Ryan Kirksey
The following recap contains spoilers for House of the Dragon S3E8, “The Treasons at Tumbleton” (written by Ryan Condal & Ti Mikkel and directed by Andrij Parekh). Spoilers for the Game of Thrones series are also included.
There is a line in the Season 3 finale of House of the Dragon that feels like it could serve as the thesis for the entire history of Westeros.
“The only quality the realm understands is strength.”
Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) says those words to Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) as the two prepare for the battle at Tumbleton, and in the moment, it sounds like a simple statement of fact. Westeros is a brutal place. Kings are overthrown, children are often murdered (in this very episode), armies are burned, and entire families are destroyed because someone decides they have a stronger claim to a throne than someone else. If strength is the only language the realm understands, then perhaps the only way to survive is to speak it fluently.
The conversation stems from Rhaenyra’s descent into madness when she learns that Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Sunfyre both live, and that the rumors flying around are that they were resurrected from the dead to take their rightful place on the Iron Throne.
Rhaenyra to Daemon: “The smallfolk name it a sign from the gods that Aegon is ordained to rule. That he and his dragon have been resurrected to reclaim the throne.”
“You have an absolute power within your grasp,” Daemon answers. “You have only to wield it.”
But by the end of “The Treasons of Tumbleton,” the idea of strength and power becomes much more complicated. What does strength actually mean in this world, and who has the ability to use it to their advantage?
What is strength? Is it having a dragon? Is it commanding an army? Is it refusing to compromise? Is it being willing to kill? Is it the record of those you have killed? Is it surviving when everyone expects you to die? Or is true strength the ability to recognize that power means you always have to find the right time to use your strength?
The finale spends nearly its entire runtime asking those questions, and the only answer we get is that strength without wisdom, support, or allies is simply a synonym for destruction.
The episode begins with that worst possible news for Rhaenyra. Aegon II and Sunfyre are alive. The man she believed was dead has returned, along with the dragon she believed was dead, and has destroyed her forces before disappearing. Word begins spreading throughout the realm that Aegon has effectively risen from the dead, and suddenly Rhaenyra’s claim is facing a new challenge. And with it, we are finally starting to spiral downward as she becomes the maniacal Rhaenyra from the books when the tide turns against her.
Daemon’s answer is to embrace her strength in dragons and armies. Rhaenyra immediately acts on it, ordering Daemon to attack Tumbleton and burn the Hightowers.
It is a revealing moment for Rhaenyra because the princess who once wanted to be queen because she believed she could rule differently from those who came before her is becoming increasingly convinced that ruling means controlling everyone around her. She refuses Baela’s (Bethany Antonia) request to rescue Lord Corlys (Stephen Toussaint), calling her an insolent child like her sister, and she sends Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) away because she no longer believes she needs her and her secrets (and her bedtime cuddles, I guess).
Even Princess Helaena (Phia Saban) becomes someone Rhaenyra tries to control rather than understand. The more threatened Rhaenyra feels, the more she seems to believe strength means eliminating every person who might resist her and forcing people to bend to her will.
That is not an entirely new idea in Westeros. It is the same philosophy that has driven countless rulers in Game of Thrones, namely Daenerys Targaryen. It’s a simple formula. If the realm will not accept your authority willingly, force them to accept you. But House of the Dragon has spent three seasons showing the danger in that line of thinking, and Tumbleton becomes the ultimate example.
Ormund Hightower (James Norton) prepares the city for battle by putting children on the front lines while his forces load scorpions to defend against the dragons. Clearly a PR move, but an effective one. How will the army of the Blacks look if they are seen burning and murdering children?
Before the fighting begins, Ormund knights Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) and gives him the name “Ser Daeron the Daring,” preparing him for the possibility that he will become king. The Hightowers are doing exactly what the Targaryens are doing. Everyone thinks they have an explanation for why they deserve to rule, but ultimately, everyone is preparing for more bloodshed.
There is an opportunity for that bloodshed to be avoided, however, that is taking place behind Ormund’s back. Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) approaches Daemon with Lord Corlys and offers a compromise. Return Corlys, allow the Hightowers to leave, and let Daeron rule from Oldtown. Corlys even urges Daemon to consider the difference between winning and simply killing Hightowers. Daemon has the power to impose his will, but he also has the power to choose not to. Because he is Daemon, he chooses the battle. (There was never a doubt.)
That’s probably the most important choice of the finale. Daemon has always been one of the physically strongest people in Westeros. He is a gifted warrior, a dragonrider, and a military leader. But do those things make him strong? When faced with a choice between victory and compromise, Daemon chooses victory at any cost. He possesses the strength to destroy his enemy, but not necessarily the strength to walk away from a war when he has the opportunity to compromise slightly and avoid many deaths.
And Tumbleton certainly is going to pay for that decision.
The battle itself is exactly what happens when the most powerful people in the realm decide that brute, military strength is the only answer. The Winter Wolves led by Roderick the Ruin (Tommy Flanagan) advance while Daemon sends Rivermen around the southern wall. The Hightowers light the trench around the city, arrows and stones rain down, and a siege begins on the castle.
Eventually, Daemon summons Caraxes. Once the dragons enter the battle, the distinction between army and civilian largely disappears. Caraxes burns the walls, the gates fall, and the fighting moves into the city, but not before at least a couple of children are burned alive.
The most horrifying part is that these children are still being used as shields. Daemon is able to save some of them, but others are burned as Caraxes attacks the walls. The image recalls one of the central horrors of Game of Thrones: the powerful routinely talk about protecting the realm, while treating ordinary people as expendable pieces of trash. Highborns talk about keeping the lowborns happy, but use them at their discretion whenever they want.
Then comes the ultimate failure of wisely using their strength. Ulf the White (Tom Bennett), now publicly humiliated by both sides, turns against Rhaenyra and Daemon and just begins burning everything.
The man who possesses one of the most powerful weapons in the world has absolutely no idea how to wield it. After the Hightowers find him drunk and force him to get back on Silverwing, Ulf eventually arrives over the battlefield and begins burning the Targaryen army. The betrayal turns the dragon advantage into another weapon against Rhaenyra’s forces. Ormund and Roderick have a wicked, bloody battle and almost kill each other before Silverwing arrives and burns them both.
Even Daemon, who entered Tumbleton believing that strength would solve the problem, is left staring at the consequences after he barely survives his own brutal battle with Jon Roxton (Joplin Sibtain). Women, children, and soldiers are dead throughout the city. Corlys finds Daemon and tells him that Ulf has turned and they have to leave. The great military victory has become something far uglier. It’s a nightmare for Rhaenyra’s army and her reputation everywhere.
Elsewhere in Westeros, Aegon II’s story provides an interesting counterpoint. While everyone else has been trying to prove their strength through armies and dragons, Aegon has spent much of the season simply trying to survive. Everyone believed he was dead. Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) thought he had killed him. Rhaenyra believed the threat was gone. Yet Aegon arrives at Harrenhal alive on the back of Sunfyre, and suddenly the entire question about who is the strongest arises again.
Aemond, meanwhile, is recovering from Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) poisoning and believes himself to be a kinslayer. He begs Aegon for forgiveness, and Aegon considers killing him. Instead, he gives his brother a brutal reminder of their history and then decides they will move forward together. They will find Vhagar, take Tumbleton, and attempt to reclaim King’s Landing. Then, and only then, might Aegon find it in himself to forgive Aemond.
There is something almost poetic about Aegon becoming stronger now precisely because everyone underestimated him. (But this was Tom Glynn-Carney’s Supporting Actor Emmy Reel.) He does not possess Aemond’s physical presence or Daemon’s reputation as a warrior. His strength is apparently just endurance. He keeps surviving. Aegon demonstrates that sometimes strength simply means refusing to die. That’s the short update on a couple of Alicent and Viserys’ children, but the most interesting story belongs to Rhaenyra’s trip to the High Septon (Simon Chandler) and to Helaena.
Before the battle, Rhaenyra goes to the Sept and demands to be anointed publicly as queen. When the High Septon refuses because Aegon and Sunfyre are alive, Rhaenyra declares him a traitor and orders Alyn Hull (Abubakar Salim) to kill him. She then addresses the people of King’s Landing, invoking Aegon the Conqueror, the Song of Ice and Fire, and the idea that only dragons can stand against the threat beyond the Wall. She declares that she can “light the way” (copyright infringement on the Hightowers, of course) and announces that she is the prince that was promised.
It is perhaps the clearest idea yet of how far Rhaenyra has traveled into madness. She is no longer simply asking the realm to recognize her claim. She is telling the realm that she alone possesses the strength and destiny necessary to save it. Multiple people in the Inside the Episode call this her “fascist” moment.
Back in King’s Landing, Rhaenyra tries to force Helaena to eat, promising that she will not harm her, but Helaena understands that Rhaenyra does not really care about what she cares about. She talks about her beetles, her beautiful bugs, while Rhaenyra remains focused on the larger struggle. Helaena refuses to participate in the game, and when she refuses to eat, Rhaenyra’s guards violently force food down her throat. Alicent isn’t around to protect her, so Helaena just has to take all the abuse coming her way.
It is another example of Rhaenyra mistaking her power for strength. She can physically force Helaena to do something, but she cannot make Helaena submit. Helaena has spent the series seeing things the other characters cannot see, and that continues here. She understands the ugliness surrounding her even as the people fighting for power don’t see it.
That makes her (book-accurate) death very devastating, but it also connects the finale directly to one of Game of Thrones’ most memorable images.
When Helaena approaches the window of the room where she is confined, the sequence immediately recalls Tommen’s suicide from the Season 6 finale of Game of Thrones. The visual language is nearly identical: a member of the royal family standing at a window high above King’s Landing, looking down at a world that has become impossible to endure. Tommen’s death marked the collapse of the last bits of innocence in Cersei’s King’s Landing. Helaena’s death feels like a similar moment for the Targaryens. How will Alicent respond? I assume she will not handle it well; let’s just say that for now.
When Rhaenyra returns to King’s Landing, she discovers that Helaena has died. She then sees the woven tapestry Helaena had been working on and realizes that it had foretold her death. The woman everyone considered strange, weak, and incapable of participating in the real world may have understood it all better than almost anyone because of her dreams and visions. She could see the future. She simply could not stop it from happening.
While Rhaenyra is off proclaiming herself the savior of Westeros, Tumbleton is being destroyed, her own forces are being burned by one of her own dragonriders, children are dying, Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) discovers that his wife has been killed, and Daemon is forced to confront the devastation his decision helped create. Helaena, maybe the person least interested in power, is dead.
This is where House of the Dragon once again connects to the larger mythology of Game of Thrones. Strength has always been the currency of Westeros, but the series has repeatedly demonstrated that the ability to use power is not the same as the wisdom of when not to use it. Robert Baratheon had the physical strength to conquer a kingdom but lacked the temperament to rule it. Tywin Lannister possessed enormous political strength but could not control the hatred he created within his own family. Cersei had power and believed eliminating her enemies would make her secure, only to discover that every act of violence created another enemy. Even Daenerys eventually came to believe that the strength to conquer gave her the right to decide what the world should become.
Now Rhaenyra is getting dangerously close to that territory, and it should set up a tantalizing final season of House of the Dragon. The tragedy of “The Treasons of Tumbleton” is that almost everyone has strength, but almost nobody understands what it means. Daemon has military strength but lacks restraint. Rhaenyra has political strength but increasingly lacks trust. Aemond has physical strength and Vhagar, but is consumed by his infatuation for Alys (Gayle Rankin). Ulf has the strength of a dragon and absolutely no maturity. Aegon has almost nothing left except the strength to survive. Helaena had virtually no conventional power at all, yet possessed the awareness and endurance that so many of the supposedly powerful characters lack.
“The only quality the realm understands is strength” sounds true because Westeros has spent generations teaching its people that it is true. But perhaps the greatest strength is to understand that winning a war is meaningless if there is nothing left worth ruling. Nobody understands that at Tumbleton. Instead, the dragons come, and the bodies pile up.
By the end of the episode, there is no meaningful winner. Rhaenyra is still queen, Aegon is still alive, Daemon’s army has taken Tumbleton (we think), and the Hightowers have suffered another devastating defeat. Yet the showrunner declared after this episode that the only winners were death and destruction. The people who believe they are strong enough to control the realm keep proving that they cannot even control themselves most of the time.
Thank you for reading House of the Dragon recaps this season! Hope to see you back here in (probably) two years for the final season!
