra is at her happiest finally facing the hungry people of King’s Landing, giving a rousing speech before passing out bread and fruit and grain and other sundries to the smallfolk. She enjoys their adoration as much as she enjoyed poking her thumb in the eyes of the nobles, only one of whom she seemed to like: One Lord Manderly, played by Dan Fogler who, with his casting, has now bridged Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead and the Harry Potter universes. He’s amused by her rat feast.

Then again, perhaps rats are not the symbol Rhaenyra should be going for after the whole Blood & Cheese incident. People don’t like to be reminded of the assassination of children. But Rhaenyra seems happy enough handing out bread and basking in the smallfolk’s love.

Alas, this brief moment of peace is soon shattered.

Daeron Targaryen the Fraud

Much of Daemon’s confidence came from his brief, swaggering meeting with Ormund Hightower. Daemon and his dragon, Caraxes, alone before the Hightower host. Ormund buckles easily enough, dropping to his knee and swearing fealty to Daenerys. When Daemon “remembers” to take Alicent’s youngest son, Daeron, back with him as hostage, Ormund gives up his ward without a fight. “Remember to be brave,” he tells the blond-haired boy, who looks incredibly nervous and says not a word.

A smug Daemon returns to King’s Landing with his hostage, dismissing Ormund with a “Now go home” and thinks the war is over. Criston Cole has a paltry force and one the Riverlanders loyal to Rhaenyra and Daemon should have no trouble with. Aegon is a cripple and lost. Aemond is the only real threat, and he’s one dragon rider against six.

But this is not Daeron Targaryen. Ormund’s entire capitulation was a ruse. He gave them a fraud and kept both Daeron and his dragon, Tessarion, with him. We learn of this ruse when Rhaenyra finally brings Alicent to see the boy, and Alicent looks at him with confusion. Rhaenyra realizes that she’s been played and confronts the child. He says Ormund blanched his hair and forced him to pretend, swearing him to silence or “he’d have my mother hanged.”

“Ormund has deceived me,” Rhaenyra says, suddenly fearful. “Did he think I would not discover it? What game does he play?”

Oh you know the game. The game of thrones, Rhaenyra. The one where you win or you die. And Ormund Hightower appears to be very capable at this particular game, which should come as no surprise given Otto was his uncle and the Hightowers are wildly rich and powerful. He’s also quick to action.

The Hightowers, Rhaenyra soon learns, have sacked the town of Tumbleton, a thriving city on the border of the Crownlands and the Reach. The news comes by way of a dragon keeper who escaped the city, though I’m still a little confused on this point. I may have missed something, but why would there be dragon keepers in Tumbleton? Had the Blacks confiscated Tessarion? Either way, Tumbleton is now under Hightower control and the war is clearly not over.

Rhaenyra is furious and says she will burn them, but the dragon keeper reminds her she would burn her own people in the process. Innocents. Another little nod to Daenerys it seems.

“What does Ormund attempt to accomplish?” she asks. “My arm is long. He cannot win.” As she speaks, flames erupt behind her. The banners of Hightower green burning in the night, Rhaenyra staring ominously through the flames.

Verdict and Scattered Thoughts

If you’re paying close enough attention, pretty much every episode this season has shown the growing discontent of Ulf the White and Hugh the Hammer. More the former than the latter, sure, but both men are not overly pleased at the way they’re being treated. Hugh has a family to think of (they’re in Tumbleton unfortunately) and Ulf just wants to be rich and powerful. Instead, they’re knighted and kept like normal soldiers. Rhaenyra is too preoccupied to consider that perhaps these two men, and Corlys and his bastard sons, all probably deserve the very best. After all, she needs them if she wants to win the war and secure her throne.

All told, I enjoyed this episode more than the last two. The music was so good and Emma D’Arcy was, once again, on fire. True, nothing so grand as a massive dragon and naval battle took place, but seeing Rhaenyra start to change into someone almost unrecognizable from her younger, more innocent self was compelling in a deeper way. And the fun twist at the end was great, even though I know this was spoiled by marketing and leaks for a lot of people. I also think James Norton is a terrific actor and can do villains really well, so I’m excited to see more of Ormund (which isn’t to say he’s a villain, but as an antagonist I think they cast him quite well).

What did you think of this episode? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Read my past House of the Dragon Season 3 reviews below: