🧙 House of the Dragon Episode 4 Breakdown and Q&A 

Daemon doing the rookie Burning Man mistake of taking some drugs a random pretty girl you've known for 5 minutes hands you and literally tripping for days.

This episode epitomizes everything that seasons 1-4 of GOT stood for. The slow build up, the storytelling, the character development, the trickery and entrapment, all leading to an epic beautifully shot battle. The battle of rooks rest was one of the greatest moments of cinema ive ever watched.

Daemon won’t eat peas for fear of potential poisoning, yet he’ll drink a questionable concoction created by a dubious woman in a dungeon just after waking from an unsettling nightmare in a place where he’s already experienced episodes of shifting reality. Makes perfect sense! 😂

It’s fitting that Rhaenys perished the same way her namesake probably did, falling down to Dorne below Meraxes 😢

I think that Rhaenys was genuinely urging Corlys to elevate Alyn. I think that Corlys' reaction was to "I know who he is;" he has kept Alyn and Addam's parentage secret, or at least avoided talking about them all these years, and is taken aback when Rhaenys strolls up the dock and makes clear that she knows. The thought of elevating his bastards also scares Corlys because he's genuinely ashamed of having fathered them and cheated on Rhaenys. His own shame makes him feel like Rhaenys is attacking him even though she really isn't.

It was obvious in the council meeting that Aemond was halfway to usurping Aegons throne. I never thought it would come so quickly.

Rhaenys' fatalism in taking the mission is partly driven by what we saw last episode. She has nothing left but Corlys who seems to have accepted he will die soon if not in war then of age, and also meeting his seed. Theres nothing much left for her but the misery of war and her beloved husbands love children carrying on the name. Makes more of the "my life is expendable"

Sad for Sunfyre. Meleys knew and was prepared to go to battle. Aegon treated it like he hadn't seen his dog in a while, Sunfyre seemed so happy ! to see him and flew to battle with no idea. He even seemed startled by having to fly though the dragonfire. Startl3d more perhaps that another dragon could/would be its enemy. What a terrible end for that happy little pup. * Aegon never deserved him

I just watched it and was shouting out loud in the second half of the episode. This episode was crazy 🔥

Not just the bats, the goat, the dogs, but y ou know what else is at Harrenhal at that time, just offscreen: a dragon

on dragons exploding when hitting the ground "Michael Bay showed up for a second" 😂

I think Alys was Larys's guide into the weirwood greenseer network. She taught him how to see.

The irony should not be lost on anyone as Aemond wants to be Aegon and he had the opportunity to take it all at his brother’s expense. He wants the throne. He wanted Helaena when they were young and probably still does. Aegon’s “mistake” was trying to get involved in the war which has been fought in his name without his authorization. The irony is what Otto’s early fears about Daemon are, are being shown in Otto’s own grandson to a t.

George likes to cast the Tully lords as comatose and near death in Grover and Hoster.

Also, even if Helaena was willing to fly Dreamfire, flying a dragon and fighting with it are very different things. It's not exactly like you can train dragon fighting. You can't tell a dragon to "practice" fighting.

Sunfyre was gorgeous. Sorry for him, not Aegon. Aemond really got his revenge and schooled him in every way.

Aemond did 3 things that made me think this battle he was fixing for a change in leadership: 1. Didn't immediately go and help Aegon and Sunfyre. The signal was SENT, the trap had been sprung and the delay didn't add anything. If Meleys was going to run away, she was going to do it whether or not Sunfyre was there. 2. The 'Dracarys'. While Aegon says it because he's an idiot and thinks breathing fire is going to burn the larger enemy, Aemond knows better. If he just slammed into Meleys when they and Sunfyre were entangled, good chance Meleys is K.O. and Sunfyre might have been able to recover. Dracarys (and note, Vhagar doesn't seem to try and hit Meleys when she starts running) guarantees Sunfyre AND Aegon sustain injuries, with plausible deniability. 3. uh... he drew his sword on his brothers mangled body.

Of course Aemond tried to kill Aegon in the sky (and hoped he'd already be done when he came up with Vhagar). As I remember it, Meleys was under Sunfire attacking her, and as you said Aegon's look said everything when he said "Dracarys" in his face. And that's why Meleys could fly away. He didn't even try to go after her. That's what made it so unbelievable sad for me. Rhaenys could've escaped twice, good lord, TWICE! 😭 I agree in the beginning she thought she could take them out both. But the second time, when Meleys looked back at Rhaenys (Amazingacting from Eve Best) ; I know that look. "We're ready to die" And yes, I also thought her last scene was very beautiful Something to lighten the mood; I said "Idiot" a millisecond before Aemond did 😂 Btw: Sunfire did go faster, when Aegon told her too in English (It seemed)

Oh, did anybody catch how to say "Idiot" in Valyrian?

I'm wrecked 😭Leave those poor dragons out of it 😭 whyyyy??? I quit. I can't keep watching these amazing, magical beings forced to turn on each other and suffer all for the whims of useless aristocrats.

“One word: cloacas” I totally choked on my morning coffee when he said that 😂

Rhaenys looked like wasn't burned by Vhagyr but Aegon was.. but "fire cannot burn a dragon"

can anyone get this idea out of my head using facts and logic: In the vision, Deamon sees Bloodraven - Bryndon Rivers. He has one eye, and we don't see the right side of his face to give away the birthmark. What I mean is... Bloodraven can't be Daemon, right? Maybe it's a little hint that Bloodraven is the one sending him visions?

ur my dwagon

Michael Bay showed up a few times in season 1 as well! He directed the fight that broke out in the Heir's Tournament, and the one at Rhaenyra's wedding when Joffrey was killed by Cole. Close up shots and quick cuts to the point of not knowing what is going on, I spent 20 minutes figuring out who killed whom at the tourney haha

I think criston would actually be happy to hear of the baby

If Larys is a rat, and Alys is an owl, it kind of informs us to the nature of their relationship: predator and prey.😅

1:01:35 of course we're being played with, so far we've had a lemon tree and a Lannister being made into a (figurative) pony. Why not bats?

I loved Rheanys. She was such a wise and kindhearted woman. She should have been Queen. I’m going to miss her. I’m not ready for all the deaths to come.

I genuinely think Meleys could have and would have beaten Vhagar if it wasn’t for that surprise attack. There’s many ways a smaller and faster dragon could beat a larger and stronger one, Rhaenys decided to go strength for strength. Which kinda went better than you’d think which showed Meleys was at least durable enough to tank damage from Vhagar to, so I think the two dragons were pretty evenly matched. In a straight open field with no distractions or tricks I give the edge slightly to Meleys.

Rhaenys was every bit the warrior as anyone. Like Jaime Lannister going after Daenarys at Blackwater Rush. If, there was any chance to end the conflict, she had to tty and would take it. It was her only chance, and she died like a queen. Meleys was obviously too injured to be doing any more fighting. Once back in the dragon pits she would have been hobbled for many weeks or months. Starting to see the dragons more like thoroughbred horses than can only go full out in competition so often. And, not surprising they chose to show explosions when dragons fall while full of combustible material. Even the blood rhat sprayed rhe soldiers seemed to be a corrosive and dangerous.

Another fantastic episode and another fun stream. Thanks for holding the fandom together Mr. Magician :)

God, I love Harrenhall. I love everything that happens at Harrenhall. I love every character, I love every scene, I love every shot at that location. It might be my favorite single location in the whole series.

Love your reaction at the beginning. I knew what was going to happen, yet it hit so hard. Very poignant. Your expression of emotion reflected how I felt perfectly. An your my 4th reaction video. So thank you. ❤

What a fantastic episode!

Aemond now possesses the potential to learn of the Song of Ice & Fire Prophecy for himself, as he finds & keep the Catspaw dagger from where Aegon lies. Interesting to see if that gets momentum, else it’s just a Chekhov’s prophetic dagger😂

If I may throw the spittiest of spitballs; possible spoilers ahead: . . . pure conjecture follows! . So what if Alicent Doesn't have the planned miscarriage? With Aegon II severely injured, and definitely not capable of producing another heir, would Alicent play off her kid w/ Crispy as his son with Helena EG Maelor? It would make sense as a mirror of Rhenerya X Harwin and be a wild way to parallel the "Strong boys" . It feels plausible..

Meleys wasn’t trying to fly by vhagar, after the umpteenth rewatch, meleys dives upside down and tried purposely to claw her and get her claws

You can see at one point that Melys dips her claws in the water. Do you think that was to make them slippery considering that’s how dragon grab on to each other in their air?

I believe a person asking about riders living longer than their dragons was talking about cases like Viserys.

I think the explosion is kinda like when we get the air knocked out of us. Where we let out all our air they let out all their fire

17:34 what if Alys awakened Larys’s greenseer abilities? Also, *someone* is watching Daemon sleep just based on the camera’s POV.

Rhaenys getting taken out by her dead daughter’s dragon is just “ooph”. I wonder if the dragons take on their rider’s vibe. Like is Caraxes sneaky because his rider is now Aemond?

I think the story is going in a direction where Daemond, at the end, will want to « kill all the trees », while Aemond will be using their power in some capacity or at least be serving « their interest ». S1 had Jace quoting Aegon the Conqueror saying « kill all the trees », which probably ties to Aerys’ « burn them all! ». I think the prequels are building towards an eventual post-GoT sequel where it turns out Bran becoming king was in service of the weirwood or CotF, or outright that the Three Eyed Crow was some big villain all along.

Pour one out for Rhaenys and Meleys! Also... it was incredibly reckless for Aegon to surprise drop-in on the battle. He was so besides the point in every scene in this episode. I feel bad for him because, with better parenting and less $ and power to wreck himself and others, he would've maybe been a cool dude.

Sunfire went from a Sunday driving vibe dragon to finding itself in the middle of the war zone. Not cool.

seeing Meley and Rhaenys die is like watching the scene where Ned kills Lady all over again....

Vermithor saw war on Dorne against the Vulture King.

I don't think either side would consider any dragon or rider to be expendable. However, in their minds, they're their most powerful weapons and therefore must be used or threatened to be used. So there will be this constant debate over how much to use the dragons. If anything the conventional armies are expendable and there will almost certainly be conflicts over how much to use the conventional armies versus the dragons. Also, it takes a dragon to take out a dragon. Sure the regular army could do it but they'd need a lot of surprise and firepower and dragons have huge advantages. Rhaenys is probably saying this is my best shot to take out Vhagar and Aemond and if I have to die in doing it, it's worth it.

Idk why people say why rhaenys didnt run away, she didnt run away cos she has the biggest and baddest battle proven dragon for blacks as she said herself and shes the most expirienced rider, ofc there is daemon and hes dragon but hes nowhere to be found and unrelyable, she knew if she somehow kills aemond and vhagar with her dragons claws she won the war and her kids and grandkids are spared from horrow of war, and for people whos saying multiple dragons can do the work you tripping, multiple small and scared dragons are just snack for vhagar

I think both stories about Cannibal could be true. He could have been there before Targaryen came, stayed for some time and left, than when Targaryens came he came back again. This was a valirian place before Targaryens when they started to live there. Another Valirian dragon lord could have stayed there for some time, the dragon left an egg the owner didn't know and left. Or the owner of Cannibel went there and died so the dragon stayed there for a time and left. We already know that he is the only dragon who left Westeros on his own once. Not even Silverwing did that. We know that dragons like to live where they were born or grew up or where there are people with dragon lord blood. Most dragons born on Dragon Stone never left on their own and after the rider dies they went back there(only Dreamfyre stayed in the pit). Maybe Silverwing didn't go back after the war because of what happened to Vermithor. Cannibal was the only one that looked around when nmost of dragons died and left to go to a far way place that he was not spoted even in Essos. I guess he left because maybe the magic that sustained the dragons the died and he would nor have new dragons to eat.

Jon survived Rhegal and Viserys survived Balerion

I wonder if Sunfyre burned more than the others because of her feathers.

Did Daemon get weirwood "jojen" pasted!?! Is the Daemond's semi-charmed kinda life eye opened!?!

I liked the episode, but the dragon fight was a bit lacking. How Vhagar fell from a such high and was not injured enven a bit? Vhagar is super slow why the heck Rhaenys let Meleys attack from bellow near the legs with those huge claws? Vhagar wings are a huge ass target, far from its mouth also far from its claws. If Meleys attacked one riping off the skin Vhagar um fall like a meteor. With Vhagar on the ground it would be only a matter off time until it get killed and would be safe to kill Aemond with dracarys.

I don't think Amond was going to kill Aegon at the crash.

Ok,ok I haven't gotten through this whole thing but can we talk about Aemond? I'm starting to suspect he was complicit in B&C and has had intel from Larys or more than just Intel. And his madam, repeating the cover story back to him... where was he? Why the sudden switch from wanting Harrenhall - both he and Cole said it. Did the blood sacrifice if the child empower the Rivers woman? Or some such? And Mysaria? I'm thinking now that she on rat payroll, go back and watch her capture scene. Why board/blockade a boat leaving KL and why would a boat leave KL with livestock??

My thoughts ⚫️ 🪵🔥 🍳

Rhaenyra should have send Rhaenys with Jace or used a crow to tell Daemon to go help her. But Jace and Rhaenys would be good, for Jace and Vermax gain some exp and see how bad a real battle is. Him being more for suport Rhaenys. Vermax + Meleys would deal with Sunfyre and Aegon quick. Also Aemond would maybe act sooner because if they killed sunfyre he would be alone to deal with both. But still both Meleys and Vermax have speed as their advantage against Vhagar. While it would take ages to take Vhagar down burn Aemond would be quick. There is a chance that Vhagar would stop without a rider. There would be a high chance Rhaenys or Jace would die too or both, but there would be also a better chance to kill Vhagar for good or at least both green riders. Also why not try to bring Vermithor or Silverwing around? We saw Daemon bring back Vhagar with him and Caraxes when Leana died. While they would not listen to any comand there would be a huge chance of they attacking together. Also with Aegon attacking them or Vhagar there would also be a good chance of they attack Vhagar or Sunfyre back withou any command. Rhaenys and Meleys are no strangers to Vermithor and Silverwing. Vhagar may not be stranger to them too, but Aemond is.

Why didn’t she slowly fall from half a balloon to escape the flying dinosaur?

all im saying is if i had more dragons than the other team i would always send more than one

SPOILER. There is a rider whose dragon dies in a fight but they survive (Baela).

Would have liked it if Aemond did not deliberately burn Aegon but expect that I loved the episode the Rheanys death really hit right she out of everyone in the dance deserved better.

why are Rhaeyns and her dragon the best..when had they previously seen battle?..there is no canonized evidence of either ever being in battle? As a matter of fact isnt it mentioned in this very episode the Westeros has seen nearly 80 years of peace

Jon Snow survived Rhaegal...

Dragon fighting feels like dog fighting. It's painful too watch.

Rhaenys didnt do anything wrong?...in the first season of the show she brutally mvrdered at least a hundred poor innocent oppressed peasants who were merely celebrating the coronation of their new King, and had nothing to do with her being taken captive, then, after mvrdering all those peasants she didnt mvrder those that took her captive...and in the books its said she and her husband mvrdered Vicerys and Aemonds older brother just so their own child could sit the Iron Throne making her a kinslayer ..also in the source material, isnt it said that Melys would alone be no match for Vahgar and that she would maybe only have a slight chance with the aid of another dragon?..I may be getting that wrong but something like that was said

Crispy’s pull out game is weak af! 😂

I love AltShifts videos but yeah, ya gotta wait till after the livestream, for some reason it’s full of book purists that only hate watch while he very actively enjoys the show 😂😂

Honestly, Vhagar has kinda had a poor showing in her battles so far

If somebody did not like that episode, they are just hateful and lying

Isn't that meant to be an Irish accent?

I feel bad for her dragon but it was SO satisfying to finally see that smug small folk murderer get got. I involuntarily let out a war cry.

Sunfyre is not that beautiful in the series, I wished they didn't make him a such mystery just to show him once before he got destroyed.

❤‍🩹

I think people are forgetting that it’s been two weeks since the last episode so unless he’s been doordashing, Daemon should be a bit more comfortable eating and drinking in Harrenhal. (Still a little sus but you know, the plot must go on…)