Spoilers below.
There’s a hot new couple in Westeros, and I’m not talking about Alicent Hightower and Ser Criston Cole (they’re old news) or Daemon Targaryen and his cursed visions of his dead mom (sorry). I’m talking about none other than Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and one of her very valued allies, and things get steamy. Here’s what went down in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 6.
Lannister troops (including literal lions in cages) are just about prepared to march on Harrenhal on behalf of the greens, but they won’t advance until Aemond joins them with Vhagar. Their leader, Jason Lannister, sends a request via raven to his twin brother, Tyland, who sits on Aemond’s council. Aemond scoffs at the order. He’d rather form an alliance with the Triarchy to break through the Velaryon blockade. Alicent disapproves; they could instead team up with the Greyjoys, but they haven’t answered her letters. Wasting no time, Aemond orders Criston Cole and his troops to strike Harrenhal before Daemon raises his army. He’ll join with Vhagar “when the time is ripe.”
When the council is dismissed, Alicent tries to reason with her son, but his power has already gone to his head. Aemond fires her from his council and encourages her to stick to “domestic pursuits.” *Eye roll*
The black council on Dragonstone is in a more experimental mode. Corlys Velaryon, now Hand of the Queen, is present as Rhaenyra begins her search for potential dragonriders. The first recruit is Steffon Darklyn, one of her knights. (Somewhere in their family trees, the Darklyns and Targaryens are intertwined.) He nobly accepts the challenge, knowing it could end in death.
In Harrenhal, Daemon faces his latest demon: his late brother Viserys. (Welcome back, Paddy Considine! These hauntings are a great excuse to bring back the season 1 cast, aren’t they?) In this vision, Daemon revisits the moment when Viserys passes him over as heir and chooses Rhaenyra instead. When he wakes, he’s had enough with these visions. He tries to leave Harrenhal and passes Alys Rivers on his way out. “Something’s wrong with me. Someone poisoned me,” he says to Alys, the strange woman who has offered him suspicious cups to drink during his stay here. (Sorry, were we not to believe that she played a part in his madness?) In his desperation, Daemon asks Alys for help, and she directs his focus to House Tully. It might not be the biggest house in the Riverlands, but it is the most stable. Do nothing now, she suggests as an owl flies in an perches on her arm; in three days, “the winds will shift.”
Back in Dragonstone, Rhaenyra and her crew summon Seasmoke for Ser Darklyn’s dragon driving test. The beast seems to obey as Steffon carefully approaches, but just when he thinks he’s succeeded, she burns him with dragonfire. Rhaenyra is appalled. Seasmoke flees. The scene promptly switches to Alyn of Hull (not-so-subtly hinting that the right dragonrider is in this direction). Corlys invites him to sail with him when his ship is ready.
Lord Bartimos (oh so that’s what his name is), a member of Rhaenyra’s council, burdens her with an unsolicited lecture after Steffon Darklyn is barbecued live. Fed up, Rhaenyra slaps him in the face. “It is my fault, I think, that you’ve forgotten to fear me,” she says. But in reality, she’s guilty that she led Ser Steffon to his death. She’ll look for dragonriders again, but who would want to try after hearing what happened? On the bright side, Mysaria says Rhaenyra is gaining favor in King’s Landing among the smallfolk. After all, lambs are brought into town to feed the greens’ dragons, and yet the people starve. We even see Ulf (another dragonseed), with fellow townspeople in King’s Landing, resenting the royal family’s lavish feasts.
Back at the green’s council, Larys Strong tries to weasel his way in as Aemond’s Hand of the King, but Aemond says nice try. He has Larys fetch his grandfather, Otto Hightower, to return to his seat instead. Good(ish) news arrives: Aegon has regained consciousness; he just might survive after all. Aemond then visits his brother to find out what he remembers before his great fall. Did Aegon realize that his own brother tried to blast him off his dragon? But Aegon says he recalls nothing, and Aemond leans into his barely-healed wounds. Ouch.
In the Vale, Rhaena comes across the patch of scorched earth and a smoked lamb carcass. The tiny dragons she brought over from Dragonstone couldn’t have been responsible for this. It turns out Lady Jeyne Arryn lied to her; there is a large dragon in the Vale, but it’s a wild one. She received word that Prince Reggio has agreed to host Rhaenyra’s youngest sons and Rhaena in Pentos, but Rhaena doesn’t seem so happy about the news.
On Driftmark, the camera zooms in on Alyn shaving off his silver hair before getting aboard the ship with Corlys—who, if you haven’t figured it out by now, is his father. Addam still seems to be hopeful that Corlys will claim them as his sons and heirs, but Alyn isn’t.
Mysaria informs Rhaenyra that their “gift is sent.” What gift? the audience and Jace all ask in unison. Canoes filled with food float onto shore at King’s Landing, each carrying a black and red Targaryen flag—signaling to its recipients that Queen Rhaenyra is behind this gesture. But the windfall turns into chaos as the townspeople rush and fight each other for food, including Hugh Hammer and his gorgeous half-bun updo.
Alicent is worried that her father, Otto, hasn’t responded to her letters. She catches up with her brother, Gwayne (did you forget he was here too?), who also hasn’t heard from him but assures everything’s fine. She asks about her son, Daeron, who is currently squiring in Oldtown. According to Gwayne, he’s now 16, “stalwart,” “clever,” and popular with the ladies. Most importantly, he’s kind—unlike his older brothers. Alicent and Criston Cole share a longing look from across the courtyard before he and Gwayne set off for Harrenhal.
When Alicent and Helaena stop at the Great Sept to pray, they are booed by the townspeople, who have now turned on the greens even more following Rhaenyra’s gift. One man even grabs Alicent and a member of the kingsguard slices his arm off with his sword, sending the crowd into full-on rebellion. “Long live Queen Rhaenyra!” they shout while beating the knights as Alicent and Helaena run for shelter.
Larys Strong’s latest scheme involves empathizing with the bedridden Aegon. He talks to the king about what it’s like to have a disability in this world: “They will underestimate you and this will be your advantage.” Aegon begs for Larys’ help—it worked.
Daemon wakes from another Viserys dream to learn that Lord Grover Tully is dead, following his illness. Alys Rivers even “volunteered her own craft” but couldn’t save him (or is she, perhaps, the reason why he died?). Now the young Oscar Tully, who Daemon can easily manipulate, is the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. Daemon cries; he can finally get his armies.
Addam once again sees a dragon flying overhead, but this one—Seasmoke—swoops down and chases him into the forest. Addam is cornered, but the scene is cut before we can find out whether he’s burned alive or he takes a ride. Considering he’s also a dragonseed, I’m thinking the latter.
Rhaenyra’s spirits are low as she chats with Mysaria in Dragonstone. She doesn’t think she can win the war and she senses that Daemon, her husband, has turned on her. Mysaria opens up about her mysterious past: She reveals she was sexually assaulted by her father. And when she became pregnant, she was stabbed in the stomach to end the pregnancy—she still has a scar—and left for dead. She’s understandably had trust issues since then, but with Rhaenyra, she’s seen and valued for who she really is. Rhaneyra rushes to embrace her. And as they linger in each other’s arms, they start to kiss.
But, dammit, just when things are about to escalate, a knight interrupts them with news. Ugh, men! Always interrupting! He tells Rhaenyra that Seasmoke has been flying over the Spicelands—yeah, yeah, a likely place for him to be, Rhaenyra essentially says, trying to get back to what she was doing—but, it seems the dragon has a rider. Oh.
Unfortunately for Mysaria, the moment has passed—for now. Rhaenyra mounts her dragon, Syrax, and flies off to find out who the new dragonrider is, despite her son calling after her to stay behind. But we’re certainly hoping that this isn’t the last we see of Rhaenysaria (Mynera?); because if we’re not going to let the girls fight in battle out here, we might as well let them kiss!