House of the Dragon Inches Ever Closer to All-Out War

House of the Dragon has been teasing a terrible civil war in Westeros since the foundations were laid in season one—and now, with House Targaryen bitterly divided, battles are just over the horizon. This week, in episode three, “The Burning Mill,” we see one last attempt at reconciliation—as well as the beginnings of a few journeys, a mysterious new character, and some spooky-castle shenanigans.

Ah, the Riverlands. A place of green fields, picturesque windmills, and generations-long feuds between adjacent houses, as we see when young knights from House Bracken and House Blackwood get in each other’s faces at the border dividing their lands. These days, current events are bolstering their anger: one side’s loyal to Queen Rhaenyra, the other calls her a “babekiller” and “kinslayer” and takes the side of Team Green. Insults lead to shoving, shoving leads to swords, then the scene cuts and we see a full-on battle has taken place between the houses. The land is riddled with bodies, and that quaint windmill is now a burned-out husk.

Speaking of bodies, there’s a double burial happening on Dragonstone: the Cargill twins, reunited in their grave. As a somber Rhaenyra ponders her next move—a furious Jace wants to keep the cycle of revenge going—Rhaenys, who correctly senses that Otto Hightower has been shoved aside and that the assassination attempt was the work of “hotter blood,” sidles in with a suggestion, delivering the killer lines we’ve heard in House of the Dragon trailers. “There may be another way: Alicent Hightower … she knows war is coming and that it will be savage beyond all compare,” Rhaenys says. “There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin. And no war so bloody as a war between dragons.” Alicent could be their last hope to prevent a terrible war. Rhaenyra’s skeptical, but Rhaenys’ words make her think of the raven that came from King’s Landing bearing a message from her old friend after Luke was killed… which she has yet to read.

Speaking of King’s Landing, Ser Criston Cole–now Hand of the King, in addition to being Lord Commander of the Kingsguard–is dawdling before a Small Council meeting. When he gets there, war is (unsurprisingly) the main topic, with Aemond updating everyone about the Bracken-Blackwood battle, and King Aegon bitchily asking what their next move is. There are many suggestions, to the point where everyone is talking over each other and Alicent speaks sharply about the Council’s lack of discipline, but Cole opines that the Riverlands are the key to winning the war, and that Harrenhal is the key to the Riverlands. He’ll lead the army there himself, he says—this is a guy who really does not want to attend any more of these meetings—with Aemond, but not Vhagar, who is needed on the home front defending King’s Landing. “I’ll come too, with Sunfyre,” King Aegon pipes in, an idea nobody supports; you get the sense it’s partially because they want to travel without drawing too much attention (something a dragon always brings), but also because, let’s face it, nobody wants Aegon in the mix.

Back on Dragonstone, before a gorgeous sunset view featuring a lone dragon flapping around in the distance, Rhaenyra is having a chat with Mysaria—who, having been given her freedom in last week’s episode, turned back at the last minute when she realized a certain ill-meaning twin had just arrived on the island. Mysaria, who says she’s still surprised that Rhaenyra was willing to let her go, would like a reward: a place in Rhaenyra’s court. She has valuable information about the inner workings of the Red Keep, and no love for the Hightowers; she’s also here to advocate for the smallfolk, and figures Rhaenyra is the ruler most likely to show them mercy. “One turn for another, then,” Rhaenyra says, and we can see a mutual respect of sorts forming between these two very differently positioned women.

Inside the castle, we finally spend more than a few passing seconds with Rhaena: Daemon’s daughter, and the younger sister of Baela. (In George R.R. Martin’s text, they’re twins, but she’s definitely positioned as the second sibling here.) Rhaenyra has a task for her, involving the younger Targaryens: she’ll take Joffrey (Rhaenyra’s youngest dark-haired son) and his dragon to the Vale, where he’ll become the ward of Lady Arryn; then, Rhaena will become the de facto mother figure for Rhaenyra’s blonde kids with Daemon (Aegon and Viserys, and yes the repeated names are confusing), taking them to Pentos for safety. As we’ve seen, no cute little kid is safe in this particular war. “Make this sacrifice willingly, for all of us,” Rhaenyra urges her. Rhaena isn’t happy about it, but if there’s one thing women in Westeros know about… it’s making sacrifices.

And now, at last, we pick back up with Daemon as he flies through howling night winds into Harrenhal, the biggest castle in Westeros and also, need we remind you, the spookiest. It’s also incredibly damp, thanks to all the damage it’s taken over the years, and Daemon stomps through puddles and flurries of bats indoors, killing a guard on the way just because he can. If this was a vintage horror movie, he’d encounter Lon Chaney Jr. lurking in the dark, but since this is House of the Dragon and not House of Dracula, instead he meets… Ser Simon Strong, played by British stage legend Sir Simon Russell Beale, having dinner in one of the castle’s few vaguely cozy rooms.

Ser Simon has no objection to ceding control of Harrenhal to Team Black—he’s no fan of his cunningly murderous great-nephew, Ser Larys—though Daemon’s skeptical of his hospitality, and snaps at him for mistakenly calling him “my Prince” instead of “Your Grace.” For his part, Ser Simon thinks Daemon’s plan to raise an army in the Riverlands is a dubious one; the region’s liege lord, Lord Grover Tully, is a frail old man unlikely to comprehend what’s at stake. What’s the endgame here, Ser Simon wonders? This very droll exchange follows.

Daemon: “We march on King’s Landing and take the throne.”

Ser Simon: “The throne?”

Daemon: “It’s a big chair… made of swords.”

In King’s Landing, Cole’s army prepares to march with a new face in tow: Ser Gwayne Hightower, Alicent’s brother. He meets Cole with a polite but frosty attitude (Gwayne’s not thrilled Cole took Otto’s place as the Hand), and things get a little weird when Cole says goodbye to Alicent, asking for her favor (which takes the form of a handkerchief she pulls out of her cleavage) as he departs, and Gwayne looks on quizzically. The camera pulls up as the host rides out, and in the foreground we see one of the rat catcher corpses from last week, looking a bit more decayed, and with a crow making short work of its eyes.

On Dragonstone, the tension is rising along with the anticipation of this army—which Team Black has yet to spot, but knows must be forming; the fact that Daemon hasn’t sent any updates since he flounced away isn’t helping. Rhaenyra’s Small Council wants her to act, be that by sending dragons to burn all who oppose her, or hiding herself away and letting the council (another way of putting that is “the menfolk”) rule in her stead. After Rhaenyra departs in disgust, Rhaenys has another notable quotable to share, reminding everyone that “their Queen wears the crown of my grandsire, Jaeharys the Conciliator, a prudent ruler, the wisest of Targaryen kings, whose reign outlasted every other, even Aegon the Conquerer’s.”

But Rhaenys knows there’s trouble afoot, and she doesn’t correct Corlys in the next scene, in a rainy Driftmark rendezvous, when he refers to the Small Council as “the ditherers of Dragonstone.” The interaction between husband and wife, like so many of their meetings, is shot through with affection as well as subtle disagreements, including that old question of who should inherit Driftmark (currently, it’s little Joffrey, who’s about to be spending the rest of his childhood far from the sea). There’s a new urgency to their talk of heirs, a tumultuous subject—as we saw last season, when Corlys suffered a great injury and it seemed Lucerys Velaryon (RIP) would be inheriting Driftmark sooner than expected. “We are at war,” Rhaenys reminds the Sea Snake, and worries that something might happen to him.

On nearby Dragonstone, Rhaena bids farewell, preparing for her journey with small children and small dragons in tow. She’s resentful; Baela, who’s not only older, but has her own dragon to ride, gets to stay behind and take an active part in the war effort. But there’s a softening when Rhaenyra shows Rhaena that she’ll also be caring for a clutch of precious dragon eggs; if the worst happens in Westeros, she’ll be an important source of hope for the Targaryen future.

After Rhaenyra says good-bye to her sons (except Jace, he gets to stay), we cut to King’s Landing, where Alicent and Heleana have a poignant conversation about motherhood, grief, and loss. And the elephant in the room comes out: “I forgive you,” Heleana tells her teary-eyed mother, and we all know she means her mother’s forbidden affair with Cole. In a nearby chamber, King Aegon (“the magnanimous”) is being fitted with… Aegon the Conquerer’s own snazzy armor. He’s planning to fly into battle, despite everyone else agreeing it’s a terrible idea. Ser Larys appears, as always armed with a bit of information that’s secretly manipulation in disguise, and says there’s talk that Aegon has been tricked into going into battle because that’s what his Small Council, including Alicent, wants, so that she and Aemond can rule in his absence. As Aegon is taking this in, he makes another impulsive appointment, naming Larys his Master of Whisperers.

And it works! Aegon decides that rather than going to battle, he’ll… spend another drunken night out on the town instead. In a scene that immerses us in King’s Landing after hours, we meet a new character. It’s a brief moment, but it’s important, since this is the bastard son of Baelon Targaryen—which makes him Daemon and Viserys’ half-brother, and Rhaenyra’s uncle. Why he’s sharing this information with random strangers (look closely; one is Samson Kayo from Our Flag Means Death) in a tavern isn’t clear, and we learn no more for now because just then King Aegon, who’s unaware of the man’s identity, shows up ready to party his face off.

Awkward family reunion averted–until Aegon walks in on Aemond snuggled up with his favorite lady of the night, to Aegon’s hooting, taunting delight. Aemond’s reaction is to stand on the table—classic Game of Thrones-style full-frontal nudity alert, though there’s tasteful shadowing—and stalk out of the room (wearing not a stitch, not even his eye patch), pretending he’s totally unbothered.

On Dragonstone, a contemplative Rhaenyra decides that now, at last, is the moment to open her message from Alicent. We can’t read the message, but the word “mother” definitely appears.

En route to the Riverlands, Cole and Ser Gwayne Hightower continue to not like each other. Gwayne has decided to take his lieutenants to a nearby tavern so they can enjoy some creature comforts, while Cole’s men are all camped on the hard ground. “We will rendezvous with your army at first light,” Gwayne says breezily, as the camera tilts up to show us the current position of the sun, and—hey now, what’s that in the sky? Dragonnnnnn! Cole, Gwayne, and Gwayne’s men gallop for the safety of nearby tree cover as Baela, riding Moondancer, swoops in overhead. She’s there merely to observe, not engage, but you can see in her face she’s got a bit of that season-one Rhaenys “I want to set you all on fire” urge in her, and she gives the men a good scare. Ser Gwayne, for one, looks like he might have peed his pants a little, and finally admits Cole might know what he’s doing after all. Stealth is now the way forward for this army—“and no fucking inns,” Cole hisses.

When Baela reports back to Rhaenyra and her Small Council, again they urge it’s time to take action. Past time, really. She takes it in and says she’ll consider their arguments, as we cut to Rhaenys—and can tell she’s realizing Rhanyra is finally going to take her advice.

But first, you may be wondering, as the Small Council on Dragonstone certainly has been: what the hell has Daemon been up to? Wandering around the ruins of Harrenhal, it turns out—a place full of dripping water, barricaded doorways, and whispers from the past. He encounters an impossible tableau: young Rhaenyra, played by a returning Milly Alcock. “Always coming and going, aren’t you,” she sighs at Daemon. “And I have to clean up afterwards.” As the camera comes around we see she’s stitching little Jaehaerys Targaryen’s head onto his neck. In an instant, the vision is gone, and a strange woman—someone we saw earlier alongside Ser Simon—appears and says “You will die in this place.”

With that uneasiness lingering, we return to Dragonstone; there’s no sneaking into King’s Landing without the advice of Mysaria, so Rhaenyra gets all the intel she needs to engineer a face-to-face encounter with Alicent. This includes what disguise she’ll need (a septa; it’s not the first time this episode, nor this season, that someone points out most smallfolk won’t recognize a royal out of context) and where she’ll be able to find the Dowager Queen alone (in the Great Sept of Baelor, saying her prayers). And then, it happens: a scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent, something we were not expecting to see at all this season.

And it’s quite a powerful moment. Alicent’s shock when she realizes who’s come to call is one thing; it levels up when she realizes Rhaenyra isn’t there to kill her. Rhaenyra opens with a memory we all share: the tournament that kicked off in season one. “Men trained for battle are eager to fight,” she reminds her old friend. “I know you do not have that desire within you.” But Alicent knows the Dance of the Dragons is past the point of no return. There are no terms they can come to. Too much has happened now.

As they whisper-argue over Luke and Jaeharys, the real meat of the conversation comes to the fore: what did the dying King Viserys say to Alicent that made her think he’d changed his mind about Rhaenyra being his heir? Rhaenyra can’t believe her ears when Alicent, who steadfastly believes she was honoring her husband’s wishes, says he muttered about “Aegon” and “the prince that was promised to unite the realm.” Rhaenyra knows, as we did when we saw it last season, that Viserys was referring to the Song of Ice and Fire, a dream that Aegon the Conquerer had. Wrong Aegon, Alicent! Wrong Aegon. But for Alicent, it’s too late, no matter how much Rhaenyra protests that there’s been a mistake. “There’s been no mistake,” Alicent insists. Otto’s been kicked out of court, Cole is on the march, “you know what Aemond is,” and it’s too late. As Alicent stalks away, Rhaenyra sets her jaw. Time to go to war. At last?

New episodes of House of the Dragon arrive Sundays on HBO and Max.

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