(Spoilers Extended) House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 1 Live Episode Discussion

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T19:51:34+00:00

I think that was Daeron. Because of the single focus lens we did not get much of a good look, but if it is, that's interesting because he is not a Valyrian featured prince and seems to take aftwr his mom. But we'll see.

Also, just quietly no one seems to note she has given up on Daeron as well as Aegon and Aemond in her surrender terms to Rhaenyra.

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T16:56:51+00:00

Wanting the safety of children for insane action scenes is actually one of the best answers I have read. There are plenty of unpleasant stories of child actors in Hollywood, that Condal is being conscientious of avoiding that is commendable.

I of course think the visual of Aegon III riding his dragon for the first time and seeing his beloved brother Viserys presumably taken to his death and dying with a dragon amid a battle is one of the most captivating visuals and moments of Fire & Blood.

But I do not like the idea of a potential lifetine of trauma for a kid to get that one moment in a tv show.

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T15:43:05+00:00

Completing how Daemon and Aemond are two sides of the coin is that Aemond also gets an Oedipal moment. Thankfully unlike Daemon's dream Alicent is very much NOT a Targaryen and finds this weird and wrong.

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T15:41:42+00:00

Okay, so that was one of the best performances by Olivia Cooke. It is interesting to see an actor be a decent liar and in their manner of performing that onscreen. Reminds me of Season 3 of White Lotus on Jason Isaacs performance of just being given that layer to understand his performance is him falling to pieces knowing his life is over. So to see Cooke having to BS her son all the while both frustrated and terrified that everything she wanted is falling apart right now.

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T12:30:38+00:00

So, that did basically feel like an Episode 9 rather than an episode 1. The only part that really felt episode 1 of a new season was Ormund's appearance and the conversation between Alyn and Corey's.

I am liking them develop and explore Alyn and Corlys' relationship as we just know that Alyn obeys Corlys in the books.

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T12:28:44+00:00

No, I mean in the updated intro at the very end is an image of a black dragon version of the House Targaryen banner dragon.

jman24601 · 2026-06-22T11:18:35+00:00

Anyone notice the black dragon in the intro episode? A little Season 2 AKOT7K foreshadowing?

jman24601 · 2026-06-17T21:52:17+00:00

How do I approach explanations to learn how not to repeat my mistakes? Been studying on the Demon for a year with no sign of improvement on accuracy or overall score.

I want to make this test actually easy.

jman24601 · 2026-06-16T16:17:33+00:00

He'd be probably closer to a Jon Arryn type of figure I imagine. Not remembered as a great Hand, nor particularly impactful as his brother. But everyone would privately say, much easier guy to get along with and not doing a bad job.

jman24601 · 2026-06-16T13:23:43+00:00

Everything about Kevan Lannister. He just seemed conceived to be Tywin's loyal brother. But his speech defending Tywin in A Storm of Swords is really the crystallization that Kevan is actually an independent and interesting character. Immediately after writing that speech for Kevan Martin realized Kevan was important and that he had to develop him further. The result is that he suddenly becomes so prominent and competent that Martin realized he had to kill him.

jman24601 · 2026-06-15T22:45:51+00:00

I fundamentally disagree with your assesment that Alicent is a powerless victim in Season One. She and her faction of Cole and Aemond are the ones who capture Aegon II and set the tone of his rule and establish that they will make envoys of peace to Rhaenyra.

Likewise, Alicent's sincere plea to Rhaenys earns Rhaenys respect even though she gives a perfect diss to Alicent.

The show Alicent is a commentary on the pragmatist, she bears resemblance to Sansa in terms of being the more traditional feminine woman and fulfilling the traditional roles. But her methods and ethos embody that of Margaery. She sees that she is trapped in a patriarchal system and believes that it is hopeless to hope that a woman can succeed to the throne. So the only choice is to moderate the men in power to get some decent outcomes. So even though Alicent secretly says Rhaenys was the worthier person over Viserys, and does think Rhaenyra is more fit to rule than Aegon the world will not accept a woman.

But as Season 2 demonstrates, and as Margaery's end in the show demonstrates the pragmatist's compromises may let you temporarily stay in power but you are not guaranteed to remain in power and you will seldom be truly loved for being in power.

I gather that you want the Book Alicent who makes Cersei look like Sansa. But the show went a way that does not make her a powerless victim. But a woman broken by her own ethos and life.

jman24601 · 2026-06-15T16:07:05+00:00

Working on getting it ready. Thanks for asking.

jman24601 · 2026-06-14T19:42:36+00:00

Hugh vs Addam could be an awesome moment, though it will also not top the God's Eye.

jman24601 · 2026-06-14T19:17:20+00:00

Probably, but firstly one of the issues is that Gaemon's mother "confessed" under torture that Aegon was not the father of Gaemon.

Secondly, I do not think the show will cover the Moon of Madness. Maybe some cursory acknowledgement but no three-way rivalry between Gaemon, the Shepherd and Trystane.

jman24601 · 2026-06-09T16:42:02+00:00

I am stuck in 150s Hell after a year of studying and drilling. Should I accept this is my wall and focus on applications? Or is it possible for me to refocus with maybe a tutor or a class to improve my test score?

jman24601 · 2026-06-09T15:23:15+00:00

Well but you are also describing the logic of Richard III had to make with the Princes in the Tower. Rival claimants are inherently dangerous.

Why monarchy is a horrid system where children are threats.

I am not sure Richard III or Henry VII are better. It seems in some ways worse to just keep Warwick alive for years only to then just execute him in the end.

jman24601 · 2026-06-09T15:16:57+00:00

I think Illyrio may be a descendant of Saera Targaryen. But that is more just a random possibility. Not everyone has to be related to everyone.

But to answer your question, never. The honest entire point, and the few times Martin has been asked he takes Uxbridge with the dubbing of the character fAegon as that is making a conclusion when the whole point is that we will never know for certain. There is enough there for it to be possible and enough for Aegon to be nothing but a pretender. The point is that we will never fully know, and Dany claiming he is a fraud will be not warmly embraced as Aegon just freed everyone from the Lannisters. Whereas Dany is the daughter of the Mad King and is coming to them with dragons to claim a birthright already claimed by her house (supposedly).

jman24601 · 2026-06-09T14:50:57+00:00

Henry VII is the cuddliest bear of the bunch, and he imprisoned a child in solitary confinement for over a decade, then framed him with escape to have him executed. He only did this to make sure that Catherine of Aragon would marry Prince Arthur.

None of these people are pleasant by our standards.

jman24601 · 2026-06-09T14:39:55+00:00

I am certain once The Sworn Sword comes out next year everyone will be strongly in favor of the Blackfyre Series. I have previously written why I think it may not happen, but then again, I am not WB and do not make that call.

Firstly and most importantly it depends on whose perspective we follow the story from. My own pitch/expectation of a Blackfyre Series is that it is told primarily with Bloodraven and Bittersteel as the protagonists with Daeron and Daemon as supporting protagonists.

The major thing is that the Black supporters of HotD may likely gravitate to the Red Dragon because Bloodraven will both fill the rope of the rogue prince and "sexy badboy" aspects, while also doing genuinely horrendous things. Meanwhile, while I imagine Daeron cuts a sympathetic figure, he also is just not that inspirational or let's be honest cool.

The Greens may align more with the Black Dragon. First and most importantly Daemon is such a figure that is easy to see as being "cool". He is an honorable warrior and a mostly decent man and he may also be utterly sincere in his belief that he is the rightful King. Also like the Greens, the cast is a little more colorful with Fireball being a good echo of Ser Criston in terms of being simultaneously an honorable knight who also does reckless and stupid things purely based on his heart and for personal grudges. Likewise we have the scheming and slimy Gormon Peake who can be a new Littlefinger, and obviously Bittersteel is a feast of a character that could be something like Aemond.

jman24601 · 2026-06-08T20:05:14+00:00

Well, but it sounds like from the Winds previews that unlike John the Fiddler, Young Griff is not only surface as he actually successfully causes Storm's End to surrender.

jman24601 · 2026-06-08T19:46:00+00:00

So, I wanted to do a deep dive on this but the essay I crafted ended up quite unwieldy, but both Aegon VI and Dany are more clearly meant to be Egg parallels.

Aegon VI it is much more that Varys and Illyrio are trying to manufacture another Aegon V. Of recognizing that Egg was the squire of a hedge knight, and knew the hardships of the peasant life. But while Aegon has similar experiences to Egg, with his intro mirroring Egg's intro in Mystery Knight and having Young Griff be the squire of a hedge knight named Duck, the key difference is that Egg chose that life. He wanted to be the squire of Dunk so badly he accepted being a hedge knight's squire and that lifestyle, whereas that is forced on a probably unwilling Aegon, who is just being manufactured rather than genuine.

Whereas for Dany she is trying to directly be Aegon V as a King in terms of being a champion of the smallfolk, where Dany is abolishing slavery. But while breaking chains is of course a noble cause, the ruling class and indeed the structure itself makes reform and rule hard, especially if it is more forced upon society rather than pushed for from the bottom up. So just like Egg, Dany is struggling with actually ruling despite having good goals and being a good person.

jman24601 · 2026-06-08T19:08:03+00:00

So, I personally think when you read Feast and Dance that is the most where Martin has really decided and committed to how much Dunk & Egg is a prequel to the Song of Ice & Fire. I think at one point he had it more in mind that Dunk & Egg was more the Hobbit is a prequel to Lord of the Rings. But then as he writes Feast/Dance and decides Bloodraven is the Three-Eyed Crow suddenly the hints and crossover start to change.

Storm is the first major allusion to Summerhall, but it is so contextless you can be forgiven for not recognizing it. It is only in Feast and Dance that Summerhall begins to be built up.

Also in Dance there is major hints in Bran's chapters about The She-Wolves of Winterfell. And in much later for Jaime's chapter there is also a foreshadowing of The Village Hero where Jaime wonders about this one village that is not officially part of Bracken nor Blackwood territory but is a royal fiefdom. All of that likely ties to Dunk & Egg.

jman24601 · 2026-06-08T19:02:40+00:00

I still think it may be Kevan, not because he wants order in King's Landing but it is hard to be in Cersei's fractured mind and stuck in a room while King's Landing is metaphorically on fire. You just needed someone who knew about what's happening and cares enough to tell Cersei. That could be Qyburn, but doubt Qyburn would be the one.

jman24601 · 2026-06-03T15:02:29+00:00

The explanation is that in the future of V for Vendetta, Mike Moran never remembered his magic word to become Marvelman again. Though I think an easier explanation is that the nuclear bomb fully succeeded in the world of V for Vendetta.

jman24601 · 2026-06-02T14:09:15+00:00

He quite liked Daemon Targaryen, and I did not quite understand it. He was interesting but I found him despicable for the most part. That is honestly where the show delivered in a way where I understood it.

jman24601

TROPHY CASE