The Rogue Prince

Are we all team Daegon now?

Episode 2 of House of the Dragon gave us more character development, but it was a bit light on the action side. To me, the most important take-home message is that maybe we are supposed to root for Daegon Targaryen. Or perhaps this is one of those “I love to hate him” situations.

He told this big lie that he was getting married to his pregnant wife and took a dragon for his soon-to-be-born child, all to get the King’s attention. But Rhaenyra diffusing the situation and preventing bloodshed showed us that she is more capable of handling challenging cases than her father and the small council believe. But also that Daemon listens to her.

The final scene showing a team-up between Daegon and Lord Corlys sets things up nicely for what’s to come. I can’t wait to see what those two do together.

Let’s talk about Ser Harrold Westerling.

I’m a big fan of Graham McTavish, and I’m always happy to see him on screen. I like his character in this show. He seems like the loyal, stoic guard that will do what’s right. Maybe. But what I want to mention is the armor he wore in this episode. He looked fine in that steel!

The King is rotting.

The whole “the king is rotting from the inside.” Is it supposed to be a metaphor for how power corrupts? Or is it literal poisoning from the Iron Throne? We saw Vyseris getting a cut on his finger last episode when he was banishing Daemon. And now his finger is rotting. Did he get some sort of tetanus from Westeros?

Special mention: egg tossing.

Egg tossing is like our favorite sport now, am I right?

Special mention #2: Rhaenyra’s armor.

I love how the scales in her armor look like the egg she rescued from Daemon. The wardrobe in this show is so good!

What did you think?

At the end of the episode, I was happy with the pacing, even if I still missed some action. The character development is steady, and I want to learn more about all of them. What did you think?