Rhaenyra Triumphant? Here’s Where Everyone Stands Early In The New Queen’s Reign
Being Queen isn’t as easy as it looks.
In the world of House of the Dragon, everything can change in a single episode. Last week, we saw King’s Landing fall (relatively) peacefully to Rhaenyra, and this week, in Episode 3, we see her realize that you should be careful what you wish for. She may have the Iron Throne, but now she has to actually rule and deal with complaining commonfolk, economic issues, and entitled lords.
Most importantly, what was supposed to be her big bargaining chip turns out to be absolutely nothing, and that turns the tide on everything after the latest episode. Here’s where everyone stands after this latest episode.
Warning! Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 3, “Rhaenyra Triumphant,” ahead!
1. Ormund Hightower
Rhaenyra may technically be queen at this point, but she’s being fooled from the get-go. Ormund Hightower accepts defeat graciously at the beginning of the episode, but it’s almost too gracious. This is a man who has something up his heavily-armored sleeve, and sure enough, the last few minutes of this episode reveal that while he let (who Daemon assumes is) Daeron Targaryen be taken as a prisoner, he had bigger plans to sack Tumbleton right underneath Rhaenyra’s nose.
Ormund Hightower turns out to be the strategic genius in this episode.
2. Rhaenyra Targaryen
Rhaenyra is having a no-good, very bad day. The High Septon doesn’t want to crown her; her people are unhappy, and on top of it all, she gets her period at the worst possible time. Nonetheless, she manages to pull it all together by arranging a banquet that manages to address the rat problem and make quite a statement to the nobles. Even if she discovered that “Daeron” isn’t really Daeron, she had the foresight to figure that out early instead of later, when the repercussions could be even worse.
3. Alicent Hightower
Alicent deserves a lot of credit if only for not saying “I told you so” to her former best friend/stepdaughter. She’s still making the best of her bad situation. Of all the people, it’s her that Rhaenyra looks to for advice. Sure, her son may be captured, but she was granted the mercy of having Daeron take the black and join the Night’s Watch instead of “having his head,” and that’s not nothing. At this point, she’s the only one in King’s Landing with actual ruling experience, and Rhaenyra would be wise not to forget that.
4. Daemon Targaryen
Oh Daemon. So skilled on the battlefield, so happy to be singing and drinking with his friends, but so, so, bad at diplomacy. He never considered why Ormund was so happy to hand over his young cousin, and he encouraged Rhaenyra to have him murdered. He could have stepped up and caught that trap before it was sprung, but alas, he’s now left playing catch-up at Tumbleton.
Daemon never thought to verify that the boy he took was actually Daeron.
5. Sylvi
Remember Sylvi, the madame who became Aemond’s cuddle buddy/therapist in Season 2? She reappears in this episode as the representative of the smallfolk who pleads with Rhaenyra to address the nobles for hoarding supplies. She may not have as much literal power as some others further down this list, but she was able to get Rhaenyra to actually act and make something right with everything going on — that’s more than her own father-in-law could do.
6. Ser Torrhen Manderley
Speaking of the nobles, they surely got what was coming to them. We finally saw the introduction of Ser Torrhen Manderley, who will become a major player in the future. He’s all too happy to swear fealty to Rhaenyra, something that will hopefully play to her advantage in future episodes.
7. Daeron Targaryen
We still haven’t (officially) seen Daeron Targaryen, but that very fact gives him more power than most. He’s somewhere — and more importantly, his dragon Tessarion is somewhere — and that should be at the top of Rhaenyra’s mind. As soon as he does something important enough to be shown on screen, he’ll probably rocket up to the top of this list.
8. Mysaria
Mysaria’s job so far has been to speak in an inscrutable accent and make sure Rhaenyra believes in herself, but she’s now Mistress of Whispers. She may not be the Queen’s sole advisor anymore, but we now have a character whose whole deal is gossip and secrets. RIP Varys, you would have loved her.
The Dragonseeds get slighted yet again in this episode.
9. Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer
The Dragonseeds are finally starting to see rewards for their labors, but they’re not coming as quickly as they’d like. Ulf has the gall to ask if he could use the name Targaryen, and Hugh says he’s looking for his wife in Tumbleton — the town that’s sacked in the final scenes. They’ve risked their lives for Rhaenyra and the Blacks, but they seem to be getting less than what they were promised. Surely that won’t backfire, right?
10. Corlys Velaryon
The Sea Snake may have won against Sharako Lohar, but he’s definitely bested by Rhaenyra when he asks her to legitimize his sons, Addam and Alyn. He doesn’t take her refusal well at all, instead throwing her own illegitimate children back in her face. That certainly didn’t do him any favors, and it’ll be interesting to see how he gets back into her good graces.
