House of the Dragon episode 6

And in “The Princess and the Queen,” the tectonically-shifting sixth episode of HOTD, Princess Laena Velaryon laments the time her husband, Prince Daemon spends ...

What she got was a guy who decided to use the controversy as a means of murdering his kin, seizing a powerful lordship, and securing a big bargaining chip. The prince is cool to hang in Pentos and act as the free city’s fire security against the fomenting unrest in the Triarchy, while Laena longs to raise their children in the Velaryon stronghold of Driftmark. In the Red Keep, the questions surrounding the parentage of the princess’s sons have become shouts, not whispers, and especially after a public confrontation between Ser Harwin (Team Rhaenyra) and Ser Criston (Team Alicent). His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Ser Larys Strong, the clubfooted court whisperer of Queen Alicent, forcibly recruits a few of the condemned from King’s Landing’s death row, who proceed to carry out his command to burn down Harrenhal as his father and brother sleep. Across the Narrow Sea from Westeros, Prince Daemon and Princess Laena live as honored guests of the Prince of Pentos in a spacious mansion. Down in the gloom of the pits, the mysterious psychic unification ritual of House Targaryen and its treasured flame-throated creatures occurs before our very eyes when Jacaerys first gives the command of fire to the young dragon Vermax. In a play for courtly peace and status quo allyship, the princess proposes that her son Jacaerys marry the queen’s only daughter, the introspective Helaena (Evie Allen), an idea Alicent is cool toward but that Viserys loves – it feeds into his willful blindness at the life choices of his daughter. (If the timeline featuring Carey and Alcock as Alicent and Rhaenyra continued for multiple seasons as its own spinoff in this fantasy television universe, there would be no complaints here.) A defiant but weakened and bloodied Rhaenyra refuses to let anyone else bring her son before the queen; it’s the least her husband Ser Laenor (now portrayed by John McMiillan) can do – literally, the least – to take her arm in support. The queen tries to impress on her oldest how vital the question of success remains. [Fire & Blood](https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Blood-Thrones-Targaryen-History/dp/152479628X?tag=decider08-20&asc_refurl=https://decider.com/2022/09/25/house-of-the-dragon-episode-6-recap/&asc_source=web), Martin’s novel on which [House of the Dragon](https://decider.com/show/house-of-the-dragon/) is based, is formatted as a scholarly historical treatise. The transition between the terrific Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra and her equally formidable counterpart Emma D’Arcy is evident in the opening moments of “The Princess and the Queen,” as Rhaenyra’s third son is born in a scene remarkable for its tenderness and respect.

Plus, I am happy to report that there are finally many scenes involving dragons!

On HBO's Game of Thrones spin-off, questions around several characters' lineage turn the show into one long episode of medieval Maury.

(This conviction of hers is entirely undercut by the fact that a couple episode back, she overheard Otto trying to convince the king about Rhaenyra and Daemon, and utterly failed to get through to him then.) As the episode progresses, however, and she's continuously set upon by the willful, thoughtless actions of the men around her, we watch her struggling to return to the status she knows she should hold as heir to the Iron Throne. This Alicent is a lot less placid and soft-hearted than the one we met over the first five eps — so much so as to seem an entirely different character. The show didn't do an adequate job of setting up Cole's assault on Joffrey, which is one reason it came of as gratuitous as it did; this episode's treating the whole incident with a shrug only compounds that feeling. We also get a glimpse of Daemon and Laena's relationship, which isn't great — as Daemon has taken to getting drunk and surly and holing himself up in the mansion's library, reading about ancient dragonlords. Alicent, cannily, pleads him with him to come out and say it, but he refuses, so the king insists he stay on. When Cole not-so-subtly hints at Jacye and Luke's true parentage, Harwin proceeds to give Cole a small taste of the face-punchy medicine Cole gave to Ser Joffrey, years before. He fancies himself a man of action, not words, but he's sorely tempted by the prospect of becoming a man of inaction. Vhagar was one of the three dragons that the original Targaryen king Aegon I conquered Westeros with, over 100 years prior to the events on this show. "I have to believe that in the end honor and decency will prevail," says Alicent, because she hasn't read these books. A couple other things to note in this scene: Ser Criston Cole isn't rotting in jail for the very public murder of Joffrey last episode; in fact, he's been promoted to the queen's personal guard. But I can't help feeling we've been denied the chance to see them grow into adults in their own right, instead of solely in relation to the men in their lives.

Sam Adams: Jack! Welcome to the Worst Person in Westeros. You are a longtime George R.R. Martin fan and diehard Thronesie, as I believe they prefer to be called ...

Larys is both the son of the king’s hand and the brother of Rhaenyra’s lover, but he’s more loyal to Alicent than to either of them—or, put another way, he sees more advantage in being her fixer than he does in being House Strong’s less-favored son. (The actors in this episode seem like they’re in a contest to see who can come the closest to saying the word “bastard” without actually doing so; at one point, Alicent refers to Rhaenyra’s sons as “bbbbb-plain-featured.”) Lyonel dare not risk it, and the king won’t accept his resignation, so poor Lyonel is stuck, although he gets leave to escort Hawin, who’s now been kicked out of the city watch, back to the family seat at Harrenhal. Plus I’m inclined to cut Alicent just a little slack because I do think she’s doing what she’s doing out of a real concern for the well-being of her children, who, bratty as they are, probably should be looking over their shoulders once their half-sister (ew) Rhaenyra ascends to the Iron Throne. As awful as Alicent is, by episode’s end she does seem genuinely horrified when she realizes the atrocities Larys has committed on her supposed behalf, and Larys seems all too eager to let her know that he now considers her in his debt, with no small amount of menace. And let’s not forget Criston Cole, who seems intent on working through the feelings he caught for Rhaenyra a decade ago by subjecting her children to physical abuse at the hands of their cousin. Rhaenyra isn’t about to let her newborn out of her sight, so she pulls herself upright and winces her way up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind her. [faced with in the first episode](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/house-dragon-premiere-game-thrones-hbo-max-recap.html): namely, should we [ perform a c-section](https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-c-section-birth-scene.html) that will definitely kill your wife but might save your child? It’s a week of firsts, in fact, since with the show’s sixth episode, “The Princess and the Queen,” the narrative jumps forward by about a decade and introduces new actors to the roles of Rhaenrya, Alicent, Leonor, and Laena (although in one case, not for very long). Unfortunately this isn’t a world where good news always bring good results: She’s still unable to deliver, and faced with the likelihood of slow and agonizing death, she chooses death by dracarys, ordering her own dragon to burn her alive. Adams: “The Princess and the Queen” has a lot of business to attend to, not just introducing the new cast but setting the table for the back half of the season, and perhaps because of that, it actually features people acting somewhat reasonably for once. I have to say, I knew that the great actor-swap was coming this week but it was still a pretty weird adjustment, particularly since I don’t think the characters are really supposed to be all that much older. Martin fan and diehard Thronesie, as I believe they prefer to be called, and yet this is the first time you’re weighing in House of the Dragon.

We jump over a decade into the future and, surprise, relations between princess and queen are not good.

"In all of King's Landing is there no one to take my side?" Lord Strong says a shadow is being cast over his house, and that it's damaging both his reputation and that of his house. "My father cannot give unbiased council to the King." It's evident that the Small Council has become a political battleground, as the two loudest voices are that of Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra. When the Stepstones and the Triarchy's new arrangement with Dorne comes up, Rhaenyra suggests defending the area Daemon won a decade ago with men and equipment. Queen Alicent's silver-haired children are pummeling a strawman when Ser Criston, who as Kingsguard knight is in charge of training the royal boys, suggests they try to fence with him. "Do not speak of this again," he adds, with a kiss on the cheek. Rhaenyra and Laenor have apparently struck a bargain: As long as he pretends to be father of her children, Laenor is free to love as he pleases. She reprimands Aegon for taunting his little brother with the pig gag, and says they need to be a unified front in public. Both the princess and the queen have a squad of children running about them now, too. The queen is also a new woman, Olivia Cooke instead of Emily Carey. That means a bunch of new faces: Emma D'Arcy is Rhaenyra Targaryen now, and Queen Alicent is now played by Olivia Cooke.

This week's House of the Dragon episode is all about daddy issues, fatherly love, and the weak spots represented by one's children.

After uttering the word "dracarys" various times in tears, she is burned to death, leaving Daemon to decide the fate of Rhaena and Baela. Doomed to die in childbirth, and not the dragonrider's death that she wished for, Laena storms off in search of her dragon. Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin aren’t the only characters to go out in flames in this episode of House of the Dragon. Disillusioned with the way things turned out for him in Westeros — you know, with how he killed his first wife for nothing and all — Daemon wants to stay behind, but Laena wishes to raise her daughters at Driftmark. The princess and her husband seem to have a good thing going on with their open marriage, and Laenor is content to have Ser Harwin siring the princelings. Alicent vents her frustration with Rhaenyra and Viserys to another friend she made last week: Ser Larys, Lord Lyonel’s club-footed son who had a lot to say about the princess’ choices of tea. [the Triarchy’s](https://collider.com/house-of-the-dragon-the-triarchy-explained/) return to [the Stepstones](https://collider.com/house-of-the-dragon-stepstones-explained/), she asks to speak to the queen in front of the council’s members. [Olivia Cooke](https://collider.com/tag/olivia-cooke/), Alicent is still suspicious of Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) escapades and makes no effort to hide it. Across the Narrow Sea, Daemon awaits the birth of his third child with Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) while caring for his eldest daughter, Rhaena (Eva Ossei-Gerning), and ignoring his youngest, the dragon-less Baela (Shani Smethurst). King Viserys is still around, though probably not for long, as is Ser Criston (Fabien Frankel), who has managed to avoid any severe punishment for murdering a guest of the king at the princess’ wedding banquet thanks to the queen’s good graces. Time skips just got larger and larger from episode to episode, and, from the get-go, fans knew that there was a ten-year jump waiting for them in the middle of the season. A lot has changed in King’s Landing over the course of a decade, but a lot remains the same.

Well, you might recall that Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) had a couple of interactions with young Rhaenyra, encountering her during her night on the town with ...

It was also the site of one of my favorite random “Thrones” subplots, when [the premiere](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/arts/television/house-of-the-dragon-premiere-recap.html), and “Dragon” remains determined to [show as well as tell](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/arts/television/childbirth-house-dragon-sapochnik.html)us this fact. I love a good entitled doofus character, and Ty Tennant made a strong debut as the adolescent Aegon. The elimination of Lyonel and Harwin also make Larys the lord of House Strong, a real victory. Many things change over the course of a decade, but I’m guessing his and Rhaenyra’s twisted mutual attraction isn’t one of them. Laena was a tragic figure, another illustration of the constraints that even women of privilege face in this story. “I’ve reached the limits of my art,” the obstetrician told Daemon. She’s almost convinced herself that she is motivated by a hope that “honor and decency will prevail,” even though she’s teamed with the dishonorable likes of Ser Criston and Larys Strong to make it happen. The murder of his father cleared the way for Otto to return as Hand — things seem to be heading that way, at least — even as it revealed to Alicent the quality of the company she’s keeping these days. Daemon, the former rogue prince, settled down and even managed to have a couple of kids of his own with Laena. It isn’t clear what effect Harwin’s death will have on the issue of his royal issue — is it better or worse for Rhaenyra, from an optics standpoint, now that he’s out of the picture? This week also saw the emergence of other prominent players, most notably Harwin (also briefly) and Larys.

Full recap for House of the Dragon episode 6 The Princess and the Queen and changes to the Fire and Blood book.

House of the Dragon war explained](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/house-dragon-dance-dragons-war-explained/) [Where was House of the Dragon filmed?](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/house-dragon-filming-locations-sets/) [Who is the opening voiceover in House of the Dragon episode 1?](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/house-of-the-dragon-voiceover/) [What book is House of the Dragon based on? Fire and Blood book changes](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/house-dragon-fire-blood-book-changes/) [Your guide to the dragons of House of the Dragon](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/dragon-guide-house-of-the-dragon/) [What is Old Valyria, the Doom and High Valyrian in House of the Dragon?](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/old-valyria-doom-valyrian-house-dragon-explained/) [Game of Thrones books in order: A Song of Ice and Fire and more](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/game-of-thrones-books-order/) In the Red Keep, Larys relays the news of his father and brother's deaths at Harrenhal to Queen Alicent and he blames the curse of the castle for their deaths. Game of Thrones timeline explained](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/game-of-thrones-timeline-house-of-dragon/) [What time is House of the Dragon released in the UK?](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/house-dragon-time-release-uk/) [What is the Dance of the Dragons? Others included Prince Daemon - out of a desire for Rhaenyra, Lord Corlys - as punishment for Ser Harwin cuckolding Ser Laenor, or even King Viserys himself to silence the rumours about his grandchildren. At the Red Keep, Ser Harwin bids farewell to Rhaenyra and her children. The rivalries between Alicent’s and Rhaenyra’s sons are also accurate to the book. In Pentos, Laena speaks with her daughter Lady Rhaena Targaryen (Eva Ossei-Gerning) who wants to stay in the city if her sister Lady Baela Targaryen (Shani Smethurst) stays there for marriage and laments at not having her own dragon like her sister. An angry Rhaenyra reveals the rumours about their children and blasts Laenor for thinking of leaving their children to this slander. Laena is angered by Daemon considering the offer to remain in Pentos and wants to return to Westeros, raise their children on Driftmark and die a Dragonrider’s death. An aching Rhaenyra climbs the stairs of the Red Keep and Ser Laenor wishes to turn back but Rhaenyra insists. Queen Alicent Hightower (now played by Olivia Cooke) requests that the child be brought to her immediately but a pained Rhaenyra dresses to take the child to her stepmother herself.

The Game of Thrones spinoff's showrunner talks the time jump, whether Milly Alcock or Emily Carey will return and if there's a "Kill Your Gays" issue.

A woman holding a baby walks into a bedchamber, while her husband holds her arm. Let. Her. Rest. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO ...

Already, we see how Alicent seeks to undermine Rhaenyra, and how Rhaenyra refuses to give Alicent the satisfaction of seeing her break. In the visual language of the Game of Thrones universe, a long tracking shot typically means a fight. Many of these long takes happen in episodes directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who also directed "The Princess and the Queen." [Queen Aemma](https://mashable.com/article/house-of-the-dragon-aemma-arryn) (Sian Brooke) says in episode 1, "The childbed is our battlefield." [House of the Dragon](https://mashable.com/category/game-of-thrones)'s sixth episode, "The Princess and the Queen," kicks off on a harrowing note. Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), all grown up after a [ten-year time jump](https://mashable.com/article/house-of-the-dragon-time-jump-what-characters-look-like-now), is in the last stages of labor.

With a new cast, shock torchings and GoT-level villains, this is brutal, brilliant television that sets the stage for the wars to come.

It is a wonderfully auspicious ending to the most enjoyable episode of Alicent’s shock at this development is telling – she’s a schemer, sure, but she hasn’t gone full Cersei quite yet, and the fact that her closest collaborator has just knocked off his entire family is still a bracing bit of news. That is never going to happen, because not only is Aegon a bully, but his mother is behind him all the way. He has even got a family in tow: the redoubtable Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) and their two daughters – one, Baela, a dragonrider; the other, Rhaena, hoping to be. This is the episode’s second and far grimmer nativity, as Laena realises that neither she nor her unborn infant are going to survive the birthing process and decides instead to die swiftly, by dragonfire. Alicent has become a mistress of whispers, spreading word around the court that Laenor is not the father of Rhaenyra’s children. And here is the boy in question: young Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Leo Hart) with his little brother Lucerys (Harvey Sadler), escorted by a strapping swordsman with a distinct resemblance to both. It’s another superb scene of character-building, with the King’s presence on the battlements echoing that of Ned Stark in the very first episode of Thrones. After teasing his dragonless younger brother Prince Aemond (Leo Ashton) by fitting wings to a pig, Aegon next appears proudly masturbating from his bedroom window over the rooftops of King’s Landing. Rhaenyra is not about to let him out of her sight, so it’s off through the Red Keep, step by painful step, with the child in her arms and Laenor fussing by her side. Milly Alcock was a terrific young Rhaenyra but D’Arcy is a force of nature, determined and relentless. The producers didn’t exactly advertise the fact that a major time-jump was coming (10 years, as it turns out), or that key young cast members were about to be swapped out for older actors.

A spoiler-free deep dive into "The Princess and the Queen," featuring info on how to hatch and bond with a dragon, what we missed with Laena and the Strongs ...

Alicent and Rhaenyra are not formal members of the Small Council, but they sit in on the meetings all the same. While not typically a Small Council position, we saw Daemon sitting on the council early in the series, and this role is important regardless. As such, he’s able to arrange the release of several inmates from the Red Keep’s dungeon, on the condition that they help him with his family problems—and that they also give up their tongues. This line in the book is echoed by Alicent in this episode, when she tells Viserys, “It’s a wonder to me their eggs ever hatched.” But the logic in both the book and the show is bizarre. Laena, Daemon, and Rhaenyra would all frequently fly together in Fire & Blood, and Rhaenyra is actually present for the birth depicted in this episode, having flown to Laena to help attend to her through the pregnancy. He flies back to Runestone to lay claim to Rhea’s inheritance and is exiled from the Vale as well. “But the birth in turn of three young dragons gave the lie to their words.” The book says that during the reign of King Viserys, it became “customary for the fathers and mothers of newborn princelings to place a dragon’s egg in their cradles.” Yet the book also implies that Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond didn’t receive eggs in their cradles, as Aegon’s dragon, Sunfyre, hatches at Dragonmont. It isn’t until the account of how Rhaena Targaryen—the daughter of Aenys—placed eggs in the cradles of Jaehaerys and Alysanne that we learn of Targaryens getting matched with eggs, rather than dragons who had already hatched. Whatever the exact nature of the relationship between the Valyrians and dragons, that knowledge was lost after the Doom of Valyria, a cataclysmic event that completely destroyed the Valyrian Freehold within hours. The origins of the relationship between Targaryens and dragons is poorly understood. In A Dance With Dragons, Daenerys notes that to ride their dragons, the Valyrians of old would use “binding spells and sorcerous horns.” That explains only how Valyrians controlled their dragons in the air, not how they bonded with them.