YMMV / House of the Dragon S1 E5: "We Light the Way"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • According to Rhea, her marriage to Daemon was never consummated. As seen in Tyrion and Sansa's case, that is grounds for annulment in Westeros. Daemon—who is absolutely desperate to get out of this marriage—does not leverage this point to do so. Why? Does he not want to tell his brother (and the rest of the court who would also be involved in a decision like this) about his performance issues?
  • When Joffrey approached Criston, was he trying to buddy up to him as secret lovers of the betrothed and simply had no idea Criston was in the middle of a breakdown? Or was Joffrey arrogantly trying to play at court intrigue with a Mutually Assured Destruction threat that horribly backfired?
  • Is there a Suicide by Cop angle going on with Criston? He first confesses to a crime he thinks may get him executed. Then he very publicly kills someone—another crime punishable by death. Then—when he still hasn't been executed for either of these—he prepares for Seppuku. Was he hoping someone else would do it for him?
  • What specifically is the motive to rush the wedding at the end? Because Laenor can't be publicly displayed before the realm in grieving widower mode, and he's going to be that way for the foreseeable future? Because they want to get it done before the Velaryons change their mind and back out of the union—Rhaenys was already worried about safety, and that's even truer now?
• Fan Nickname:
  • Following on from the Red Wedding and the Purple Wedding, it didn't take long for many fans to start referring to the marriage between Rhaenyra and Laenor as the Green Wedding, alluding to Alicent Hightower's subtle declaration of war by means of garbing herself in a green dress.
  • Daemon calls Rhea "the Bronze Bitch" to slander her. Upon learning that she's actually quite attractive, some fans dubbed her "the Bronze Babe."
• Moral Event Horizon: For the first four episodes, Daemon has been built up as a sympathetic villain with standards. Him murdering his wife, Rhea, just so that he can inherit Runestone and marry Rhaenyra, shows what he's truly capable of. The fact that he was originally going to leave her to die a slow death just makes him worse.
• Shipping Goggles: Alicent/Rhaenyra:
  • Otto says, "Either you prepare Aegon to rule, or you cleave to Rhaenyra and pray for her mercy." Cleave to is a phrased famously used in The Bible to describe having sex with your wife.
  • Alicent continues to be wounded and jealous by Rhaenyra being with anyone else. At the feast, the way the camera cuts between Criston, Alicent, and Daemon all watching Rhaenyra implies they're all in the has-a-crush-on-Rhaenyra club together.