re: House of the Dragon | S1 E9 | The Green Council

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The weirwood in KL is a bit odd as based on GOT, there aren't supposed to be any south of The Neck other than possibly on the island in the God's Eye. There are stumps around High Heart.

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Not odd at all. In the book it’s pointed out that a lot, if not most, castles still have a weirwood, even though it’s not the main religion.

More of a tradition than part of an active religion. That’s why earlier in this season you see them holding a reception/picnic there. It’s basically just a park/garden to most of them.

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I’m a simpleton, so can someone explain to me who the dark hair brothers are who were looking for Aegon?

Also, I didn’t understand that scene when they found him. Why were they sword fighting? Was there ever a plot to kill Aegon?

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Damn, you really are a simpleton! Your answers all lie within the confines of the TV show. You sound like my wife who loves the show but asks some of the easiest-to-answer questions about it.

I read the whole thread, so sorry if I missed it.


What was the song playing in the early part of the episode?

It sounded familiar but I couldn't place it.

If there’s a time jump it could be the egg we saw him pulling in the previous ep. I think Aemon is the wild card in this whole thing. I could easily see him working with team Black if certain circumstances come into play.

I think I’m one of the few who wasn’t over the moon about last night’s episode. It wasn’t bad.. just felt slow and disjointed. I also had convinced myself that it would follow the trend of GOT and have episode 9 be the bloody one.

This excerpt from a review is kind of how I feel. They used the simple mixup with Criston/Rhaenyra earlier in the season

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My main objection — besides the fact that, again, they already used this gimmick just a few weeks ago — is that the crazy misunderstanding is one of the lowest forms of sitcom writing, the kind of transparent plot contrivance you might forgive within a half-hour of yuk-yuks but don’t expect to see on a Sunday night on HBO.

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Looks like some other reviews took issue with the same thing. To each their own, though. Still love the show and can’t wait until Sunday

Loved the episode overall but I agree with others that the Rhaenys scene at the end was kind of silly. She just killed a bunch of innocent people who were essentially corralled and forced to be there just so she could mean mug Alicient? Now everything that happens from here on out to both herself and her family she only has herself to blame as she could have ended the war with a single word. Also thought the Lyman Beesbury death scene was a little silly. Are we to understand that Criston accidentally killed him because he lost his temper? In the books it’s written that he either slit his throat or threw him out the window. I think showing a deliberate murder would have been more impactful than an instant death table slam.

But as it turns out it doesn’t even matter. The council was planning on naming Aegon king anyways. They didn’t even bother to tell her about their plans so if anything the only thing it really did was embolden Alicient to take more of a direct role in her son’s coronation.

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I’ve got to be honest, as much as we hated Olivia Cooke’s Alicient in episodes 6-9, the denigration she suffers from her father and especially Larys, who killed his entire family only to beat off to her feet, is very tragic.

I think she truly feels trapped by Larys and it’s pretty hard to watch for me personally. As much as I disliked her and was rooting for Rhanerya, seeing her be so violated without any sort of physical or verbal threat was heartbreaking.

This dude posed himself as her only friend when she was alone, then killed his father + brother/Rhaynera’s baby daddy and acted like he did it because Alicent told him to when it was only gain power for himself and this episode shows she clearly cares for Rhaynera since she pretty much out maneuvered Otto so he couldn’t order Rhaynera’s assassination.

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I almost made a long-winded post about this after episode 8 - I think Alicent and Rhaenyra both have generally good intentions.

It’s been pretty clear that up until this point, Alicent’s primary motivations have been protecting her children and the throne. Her entire feud with Rhaenyra started because Alicent thought Rhaenyra was reckless, disrespectful, and generally harmful to her father’s rule. Alicent is definitely pretentious at times - looking down on Rhaenyra for perceived wrongdoings - but it comes from a place of true belief that appearances, traditions, and protocols matter. This is something I think the writers have done a pretty good job conveying over the course of the season.

When it comes down to it, she wants to reconcile with Rhaenyra until she thinks Viserys changed his mind about his succession. Now.. maybe her own conceit led her to that interpretation (I think this is also something the writers wanted to convey) but regardless she thinks she’s doing the right thing.

All of that being said… she’s definitely not as innocent as she would like to believe and she knew full well what was going to happen (this time) when she asked Larys to take care of it. I think she’ll prove to be ruthless if/when backed into a corner.

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To me, Larys is by far the most disturbing character in GOT. Way further than Joffrey or Ramsey were.

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No way. Larys is creepy for sure but he’s nowhere near the top of that list. So far his misdeeds come down to:
1. Killing his father and brother to gain status, and
2. Having a foot fetish.

Both are mild in the grand scheme of GOT. Joffrey is an insufferable twat and probably a psychopath. But Ramsay is 100% a psychopath. He tortures and castrates Theon for fun and then keeps him around as a pet just because he can. Larys is nowhere near that disturbed. At least not right now.. I haven’t read the books, though.