Episode 6 of House of the Dragon saw the tragic death of Prince Daemon’s (Matt Smith) wife, Lady Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell).
After not being able to deliver her baby during childbirth, she staggered off to her dragon, Vhagar, and got him to torch her to death.
Now, Episode 7 opens with her funeral, which is an interesting affair and quite unlike anything we have ever seen before in this show or in Game of Thrones.
Afterward, things get interesting as the wake brings Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Daemon back together after so long apart.
Along with their first meeting, plenty of other things are reinforced as well, such as Helaena (Evie Allen) being an absolute weirdo who prefers spiders over people, and, girl, I can relate to liking critters over people here (just not spiders per se).
Along with this, Aegon (Ty Tennant) has replaced slapping the salami with drinking profusely.
Laenor (John MacMillan) is not coping at all with his sister’s death and King Viserys (Paddy Considine) is starting to forget his wife’s name, calling her Aemma instead of Alicent when he goes off to bed. Honestly, though, how this guy is even still alive is a medical marvel — especially in Westeros.
Rhaenyra and Daemon speak of doomed marriages
Rhaenyra finally catches up with Daemon and she is as hungry for him now as she was back when Milly Alcock was portraying her.
They chat about their marriages, speaking out loud that they both are happy — of sorts — with who they picked but, let’s face it, it’s not Targaryen incest, so nothing else will do.
Which sends them into each other’s arms and they finally consummate their relationship on the beach outside Driftmark.
Daemon also brings up the fact that the father of Rhaenyra’s children, Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), was killed by Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and not the Curse of Harrenhal. Rhaenyra won’t hear of that as she still thinks her childhood friendship can be redeemed.
Vhagar is claimed by Aemond Targaryen
With Laena now dead, the largest living dragon in Westeros is currently riderless. Considering one of Laena’s daughters is also dragonless, it makes perfect sense to team up Vhagar with Baela (Shani Smethhurst).
Except that Aemond Targaryen (Leo Ashton) is the worst d**che ever and decides he will claim Vhagar without asking anyone’s permission.
This leads to an epic fight among the young kids and some decent punches being thrown by Rhaena (Eva Ossei-Gerning) in defense of her sister.
However, once Aemond calls Jacaerys (Leo Hart) and Lucerys (Harvey Sadler) bastards, things get serious.
I mean, we all know Rhaenyra’s kids aren’t Laenor’s, but you just can’t go saying that out loud.
Lucerys responds by slashing Aemond with a dagger and he loses an eye because of this.
Alicent Hightower is livid
Queen Alicent is decidedly livid once she finds out her son has been seriously injured in Episode 7 of House of the Dragon. And, in the heat of the moment, Aemond very nearly ‘fesses up to calling his cousins’ bastards on account of Alicent but blames his brother at the last minute.
It still doesn’t get Alicent to calm down a notch or two. Oh no, she’s so mad, in fact, that she quite literally demands an eye for an eye, and when King Viserys won’t have a bar of it, she calls on Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).
Except that’s a boundary even he won’t cross.
Later, though, Larys Strong (Mathew Needham) puts up his hand and, predictably, offers his services to make things right.
However, Alicent doesn’t take him up on his offer — yet.
Otto continues to manipulate
Meanwhile, Aemond is totally cool with losing an eye. He scored a dragon out of it after all and his grandfather, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), who is Hand of the King again, is suitably impressed with his spunk.
He also praises his daughter, Alicent, for pulling a knife on Princess Rhaenyra after no one would help her to get justice for Aemond, which just goes to show you how horrible he is.
Then, he suggests to Alicent that she go and suck up to her husband again and make things right after injuring Viserys’ firstborn, which she promptly does. She may despise Rhaenyra behind her back but she certainly doesn’t want to get accused of treason because she really does want her pretty head to remain attached.
Rhaenyra and Daemon get married
Now that Rhaenyra has finally bedded her uncle, she wants to make sure he hangs around. It would also be helpful against the rumors regarding her children’s parentage since Daemon is the brother of the king, and it might stave off the dissent regarding who should rule after Viserys dies.
The only problem is that Rhaenyra is still married.
But, that’s okay, they have a plan.
Namely, they will off Laenor.
Now, before you get all horrified that Rhaenyra agrees to such a thing (and prepare to ignore yet another horrible thing Daemon is capable of), they have a very clever plan to publically kill Laenor but without actually, you know, killing him.
Daemon still needs to murder a man, though. But, who cares, because it is Daemon, right?
He also gets in touch with Laenor’s lover, Ser Qarl Correy (Arty Froushan) and he returns to Driftmark and makes a scene, attacking Laenor in return for sending him away after Laenor decides he needs to make things work with Rhaenyra.
A fight ensues but by the time Laenor’s parents arrive, Laenor is dead and roasting in the fireplace.
Except, that’s not Laenor. That’s the guy who Daemon killed earlier.
Laenor and Qarl are now escaping on a boat, Laenor’s head shaved and the pair ready to start a secret new life together overseas.
The plan is brilliant, except I’m pretty sure no one told Laenor’s parents about it and now Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys (Eve Best) are mourning another child.
Regardless, Rhaenyra and Daemon then get married and it will be interesting to find out what Alicent thinks of all this when House of the Dragon returns next week.
House of the Dragon airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on HBO Max.