Dracarys! This text comprises main spoilers for “Home of the Dragon” Season 3, Episode 4.
The newest episode of “Home of the Dragon” Season 3 is full of secret identities, quirky dangerous guys that you’re going to like to hate, and convoluted plots fully invented for adaptation functions — in different phrases, a quintessential hour of “Recreation of Thrones.” We should always’ve identified the place issues have been headed as quickly as final week’s installment noticed Ormund Hightower (James Norton) give up with nary a struggle, flip his total military round (with a hilariously expressive dragon, in addition), and slink away residence minus one conspicuous prince/hostage. Nothing ever ends simply on the earth of Westeros, as Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen in all probability ought to’ve identified, and Episode 4 is all about these dragons coming residence to roost.
And, what’s extra, this Daeron Targaryen change truly works extremely nicely. Sure, there are many legitimate logistical complications this twist brings up, because the Daeron we thought we knew (an virtually silent efficiency by Charlie Gordon) seems to be a blonde-haired impostor vs. the real article, portrayed by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. (Wait, if characters might dye their hair this entire time, why the heck did not Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra do this together with her personal sons when their legitimacy was introduced into query on account of their brown hair?) Certain, on the face of it, a hardened veteran like Daemon getting fooled by the oldest switcheroo within the guide is fairly embarrassing. However the place Episode 3 (titled “Rhaenyra Triumphant”) left us with nothing however questions, this week brings a complete slew of fascinating solutions.
The truth that none of this seems in George R.R. Martin’s “Fireplace & Blood” solely provides to the joys, as informal followers and guide readers alike can solely guess the place this rogue storyline appears to be going.
Will the true Daeron Targaryen please arise in Home of the Dragon?
Give “Home of the Dragon” co-creator/showrunner Ryan Condal and his writers this a lot credit score, at the least — swapping out a doe-eyed Targaryen clone for a hardened Hightower acolyte skilled underneath the Westerosi model of a white supremacist is certainly a alternative. Arguably, it is a implausible one. In “Fireplace & Blood,” we by no means get a lot perception into Daeron’s character or his advanced function as a half-Hightower and half-Targaryen in a household that may have a number of official gripes towards their dragon-riding overlords. Right here, “Home of the Dragon” devotes the majority of Episode 4 to creating up for misplaced time and fleshing out Dowager Queen Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) final remaining son.
As we see all through Episode 4, it is clear that Daeron’s father determine Ormund Hightower has schemes upon schemes in response to Rhaenyra and Crew Black’s reclaiming of King’s Touchdown. The Daeron twist is just the first step. Banking on his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon Vhagar, Hand of the King Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), and Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) and his military to bolster their ranks even additional was speculated to be step two. When that goes sideways, nicely, the mood tantrum-throwing Ormund himself soberly proclaims his subsequent transfer as soon as he calms down: “We should alter our scheme.”
Ostensibly, this endgame includes the Hightower military making itself at residence available in the market city of Tumbleton — even when Rhaenyra struggles to see the strategic benefit of this. However the different shoe lastly drops within the episode’s closing moments. As Ormund provides Daeron a mentoring lecture within the holy sept, he reveals his plans to put in his younger pupil as king … and offers him a bloody take a look at to show his dedication.
Ormund Hightower’s secret plan includes putting in Daeron Targaryen as king
Within the span of just some tense minutes, a lot in regards to the complicated Daeron Targaryen twist in “Home of the Dragon” all of a sudden clicks into place. In fact Ormund Hightower would not need to danger freely giving his usurping prince as a hostage to make sure his loyalty to the Targaryens. Even with King’s Touchdown taken and the civil battle all however over, Crew Inexperienced is not precisely fading away and accepting their destiny. The Dance of the Dragons has its status as the costliest battle the Targaryen dynasty ever skilled for a motive, in spite of everything, and there is nonetheless extra dancing to return.
We’re formally on the midway mark of “Home of the Dragon” Season 3, so that is excellent timing for a brand new twist to gasoline the remainder of the episodes to return. Unbeknownst to Alicent Hightower, the appearing Regent Aemond, or the still-alive King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Ormund is secretly plotting to flip all the things on its head and set up Daeron as Westeros’ new ruler.
It is unclear precisely how this could be achieved, contemplating Rhaenyra and her a number of dragons are nonetheless sitting comfortably inside the partitions of King’s Touchdown — to not point out the pesky element of getting to take care of Aemond, who is not prone to sit idly by and have his crown taken from him. E book readers know that destiny might have totally different plans anyway. With out spoiling something, Daeron is ready as much as play an infinite function on this subsequent stage of the battle, and even a present as desperate to skip over occasions from the guide as this one cannot stray too far off the overwhelmed path.
“Home of the Dragon” airs new episodes on HBO each Sunday.
