What Happened To Ser Luthor on House Of The Dragon?
Something is rotten in King’s Landing.
There are more players than ever in this season of House of the Dragon, as the Dance of Dragons heats up and embroils all the major houses of the realm. All kinds of lords and knights are involved in the conflict by Season 3, making big strategic moves and taking on entire battles by themselves.
It can be difficult enough to keep all the Targaryens straight, let alone the many non-silver-haired characters. But in Season 3, Episode 5, one man takes the spotlight: Ser Luthor Largent, the head of the City Watch. And by the end of the episode, his fate marks one of the biggest changes from book canon so far.
Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5 ahead.
Daeron has always treated the City Watch as his pet project.
Throughout Episode 5, Daemon is preoccupied with the villainous force that’s murdering members of the City Watch. His first thought is that it has something to do with Alicent and the Greens, but he’s only half-right. When the watch finally catches someone, Daemon tortures the information out of him: he’s doing this for the King, but not for Aegon. Hidden in his boot is a gold coin that matches the one we saw Ormund Hightower give to young Daeron Targaryen, which features Daeron’s likeness.
This means the threat is much bigger than Daemon realized. Ormund Hightower is going directly for King’s Landing, and he’s hitting Daemon where it hurts the most. Daemon commanded the City Watch for years, and the guards remained loyal to his cause even while Aegon was on the throne. And just as Daemon’s piecing the plot together, he’s shown a gruesome display that wouldn’t be out of place in Hannibal: a table set with disemboweled City Watch members, complete with Ser Luthor in the middle. This campaign was always personal, but Ser Luthor was one of Daemon’s closest allies, and he played a key role in helping the Blacks take the throne.
Ormund’s scheme to get Daeron on the throne starts with a series of brutal murders.
In Fire & Blood, Ser Luthor has a different fate. Since Ormund doesn’t unleash this underhanded scheme, Luthor ends up perishing in the Riots of King’s Landing, which unfold after the commonfolk’s resentment of Rhaenyra reaches a boiling point. While the City Watch’s role may have changed, it’s likely the riots are still going to happen, especially given talk of food shortages and Rhaenyra’s less-than-merciful response to the graffiti Ulf White saw in Flea Bottom.
So if Ser Luthor can’t meet his demise in those riots, who will? It’s a rare moment when the source material doesn’t give us anything to go off of, but with only three episodes left in the season, we’re bound to find out soon.
