WARNING: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon.
Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) went through great pains to reclaim the Iron Throne with Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) help at the start of House of the Dragon season three. Although she didn’t have to fight her way through King’s Landing as one might have expected, her first few weeks as the first queen of Westeros are not going smoothly.
Aside from the fact that Ormund Hightower (James Norton) and her brothers Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) are still on the loose, Rhaenyra doesn’t have the resources to deliver on her promises to her allies. That alone is causing all sorts of complications. But the executive decisions she’s making as queen are threatening to cut her reign terribly short. In episode four, she makes the one fatal mistake that will cost her the support of the common folk.
Rhaenyra Harms Commoners After Angering the Nobles
Courtesy of Ollie Upton and HBO
Even before she became queen of Westeros, Rhaenyra had dreamt of becoming the fair and just ruler her father envisioned her to be. She even stated in episode three, “Rhaenyra Triumphant“, that she needed to justify her father’s faith in her. One of her first actions as queen was to hold a banquet in which she invited all of the powerful houses to King’s Landing to discuss the harm they caused to the common folk – in this case, robbing them of their little possessions while the Targaryens were at war.
Rhaenyra even drove home this point by serving the nobles rats and worms in episode three to show them what her people are being forced to eat to survive. She especially angered the heads of those noble houses by sending her Gold Cloaks to their homes to recover what they stole to give back to the people. Whilst this bold action earned her the respect of the common folk and even Torrhen Manderly (Dan Fogler), Rhaenyra also effectively made enemies of powerful people who might have provided her with an army and resources should her authority be threatened.
Although losing the support of Westeros’ noble houses left Rhaenyra in a vulnerable position, she at least still had the commonfolk on her side, and they outnumber the elite. Should a conflict arise, they would more than likely stand up and fight for her. Unfortunately, that may now have changed in episode four after Ulf White (Tom Bennett) informed Rhaenyra of the “Queen of Bastards” graffiti at King’s Landing. Still mourning the loss of her son Jacaerys (Harry Collett), this action prompted Rhaenyra to send her Gold Cloaks throughout King’s Landing to both remove the graffiti and violently punish the people responsible.
Because no one had been able to identify the perpetrators, this caused the Gold Cloaks to violently assault anyone who refused to speak. This effectively established that Rhaenyra (from the point of view of the people) isn’t the just and fair ruler that she marketed herself to be. She is, in fact, ruling like a king. Without the support of either the nobles or common folk, who can Rhaenyra turn to for help when trouble arises? Normally, this is where Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and his naval fleet would come in. But after she denied his request to legitimise his surviving sons as Velaryons, she lost him as well in episode four.
Rhaenyra Loses Corlys Velaryon as Her Hand
Courtesy of Ollie Upton and HBO
Losing the support of the nobles and common folk was already bad news for Rhaenyra. But her most devastating blow in episode four was Corlys walking out on her and handing over his position as her Hand to his son, Alyn (Abubakar Salim). Whilst Corlys rationalized his departure as not being useful to her compared to the sheer strength and power of dragons, she still needed him for emotional support. Now, she no longer has that, which leaves her more vulnerable. Even more so if Corlys switches sides.
Between seasons one and two, Corlys already sacrificed a lot to ensure Rhaenyra ascended the Iron Throne. This included marrying his son Laenor (John Macmillan) to her, only for her to fake his death without Corlys’ knowledge. His daughter Laena (Nanna Blondell) had also married her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith), only for her to die due to a complicated birth. If that wasn’t bad enough, Rhaenyra and Daemon later took advantage of their newly widowed statuses to marry each other, which was a huge blow to Corlys.
Despite losing his own children, he still made one of Rhaenyra’s illegitimate sons his heir and sided with her when Aegon usurped her throne. In Season 2, he continued to stand by Rhaenyra, even after his wife Rhaenys (Eve Best) was killed in the Battle of Rooks Rest, which devastated him. In season three’s premiere, Corlys lost Driftmark to the Triarchy and a good chunk of his fleet to Sheepstealer’s uncontrolled assault. Even after all that, he still stuck by Rhaenyra.
Courtesy of Ollie Upton and HBO
Given all that he sacrificed for her already, it made sense that Corlys wanted something in return – in this case, he wanted Rhaenyra to legitimise his sons Alyn and Addam (Clinton Liberty) as Velaryons so that he could have heirs to continue his bloodline. Rhaenyra denying Corlys this request for the sake of not losing the support of the Faith and the people of Westeros was seen as a huge betrayal. It was therefore not surprising that he walked out on her in episode four.
If Aegon or Ormund offers Corlys to legitimise his sons as Velaryons, this will undoubtedly make him change his allegiances. This will also establish that, at the end of the day, Corlys was only looking out for his own interests. He thought that siding with Rhaenyra would get him closer to power. If he decides in future episodes that siding with Aegon or Ormund gives him access to more power and a means to continue his bloodline, Rhaenyra is truly done. But not before Ormund exploits her loss of support from the common folk and nobles to violently turn the tide against her.
Ormund may have lost Aemond and Vhagar as his strong muscle in episode four, but he still has Daeron (who is a claimant to the Iron Throne) and his dragon, Tessarion, even if she’s smaller in size. Ormund’s most dangerous feature, however, is his cunning, as he’s good at pivoting bad situations back in his favor. Given all that Rhaenyra has working against her, she’s poised to be dethroned sooner rather than later. But if she hadn’t assaulted the common folk over the “Queen of Bastards” graffiti, she may have still had a winning chance.
House of the Dragon Season 3 debuts new episodes on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday night at 09:00 PM EST.
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