“Dragon House”: What happened in the first three episodes of the series?

Attention: spoilers!

House of the Dragon, the prequel to the most anticipated TV series of the year, Game of Thrones, aired just over two weeks ago and now attracts millions of viewers every Monday (its first episode was watched by a record 9.9 million viewers for HBO). ) Max). The first three episodes have been released, seven more to come.

What could you be missing? Let’s talk about what we saw on the air!

Episode One: “Descendants of the Dragon”

The Dragon House opens with an explanation of the current balance of power in Westeros: King Jakeris I Targaryen, who reigned for almost 60 years, was succeeded by his cousin Rhaenys and taken by his grandson Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). Targaryen (The Best of Eve). A woman on the Iron Throne too? That would not be allowed here.

The main action of the first part takes place nine years after the “elections”. King Eima’s wife Arryn (Shan Brook) is about to give birth and give Viserys a long-awaited son, and is also raising a daughter, Reynira (Millie Alcock), whom she loves wholeheartedly. The latter is one of the main characters of the series, who from the first seconds of the screen makes it clear that the rules were not invented for him.

Despite her young age, she already masterfully manages her own dragon named Sirax and has one of her court friends, Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), the right hand daughter of King Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans).

Speaking of politics: in the first series, viewers are also introduced to the members of the Small Council, the main negotiating body under the king. It includes Corlys Velarion (Steve Toussaint), known as the Sea Serpent, the famous sailor and husband of Rhaenys Targaryen, and Damon Targaryen (Matt Smith), known as the Barren Prince, the King’s headstrong younger brother and seasoned warrior. Not very popular at court, except, of course, Viserys, who entrusted him with the leadership of the guards of King’s Landing – the “Golden Cloaks”. And here Damon lets his cruelty go brutal: criminals are deprived of body parts, beaten, tortured. What else is worth knowing about this man? He has a wife named Rhea Royce but prefers to spend time with Misaria’s mistress (Sonoya Mizuno). He also participates in royal tournaments and suddenly finds himself defeated at the hands of Kristan Kohl (Fabien Frankel), a Dornish knight.

One of the most memorable scenes in the first episode is the birth (snowy) of Aima Arryn, where you have to resort to a cesarean section. Unfortunately, neither the mother nor the child survives. And this causes confusion in the ranks of the Little Council: the King’s right hand insists on remarriage, offers to make Damon the Sea Serpent or Rhaenys Targaryen heir, and Damon is holding a banquet in a brothel meanwhile. It falls out of favor with Viserys. The brothers argue, and Damon and Misaria fly to Dragonstone Island, while everyone in King’s Landing swears allegiance to the proclaimed heir Rhaenyra. At the same time, her friend – Alicenta Hightower – comes to the king’s chamber to console the widow.

Episode Two: “Bad Prince”

On the so-called Steps – the islands between Westeros and Essos, where the Free Cities are located – hostilities arise. They have been captured by Admiral Kraghas Drahar, nicknamed the Crab Feeder, and Korlys Velarion is calling for war against him. True, the king does not allow active military operations due to his unwillingness to fight with the Free Cities, and also forbids his daughter, who offers to go there with her dragon, to help. Instead, he is instructed to appoint a new head of the royal guard – Christon Cole becomes his.

Meanwhile, Alicente Hightower continues to bond with Viserys; They study history together, and Viserys even repairs the dragon figurine that the king broke.

It turns out that Daemon Targaryen, who escaped from the palace, also took one of the dragon eggs – according to the ancient traditions of the family, they say that a child should have his own dragon from birth. And Misaria, whom he took as his wife, must give birth to an heir (polygamy is a classic for Valyrian customs). To cool his veteran brother’s enthusiasm, the king sends a delegation led by Otto to Dragonstone – a conflict erupts between them that turns into an almost real war, if not for Reynira, who flies to her uncle. dragon without his father’s knowledge.

The Iron Throne offers to kill Damon as it is very important to him, but Damon gives up, giving the stolen egg and admitting that he has no plans to become a father yet.

At the end of the second episode, Viserys announces at the Small Council meeting that he has chosen a new wife – that woman will be Alicent Hightower. And if this news was long awaited for Otto (it was not in vain that in the first episode he forced him to go to the king’s chambers), then Reynira Targaryen was shocked, because now her best friend will be her stepmother. Viserys and the Sea Serpent are not happy with his choice – he offered him his daughter as a wife, and after being rejected, she went to Damon from King’s Landing. Together they decide to get rid of the Crab Feeder.

Part Three: “Second of Your Name”

Three years have passed since the events depicted in the second part. The Battle on the Stairs continues and the advantage is still on the Crab Feeder side. Meanwhile, in King’s Landing, Alicente is preparing to become a mother again: she has already given birth to the king’s son, Aegon, and has also ceased to be Rhaenyra’s friend. The relationship of the latter with his father also deteriorated – they communicate less, forcing him to marry, and he prefers holidays to political issues.

One of the highlights of the third part is the royal hunt for the legendary White Deer, the King of the Jungle.

Here Reynira has a public argument with her father and saddles a horse and runs into the woods – Kriston Kol is sent to stop her. Together they spend the night in the forest (just chatting), kill the boar that attacked them, and at dawn meet the same White deer that the princess decided to let go.

At that time, a banquet continued at the royal camp where Otto Hightower proposed to Rhaenyra, the king’s son (yes, incest is not forbidden among the Targaryens) and Lionel Strong (Gavin Spox). marry her to Leynor Velaryon (Theo Nate), son of the Sea Serpent. But Viserys refuses to discuss this on the hunt, and leans against the wine and kills a driven deer – “not white, but large” – barely standing in the morning. A little later, Reynira joins the whole delegation – covered in blood and hunted in the form of a wild boar.

Otto Hightower, with the help of his daughter, tries to persuade the king to make Aegon heir because a woman on the Iron Throne is supposedly ridiculous. Reynira understands her dangerous situation, but her father convinces her that her plans for her have not changed and she swears by her mother’s memory.

The most important thing in the third part is its ending. Action moves towards the Stairs, where Damon receives a message from the king – that he has sent a fleet and dragons to aid them. This pisses him off, so he goes to the Crab Feeder with a white flag and attacks his opponents as soon as they get close to him.

The enemies, not ready to attack, allowed him to fight until the cave where his generals were. It’s possible to put an end to that in battle here – Damon leaves the cave and drags half of the Crab Feeder’s body behind him.