Last week, we broke down the trailer to House of the Dragon’s fifth episode — a dramatic conclusion to the early events of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s life that set up major crises for several years to come.
While rushed, the episode essentially concludes Milly Alcock and Emilia Carey’s fantastic runs as the young Rhaenyra and her bestie-turned-stepmother, Alicent Hightower, putting the turning point in their personal relationship around the time of Rhaenyra’s wedding to Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate).
The episode, titled We Light the Way, is titled after the motto of House Hightower, which experiences some major political upheaval with the sacking of Rhys Ifan’s Lord Otto Hightower. The episode’s intro begins with a somewhat hurried, if unsurprising scene — the murder of Lady Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) by Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). While only alluded to in the books, we get to see this play out in person during Episode 5 — with director Clare Kilner doing a great job of portraying just how sinister Daemon can be.
We then follow through Rhaenyra and King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) intent to get the former married off to Laenor — a strong political choice for the betterment of Westeros.
Big Fat Targaryen Wedding
Naturally, as we discussed before — a wedding in Westeros just never seems to go according to plan.
It’s a win-win situation for everyone directly involved, as Viserys gets a secure throne following his impending death, while Rhaenyra and Laenor agree to bend the rules of matrimony to their own designs. In a rather awkward conversation where Rhaenyra uses duck and goose metaphors to address Laenor’s homosexuality, the pair agree to perform their duty as rulers and heir-producers, while giving each other the freedom to sleep around.
Laenor’s situation is fairly straightforward — the man is in love with his childhood friend Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod). Rhaenyra, however, finds herself cast between two men — Ser Criston Cole of the Kingsguard (Fabien Frankel), and of course, Daemon.
As teased earlier, Cole is at the centre of the bloodbath that ensues — all brought about after he naively asks Rhaenyra to elope with him, and finds himself scorned in the process. Frustrated and lost, he eventually confesses his affair with the Princess to Queen Alicent, who has finally exhausted her trust in the heir to the throne and has started to sow the seeds of rebellion against Rhaenyra.
During the wedding, both Daemon and Alicent draw tension by entering the hall unannounced — wearing red and green respectively, foretelling the two-sided conflict that will engulf Westeros in the near future. Meanwhile, Joffrey approaches Ser Criston, hoping to forge a pact of secrecy between the two royal squeezes.
This proves to be a fatal mistake. After having his honour tarnished, his faith in Rhaenyra completely destroyed, watching Daemon and the Princess get it on in the middle of the dance floor after Joffrey’s proposition to resort to further lies — the young Kingsguard sees red and beats Laenor’s lover to a bloody pulp in front of the entire wedding hall.
Ser Criston then tries to take his own life but is stopped by Queen Alicent, as a tearful Laenor and solemn Rhaenyra exchange rushed vows, only for Viserys to collapse to the ground.
All in all, a fantastic, rather sombre and sad episode — especially considering that Alcock and Carey will be giving up their roles to Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke respectively. Fans were pretty shaken up, and shared their reactions on Twitter en masse:
House of the Dragon returns next Monday at 6:30 AM, with Episode 6.
Lead Image: HBO
