Regent - House of the Dragon Episode 2.05

(00:00:00):

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Westerosi Primer. For full show notes and more about all things Westeros, head to thewesterosiprimer.com. Before I start playing the intro music, check out this friend of the show.

(00:00:59):

Greetings, fellow acolytes of all things Westeros, and welcome to another episode of the Westerosi Primer. My name is Liz. We're off to another exciting episode this week as we get into the aftermath of the Battle of Rook's Rest. If you're new to this podcast, welcome, and I hope you check out not only this episode, but also the previous episodes I've done.

(00:01:23):

So before I get into the main discussion, which is a reaction to this week's episode, I am going to update all of you on a couple of things because you guys are as much a part of the show as I am. If you didn't already know, I have a poll running where... If you didn't already know, I currently have a poll running where I am asking you listeners, what would you like me to discuss in season two of the podcast?

(00:01:53):

In a very few short weeks, I will be finishing the first season of this podcast, and I will be going on a very short hiatus. The second season of this podcast will be released starting in October. So this poll is an opportunity for all of you regular listeners and... So this poll is an opportunity for all of you listeners, regular and new, to make your opinion known. You get the chance to let me know what would you like me to talk about in the next season.

(00:02:27):

So for those of you who are already familiar with the five choices that I listed in the poll... I mentioned last time that I have received three responses. Subsequent to last week's episode, I have not received any additional responses. So as of this episode... The current frontrunner out of the five choices is me discussing real-world history and some real-world culture that George may or may not have used in the saga. And I say may not because there are some historical figures and historical events, even some cultural references that other fans and I suspect he may have used consciously or subconsciously when writing the saga. Or possibly they are just coincidences that we just happen to notice a connection to. We can't really say, but it's still something interesting to make a note of. So far, two people have voted for that.

(00:03:42):

And the other vote I received is a deep dive discussion of House Targaryen. So if you listeners agree or disagree with the people who voted so far, then please participate and let me know what you think. The link to the poll is available on thewesterosiprimer.com. You have until August 14th to participate in the poll.

(00:04:15):

After August 14th, I will take a look at the results and I will make an announcement of the results on the blog, on the newsletter, and also on social media accounts that I created for the podcast. All of the links will be on thewesterosiprimer.com.

(00:04:39):

So with that bit of housekeeping done, let me get to the main point of this episode, which is this week's episode of House of the Dragon.

(00:04:48):

Okay, so we have a few things from this week's episode to talk about. The episode starts off with Criston Cole's triumphant return to King's Landing with the decapitated head of Meleys and, of course, a wagon with a mysterious package, which of course, we discover is the body of Aegon. And it may not have necessarily been clear to viewers, but unfortunately for Aegon, he did not die in Aemond's attack.

(00:05:27):

Aegon is still alive and barely survives. To be honest, I imagine he probably wishes he died because I have no doubt he is in pure agony. And it's going to get very interesting when Aegon wakes up from what has happened to him. Oh, I can tell you right now, it's going to get very interesting when he eventually wakes up. But we'll have to wait for a future episode is all I'm going to say about that.

(00:06:02):

I do have to bring this up because I'm actually a little surprised I haven't read too much from TV viewers about this. Or at least I didn't notice any mention of it online, but maybe I'm just not looking in enough places or something. But I'm actually surprised that there aren't any TV viewers who noticed that neither Aegon nor Rhaenys made it out from getting burned by a dragon.

(00:06:36):

Yet Daenerys during Game of Thrones did not have any issues with fire. In fact, it was a major thing that she was known as the Unburnt as one of her bazillion titles. And I'm actually surprised that TV viewers didn't make a note of this because one of the things that kept getting harped on during Game of Thrones' original TV run was the whole notion of fire cannot kill a dragon and how Viserys was not a true dragon, but Daenerys must be because she was not affected by fire, etc.,

(00:07:21):

And what's not completely made clear is that actually Daenerys is the one who's the oddity because as we saw in this week's episode and to a certain degree last week's episode, Targaryens are not fireproof. Daenerys is actually the oddball in this whole family dynasty. Targaryens are not any more fireproof than any other person is. Daenerys just happens to be the oddball here. And it's not very clear why that is, but there are some fan theories that book readers like myself have about Daenerys. why it is that Daenerys is apparently fireproof and every single one of her relatives in the Targaryen family tree, or as I like to joke, the Targaryen family bush, most definitely are not fireproof.

(00:08:24):

I have to tell you, Rhaenys and Aegon are not the only ones in the Targaryen family tree who demonstrate this very sad fact. But I just think it's a very interesting thing that this hasn't come up in online discourse. Or maybe some of you who are TV-only viewers figured out already, but I just thought it was an interesting thing to make a note of.

(00:08:51):

But anyway... Because Aegon is clearly not in a position to even look like he's ruling. There needs to be a regent. And we get that very awkward scene in the small council room where literally everybody voted for Aemond to take over instead of Alicent. And it's a really interesting mirror of Rhaenyra's situation where she is the queen that some of Westeros is backing, and yet her own council basically put her on the sideline to a large extent. And it's all because of the fact she is a woman. Alicent is in a similar position now, where she previously had been doing some ruling while Viserys was not able to do so. And yet now, when her son is incapacitated, they are voting against her, even though she has experienced ruling.

(00:10:02):

And of course, the argument is that we're in the middle of a war right now and you don't have experience at war. Can you handle making those types of decisions that will involve doing terrible things, etc.? And while I understand the argument to a certain degree, it's still ultimately telling her that you cannot be the regent because you're a girl and we need a guy to do the job.

(00:10:35):

And of course, I imagine Alicent does not have very high hopes about how this is going to turn out because Aemond has made quite a few decisions during this whole situation that has probably exacerbated things. So it will be interesting to see how things go with Aemond, in essence, being the king.

(00:11:03):

Aegon is barely conscious. The other thing I'm going to mention before I move on to the next topic, I just feel like there are just moments where you wonder if Alicent actually cares for any of her children. And yes, in a sense, she does care for them, but in many other respects, she doesn't seem to care for them. In fact, I would make an argument that out of all of her children, Helaena seems to be her favorite, and yet Alicent doesn't really demonstrate any mothering in a meaningful way. You never really see any scenes she has with her children where she actually acts like a mother to any of them in an emotional capacity.

(00:11:59):

Now, I can't speak for all of you listeners and your relationships with your moms, but for me... I know that sometimes when I'm experiencing emotional turmoil, my own mother is the support that I need and I know that I can always count on her to comfort me and provide me with support.

(00:12:27):

There doesn't seem to be many occasions where we ever see Alicent doing that for any of her children. I suppose the closest we've seen was when Alicent was with Helaena and Alicent had to convince Helaena to make an appearance during the funeral procession. But just the same, you still don't get that emotional connection of mother and daughter there. It's hard for me to say whether this is a product of her own relationship with her father or if this is just Alicent being Alicent. I can't really say. But it is something interesting to note.

(00:13:14):

So the next thing to talk about is Daemon is just having a very strange time in the Riverlands and he hasn't quite achieved what he really set out to achieve in the sense that he is successfully gathering an army of he seems to be in a situation where he doesn't fully even know what he really wants at this point. He's experiencing all sorts of strange dreams and hallucinations, whether that's him processing his emotions or not, I can't fully tell, honestly.

(00:13:54):

I could see that he is processing some of his emotions and yet he doesn't come to any real conclusions thus far. I've definitely seen a lot of complaints online about how it feels like Daemon's screen time has been really wasted on bizarre stuff happening to him rather than him demonstrating any competency at being a leader out in the field. Which to a certain degree I do agree with. I do feel like they are spending a little too much time on his strange dreams and his guilt tripping and everything.

(00:14:34):

It's also interesting his strange interactions with Alys Rivers. It's starting to make me wonder if there are going to be some changes to the lore that could potentially be more significant than I thought. But unfortunately, I can't really explain this until... much later because it's a potential spoiler if I mention a personal fan theory speculation I'm starting to have about the TV show so I can't really discuss it but I do have something that I'm wondering but I'm going to have to discuss this with some friends of mine who are familiar with the lore, whether or not they think the same thing I do about this. But sorry for being cryptic here, but it's just a thought.

(00:15:33):

Things get messier again with the Blackwoods and the Brackens again, which creates even more problems in the Riverlands because of the chaos that happened. All because Daemon encouraged the Blackwoods to attack the Brackens, in essence, in order to get the Brackens to finally obey his demand that they send their army to support his cause. Which, again, he seems like he is planning to take over things and not sit there and allow Rhaenyra to be the queen on the Iron Throne. He doesn't seem to mind the idea of Rhaenyra still being at his side because, after all, she is still his wife.

(00:16:23):

However, he seems to be very determined to be the one wearing the proverbial pants in the relationship. And yet things have gotten nowhere with him. All I have to say is that hopefully the writing on this show will make all of this strangeness with him actually pay off later because otherwise it does feel like a very strange writing decision on their part.

(00:16:49):

One other interesting thing that came up in this episode is that we got an introduction, however briefly, to Jeyne Arryn. Jeyne Arryn is currently the Lady of the Eyrie. How exactly she's related to Jon Arryn, who is, of course, the Hand of the King for Robert and the father of Robin or Robert Arryn and Lysa Arryn's husband. How exactly they're related to each other in the family tree is not very clear to me. But they are clearly distant ancestors.

(00:17:31):

But at any rate, we do get a brief introduction to her. And it's interesting. to see how she is concerned about the safety of her people. Because, of course, as we know, the third episode of this podcast, where I discuss the history of the Vale, it is a very big concern that she would naturally have about the potential for a dragon to fly up to the Eyrie to burn them all.

(00:18:03):

And it is also an interesting thing, which, of course, again, I mentioned this in episode three of this podcast, that she is a cousin of Rhaenyra's. It's not 100% clear exactly how they are related. Rhaenyra's mother, before she married Viserys, she was Aemma Arryn, and Aemma's mother was Princess Daella Targaryen, the daughter of King Jaehaerys, which meant that Aemma and Viserys were first cousins. And she is, of course, also first cousins with Rhaenys and Daemon.

(00:18:52):

But it is interesting how Jeyne, even though she is related to Rhaenyra, you would think that automatically she would be supportive of her cousin Rhaenyra. But like a typical politician, she demands certain concessions before she will agree to provide any support for Rhaenyra's cause. And a big part of it is protection from a potential attack by the Greens.

(00:19:25):

On the one hand, I don't blame her completely because it is a thing that comes up in this episode and to some degree in that episode as well, that it is extremely risky to side with one faction over the other because that means that at some point, eventually your castle could get attacked by the other side. And as we see, it's a huge issue that comes up multiple times during the dance. But ultimately, people are going to have to pick a side because almost nobody in Westeros fully can escape from this civil war.

(00:20:11):

Now, next I'm going to talk about Corlys. Obviously, Corliss is feeling extremely bad, to put it mildly. He lost his daughter. His son is dead for all intents and purposes. And now he lost his wife. All he has left are his two granddaughters and his alleged grandsons. But again, he's not a stupid guy. He probably knows perfectly well that Jace and Joffrey and Luke were not actually his biological grandsons, but he was prepared to accept them. Because there was an agreement where Luke was going to marry Rhaena and Baela would marry Jacerys. So they would ideally have kids that would have Valyrian blood in their veins.

(00:21:11):

I just think that his conversation that he has with his granddaughter, Baela, was a very good scene. It forces him to rethink his situation because naturally he is upset that his wife died. And to some degree he blames Rhaenyra, despite the fact that Rhaenys herself was the one who volunteers to go to Rook's rest.

(00:21:41):

He, of course, blames Rhaenyra for not sending additional dragons because she was basically fighting two on one. The truth, though, is that, again, Rhaenys, number one, chose to go. And number two, absolutely nobody would have predicted that Aegon was actually going to fly out because common sense would tell you that the primary contenders for the throne would not actually go out into the battlefield to fight Aegon. because there's a high risk that they could get severely injured if not killed, and that would make the whole point of the Civil War potentially moot, because then you would be scrambling to find alternative candidates for the throne to continue the fight.

(00:22:40):

But, of course, Baela has to set the record straight for her grandfather, which is to make him understand that Rhaenys was very much a woman who knew the risks and made her choice. And Baela herself tells him that... If she were in Rhaenys' place, she would have done the exact same thing.

(00:23:04):

In fact, she is doing the exact same thing. She is prepared to get on her dragon and fight if she is called to do so because she knows that they all have a lot hanging in the balance and that unless they are prepared to bend the knee to the Hightowers, they will never truly be safe. After all, Baela is Daemon's daughter. And even though, as a woman, she's not taken seriously as a potential threat to the throne, in terms of trying to sit on the throne herself, any of her future children could be potential threats. Exactly, because she does have Targaryen blood. She and her future children could have a claim that the Hightowers would not appreciate.

(00:24:03):

And also, Baela herself has no interest in bending the knee to either of these half-high tower Targaryens. Because if you guys remember, back in the first season, she and her sister have some beef with Aemond. Not only for killing Luke, but also for, in essence, claiming Vhagar before Rhaena even had a chance to try.

(00:24:32):

Which is a pretty funny thing to me, mainly because what was mentioned in this week's episode was the story of how Rhaenys even got Maelys to begin with. And it is a funny bit of lore, actually, because Meleys was originally the dragon that Viserys and Daemon's mother, Alyssa, actually rode on. When she died, of course, Rhaenys ended up claiming Maelys before Daemon had a chance. In a funny twist, Caraxes was actually originally the dragon that Rhaenys' father Aemon rode on. And when he died later, Daemon ended up claiming Caraxes because by that point, Rhaenys already claimed Meleys, so it's not like she can claim a second dragon. That's not how it works. Yeah, that is a funny coincidence right there.

(00:25:31):

Next and final plot point I will talk about is, of course, Rhaenyra and Jace. I have to say that Jace is turning out to be the best son in this show out of all the different sons because he's actually a really good example of a very well-raised child. You get the impression that Rhaenyra did a way better job raising her children than Alicent did, which is funny because Rhaenyra originally was put off on the idea of having children because she saw the struggle her own mother had with having children.

(00:26:16):

Rhaenyra being the only surviving child that her parents had clearly left a very strong impression on her. And in a strange twist, she ends up having multiple children, and she actually does a pretty good job raising them, clearly. Because you have a son like Jace, who is a very loyal son, willing to do whatever he needs to do to support his mother.

(00:26:45):

And when he does things out of his own initiative, he doesn't do things for his own pride or ego. He does it because he wants to show people that he is good enough and worthy of his place as a Targaryen prince and as a future king on the Iron Throne. He is Rhaenyra's eldest son, and she was supposed to be the queen on the Iron Throne, so naturally, as her oldest child, he would be first in line after her. Clearly, he wants to show everyone that he is capable and worthy of that position. He's not just somebody who has that position because of his birth. His birth gave him an opportunity. He just wants to prove that he deserves that opportunity.

(00:27:45):

Which is a very big contrast to Aegon, who ends up on the Iron Throne, and yet he has not really demonstrated that he is capable enough. Partially because he was never trained for it, but also partially he just doesn't have what it takes, really. He doesn't have that level of ambition and willpower to be a good ruler, which again, as I mentioned in last week's episode, you do feel a little bit sorry for him in that respect.

(00:28:18):

And as I mentioned earlier in this episode, Rhaenyra is definitely very upset that even though she is the one who is supposed to be queen and people around her are saying that they support her claim to be on the Iron Throne, they aren't letting her do much of anything in this war. To some degree, again, I understand why it's not really a good idea for her to actually go out and fight. At the same time, her advisors are not letting her make any decisions whatsoever.

(00:28:59):

Which to be fair to her as well, it is really frustrating that how can you be the leader of this faction and you're not allowed to do things that. So Rhaenyra and Jace got that little scene at the end of the episode where they talk about their mutual frustrations at their positions, not being able to do as much as they really want to.

(00:29:33):

But of course, they bring up a very interesting point, which is that technically they have access to more dragons than the greens do. Because the greens only have four dragons, although technically they really have only three dragons that are capable of fighting dragons. Considering that Sunfyre is severely injured and not very likely to ever really fight again.

(00:30:03):

Meanwhile, the Black Faction is on Dragonstone, and Dragonstone has a lot of dragons without riders. The question comes up is, where do they find riders? Well, I know where they will find riders. And maybe some of you observant TV viewers probably have figured this out as well. But I have very little doubt that we may start seeing the answer to this question probably starting in the next episode.

(00:30:45):

So that was this week's episode of House of the Dragon. If you enjoy this episode, feel free to reach out to me on social media or you can send an email. The email address is listed on thewesterosiprimer.com. You can also leave reviews about this podcast on different podcast platforms that allow you to write reviews.

(00:31:15):

And again, please participate in the poll so you can let me know what you would like me to discuss in season two of the podcast. Please also sign up to the newsletter for all sorts of interesting news. It is totally free to subscribe. Currently, there are two subscribers. If the two of you who have signed up are listening to this episode, thank you for doing so. And I hope you actually enjoyed the content that I released to you guys via the newsletter so far.

(00:31:57):

And in case those of you who have not yet signed up are curious, I've actually written a couple of interesting posts that are behind the scenes stories. I actually very recently wrote a story where I talked about the recording process that I do every time I make one of these episodes.

(00:32:23):

And as I'm recording this episode, earlier today, I released another interesting story where I talked about how for the second half of July, I am running a cross-promotion with another podcast. Depending on when you are listening to this episode, you may have actually heard the promo towards the beginning of this episode. Before the opening theme song started, I am doing a cross promo with a Lord of the Rings podcast. And if you're curious about the story of how that happened, you would have to go to the newsletter, which I have created on Substack.

(00:33:17):

So, with that said, tune in next time when I talk about the next episode of House of the Dragon. So, Valar Morghulis.

(00:34:05):

What did you think of this episode? Check out thewesterosiprimer.com and let me know what you think of this episode. If you have a friend or two that might like the show, make sure to share.