Brought to you by NOW
That was one way to make an exit…
Hello and welcome (back) to our weekly power-ranking of the characters of the first season of House Of The Dragon.
Need a quick reminder on this 200-years-earlier prequel to Game Of Thrones? Click right here.
Each week, we’ll be listing all of the major characters who have died – OUT! – as well as ranking the other characters from the least likely to make it to the next episode, all the way up to who is the most likely to be ruling Westeros as we know it come the series’ end.
So here we go, the power-ranking for the ninth episode of House Of The Dragon, titled The Green Council…
OUT! – Lord Beesbury (Bill Paterson)
If this show has proven anything, it is that being good will get you absolutely NOWHERE. And so it is that Lord Beesbury, attempting to argue against a mass assassination of the King’s extended family, has his skull casually caved in by Ser Cole.
And the number of righteous people in or near the council continues to dwindle…
OUT! – Half of the citizens attending the ceremony
We’ll get to that!
OUT? – Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno)
Unfortunately for Mysaria, she overplayed her hand. She pretty much threatens Otto to his face, claiming that she (and the regular, none royal normies) are the ones really in a position of power. But it wasn’t Otto who proved dangerous to Mysaria, instead it fell to Alicent – and Larys – to burn down her base of operations, after it was revealed that the Queen’s own handmaiden was a secret spy to the White Worm.
Now, we didn’t actually see Mysaria get burned up in the fire, so there’s a chance she was warned beforehand and made an escape. We’ll likely find out soon enough.
MIA/OUT? – Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint)
To be fair, the events of this episode take place just a few hours after the previous one (unlike the sometimes year-long time gaps between some episodes), so Corlys is still holed up with his apparently near-mortal injury.
Thankfully his wife has been bad-ass enough for the both of them.
MIA – Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) & Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith)
As all of the action was kept within the city walls, this week was the first episode not to feature EITHER Rhaenyra or Daemon. But they’ll be back with a bang next week!
NINE – Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel)
He literally casually murdered a high-powered member of the council because he didn’t like what he was saying, and then stood up to the leader of his squadron when it looked like he might be getting chastised.
Criston Cole is an awful human being, and he’s just been promoted to the top of the King’s Guard. He was literally rewarded for murder by the Queen.
EIGHT – Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans)
Criston beat him to bringing Aegon home. Larys beat him to getting revenge on Mysaria. Alicent was having none of it when he tried to deflect their difficult conversation to memories of her mother.
After positioning himself so perfectly into a place of power with the now-dead King, he’s now being actively sidestepped by everyone around him. He might need to re-aim his influence directly towards the new King if he’s to maintain any kind of seniority in the new regime.
SEVENÂ –Â Larys Strong (Matthew Needham)
Ew. Gross. Yuck.
Not to kink shame anyone, but Larys has a very specific foot fetish that involves… uhm… pleasing himself in the company of the queen, as she gets naked from the ankle down. How they got to this understanding, we don’t know, and we’re happy not to find out.
But he’s still proving to be incredibly useful, to the point that he’s taken out another potential threat to the future King’s power by burning down the White Worm’s establishment. So… yeah. There’s that.
SIX – Princess Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban)
To be honest, we hadn’t paid too much attention to the spider-loving daughter of the former King, mostly because she hasn’t really had much to do or say.
But her one major scene this week, in which she warned Alicent – “Beware the beast beneath the boards.” – proved to be massively prophetic. Turns out the Princess is a bit psychic. Excited to see where that goes.
Plus she can barely make eye contact with Aegon as he becomes King, so she obviously can see this isn’t going to end well for anyone, really.
FIVE – Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewen Mitchell)
He’s got his eye on the Throne, looking to replace his brother, much in the same way that his uncle Daemon did. But unlike Daemon, who eventually came around to supporting his brother the King, we’re guessing that Aemond won’t give up on his dream quite as easily.
He makes very valid points all the way through the episode – he probably would be a better ruler than his brother – but still literally drags Aegon kicking and screaming back to the castle, obeying his mother’s wishes. He also does a barely-there nod towards the newly-crowned King.
Tough to read, this guy.
FOUR – Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke)
In much the same way that all of the messiness of this season could’ve been completely avoided if Princess Rhaenys had been named ruler instead of her brother, everything from this point on might have been (relatively) drama-free had Alicent not completely misinterpreted the King’s final words.
She spends much of this episode being reminded how much power and influence the men in her life have – her dead husband, her father, her sons, Criston Cole, Larys Strong – but she remains steadfast in backing Aegon, the wrongest of wrong horses.
Fairly ballsy of her to throw herself in front of her son when she was sure they were all going to be killed by dragon fire. If nothing else, she is a truly loving mother, even if that love is sometimes a little bit poisonous.
THREE – King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney)
The King is dead, long live the King.
Much of the episode was a panic in finding the misplaced Prince so he could ascend the throne ASAP, and we find out that he is into all sorts of depravity in his free time. There was a hope that he might just be a spoiled brat who could be controlled by those around him once he’s got the crown on.
But that expression when the crowd went wild during his coronation… Yikes. And then turning to his friends and family to make sure each and every one of them bowed. Yep, he’s gonna go mad with power.
TWO – Ser Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish)
The only clever man in this entire episode, he quietly quit his job as the King’s Guard during the time when there was no actual King to guard. Good for you, Ser Harrold. We hope to see you again soon.
ONE – Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best)
Wow. Wow wow wow. At the centre of the single best scene of the show so far, Rhaenys used her dragon to make a very memorable exit from King Aegon’s succession ceremony. After being locked in her room, then tried to be tempted to the Hightower’s side by Alicent, before being secreted away only to be consumed by the crowds and brought right back into the thick of the trouble…
Finally, Rhaenys has had enough of all of this messiness, and she’s here to make that clear. She could have – and probably should have? – just taken out the entire Hightower family with a single dragon breath, but decided against it. Instead she makes a break for it, off to Rhaenyra and Daemon to let them know that trouble is a’comin’…
The final episode of the first season of House Of The Dragon – titled The Black Queen – will be available to stream with a NOW Entertainment Membership from Monday, 24 October.
Brought to you by NOW
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
