House Of The Dragon Episode 4 is now out and it has a lot to unpack from it. The episode starts off pretty slow with us following Daemon as he does the X-Rated version of a whole new world from Aladdin. Rhaenyra ends up getting Aladdin too and throughout this recap, we’re gonna be going over the big plot developments, ties to the books, and also everything you need to know about the show.
“King of the Narrow Sea”, the fourth episode of “House of the Dragon,” takes us through the shifting views and political changes that could have affected the House Targaryen’s future. Viserys had lined up potential suitors whom he believed qualified to wed his daughter. Even though Princess Rhaenyra was aware that her father wouldn’t approve of her choice, she rejected every one. Rhaenyra, however, continued to act on her own choice because she did not have the same restrictions on individual freedom as other women.
House Of The Dragon Episode 4 Recap
Now the episode itself opens on Rhaenyra’s Valeryion necklace which was of course gifted to her by her Uncle Daemon. This opening shot is very important as the episode fleshes out their relationship a lot. He ends up asking Viscerys for her hand in marriage and the idea that Rhaenyra can’t find a suitable husband is shown early on when we join her courting men. We can tell that this is the home of one of the Baratheons as we can see their sigil on the wall and the guy beside Rhaenyra wears this too. Here we meet Lord Dondarren whom I think even might be an ancestor of Beric.
Next, we get Boy Blackwood who carries a crow on his collar denoting the house. But yeah, hopefully, you understand why the situation escalated quickly and little boy Black leaves him black white, and red all over. Cut to Rhaenyra returning home. The cruise is broken up by Caraxes swooping in which signifies the arrival of Daemon.
Viscerys Accepts Daemon
Now if you’ve been following our recaps then you’ll know how we talked about him getting given a kingdom by Viscerys. I’m not 100% on the order of it in the book as Viscerys basically promised him the rule of the Stepstones which is one of the reasons that he was so interested in joining the war. He wanted to gain something whereas here it kinda comes across like he was rewarded after beating Crabfeeder.
As we’ve seen in the show this area was pretty much just all rocks and crappy land where nothing grew so he didn’t really even care about it that much. This is one of the many reasons why he hands the area over to his brother with the main one being to gain his favor once more. Daemon is accepted by his brother and thanked for taking out Crab Feeder and his Crab People and they celebrate in the garden.
The book actually discusses why Viscerys let Daemon get away with murder…literally…and it says that he held very fond memories of the pair playing together as children. Alicent and Rhaenyra end up discussing boys and both kinda wish they were in the other’s shoes. Alicent wishes she actually got a choice of men whereas Rhaenyra thinks it must be nice just living in a castle and squeezing out heirs. Kinda sucks for both and the series will likely follow them breaking free of the confines of tradition in order to become two of the most powerful people in the realm.
The Small Council Meeting
Rhae and Daemon also talk and we also learn that it’s been another year since the events of last week, 4 years. The last episode was 3 whereas this is four. This is also confirmed by Aegon having his second birthday last week whereas in the play they say.
Back with the small council, we see that Rhea is now a member of it with a new character working as the cupbearer. We also see that one of the Lannisters is on there too but it’s difficult to tell whether it’s Tyland or Jason due to them both being twins. Tyland did end up serving as the master of coin however it was much further down the timeline though potentially they’ve shifted things about.
We see that Lord Corlys is still annoyed. He is now planning to wed his daughter Leanor with a sea lord’s son at Bravos. This alliance with the three cities could end up causing war and thus they have to seek out a marriage pact. This of course would end up involving Rhaenyra who’s tired of being railroaded down a certain path.
The Secret Passage And The Rumours
After finding a map to a secret passage hidden behind a dragon doorway and sneaking out into the night. Now, these secret passages littered the Red Keep and there are several articles online detailing all of them. Rhaenyra sneaks past the giant skull of Balerion which was the black dredd aka Vicerys’ dragon. She comes across her uncle waiting for her and the pair both hide their hair. The Targaryens of course had the distinctive bleached blonde look before it was cool and this made them instantly recognizable.
Rhaenyra gets a tour of the streets which are lined with statues of dragons breathing fire and we cut to see Vicerys in a bath covered in wounds. He’s tended to by Alicent and there’s a sort of reversal here to the scene with the Queen from Episode 1. Viscerys is now the vulnerable one and his body is covered in these sores. Clearly, he’s rotting away over time with these becoming more and more commonplace. I think it’s just caused by the throne. The cut on his back was said to have been caused by it and he of course sliced his finger which explains the removal of it and the other.
The people aren’t too happy either and we cut to a mockup play with its own throne. This details the conflict in the kingdom about who will be the next ruler. Daemon then takes Rhaenyra to a brothel which is touched upon somewhat in the book. Intercut with this scene are shots of Viscerys smashing Alicent like it’s that like button and she just kinda zones out and thinks of happier times like Game Of Thrones Season 6. In the series, there’s no mention of Criston Cole, and it’s clear that the pair just wanna get it on but Daemon ends up walking away. Rhaenyra is spotted by a young boy who recognizes her because of her hair and rumor spreads throughout the Kingdom.
Now at this point, Otto gets a visit and we hear about The White Worm. The White Worm was the nickname of Mysaria along with Misery whom Daemon ends up waking up. We don’t really know how the pair parted ways but she’s clearly building a network in the city. I have no idea what her endgame is in spreading this to the castle but if Otto is this series Middle Finger…sorry Little Finger and she’s Varys there could be a lot to it. Getting Otto to do this would have him removed and as he’s an enemy of Daemon it would allow him to ascend in position. If he owes her then she’d have access to more power but the rumor spreading causes a tonne of issues.
Plan Tea
You’ve heard of Plan B, now hear of Plan Tea as Rhaenyra is made to drink some that will stop her from getting pregnant. Now the scene with Rhaenyra does have some subtext to it and we already know that everyone has been harping on at Rhaenyra to bear children. However it has to be wih the right person and as Rhaenyra says, the men can father as many bastards as they want. When it comes to the women they have to have children in wedlock with the right men in order to not create issues. Everyone in the Kingdom is a bit annoyed by her going out though and Alicent and Rhaenyra confront each other by the weir wood tree.
Now Alicent talks about how the Targaryens are and in Fire and Blood they discuss how Uncles would often marry their nieces and Aunties their nephews. The latter of these would be touched upon with Jon and Dany and it’s all just about keeping it in the family. Daemon shows up with a hangover and to make matters worse Viscerys ends up almost killing him. Daemon actually plays it up to make Viscerys even angrier and he lies about sleeping with her in order to rile Viscerys up. He wants a little chaos and for Viscerys to feel out of control so that he has more power over him.
Viscerys tells her that she has to marry into the Valeryons. Rhae agrees to it but she wants Otto out due to his conniving. It’s like the firing scene from the Apprentice with Viscerys stripping him of the hand of the king badge. Otto actually served three kings as the hand in his lifetime though he was removed from the position at several points by the others as well. Viscerys brings up his father. Vis talks about his ascension. He of course put forward his daughter and got Viscerys to chuck out his brother.
Thoughts On House Of The Dragon Episode 4
Anyway, that pretty much wraps up the episode after some Morning After Tea and as for my thoughts on it, I know you guys love when I review stuff episode by episode but I thought this was probably the weakest one of the season so far even though it had a great ending. The dagger scene was great and the boardroom firing added a lot to it too. I just didn’t really find the street stuff all that interesting even if it did have a big development with Rhaenyra and Daemon.
Probably sounds like I’m completely crapping on the episode outside of those bits and I think in any other show this would’ve been a great episode. It’s just the standard of the other three was so high that it’s difficult not to feel like there was a dip here even if overall it was still really good. I love how the tone of the show has shifted and you can really see the stress of being king getting to Viscerys. Everyone is conspiring against him and whilst he’s trying to hold everything together it’s all falling apart.
I think Otto’s removal will likely also cause a lot of issues with Alicent as she’s of course been told that her children won’t be the heirs and now her dad is out of the job. The pair both carried out this entire thing in their quest for power and they’ve spent years with the King putting up with him in the hopes of gaining it. So this happening won’t go down well and I am excited to see where they take things especially as he’s getting ever more ill every time we see him.
What Could Happen In House Of The Dragon Episode 5?
Now for the next part of the recap, I wanna talk about some of the spoilers for what I think could happen next time judging by the book. They are pretty big ones and I’d hate to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of the show so I’m giving you this warning. If you don’t wanna know then thanks for sticking with me, please hit the like button on your way out and I’ll see you on the next one.
Ok so in the book Rhaenyra ends up shacking up with the Laenor and the pair agrees to wed. However whilst all this is going on to make stuff more complicated, Daemon actually ends up agreeing to marry Laena. Remember her, yeah, yikes. Well, it’s been four years since then so…hmmm…still a bit noncey but this helps to stop the fallout that’s caused by her agreeing to marry the other guy. Daemon actually ends up killing him so that the wedding can’t take place and I’m expecting next week to center around this.
Now how he does this is because Lady Rhea ends up dying after she falls from a horse. I always kinda viewed this as being like the opening of Austin Powers 2 with him basically celebrating that he’s single again. In normal circumstances, this would mean that Daemon was accepted as the leader of House Royce but he was rejected from this claim which is why he set his eyes on Leana. Now, this wedding is without the consent of Viscerys so it causes even more issues with his brother.
In the book Daemon actually left the kingdom due to the pair constantly arguing and of course, the rumors that he was shacking up with his daughter. Can see that all happening within the next episode but who knows where they could go? Most of my predictions based on the book have been wrong and it’s clear that they’re not completely sticking to it so they might end up skipping over certain things or altering them in order to fit a certain path.
