Awesome / House of the Dragon

Game of Thrones (see here) might be over for a while, but its prequel House of the Dragon isn't shy with the spectacle either and proudly carries the torch.

WARNING: Per wiki policy, all spoilers are unmarked on Awesome Moments pages. As such, this page will contain no spoiler markings of any kind. If you have not watched an episode, read at your own risk.

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Season 1

General

• Viserys's model of Valyria is an understated moment of awesome throughout the first season. While he modestly says that the stonemasons did most of the work building the structures, Viserys still had to create a very detailed plan of the ancient city from just written descriptions. On top of that, numerous scenes show him etching much of the details himself. By the end of the season, the model is so big that it fills his entire chambers. Now we know what he'd be doing if he wasn't King - he'd be building awesome stuff!
• Viserys prominently carries a Valyrian Steel dagger. One with a very familiar and distinctive hilt. At first, it just seems a proper precaution — the king is always prepared to defend himself — and a nice touch of history and connection: the dagger that an assassin would use to try and kill Bran, the dagger that Arya will utlimately use to end the Night's King, was once owned by a Targaryen king. Then Viserys reveals to Rhaenyra that Targaryens know about the White Walkers and the Long Night, that they are preparing for the day they and their dragons are needed to prevent the end of the world. Then he shows Rhaenyra that "The Song of Ice and Fire" is engraved on that very dagger, the reminder that Targaryens must be prepared for the day Winter comes and the dead march on the living. It adds a layer of tragedy to the decline of the Targaryen dynasty, that when the Night's King finally arose, no one was left to pass on this vital information to Daenerys, to explain her role in the Song of Ice and Fire. And yet, Dany was there in the end, and helped cancel the apocalypse, showing perhaps that prophecy will find a way.

1 - The Heirs of the Dragon

• The series opens in majestic fashion with Syrax flying over King's Landing with Rhaenyra on her back.
• The Tourney of the Heir, as a scene, is overflowing with more significant aplomb and luxury (at least compared to the Tourney of the Hand King Robert hosted centuries later). With more richly-dressed guests and resplendently-armoured knights (with Daemon Targaryen having the most Scary Impractical Armor of them all), it helps visually sell how rich and influential the Targaryen dynasty is at this time.
  • Speaking of Daemon, he pulls a daring joust maneuver at The Tourney, ducking to dodge his adversary's Jousting Lance at the last possible moment while using his own lance to entangle the legs of Ser Gwayne's horse, to devastating effects (said lance was heavy enough to trip the destrier and not break asunder. Yet Daemon was able to uncouch said lance and wield it one-handed while performing a stunt that a Dothraki horselord would be proud of).
  • Not to be outdone, of course, is the Stormlander common-born knight, Ser Criston Cole—who is able to unhorse Daemon after several passes in spectacular fashion, (even after Daemon was scoring more points on his shield) so that the Crown Prince goes Tony Hawk armour cuirass grinding along the whole length of the tilt bar to fly out of his saddle and be sent sprawling in rather humiliating fashion.
  • In case we were wondering if Daemon could only beat on criminals restrained by his men in the City Watch; the Rogue Prince recovers from his fall, calls for his sword, and challenges Ser Criston to continue in a melee. (without attacking from behind like some knights we could point to)
  • Ser Criston splintering Daemon's shield with his spiked flail to the point its use is a hindrance; then entangling Dark Sister with the chain of his weapon and shield bash sweeping Daemon's legs out from under him; thereby disarming the prince of his ancestral sword.
  • But Prince Daemon is no green boy or summer knight. He half-swords with Dark Sister's pommel and point when in the bind; cracking Criston around his helm. Lays into him before that with pure Big Guy physicality, driving his opponent to his knees and kicking him down onto his back. And even when he's entirely disarmed, Daemon shock-upset recovers the advantage and has the knight at his mercy with improvised weaponry and unarmed prowess. The peon only gets the better of Daemon by hitting him In the Back as he plays to the crowd. Excellent foreshadowing from the show-runners of Criston's true character...
• Rhaenyra gets sort of a Awesome Moment of Crowning (she's not queen yet but she's still the next best thing, being made Crown Princess, heir to the throne) at the end of the episode. It even doubles as a Tear Jerker and Heartwarming Moment if only because King Viserys came to the decision after an entire episode of only worrying about having a male heir—not realizing Rhaenyra (who we are shown to be not only a brave dragonrider but a dutiful student of the Realm's history) is already there.
  Viserys I: Balerion was the last living creature to have seen Old Valyria before the Doom. Its greatness and its flaws. When you look at the dragons, what do you see?
  Rhaenyra: What? You haven't spoken a word to me since Mother's funeral and now you send your Kings guard down...
  Viserys I: Answer me. It's important. What do you see?
  Rhaenyra: I suppose I see us.
  Viserys I: Tell me.
  Rhaenyra: Everyone says Targaryens are closer to gods than to men, but they say that because of our dragons. Without them, we're just like everyone else.
  Viserys I: The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion. They're a power man should never have trifled with. One that brought Valyria its doom. If we don't mind our own histories, it will do the same to us. Targaryen must understand this to be King... or Queen. I'm sorry, Rhaenyra. I have wasted the years since you were born wanting for a son. You are the very best of your mother. And I believe it. I know she did, that you could be a great ruling queen.
  Rhaenyra: Daemon is your heir.
  Viserys I: Daemon was not made to wear the crown. But I believe that you were.
• The Kingsguard get one when they partially unsheathe their swords and block an angry Daemon from confronting King Viserys on the throne, seconds after he declares that Rhaenyra will be his heir and not Daemon. The Undying Loyalty of the Kingsguard to King Viserys cannot be questioned.
  • Plus the fact that Daemon backs off after their display. Remember, he is widely regarded as the most dangerous man in Westeros, and he is armed with the Valyrian Steel sword Dark Sister. But these Knights are not the lickspittles and thugs of the Baratheon/Lannister regime nearly two hundred years from now. These are Kingsguard in their prime, the greatest and noblest knights in the Seven Kingdoms, and even Daemon Targaryen knows better than to recklessly challenge them.
  • Look to the King himself as well. The moment Daemon advances, Viserys I seemed to be ready to wield the sword Blackfyre himself. In contrast to the books where nobody takes Viserys genuinely seriously because he's a happy-go-lucky man, the show's Viserys seems to be someone who is trying his best, as flawed and inadequate as he is ultimately.
    Daemon: You cut the image of the Conqueror, brother.
• One of the most epic uses of The Reveal and Wham Line in the franchise so far from King Viserys, where he tells Rhaenyra the secret only known to the Targaryens: it wasn't purely conquest that drove Aegon the Conqueror to the shores of King's Landing. Just as Daenys the Dreamer foresaw the Doom of Valyria, Aegon had a dream about the end of the world and believed that a Targaryen must sit on the Iron Throne by that time for man to survive the Long Night. What did Aegon call this dream? The Song of Ice and Fire.

2 - The Rogue Prince

• Whatever you have to say about him, Otto Hightower's Nerves of Steel as he and a small brigade of knights march to Dragonstone with every intention of battling Daemon and the Gold Cloaks to get the egg back, even if it means a declaration of war, is rather admirable. Even if they didn't take Caraxes into account.
• Rhaenyra's sudden and majestic arrival to Dragonstone atop Syrax from beneath the mists and challenging Daemon to kill her and end all the strife then and there, or willingly give back Dreamfyre's egg. Daemon chooses the latter. She may be young, but Viserys's heir will clearly make a fine queen.
• Viserys gets a small one when Corlys Velaryon objects to his betrothal to Alicent Hightower.
  Corlys: My house is Valyrian! The greatest power in the realm!
  Viserys: And I am your king.
• Corlys and Daemon join forces to take on the Crabfeeder's forces. Both are nobles passed over by elder brothers who have had to constantly go out of their way to prove themselves.

3 - Second of His Name

• Daemon showing up at the Stepstones on the back of Caraxes, doing his best Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné impression, to roast some of Craghas Drahar's forces as the latter was nailing a Velaryon soldier to be eaten by crabs. When the Crabfeeder's archers start shooting flaming arrows, those don't do anything to Caraxes and the Blood Wyrm even uses his wings to shield his rider and master, the thermal currents deflecting a whole cavalcade.
  • Daemon has such control over Caraxes that he doesn't even need to utter the dragon-flame command phrase even once.
• At one point, Caraxes's flame breath doesn't just carbonise a soldier (as Drogon's did a la Vesuvius's eruption over Pompeii) but evaporate him, similar to water touching a furnace; leaving only a foot behind.
• "WHERE ARE YOU?! COME OUT AND FACE ME, DRAHAR! COME OUT, DRAHAR! WHERE ARE YOU?! I'M GONNA FEED YOU TO YOUR OWN CRABS!"
• A great inverted reference to the Pit of Daznak scene as George wrote in DoD, is that when Daemon is struck by a flaming arrow, Caraxes screams in pain; showcasing their Psychic Link. In Dance, it was Drogon being speared by a glory-mad animal tamer that causes Daenerys to cry out in anguish that's physical as well as emotional.
• One that owes much to Rule of Symbolism: contrast Viserys's and Rhaenyra's conduct throughout the royal hunting trip.
  • Viserys needed the assistance of practically his whole household (and the gifts of House Lannister) to just track and kill the White Hart (which everyone claims is a good portent for the young Aegon II). Even then, all that this will amount to is them finding a quite large—but still not white—hart/stag deer, and Viserys still needed two struggling strikes to drop the already-bound animal.
  • By contrast, when Rhaenyra and Criston were attacked by a boar, Criston only needed one stab to down the animal (after being knocked down by it no less!), and Rhaenyra doesn't even need any further assistance when she stabs away at it (getting significantly blood-soaked in the process). Furthermore, it was to her that the White Hart deigns to show itself—and she has the decency to let it go. When she finally returns to camp (with the boar her and Criston killed), everyone is clearly shocked (if not impressed) by her.
• A drunk Viserys finally puts Jason Lannister in his place when he constantly implies and then outright claims Aegon as heir. Instead of falling to the pressure or silently enduring it, he intimidates the vain lord into submission and doubles down Rhaenyra as his heir. This is one of the few times where we see Viserys as a truly formidable and effective king.
  Lord Jason Lannister: Rhaenyra may take her place [in Casterly Rock] by my side without shame, and feel herself well-compensated for her loss of station.
  King Viserys I Targaryen: What loss of station?
  Lord Jason Lannister: If you were to name young Aegon heir, Your Grace.
  King Viserys I Targaryen: (getting visibly angry) And when would I be doing that?...
  Lord Jason Lannister: I had assumed... as he's your firstborn son. Many of us had assum-
  King Viserys I Targaryen: "Many of us", you say? Have your bannermen questioned my choice of heir?
  Lord Jason Lannister: Of course not, Your Gra-
  King Viserys I Targaryen: It is your sworn duty to report rebellion stirring in my kingdom.
  Lord Jason Lannister: Rebellion? There's been nothing of the sort, Your Grace. I, I-
  King Viserys I Targaryen: I did not decide to name Rhaneyra my heir... on a whim. All the lords of the kingdom would do well to remember that.
• Viserys's last conversation with Rhaenyra is a quiet but undeniable one. After spending the entire episode seeming ineffectual, exhausted, and at the end of his rope, he finally manages to stand up and be a Reasonable Authority Figure, stating that no, he's not going to disinherit Rhaenyra no matter how much pressure is on him, but she is going to have to marry. Not because her only value is as a wife but because it isn't - if she's going to rule, she'll need a powerful marriage alliance at her back, and she's going to need heirs of her own. This actually seems to get through to Rhaenyra and go some ways towards healing the rift between the two of them.
• A furious and battle-hardened Daemon pulling off a One-Man Army killing campaign against the Crabfeeder's army after first getting them to drop their guard with an I Surrender, Suckers. While it is true the charge is a near suicidal rush to kill the enemy general of the opposing forces and is initially unsuccessful (with reinforcements needing to save him), Daemon nevertheless manages to slay four and ten pirates, maims another by cleaving his leg off and even defeats one (somehow) by launching a flying kick into his chest! All while Tom Cruise sprinting through a hail of raining arrow shafts.
  • Even when some arrows temporarily down him, puncturing his knee and breastplate with bodkin points. Daemon rips two of them out and snaps the shaft of the third that's too deeply embedded before seizing Dark Sister and rising to go down swinging against an entire encirclement of corsairs.
    • For that matter, Drahar, the cunning strategist, finally pits the entirety of his remaining soldiers against Daemon. One man. Because let's face it, he was making them look like fools and morale must have taken a heavy blow at seeing the dragonlord's bravery to fight them on their terms and home ground without his dragon.
• The Big Damn Heroes moment of the Velaryon forces (led by Lord Corlys and reinforced by Laenor Velaryon riding Seasmoke) was also pretty effective—with the Velaryon infantry occupying all the Triarchy's foot soldiers in the kill-box while Laenor engages in both, a) a coordinated pincer maneuver (blasting the Triarchy fighters with dragonfire) and b) picking off the strategic archers in the surrounding hills.
  • We should also note the significant Adaptational Badass Laenor Velaryon is given in this episode. For most of his screentime, he is shown not only to be a competent enough strategist (calmly yet grimly acknowledging the disadvantageous position of the Velaryon forces—even compared to his ever-grumpy uncle Vaemond), but also a Frontline General Dragon Rider. While he does owe it to Daemon's I Surrender, Suckers maneuver, it was him and Seasmoke who manage to successfully burn out the Triarchy in battle—when even Daemon and the larger Caraxes never manages to do so. This is quite a huge leap from the largely Upper-Class Twit he is in the source material.
• Daemon's Offscreen Moment of Awesome when he slays the Crabfeeder in single combat (and this is after he has already been injured mind). Daemon was skilled and strong enough to cut Drahar in half diagonally, from right collar bone to his left ribs, Dark Sister or no, leaving only the right arm and upper body left. With which he drags the war lord from his hole in an epic mirror shot of where Drahar stood at the beginning of the episode, wearing away his enemy's might with attrition.
  • The parallels of he and Rhaenyra presenting trophies killed with their own hands, reborn in fire and blood, also cannot be denied.

4 - King of the Narrow Sea

• Lord Blackwood, who's still a boy, draws his sword on the knight who's been insulting him — and despite his opponent being larger and stronger, even knocking him around a bit, Blackwood upsets the balance and guts his naysayer through the innards.
• The swagger of a Targaryen dragon prince. It doesn't help that Matt Smith can pull off the body language effortlessly and his new haircut makes him look like DMC's Vergil!
• "Add it to the chair." (drops Craghas Drahar's hammer at the foot of the Iron Throne)
  • "Who holds the Stepstones?"
    • "The tides. The crabs. And two thousand dead Triarchy corsairs staked to the sand to warn those who might follow."
• We finally get a proper secret passage in Maegor's holdfast, besides the trapdoor to the chamber of the hand in S4 of GOT. It leads right from the catacombs to Rhaenyra's chambers. Daemon, you sly dog.
• The fact that Daemon, even as former commander of the watch, both loved and feared by the smallfolk of King's Landing as "Lord Flea Bottom", is still able to pull strings in the city's underworld to organise his little uncle-niece jaunt and subsequent Batman Gambit. This after four years of being away campaigning. Viserys may rule in name from the Red Keep, but the Conqueror's City is truly Daemon's domain.
  • The nightlife of King's Landing. Pyromancers and fire-eaters, acrobats and tight-rope walkers, pageantry and mummers and street performance plays. Topped off with raunchy "shows" of tattooed contortionists. Never has the city seemed more alive.
  • When Ser Harwin Strong passes Prince Daemon, the latter acknowledges him with a conspiratorial smirk, implying that the son of the Master of Laws has been his eyes and ears in the gold cloaks as Lord Commander and that the Watch still belongs to Daemon.
• As problematic as it becomes, the sequence of Rhaenyra and Daemon in the pleasure house is spectacular. The visuals of debauchery are in stark contrast to how rigid and staid all the nobility behaves in the Red Keep; the music is intense and the atmosphere of the liberation of such a place really drives home how alien and exciting it is for Rhaenyra to experience such environs through a maiden's eyes. Matt Smith and Milly Alcock perfectly display (without words) the mutual attraction between the two characters and it comes across as more of a romantic liaison than anything outright sinful.
  • The inter-cutting and juxtaposition of a rapidly declining Viserys creakily "taking his rights" from Alicent, who submits to her wifely duties in the marriage bed with all the receptive heat and passion of the Lands of Always Winter. As opposed to hale and dashing Daemon introducing Rhaenyra to the joys of foreplay; the two of them drawn together magnetically, almost spinning and dancing when they both get lost in their first shared kiss, stroking, and writhing in the throes of building rapture.
• Rhaenyra gives Daemon a permanent reminder of their canoodling when she attacks his lower lip hard enough that we can plainly see said love bite in the light of day. Especially in the close-up when Viserys is seconds away from throttling his brother.
• Viserys annihilating Otto verbally for, as he sees it, employing spies to tail his daughter when ironically Mysaria and her little birds seem to be freelance information brokers and Otto's report is actually the act of a legitimate servant.
  "Are you so sick with ambition that you would have my daughter stalked? Spied upon? Awaiting your best chance to destroy her reputation? / You think yourself a cunning man. Your designs are obvious. Do you wish to have your blood on the Iron Throne so badly that you are willing to destroy mine own? Just get out."
• Daemon, while completely accepting of all his brother's chastisement and kicking him in the overtaxed kidneys, only grows wroth when Valyrian exceptionalism and his niece's status is called into question:
  Kings Viserys I Targaryen: You have ruined her! What lord will wed her now in this condition?!
  Prince Daemon Targaryen: Who gives a fuck what some lord thinks! You are the Dragon. Your word is truth and law.
• When Viserys finally tires of Daemon's Refuge in Audacity and pulls steel to press to his brother's throat, Daemon actually blurts out a quick laugh. You can just hear it after: "You are a plague!"
• Although the ambiguity of Daemon's intentions are part and parcel of what makes him so mesmerizing a character, when Viserys point-blank accuses him of lusting after his throne far more than his daughter; Matt Smith plays his micro-expressions and sub-vocals with an eyeroll and a huff of exasperation. As if rulership is beneath him. Especially when all we see of the rogue prince is him being far more comfortable in policing, warfare, or slumming it with the dregs of humankind.
• Rhaenyra managing to convince her father to see Otto for the opportunist he is and get him stripped of his badge of office.
  • Adding to that, the mere fact that Viserys, despite his numerous shortcomings, is not as stupid as many believe. He is perfectly aware that Otto Hightower has his own agenda but simply overlooked it because of his years of service, even to his grandfather. However, he makes it plain for all to witness that he's under no illusion of what an opportunistic schemer his Hand truly is. Otto himself is bewildered that his own king sees through him like glass on a window, and for the first time, he's at a complete loss of what to say or do.

5 - We Light the Way

• We get to meet Lady Rhae Royce and we find out that the real reason Daemon hates her is not because of her supposed ugliness but because unlike Laena or Rhaenrya she is not impressed or enamored with him and his antics and considers him pathetic. She mocks Daemon right to his face and even after he causes her horse to throw her down and break her back what does she do continue to mock him about not being able to finish.
• Ser Harwin Strong, the moment his father gives him the signal, punching his way easily through the brawling mosh pit at the wedding feast in order to rescue Rhaenyra. He promptly lifts her over his shoulder as if she's made of feathers and marches her straight back to safety at the high table.
• The Rogue Prince shows his mind and tongue are both as sharp as his blade. When Ser Gerold Royce confronts him about his cousin's "accidental" death, citing that in Westeros people answer for their crimes, Targaryen or not, Daemon quickly turns the tide of the conversation by informing him that with no evidence, it is slander, which is also a crime when leveled at a member of royalty, which should also be answered for. The best part? Daemon makes a point of reminding him that Runestone is now his by all rights as Lady Rhea's bereaved widower. Poor Gerold can only shamefully back down and silently withdraw his indictment, even when he knows it to be true. Out-Gambitted at its finest.
  • Even so, if Rhea Royce is the "Bronze Bitch", then Gerold is the Bronze Balls to stand up to Daemon Targaryen.
  Ser Gerold Royce: You know better than anyone, it was no accident.
  Prince Daemon Targaryen: Are you confessing some guilt, Ser Gerold?
  Gerold: I am making - an accusation.
  Daemon: (monstrous glower) You know, in King's Landing men are made to pay for their slanders. Even old bronze cunts like you.
  Gerold: (scoffs in rage)
  Daemon: (suddenly chipper and welcoming) The truth is, I'm glad you've come. I wished to speak to you about my inheritance.
• Alicent Hightower has been groomed by her father into a loveless, dutiful marriage to King Viserys. She has lost her dearest friend, Rhaenyra, who lied to Alicent's face about her affairs with Daemon and Criston and made Alicent into a liar for sticking up for Rhaenyra to Viserys. She has been made to produce heirs for the crown regardless of her own wishes and seems almost alone in the court of the Red Keep. Her father is then stripped of his office and sent back to Oldtown, depriving Alicent of her only family in King's Landing. She is informed that if Rhaenyra ever comes to power, Rhaenyra will have to kill Alicent and her children to secure her throne. Instead of wallowing in misery or fear, Alicent dons a stunning green dress, the color of House Hightower and foreshadowing of what her faction in the Dance of the Dragons will be called. The lady freezes the entire party just by walking through the room: It's nothing less than a declaration of war.
  Larys Strong: The beacon on the Hightower, do you know what color it glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war?
  Ser Harwin Strong: Green?
  Larys: (nods)
  • Alicent's words to Rhaenyra. "Congratulations, stepdaughter." It's polite and veiled, as befits a noble lady Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but the meaning is plain even to Rhaenyra: "We're not friends anymore. You fooled me once, it won't happen again. Come at me or my kids, and win or lose, you'll know you were in a fight." Alicent's dress and words were carefully calculated to show she's done being a helpless pawn in this particular iteration of the Game of Thrones.
• Daemon raining on Alicent's paper dragon parade by being the only one amongst all the gathered nobility to not stand for the queen of the realm. Her father was a leech, which to him just makes his brother's wife the spawn of one.
• Rhaenyra getting to do what no woman in the Seven Kingdoms can get away with and call out the rogue prince. Either to embarrass him into backing down or getting arrested; or because she's more badass than he is and legitimately wants to elope this damn second.
  Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: I was not aware what I wanted mattered to you.
  Prince Daemon Targaryen: This is not for you. Laenor is a good man and a fine knight. He will bore you senseless.
  Rhaenyra: Marriage is only a political arrangement, I hear.
  Daemon: Mine was recently dissolved.
  Rhaenyra: So take me, then. (unbecomingly close to his face) Has this not been your purpose? I am not yet married but the hours pass swiftly. (Daemon jockeys Rhaenyra to his left as she grins and glances down at his belt) You are surely armed. Cut through my father's kingsguard. Take me to Dragonstone and make me your wife!
  Daemon: (seizes Rhaenyra in the grip of madness)

6 - The Princess and the Queen

• Rhaenyra Targaryen showing she has lost none of the spark - or spite - that we became familiar with through the past five episodes. Upon her newborn son being summoned by Alicent, Rhaenyra, who has just given birth (and is still actually delivering the placenta and afterbirth) walks the length of the Red Keep to bring the child herself. There is a trail of blood in her wake, but Rhaenyra refuses to allow her child out of her sight and into Alicent's clutches.
• The episode finally sees the introduction of Vhagar, the last of the three great dragons who brought all of Westeros to heel, and she is truly a sight to behold. She looks every bit ancient, weathered, and wrinkled by time, and is so large that she dwarfs even the already-massive Caraxes and Laena barely seems like a speck on her back. The cinematography also adds to this, with Vhagar filling the entire screen in many shots as if the camera itself can't fit her into the frame from just how massive she is.
• Daemon and Laena performing the Valyrian equivalent of an airshow with Caraxes and Vhagar for a prince of Pentos. With the rogue prince at one point flying clear through a veritable cloud of dragon-flame and Laena buzzing the audience in a deep dive that her husband follows.
• Though he's shorter by two heads, Jacaerys Velaryon manages to drive Aegon Targaryen back during their second fencing bout, forcing the latter to shove a strawman onto him to get some breathing space. Ser Harwin then gives Jace a good enough corner-talk that he's able to survive Aegon's onslaught even when driven onto his back. A Strong Boy indeed!
• Ser Harwin, stepping in to halt Aegon's battle fever and save Jace. Then beating seven bells out of Ser Criston when he not-so-subtly implies the princess's sons are his own.
  • For that matter, Ser Criston playing Ser Harwin like a fiddle, all but outing himself as Jace's father and seriously calling into question the princes' legitimacy.
• Lord Lyonel's attempted resignation as Hand is an understated yet notable moment (and also doubling as Heartwarming for King Viserys). Acknowledging that the allegations against Harwin's conduct have compromised his impartiality, he seeks to remove himself and his son from court—essentially handing Alicent everything she wants. Viserys, clearly someone who doesn't believe in Sins of the Father, only grants Harwin's exile to Harrenhal and affirms his confidence over Lyonel—precisely perhaps because of the selflessness and very integrity of this act. Unfortunately, this display of unassailable loyalty to Lyonel (and, by extension, Rhaenyra) renders Alicent fuming and leads to her Rhetorical Request Blunder to Larys Strong.
• It is a villainous one, no doubt about it, but Larys's assassination of his father and brother via the fire of Harrenhal is a very ruthless yet effective masterstroke that handed Alicent what she wanted (as much as she denies and is horrified by it). It was also conducted in such a way that, as was reflected in the in-universe history of Fire & Blood, no one ever managed to definitively pin it on him even centuries after he was alive.
• While Harwin's and Lyonel's deaths are more of a Tear Jerker moment, they are both brave and proactive until the end. Harwin stands in the middle of a burning hallway, using his shoulder to try to break down the door to his father's bedroom after the lock melts shut rather than save himself. Lyonel also grabs a fire poker and tries to pry the door open from his side.
• It's absolutely a Tear Jerker, but Lady Laena Velaryon fulfills her wish of dying a dragonrider's death. After hours of agonizing labor, the Pentoshi maesters and midwives inform Daemon that the baby won't move and Laena is losing too much blood. They can do a C-section and cut the baby out, but they do not know if either mother or child will survive. Laena gets up, drags herself outside to Vhagar, and pleads with her dragon to Mercy Kill her. She goes out in a blaze of dragonfire instead of allowing the maester or Daemon to make that choice for her.

7 - Driftmark

• Otto having the temerity to deliver the whole "I'm sorry for your loss" cliché to Daemon; obviously relishing his rival's pain and Daemon seeing right through the snake and burning him with this:
  "No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal."
• Aemond claiming Vhagar as his dragon-mount. Vhagar nearly burns Aemond alive at one point, but he stands his ground and uses Valyrian to stop her. Then, Aemond succeeds in riding the largest dragon in the world in a scene that pretty much destroys Dany's first flight in Game of Thrones in terms of spectacle, not to mention length. Brave men didn't kill dragons, brave men rode them.
  Prince Aemond Targaryen: (commanding like a king) DOHAERAS, VHAGAR! LYKIRI!
• Baela sucker-punching Aemond after he smacks Rhaena.
• Aemond did well in a 4v1 fight, throwing off Jacaerys, Lucerys, Baela, and Rhaena.
• Little Lucerys saving his big brother from having his head bashed in with a rock by Aemond. Even using reverse, hammer-grip for his knife strike like a true special forces combatant. Western martial arts-trained as befits a knight to be. Also the fact that he only pulled it off because he and Jace are Bash Brothers using a Combination Attack by the elder first putting some dirt in Aemond's eyes to leave him vulnerable to the youngster's attack. The boys' late true father would be proud.
• For all that Criston hates Rhaenyra and has no problem taking it out on her children, he stoutly refuses to take Luke's eye when Alicent demands it in repayment for Aemond's. Showing that he's not just her lackey and mindless enforcer but a man who could have been a true knight.
  King Viserys: (to Criston) Stay your hand!
  Queen Alicent: No, you are sworn to me!
  Ser Criston: ... As your protector, my queen.
• Paddy Considine as Viserys killing it again, going from livid rage to feeble, tremulous grief and back to the shadow of regal majesty in several subsequent lines.
  King Viserys I Targaryen: This interminable infighting must cease! (voice cracking) ALL OF YOU! We're family! ... (desolate) Now make your apologies and show good-will to one another. Your father, your grandsire, YOUR KING DEMANDS IT!
  • Tywin Lannister once said that someone who has to tell people he's the King is no true King, yet Viserys proves him false. He is not insisting his family needs to respect and listen to him, he is reminding them that he is not only the patriarch of this family and thus due respect and obedience, but their King. And the husband, father, and grandfather has had enough of this shit.
• Rhaenyra defending Lucerys from a knife-wielding and bloodthirsty Alicent, single-handedly holding her back from her son and delivering a cutting remark. Despite this being the first time in her life she's been confronted with true human violence on her royal person, she is unyielding in her protection of him.
• Daemon likewise halting Criston who was running at near full-tilt and definitely weighed more considering he was clad in his heavy plate. Alicent's sworn-sword nearly bounces off the Rogue Prince.
• Aemond proving further that he's the blood of Aegon the Conqueror by calming his mother's rage over his lost eye and claiming that it was a fair exchange to now possess the mightiest dragon in the world.
• For the first time hearing Emma D'Arcy's Rhaenyra speak with the Valyrian "love language" to Daemon in their velvet, resounding tones. Mega goosebumps...
• Daemon, Laenor, and Qarl pull off an epic Faking the Dead ploy; at Rhaenyra's behest, allowing everyone to get what they want. (Except a poor shmoe Velaryon footman to use as a body-double). Qarl gets a fat purse, Laenor gets to abscond with him to Essos and live the sellsword's life he was yearning for - and help support his wife and the children he himself loves in standing aside to allow Daemon to take the reins of the family.
  Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Fire is a prison. The sea is an escape.
  • Has Daemon gone soft with all his scholarly pretensions? I think not.
  • The whole exchange between uncle and niece is great for re-watch value as you realise the oblique terms they are discussing to get their desired outcome.
  Daemon: We could not marry unless Laenor were dead...
  Rhaenyra: ...I know. I will not be a tyrant. And rule through terror.
  Daemon: A tyrant rules only through terror. If the king isn't feared he is powerless. If you are to be a strong queen, you must cultivate love and respect, yes, but your subjects must fear you.
  Rhaenyra: I do love Laenor. (second cousins remember)
  Daemon: Then grant him this kindness. Set him free.
  Rhaenyra: This will cost Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys their only remaining child. And the realm will whisper that I am somehow responsible.
  Daemon: Let them whisper. We will know the truth of it and our enemies won't.
  Rhaenyra: (realising) They will fear what else we might be capable of.
  Daemon: (smiles reassuringly)

8 - Lord of the Tides

• Rhaenys ruling the Driftwood Throne in her husband's stead. She carries herself with all the grace and dignity a High Queen should and is quick, decisive, and firm but also eminently fair, and her granddaughter Baela makes for quite the mini-Hand. She's also very quick to defend her husband and shoot down Vaemond's claim to High Tide. It really does make you wonder how much better things might have been had she been accepted as heir all those years ago...
  Rhaenys: Be careful, good brother. One could take your words for treason.
• Daemon keeping himself in tip-top shape (and being father of the year in Westeros) by mountaineering along the face of the dragonmont like he's Aron Ralston from 127 Hours. Only Daemon makes a much longer (successful) climb down into the canyon vent with primitive equipment, and all while there are six wild, unclaimed dragons nesting somewhere in the depths, so he can find dragon eggs for his children with Rhaenyra. He's Back!
• Prince Aemond One-Eye. His Establishing Character Moment is perfectly done. Now a man grown, not only does he show his Master Swordsman status, but he shows that even with one eye, he can see everything happening around him, picking out his nephews from the admiring onlookers despite their attempts at hiding. Ewan Mitchell commands immense presence for only an introductory scene. It really helps sell how pivotal to the story he'll be.
  • Criston Cole is also sweating buckets from their bout and yet Aemond looks like he came out of a salon.
  • Luke apparently put a giant hole in the sparring yard's wall with Criston's morning-star (spiked mace) when he was a tyke.
• King Viserys I forgoes milk of the poppy even though its absence causes him extreme agony, and he is able to heroically stagger through the Red Keep and sit the Iron Throne one last time to resolve the Velaryon succession dispute. He manages to maintain his dignity and defend his daughter to the utmost as a dragon one, last, time. Showcasing more strength and bravery at the end of his reign than all the rest combined. You were sorely tested, Viserys, and you were not found wanting.
• Viserys doesn't have a lot of strength left, but he's got enough to stare down Otto Hightower:
  "I will sit the Throne today."
• In a brilliant bit of unscripted improvisation by Matt Smith and Paddy Considine, Viserys loses his crown when he begins to stumble during one of the takes, only for Daemon to pick it up for him and place it back upon his head. For poignant points, that's the one that was finalized on.
• Ser Vaemond Velaryon, apoplectic that his claim has been denied and facing the death of the Velaryon patrilineal line, accepts Daemon's dare to speak the punishable Open Secret at court. Then he goes even further, calling Rhaenyra's honour into question so that he might have the satisfaction of spitting in his enemies' eyes and a clean death in place of maiming and torture.
  Ser Vaemond Velaryon: You... may run your House as you see fit... But you will not decide the future of mine! My House survived the Doom and a thousand tribulations besides! And gods be damned... I will not see it ended on the account of this—
  Prince Daemon Targaryen: (promising death with his eyes) ... Say it.
  Vaemond: (smiling at the prince, sweat trickling down his brow) Her children... are BASTAAAARDS! And she... is... a whore.
• Viserys stands up and is very willing to personally collect the offending appendage from Vaemond with Aenar's dagger.
  "I... (draws Valyrian steel) will have your tongue for that!"
  • This bears elaboration. Viserys at this point has as many eyes as he does arms, and both of those numbers are lower than two. He was barely able to stay upright long enough to walk to the Iron Throne, he has only recently come out of a long drug-induced stupor, he is in constant pain from the absence of those same drugs, and he seems to have done more ruling in the past five minutes than he had in the previous six years. Even in his prime, he was never much of a warrior. And yet he was still ready and willing to take on a knight far younger and healthier than him before Daemon intervened. Do not insult Viserys's children or grandchildren.
• Daemon, for a glorious instant, becomes Viserys's Hand, slicing three-quarters of Vaemond's head clean off for daring to insult his stepsons and his lady wife. The ensuing cavalier attitude and casual cleaning of Dark Sister once the Kingsguard draw their swords on him only adds to his badassery. The fact he was the one to goad Vaemond into mouthing off in the first place is both perfectly in character and very clever, as he definitely wanted a reason to make the man's stature shorter for a while now, what with him undermining his authority in the first war against the Triarchy.
  (shrugs dismissively, hands resting on the pommel of Dark Sister) "He can keep his tongue."
  • Daemon hasn't been at war for nearly two decades, yet he can make a smooth, lightning-fast Clean Cut with perfect edge-alignment and immaculate motor-control in order to pull off his joke's execution. Is the rogue prince's weekend hobby just flying down to the Stepstones to partake in live combat?!
  • Aemond and Aegon being the only ones among the Greens to not quail at bloodshed. The latter just seems to find Vaemond's end amusing, but ol' Aemond is gazing unerringly at his uncle with clear respect and a desire to face someone other than Criston. Notably, while everyone else stands either dumbfounded or horrified the instant Daemon makes the cut, equally-shocked Aemond instead jumps back and turns his side, the sudden display of deadly force clearly triggering his duelist reflexes even from halfway across the throne room.
  "I don't give a shit about tourneys..."
• Viserys gets his entire family to sit down together for dinner and persuades Rhaenyra and Alicent to put their grudge behind them. While his actions are sadly undone at the end of the episode, Viserys still nearly saves the realm with his diplomatic skills.
• Aemond effortlessly fights off Jace (and Aegon bests Luke) once he starts a fight with them every bit as simply as he did when they were children. What stops him from going any further? Daemon goddamn Targaryen, who wordlessly stands between them and stares Aemond down. The latter wisely concedes. Even being a Happily Married Family Man won't stop the Rogue Prince from being the biggest badass in the room.
  • To make the scene even better, Daemon gives his nephew a sigh of disappointment and Aemond's expression goes from absolute certainty that he's his uncle's equal if not his superior, to a slowly dawning, tiniest smidge of actual fear. Aemond then murmurs to himself in curiosity as if he's thinking: "Hey... This is a curious new emotion...!" Vhagar could not cow him as a boy. Daemon shows him, that even as a man, he's not "da man" of the house just yet.
    • Daemon effortlessly corralling (there really is no better word for it) his stepsons deserves its own mention too. These are two teenage boys who have been provoked into a fight, all set to duke it out with their smug, superior uncles, and all he does is hiss a soft 'wait' and step in front of them, giving them a long look, and they both stop dead in their tracks and veer back and out of his way, totally conceding without so much as a complaint even though their blood is up and they're spoiling for payback. His earlier execution of Vaermond in front of their eyes can't have hurt in that regard, but it's made quite obvious that they fully respect him as the alpha male.
• While it's unfortunate that both his illness and bad timing resulted in Viserys mentioning the prophecy to Alicent and her thinking he was changing his mind about his heir, he never did actually go back on his word and always intended Rhaenyra to succeed him no matter what. Fridge Brilliance as well that even if he hadn't accidentally done this, Otto still would've planned to undo his will and make Aegon king anyway, so it really didn't matter what Alicent would've heard.

9 - The Green Council

• Lord Lyman Beesbury. If integrity was an incarnate man, he'd be it. Though his efforts cost him his life, he still faces down the Small Council's conspiracy and tells them where they can shove their schemes and pretensions to the Iron Throne.
  Lord Lyman Beesbury: I will not have this. To hear that you're plotting to replace the king's chosen heir with an imposter! / Hundreds of lords and landed knights swore fealty to the Princess. / I am six and seventy years old. I have known Viserys longer than any who sit at this table. And I will not believe that he said this on his deathbed, alone, with only the, the boy's mother as a witness. This is seizure! It is theft! It is treason!
  • He's not the only one. In a later scene, Otto Hightower orders a group of nobles to pledge fealty to Aegon as the new king. One of them, Lord Merryweather, attempts to leave under the guise of discussing it with his house, but when he is informed that none will be allowed to leave until they've declared themselves, with the implication that the penalty for refusal is death, he faces Hightower and states bluntly that he is not an oathbreaker and will not bend the knee. Then Lady Fell, despite being clearly afraid, joins him in stating that House Fell will honour its pledge to support Rhaenyra. Both are from relatively minor houses, yet they show all the bravery and honour of a Great House.
    • An extra moment of awesome in Lord Merryweather's case. House Merryweather is a vassal house sworn to the service of House Hightower, yet he told a member of the house of his liege lord to stuff himself rather than break an oath he swore.
• Lord Caswell chooses to Kneel Before Zod rather than openly defy Otto like Lord Merryweather and Lady Fell, but he then quickly tries to leave the city and rally to Rhaenyra anyway. He does this even though he probably knows that he is under observation as the biggest Black supporter left in the Capital, and the penalty for only pretending to follow Aegon will be unpleasant and lethal.
• Ser Harrold Westerling being the only living man among the nest of vipers who tries to bring Criston to justice for his murder of Lyman; almost holding the rest of the Council at sword-point and removing his white cloak when Otto orders him to assassinate Rhaenyra and Daemon.
  Harrold: I am Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. I recognize no authority but the King's. And until there is one … I have no place here.
• Alicent instantly quelling the Council being on the verge of bloodshed by assuring Cole she wasn't insulted and to put his sword away—even if it means he suffers no consequences for his actions.
  • Even though she believes Aegon is who Viserys wanted to be his heir, that she also is disturbed by Otto and the rest of the Council having planned for years to put him on the throne anyway and calling them out for it also counts.
• Alicent furiously calling out the rest of the Small Council for their plan to assassinate Rhaenyra. She will crown Aegon, but she won't have her former best friend put to the sword to do it if she can help it.
  Otto: It is unsavory, yes. But a sacrifice we must make to secure Aegon's succession. And then there is Daemon to consider. The king wouldn't wish for any unsavory-
  Alicent: The king did not wish for the murder of his daughter! He loved her, I will not have you deny this!
  Wylde: And yet-
  Alicent: ONE MORE WORD AND I WILL HAVE YOU REMOVED FROM THIS CHAMBER AND SENT TO THE WALL!
• Rhaenys's "Reason You Suck" Speech to Alicent, seeing through her cloak of righteousness quite cuttingly to exposing a total lack of a lust for power or even just wanting something more ambition only for herself and not for the men around her like her father Otto, along with her deluded notion of validation for herself through Aegon and the "sacrifices" she's made by playing her part.
  Alicent Hightower: A true Queen counts the cost to her people.
  Rhaenys Targaryen: And yet you toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself... on the Iron Throne?
• The duel between Ser Arryk Cargyll and Ser Criston Cole on the steps of the Grand Sept, while Aemond effortlessly intercepts his brother. Cole is even driven right down the flight of stairs during the initial exchange but recovers and then deprives his sworn brother of his falchion with a fancy disarm technique. It's quite a clean, short, yet thrilling battle between two seasoned Kingsguard knights.
• Ser Erryk aiding Rhaenys out of her confines within the Red Keep and into the now bustling streets of King's Landing, fighting or evading the smallfolk as all bear witness to Aegon's coronation.
• For all of his crude tendencies, Aegon's coronation at the Dragonpit makes for a triumphant scene, with the guards lining their swords for Aegon to walk through. Anointed by the septon, Criston Cole places the crown of the Conqueror on the young prince's head, and the crowd cheers as Otto declares him second of his name. Seeing the crowd's reaction, Aegon draws the sword Blackfyre and raises it into the air, finally accepting his position as King of the Seven Kingdoms.
• Princess Rhaenys being the Spanner in the Works at Aegon's crowning, erupting out of the floor of the Dragonpit on Meleys, the Red Queen, dressed in full dragonlord armor regalia, looking every bit the warrior her ancestor and namesake was over a hundred years ago. She then proceeds to put the entire Green faction at her mercy, yet ultimately decides to only threaten them with her mount's roar and leave to go warn Rhaenyra.
  • Meleys already flew to King's Landing with the greatest speed and agility yet seen of a dragon in episode five. Here, she tucks her wings and sails through the closing dragonpit doors before reopening them and taking flight.
  • Prince Aemond actually looks like he's about to charge both rider and dragon down if Rhaenys makes one move to speak the letter 'D - '. He also notably shields Helaena either intentionally or on instinct, which doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
  • Even if you hate Alicent, you have to admit that she deserves to be given her due. While afraid, she doesn't panic once Rhaenys bursts in, and when Meleys advances on Aegon, Alicent silently, stoically places herself in front of him. Even when Meleys opens her jaws and seems ready to unleash inferno upon the Greens, Alicent doesn't waver, doesn't beg for mercy, just looks at Rhaenys before almost calmly closing her eyes and steeling herself. It is possible that even Rhaenys was a little touched or impressed by this.
  • Cole in the background is also not reactionary. Much like both Aemond and Helaena, he also stands very still in the face of what potentially is imminent death.
  • Say what you will about Otto, but not only does he not cower or beg, he actually gives orders to the guards to open the gates so the civilians can get out. It's very telling that, taken completely by surprise and facing imminent death, his instinct is to minimise collateral damage rather than attempt to ensure the survival of himself or his bloodline. It seems like the "good of the realm" rhetoric that just so happened to keep making him more powerful may have been sincere after all.

10 - The Black Queen

• Jacaerys stands up to Daemon without any hesitation and tells him he is not to make decisions until Rhaenyra gives the go-ahead - sure, Daemon blows him off like he's a fly, but confronting his vastly more experienced and blooded stepfather, who's on a literal warpath is still the action of a youth who one day could be a true king.
• Daemon intimidating the remaining Kingsguard on Dragonstone into compliance with Tranquil Fury exuding from his every pore. There's also the demonstration that the Rogue Prince might as well be The Beast Master among even House Targaryen's long legacy of dragon riders; what with his immaculately timed control of Caraxes during his speech that only Daenerys with Drogon eventually emulated (along with a famous death threat). Especially since his great to the seventh generation granddaughter had to birth her dragon to gain such a close bond.
  Prince Consort Daemon Targaryen: Do you recall... who King Viserys named as his heir before his death?
  Ser Lorent Marbrand: ... Princess Rhaenyra.
  Daemon: (nods) Hm. I'm grateful for your long service to the crown. So I'm presenting you with a choice.
  Caraxes: (whistling screech as he rears up from behind the hill and perches by his rider, to hiss and cow the two white cloaks into changing their breeches)
  Daemon: Swear anew your oath to Rhaenyra as your queen. To Prince Jacaerys as the heir to the Iron Throne. Or... if you support the usurper, speak it now... and you will have a clean and honourable death. But if you choose treachery, if you swear fealty now only to later turn your cloaks... know that you will die... screaming.
• Rhaenyra is in earth-shattering labour for three days according to 'Fire and Blood'. In the show, she more or less overcomes her womb nearly falling out from miscarriage and single-handedly delivers Visenya herself within an hour or two. Bear in mind that the stress from losing her father, being usurped, and her family likely being marked for death mutates the second-trimester foetus's head into something more draconic and difficult to pass through her birth canal. But she's a true dragon and pushes her out anyway and survives the most arduous birth she's endured to be up and about taking over the Silent Sister's duties (and the cremation) just moments after!
• The arrival of Ser Erryk Cargyll with the crown of Viserys I turns the funeral of little Princess Visenya into Rhaenyra's Awesome Moment of Crowning. As much as Rhaenyra is still grieving the loss of what would have been her first daughter (the lowest point of her life), the near-unanimous kneeling of her attendees makes her crowning a more genuine forging of her faction. Contrasting with Aegon II's excessively stage-managed crowning at the Dragonpit (which became a Negated Moment of Awesome), Rhaenyra's became an appropriate demonstration of Quality over Quantity.
• The badass slow-mo cinematography as Rhaenyra transforms into the Black Queen of her faction, striding into her war council flanked by armsmen all while the Painted Table is illuminated with trays of candles to glow through the molten orange dragonglass sections.
• An offscreen example in House Stark (without even being there) occurs when one lord inquires if they can rely on support from Storm's End and Winterfell; Lord Celtigar immediately replies "There has never lived a Stark who forgot an oath. And with House Stark, the North will follow." Nobody rebuts this, nor does anyone feel the need to elaborate why, unlike the elaboration of Rhaenyra's familial relation to House Arryn. It's simple fact that House Stark will stand with them and so too will the North, simply because the Starks believe in keeping their word.
• When Otto has the temerity to offer the fostering of both Princes Aegon the Younger and Viserys (squire and cupbearer respectively) to King Aegon as a reward of his terms mind you: read "hostages". Daemon verbally eviscerates him.
  Prince Consort Daemon Targaryen: I would rather feed my sons to the dragons than have them carry spears and cups for your drunken, usurper cunt of a king.
• Rhaenyra finally gets fed up with Otto's wheedling to give up her claim and accept Aegon instead, she charges up to him, rips his pin of office from his lapel, and tosses it off the bridge.
  Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen: You are no more the Hand than Aegon is king. Fucking traitor!
• The Rogue Prince eventually tires of Otto's blatant emotional manipulation of his wife and says: Let's Get Dangerous!
  Otto Hightower: No blood need be spilled, the realm can carry on in peace. Queen Alicent eagerly awaits your answer.
  Daemon Targaryen: She can have her answer now, stuffed in her father's mouth, along with his withered cock. Let's end this mummer's farce. (song of steel as swords are drawn) Ser Erryk bring me Lord Hightower so I may take the pleasure myself.
• Rhaneyra's very Targaryen reaction to Daemon's impropriety. That the king had trusted her with the prophecy and never saw Daemon as anything more than a placeholder heir. Her little scornful laugh cuts him to the quick just as deep as his actions did to her.
• An understated but no less powerful moment: Corlys limps to the Black council meeting while they're degenerating into a Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering. With a few words, Corlys and Rhaenys manage to show that House Velaryon is finally committing to this side of the Dance. If it can be shown that discussing strategy can be turned into a Badass Boast, this is it.
  Corlys Velaryon: The consequence of my... near-demise in the Stepstones... is that we now control them. I took care to fully garrison the territory this time. A total blockade of the shipping lanes will be in place in days, if not already. The Triarchy have been routed. The Narrow Sea is ours. (Rhaenyra is pleasantly surprised as the House Velaryon theme swells) If we... further seal the Gullet, we can cut off all seaborne travel and trade to King's Landing.
  Rhaenys Targaryen: I shall take Meleys and patrol the Gullet myself.
  Bartimos Celtigar: When we drain the Narrow Sea, we can surround King's Landing, lay siege to the Red Keep, and force the Greens' surrender.
• Daemon undertaking a supremely risky mission to aid his queen's cause. Alone, he delves into the Dragonmont's caves and begins singing in High Valyrian to Vermithor the Bronze Fury. The third largest known dragon to ever exist, the second largest living dragon at present, mount of King Jaehaerys the Conciliator and "husband" to Silverwing. He's a supremely aggresive and ornery bull dragon and makes his presence known with a hugely epic threat display of his fire breath, illuminating his volcanic home. But the rogue prince has the biggest balls in the world to stand firm and even to reach out and touch the snaggle-toothed beast, endeavouring to acclimate him to human contact again so that a new rider might claim him for the Blacks and even the odds against Vhagar.
  "Drakari pykiros ("Fire breather)
  Tīkummo jemiros (Winged leader)
  Yn lantyz bartossa (But two heads)
  Saelot vāedis (To a third sing)

  Hen ñuhā elēnī: (From my voice:)
  Perzyssy vestretis (The fires have spoken)
  Se gēlȳn irūdaks (And the price has been paid)
  Ānogrose (With blood magic)

  Perzyro udrȳssi (With words of flame)
  Ezīmptos laehossi (With clear eyes)
  Hārossa letagon (To bind the three)
  Aōt vāedan (To you I sing)

  Hae mērot gierūli: (As one we gather)
  Se hāros bartossi (And with three heads)
  Prūmȳsa sōvīli (We shall fly as we were destined)
  Gevī, dāerī..." (Beautifully, freely...")

• At Storm's End, Lucerys at any moment could've broke when Aemond started taunting him and calling him "Strong" again, but he held as calm as he could and chose to walk away while Aemond came off as the disrespectful antagonist instead to House Baratheon for trying to provoke and then attack him—and this was even after Borros had made it clear he was siding with the Greens too.
  • Borros Baratheon shows the strength of character we've come to expect from that family in future generations. As Aemond is getting closer and closer to attacking Lucerys, Borros bellows that there will be no bloodshed in his hall, that even if he's rejected the overture Lucerys is still a messenger under flag of truce, and he will not permit Aemond to persist in this uncivilized behavior. Borros may have sided against Rhaenyra, may even have been insulted by her message, but that is no excuse to behave dishonorably, and no guest of his will dishonor his house while he has anything to say about it.
• Lucerys proves himself an able young Dragon Rider, able to lead the adolescent Arrax into a steep dive and pull up across the bay to weave into a narrow coastal canyon and deny Aemond and Vhagar their pursuit.
• Arrax themselves even gets a small one for hiding in low-lying mist, breaking his hunter's line of sight, then ascending and flanking the far slower Vhagar to spit a jet of flame into the old she-dragon's left eye. If they'd managed to hit Aemond in his saddle instead...
• A villainous one for Vhagar. She is shown in battle for the first time, and she is absolutely titanic compared to Arrax. She is also terrifyingly fast for her enormous size (In the "How to Claim Your Dragon" featurette video on the making of this sequence, Nikeah Forde, the visual effects producer of the series estimate that Vhagar is 150 metres long, or 492 feet, in length). She gets hit by Arrax's dragonfire (which burns far hotter than regular flames) and looks more annoyed than anything, not appearing to be even slightly damaged. Lastly, when she bites down on Arrax, the poor beast is almost small enough to fit in her entire mouth and she snaps him in half with two languid chomps of her gargantuan jaws.

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