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House of the Dragon S2E4 and S2E5 Recap: Dancing Queens

“The Red Dragon and the Gold” and “Regent”

Aemond sits with small council after being named king regent in House of the Dragon S2E5, "Regent"
Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO

The following recap contains spoilers for House of the Dragon S2E4, “The Red Dragon and the Gold” (written by Ryan Condal and directed by Alan Taylor), and S2E5, “Regent” (written by Ti Mikkel and directed by Clare Kilner).


Watching Episodes 4 and 5 of House of the Dragon Season 2 back-to-back is a bit like being on a roller coaster that has an unbearably long climb to the top before it drops you into an exhilarating, twisting adventure ride that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen, before another serene, leisurely ride back to the drop-off station so you can regain your wits and your senses.

I didn’t originally plan on the double feature of “The Red Dragon and the Gold” and “Regent,” but Hurricane Beryl had other ideas for the area where I live. If there was one silver lining out of this unpredictable House of the Dragon viewing experience, it was being able to recognize the strengths this creative team possesses in both elaborate set pieces such as aerial dragon battles and intimate conversations in historical libraries. This dragon battle sandwich of the last two hours of television was all extremely impressive visually and creatively.

By now, you’ve likely seen Episodes 4 and 5 and understand the high points hit throughout one of the strongest stretches in Season 2. Daemon, who is increasingly experiencing some kind of witch-induced fugue state in Harrenhal, dreams he kills young Rhaenyra, dreams he sees his dead wife Laena Velaryon, and does some very inappropriate things with his mother in a vision. When he is actually awake, his senses aren’t much better as he begins committing heinous war crimes against the Bracken family, loses loyalties from the Riverland families, tries to rebuild Harrenhal by chopping up some wood, and declares he will take King’s Landing himself and make himself king as soon as he has a substantial army.

Hugh Hammer and his family try to make it out of the city
Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO

Aemond and Criston Cole plot and scheme a plan to march through Westeros, gaining lands and lords to their side through fear, but essentially tell King Aegon he has to stay on the sidelines for this one. Queen Rhaenyra eventually relents that it’s time to bring out the big bombs for this war, and allows Rhaenys to take her dragon, Meleys, to hunt down Cole and Aemond’s army at Rook’s Rest. The siege of this castle is all meant to be a trap, which Cole springs when Rhaenys and Meleys arrive. Aemond takes to the skies on Vhagar’s back and the two officially begin the Dance of the Dragons, as this war is known.

What they did not count on was Aegon’s ego being so bruised by Cole and Aemond sending him to the minor leagues that he would show up on his own dragon, Sunfyre. A three-headed battle ends in Rhaenys and Meleys’ deaths, Aegon and Sunfyre crash-landing in the forest, and scores of soldiers and innocent smallfolk in the castle dead. When Cole and Aemond recover Aegon and bring him (and the head of Meleys) back to King’s Landing in “Regent,” Aegon is so burnt and broken the maesters have to peel off Aegon’s armor from his body.

Cole eventually relents to Alicent that the way belongs to the dragons now and they have opened a door to violence and chaos that can never be closed until one side is dead. Without a true king, the Green Small Council elects Aemond to rule over Alicent, which leads her to believe more death is imminent (but at least she drank a whole two-liter of moon tea, so she already took care of Criston Cole’s child on her own!).

Rhaenys sits on top of Meleys on their way to battle

The second half of Episode 5 is more political and war-time strategy session than action, and the two sides end up with wildly different approaches to their respective problems: Rhaenyra is down her best fighter and her best dragon since Daemon is nowhere to be found. Alicent and Aemond have to keep the peace in King’s Landing until Aegon is healed.

Aemond orders the city gates shut on a smallfolk population that is starving and impatient. Rhaenyra has Mysaria send some of her spies to King’s Landing to start a misinformation campaign among the citizens, hoping to lead to more discontent for Team Green’s regency. Meanwhile, back at Dragonstone and feeling cocky after securing allegiances from the Starks, the Freys, and the Arryns, Jace Targaryen suggests there might be a whole host of possible dragon riders out in the world considering the histories of Targaryen kings and queens don’t exactly, shall we say, include the most faithful relationships between rulers.

Dragonstone has scores of unclaimed dragons living in its volcanic underworld, all Rhaenyra now needs to do is find some bastards who have the blood of the dragon running through their veins to completely tip the scales to her side.

A War Between Dragons

(This weekly section will break down the most crucial part of the episode that impacts the Targaryen civil war.)

Jacaerys Velaryon is certainly capable of being a strong soldier in the war to come. He was trained by Criston Cole growing up, and he is bonded with the dragon Vermax, who is certainly within fighting age. But his greater value to Rhaenyra seems to be his strategic mind and political savvy. Perhaps because he has been grounded with his dragon ever since his brother Lucerys was killed by Aemond at the Baratheon castle, “Jace” has been listening and strategizing.

He knows the dragon math that each side is left with a limited number of dragons, but that Team Green possesses Vhagar, who is essentially the atom bomb circa 1945. What he believes can be done with bastards of Targaryen descent, however, both flies in the face of 1,000 years of tradition but also could serve to show the people of Westeros that Targaryens are not the equivalent of gods or the equal to dragons, they are just men and women who have uncanny connections to these wild creatures who can never be tamed or controlled, but rather bonded to someone who respects them.

Jace and Rhaenyra Targaryen talk about others who could be dragon riders in House of the Dragon S2E5, "Regent"
Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO

Just as Hugh Hammer commented on the unattached head of Meleys as it was paraded around King’s Landing, “It’s just meat,” Jace’s idea might unlock the secret that the family could be “just Targaryens,” and anyone with a sprinkle of their blood are able to become dragon-riders. If his idea works, Rhaenyra could potentially have hundreds of allies who could mount dragons in her quest to take back King’s Landing.

Who Danced Best with Dragons?

(This weekly section will look at who played the game of war the best within the episode.)

Despite the fact that Criston Cole caught him staring over his brother’s charbroiled body ready to kill him, Aemond has seen his stock rise in the power rankings of the most despicable but cunning rulers in Westeros. From even back in Episode 2 when Otto Hightower found Cole and Aemond plotting the kingdom’s next move without him, Aemond has had his eyes on the Iron Throne for some time.

Mysaria plots with Rhaenyra about what to do in King's Landing
Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO

In Episode 5, he literally has his eyes on the throne as he spends an inordinate amount of time staring at it before he is interrupted by Alicent. It was almost as if he was contemplating whether or not he actually wanted to sit on the throne in addition to having the title of the person who has claimed it. He knows his history, that the Throne is said to have taken the life of Maegor the Cruel. The Iron Throne caused the injuries that eventually led to his father’s (Viserys) death.

In Fire and Blood, George R.R. Martin writes “The Iron Throne will go to the man who has the strength to seize it.” Aemond not only has the strength, he has the biggest and baddest dragon. He has Cole’s allegiance. He has the support of the small council. And he has a brother so burnt, broken, and drugged that it’s impossible to see him acting kingly any time soon. All hail Aemond the regent, the throne is his. But will it accept him?

What is Within the Dragon’s Egg?

(This weekly section will identify some of the plot points or surprises that hatched during the episode.)

  1. Let’s talk about the importance of two smallfolk introduced in previous episodes who now suddenly seem much more important to our story. First up is Hugh Hammer. Hugh the blacksmith is the man who was promised payment for building scorpions from King Aegon, but that money has never come. He has a wife and a very sick daughter and they attempt to flee the city in search of help, only to be stopped by the Gold Cloaks not allowing anyone to leave. Considering Hammer is currently our face for common folks’ unrest and Rhaenyra is about to try and use that to her advantage, I think Hammer is about to jump into a very big role.
  2. The second man would be Ulf, introduced in Episode 3, and who claims to be the bastard son of King Baelon the Brave. A bastard Targaryen was introduced two episodes before Jace’s revelation that that might be just what Team Black needs to win the war? Now taking bets on whether or not we see Ulf on a dragon or with a dragon by season’s end.
  3. Daemon, I know you might not like duck or goose or pheasant, or whatever the Harrenhal chef is preparing these days, but you’ve got to eat something, my man. An empty stomach can’t be helping tamper down these dreams and visions of decapitated niece-wives and nude scenes with your mother.
  4. If Rhaenyra is trying to drive up loyalty and strongholds in some key strategic positions, I think I might also be pissed just like Lady Jeyne Arryn was in this episode. She promised 15,000 fighting men and the key asset of the Vale if Rhaenyra would send her a dragon and a dragon-rider for the protection of their land. What Rhaenyra actually sent—in what some might call “exploiting a loophole”—was three children, four dragon eggs, and two young dragons that are “still wet from the egg.” It’s as if I promised you a luxury car and a chauffeur and delivered a couple of Ferraris with no engine, no tires, and no backseat. Technically I did what I said I would do, but how loyal (or how bitter?) are you to me now?
    Queen Alicent learns Aemond has been made king regent
  5. Queen Alicent’s face acting when she realizes all her nominal allies (such as Captain Feet himself Lord Larys Strong) have picked Aemond over her to rule Westeros is some of her best work this season. She is going through some stuff as the sound fades at the Small Council meeting and she begins to realize that all the plans she had put in place are over and her psychotic son and murderous Commander of the Kingsguard are now in charge.
  6. Good to know from Ser Criston Cole that lemon juice and salt is a nice homemade remedy for polishing my silver and getting that tricky last bit of human flesh off of it.

Written by Ryan Kirksey

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