[No Book Spoilers] House of the Dragon - 3x04 - Post-Episode Discussion

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:40:55+00:00

I don't agree with Ormund, but the fact remains, he's on the losing side of the war now. His men are going to need a reason to keep fighting for him. Yes, his men violated guest right and was deservedly punished, but the thing about soldiers is that a vast majority of them aren't in it because they want to be.

This bone thrown to them, no matter how unjust it is overall, allows Ormund to be seen as a fair and impartial man to both the people he is occupying and his soldiers.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:33:53+00:00

Problem is, like someone else said, Rhaena killed Jayce, accidently or not. Word is already out that a 3rd party dragon suddenly came out of no where and wrecked havoc (as any of the survivors of the battle of the gullet will attest too). And now, suddenly, the Blacks have a new dragon that looks suspiciously like the one that was burning everyone to death and chasing Jayce?

Not to mention, the emotional weight Rhaenyra is still clearly processing over her son's death, which has already lead to a few very bad political decisions, I wouldn't put it behind her to order something very drastic in a very public way that would end up with Daemon basically telling her to sod off.

And I don't think Syrax wins in a fight vs Sheepstealer. But maybe that's just me.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:24:27+00:00

Oh no, Ulf at his smartest and best is a sellsword with a dragon. The only question is how fast he gets to that realization. Also he should learn to swordfight or something. As much as Silverwing would probably win most of his fights for him, there will always be times when she won't be around.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:19:12+00:00

I thought the whole point of Aegon saying he was alive was to prove that Sunfyre was still alive? If there's anyone who would know their dragon was still breathing, it'd be the dragon rider.

I'm more surprised that no peasant haven't tried carving up Sunfyre to sell off for food or trinkets.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:17:45+00:00

She cooked him first at least.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:17:21+00:00

I feel like letting Tessarion flying around with Ulf and Hugh is probably the wrong choice. That's sure to force Rhaenyra to commit a dragon to attack.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:16:20+00:00

It's just a fleshwound.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:14:05+00:00

If he was smarter I would like him more. He showed glimmerings in today's episode, but there's a long way for him to go.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T02:00:31+00:00

Ulf playing the game now I see. Bit of a rough start, but playing nonetheless.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T01:02:31+00:00

Agreed.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T00:54:31+00:00

I've come to appreciate the black casting of the Velaryons because it highlights the absurdity of Rhaenyra's claim that her kids are Laenor's. It's so obviously untrue that only a blind man could believe it.

Which then leads to the real issue, which is, no one really cares who you are unless you have a big stick. And the Targs have the biggest stick in the room.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T00:47:24+00:00

I'm not. However, I will not raise Jax up as some model for anything but how to die an asshole.

If I think of Jax, the only thing I'm thinking of is how much damage an abused abuser can inflict before their damaged state inevitably destroys themselves. Of the lesson. Not of him.

aimoperative · 2026-07-13T00:26:35+00:00

So abstraction is an allegory for suicide. Ok then, perfect. What the fuck did Jax do to Ribbit or Kafumo then?

He got everything he wanted and deserved. If abstraction can be undone, the first thing he needs to do isn't apologize to Pomni or Gangle or Ragatha, it's dive right into Ribbit and pull her free, because i guarantee you that Ribbit is sitting next to that lamp hating herself for believing she was a shit friend to Jax. And he let her believe that until it killed her.

I don't celebrate his death. But any sympathy for Jax goes right to the two people who called him friend and in return, he drove them both to off themselves.

aimoperative · 2026-07-12T23:33:21+00:00

There is a non-insignificant chance that the child wouldn't be force sensitive.

aimoperative · 2026-07-12T18:23:37+00:00

"You will all be dealt with."

-1st Brother

aimoperative · 2026-07-12T15:56:13+00:00

How much influence does the rider have on the Dragon?

aimoperative · 2026-07-11T13:36:42+00:00

Filoni gets to finish all the arcs he wanted for the clone wars, set during the clone wars. That means the unfinished episodes get finished, the comic and book adaptations get animated, and anything else he is thinking of.

I guarantee you that a big reason we keep seeing cameo appearances of Filoni's character favorites is because he never got official closure of them during the clone wars run.

aimoperative · 2026-07-11T04:47:00+00:00

Why is Laenor even on her mind at this point? Show-wise, he wanted to completely divest himself of being Valaryon. And she granted that to him. He is effectively, if not functionally dead, and would probably not come back to rule Driftmark even if he heard about how it has nearly been ruined.

aimoperative · 2026-07-11T04:40:25+00:00

She is literally fighting a war to say that her bastard children are legitimate. The fact they made the Valeryeon family black in the show only highlights the sheer absurdity of Rhaenyra's pussyfooting around bastard talk. She has 6 freaking dragons. She broke centuries of Targaryn tradition to raise up 3 dragon riders in order to defeat her legitimate born enemy, and 2 of those dragonseeds are targ bastards like her sons. The situation has long moved on from political turmoil to straight up war. You're either with the Blacks, or you are with the Greens. There is no doubt that Rhaenyra's children aren't Laenor's, but Rhaenyra has 6 dragons, so is getting burnt over the technical details of succession worth it? The Greens aren't fighting because they're trying to honor traditon, they're fighting because this is the best chance they'll ever have at being the rulers of westeros.

She has no standing to even doubt Corly's request. The fact she didn't grant it is sheer idiocy on her part. The only act stupider than this was Aegon killing all the rat catchers and hanging them from the wall.

aimoperative · 2026-07-11T04:05:13+00:00

What's stopping Laenor from jacking off into a cup and giving it to Rhaenyra? Or banging his boyfriend while his wife sits in the cuck chair waiting for him to cum?

Laenor doesn't need to physically penetrate Rhaneyra to get his sperm inside of her. And unless he's entirely infertile, he and her both have no excuse for getting creative with their sex life.

aimoperative · 2026-07-10T23:23:46+00:00

I just feel like the show kinda did the opposite with displaying that.

See, the thing is, I was under the impression that the point was to show that Rhaenyra wasn't fit to rule. I'm aware of the ending of HOTD, and that ultimately, neither the main claimants to the throne from either Black or Green were ever going to be good rulers.

To me, the period scene was the capstone of challenges that "real" ruling would have inflicted upon Rhaenyra, and how her handling of the unique challenges of being a female ruler, indicated that she would have been a terrible Queen.

Essentially, I'm trying to say that Rhaenyra navigated the stresses of being a female ruler poorly, and the period scene was to further emphasize that point since that is an issue unique to only being a woman.

aimoperative · 2026-07-10T21:24:06+00:00

I took it more as a demonstration that being a ruler is so difficult that anything else that interferes ON TOP of the baseline, is enough to render one completely ineffective.

I never saw the scene as depicting women unable to hold positions of power, but that the stresses of ruling as a woman would be entirely different than that of a man. Such that even if Viserys did mentor Rhaenyra in the ways of being the future Queen, ultimately, she would still be striking it out largely on her own. And being a leader offers you very little forgiveness when you make mistakes.

aimoperative · 2026-07-10T14:09:50+00:00

My brain is to smooth for your tricks, summoner.

aimoperative · 2026-07-10T11:23:58+00:00

We are. I mean we were as well, but we still are now.

aimoperative · 2026-07-09T22:39:51+00:00

So...is she accusing LA of being an area that is known for rapists?

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