Sunday evening’s episode of House of the Dragon is notable mostly for our full introduction to one of the most powerful men in the Seven Kingdoms, Lord Ormund, Lord of the Hightower and head of House Hightower, and a very . . . singular man. He’s shaping up to be one of the more compelling villains (or heroes, I suppose, if you’re on Team Green) in the series.
The Hightowers are one of the most powerful Houses in the Reach, which is ruled over by House Tyrell at Highgarden, with its seat in the ancient city of Oldtown. Historically, the Hightowers have been less inclined to war than many other Houses, preferring trade over battle. This is in no small part due to their support of the Faith of the Seven. The Starry Sept also calls Oldtown home, as does the Citadel of the Order of Maesters.
Still, despite the Hightowers being one of the oldest and most influential Houses in Westeros (Otto Hightower certainly has used his influence to great, if greatly damaging, effect) Ormund is clearly punching above his weight here. He tricked Daemon and Rhaenyra by sending a false Daeron to King’s Landing and they didn’t think to take the boy’s dragon, Tessarion, though I’m not sure how easy it would be to “take” a dragon. Ormund’s entire plan rests on Aemond and Vhagar showing up to give them air support at Tumbleton, though he’s cleverly occupied the city in such a way that Rhaenyra cannot send her dragons to simply burn his armies without also killing thousands of innocents.
We get several revealing scenes with Ormund scattered about the episode. The first is quite literally revealing as he spends most of it in a bathtub, Geralt-style, as two Tumbleton nobles complain to him of bunkering down in their ancestral home. Unfazed by their griping, he steps out of the tub and stands before the lord and lady entirely naked and tells them that his men will behave so long as the people of Tumbleton do as well.
This, we learn soon enough, is not entirely true. Soldiers billeted down in the home of Hugh Hammer’s wife and her brother’s family do not behave. One particularly unsavory Hightower soldier attempts to rape Hugh’s wife, Kat, and a fight breaks out. The soldier is wounded and the family appeals to Tumbleton’s lord and lady, who bring the charges in front of Ormund and Daeron. He magnanimously rules in favor of the residents, and orders that the man be gelded and his arm broken.
But Ormund’s magnanimity is for show. Later, Kat’s brother is arrested and brought before Ormund and a confused Daeron. Ormund tells the boy that a man cannot strike a Hightower soldier and get away with. He orders Daeron to kill the poor man, who begs and pleads to no avail. Horrified, Daeron drives Ormund’s sword, the Valyrian steel blade, Vigilance, through the man’s heart.
The Hightower lordreveals his plans to Daeron. He wants to crown the boy, despite Aegon and Aemond still very possibly being alive. Simply maintaining Team Green’s power in King’s Landing isn’t enough. Ormund wants a king raised under the light of the Seven, taught in the ways of the his people, not the Targaryens. With brown hair, not white.
Ormund is a charming man, cool and calculating, too, but he’s also unhinged. Already furious that the Baratheons have not joined their cause, he completely loses his mind when he learns Aemond and Vhagar are not to be found. Neither is support coming from Gwayne and Ser Criston Cole. As he reads the missive, Daeron whispers to a serving boy at the table “Go.” When the boy looks confused, Daeron says it more forcefully. “Go now!”
Ormund’s tantrum is furious and brief. A sudden flush of rage cresting then breaking just as fast. He shouts and hacks at the table with his sword (and we can imagine what he might have done if an expendable page was nearby instead). Mercurial, quick to anger, but mostly composed and cunning. With a sensitivity to smells and a deep loathing of the Targaryen dynasty, which he views as alien invaders, inferior save for their dragaons.
Elsewhere, Rhaenyra continues to try to cobble together some semblance of order in King’s Landing. Corlys has the city left in a pique, but Alyn takes his place and he and Rhaenyra quickly strike up a rapport.
Ulf petitions Rhaenyra for a number of favors for his tavern friends which she not only denies, but immediately forbids him from frequenting such places in the future. He does not take this well, and as a parting gift informs her that her detractors have been vandalizing the streets, calling her Queen of Bastards. She sends her Gold Cloaks to find and punish those responsible. Rhaenyra may want to be the people’s queen, but clearly not all the people.
Meanwhile, Daemon tracks down Rhaena entirely by accident. He pays Lady Arryn a visit asking where her banners are and she reminds him that no dragons were sent to her, and Joffrey’s baby dragon doesn’t count. He manages to extract some gold from the stern matriarch of the Vale, and as he loads bags of it onto Caraxes, the dragon suddenly catches a scent. For the first time, we see Daemon not in control of his dragon. We’ve seen both Aemond and Rhaena lose control but never such an experienced dragonrider.
Caraxes takes Daemon to a rocky perch, ignoring his rider’s commands to obey. A cave awaits, and Daemon approaches slowly, sword drawn. A shadowy figure appears, silhouetted by flame. When he sees that it’s Rhaena, he’s shocked. Pleads with her to leave Sheepstealer first and, when she refuses, to come with him to explain to Rhaenyra what happened. His daughter refuses, so Daemon comes up with another plan.
He brings Rhaenyra a head, charred and toothy, and claims that this iembodied knave was Sheepstealer’s rider. Rhaenyra is far from pleased. She’s visibly distressed. She didn’t want some unrecognizable noggen. She wanted answers. She wanted to know who this was and why he attacked her son and whether he worked for the Greens. Daemon’s offering does little to assuage the queen, though she seems to believe his deception.
In the end, this was yet another episode of positioning and setup. On the one hand, that sure means we’ve had a lot of setup and not much action. On the other hand, I enjoyed pretty much the entire thing. Every scene.
Perhaps my favorite subplot is the misadventures of Aegon and Larys, who find themselves with the salt of the earth, forced to work in the muck with their hands. Aegon does not take naturally to humility or patience or holding his tongue, but he’s learning. Maybe this journey will be good for him in the end. Of course, the real question is whether his dragon is truly dead or, as Aegon claims, still hanging onto life by a thread.
What did you think of this week’s episode?
