But he was a dreamer, head in the clouds, completely obsessed with prophecy and wishing desperately for purpose and glory… But he neglected the realm. His wife (aema) wellbeing (he killed her)… all for prophecy. He then went on to get himself some 18 year old pow wow and made a girl heir in a misogynistic realm. Sowing an ungodly amount of division within the realm he was tasked with upholding and protecting. Viserys was a a foolish dreamer, trash king and even worse father and husband 😂😂
@@playboyfan001 He really was the absolute worst, the best you can say about him was that he wasn’t cruel. In fact I think that Viserys is a perfect example of how destruction Toxic Positivity can be.
This event also allowed him to kill all the rat catchers, which allows him to have his rats walk around more easily. And he was the one that gave the info about Cheese to Aegon without bothering to have blood look at the rat catchers to confirm which one it was. He made the choice to have Aegon kill all of them
@@shroomjak200 he gets that from Blood after threatening to torture him. Blood says he had the help of a ratcatcher but doesn't know his name. Instead of getting the rat catchers and asking Blood which one it was, or asking for a physical description, he just lets Aegon enter the room and beat Blood to death. He got exactly the amount of the information needed to kill all the rat catchers, nor more nor less
@@lordmudkip7344 It's possible Larys even had the information he needed to identify Cheese and chose not to share it: Cheese was the only ratcatcher we saw with a little terrier dog at his side. The dog played absolutely no role at any point, and yet we're pointedly made aware of the dog multiple times (e.g. "Bring the dog", the kicking of the dog, and the dog watching his hanged master). Blood was eager to give up any information he thought might save him, so describing Cheese's fairly distinctive and ever-present dog is something he'd likely think of, especially when he interacted with the dog so often during the infiltration. Multiple people also saw the 'ratcatchers' passing through the throne room with the dog. And yet, not a word of the dog. Larys also catches Blood at the gate with the head in a sack, even though a Gold Cloak might be expected to pass freely through the gate without investigation. That supports the idea that Larys already knew exactly who was responsible and chose to leave Cheese free to provoke Aegon into mass slaughter of the ratcatchers. I do find it interesting that the ratcatcher's name was Cheese. Cheese is, after all, bait.
Well here is more fuel for the fire: in the scene where Aegon is furiously blaming everyone for the murder, one advisor says that it might not have been Rhaenyra who was responsible. Aegon replies "Who else but the bitch queen of bastards?" Midway through that sentence, the camera cuts to larys entering the room. He mentioned they caught Blood and Otto tells him to interrogate him. Aegon continues to rage and blames his staff claiming hat one of them could have been in cahoots. "It could have been ANY of you" He says this right after larys has left. That's some very specific timing.
I heard that Larys mysteriously shrinks his disability around Alicent and plays it up around the council. In front of her, he stands tall, broad shouldered, in front of them, miserly, shriveled. Similar to how pycelle pretended to be weak and old, they’re acting
I'm kicking myself for not catching that, but you're right. Larys "firing" all of the old staff but allowing Cheese to stay on means he greenlit him as "trustworthy." And the castle being nearly devoid of staff save for that one handmaiden, Larys has the authority to give everyone the "night off" so to speak.
@@alanpennie8013 "I have completed questioning the whole of the castle staff. They produced rather interesting details but I am satisfied I have exposed all who betrayed our trust". Direct quote from Larys in the episode. I doubt he's lying about doing that.
And Alicent certainly noticed that she had all new bath ladies, handmaidens, or whatever they're called. She was so uncomfortable with them, she now bathes alone.
@@Ash.Crow.Goddessoooooh neat detail. I figured the first time she sent them away she was disgusted with the violent acts she keeps enduring and wanted to bathe herself
@@cookiiie24 The guy just murdered his own family members without a thought. Don't forget what he does later to the king. If that isn't gangster, I don't know what is.
watching this after episode 2 where larys come from out of nowhere and says he found blood at the very beginning of the episode is wild good call bro thats exactly what happened
Cheese asks: "What if we can't find [Aemond]?" Daemon then tells them 'a son for a son' offscreen. It is similar to when you never see Daemon say 'heir for a day' like in season 1 episode 1.
Although my cast of causals are willing to listen to my House of the Dragon theories and ramblings....I am grateful for the top notch pods like yours to offer up the most interesting takes to consider. So glad you're back!!
This brings to mind the story of the Rat Cook as well, who we hear killed the son of a king and chopped him up, just as these symbolic rats killed the son of King Aegon and cut him up as well
Exactly, the Rat King holding the knife like that had a Ratatouille look to it. I think Larys is the Rat King, and he becomes Varys the Rat Cook as punishment for killing his own. Maybe Daemon is the one who has him answer for his crimes when Daemon becomes a weirwood king at the isle of faces.
When Aegon asked „Who would do such a thing” (referring to J’s murder) Larys LITERALLY walked into the Small Council chamber, the audio overlayed over him. Talkin bout episode 2
you and ryan condal have me looking at every detail at every shot involving Larys, the friends I'm watching the show with think I'm some sort of schizo at this point
alot of folks pissy about how things turn out remember that one of the main things taught in all of game of thrones and its shows is that history often repeats itself
Cole was out of his armour in his scene with Aemond, which suggests to me that his "shift" was over and he was about to retire for the night--which happened to be in Alicent's bedchambers. It seems likely Larys would be familiar with the shift rotation for the Kingsguard.
Yeah, definitely should not limit Larys' staff replacements to just the maids. The cooks, the household guards, the stable boys, the scullions. Even some of the KG themselves. All potentially "little birds," "grey rats," or "fireflies."
As soon as the eyebrows lady vanished, I said to myself "the Wizard must have noticed this! Can’t wait for an in-depth exploration!" And just look at us now. Great video, by the way, I am rewatching it to make sure I connect all dots.
This video has made me excited about watching hotd/got videos again. Idk something has been in the air that I’m not excited about anything anymore for about 4 years now. But thank you, this has me feeling alive and happy again.
Aww, I'm sorry. I don't know if you've already considered this, but it sounds like you may be experiencing some depression. I hope that regardless of whether if you are or not, you have someone to talk to about feeling this way. Life is difficult and I don't care who you are, everybody needs that!! I'm so happy to hear that these videos make you feel excited and interested in things you enjoy again! ❤ Sending you love. 🤗
@@0ceanque3n Your initial comment totally resonates with me, said almost your exact words to my sig other before last week's premiere. Both parents recently died within a week of each other, barely able to function although still swimming. Just found out a neighbor is also a GRRM universe geek. Watching the show, recap/theory podcasts, comments threads, and a friend irl to shoot the shite with has truly improved life. Some people might think a cable series having such a mood enhancing effect is weird AF, but in my case it's better than taking anti depressants. Wishing you the best. Wager we're not the only ones, given how sometimes "real life" can be so overwhelming.
Oh, such a brilliant analysis! I think you're right, for Larys it's a combination of power, Alicent and Old gods agenda. However, the bit about him noticing Helaena is chilling. Maybe she did not ah, do...what's written in Fire and Blood...maybe someone did it to her....to silence her. Chillingly terrifying. Rat King indeed. Poor Helaena :(
I can’t believe no other channel commented on the floor being short staffed due to Lary’s (considering the convo he had with Alicent earlier in the episode), it went over soooo many ppl’s head, so frustrating. I love the idea that the new staff could be magical rats, I mean the one mysterious maid who disappears in the hallway after seeing Blood has the most wicked eyebrows, I mean wooooahhhh, she is rat like 😂 Anyway, the camera shot of Daemon talking w/Blood & Cheese made it seem like someone was watching/listening to them about the plan. Wondering if it was a rat, spy, Lary’s himself. Then from there he set his plan in motion to clear the floor to allow the killing to proceed. So interesting. Great video & insights!
Something I saw someone mention was how many shots seem oddly positioned, voyeuristic almost. They particularly mentioned the shot of Aemond looking at his map with the pieces gone, which is shot at distance from the upper corner of the room. In Season One we also saw weird shots like that, notably the one 'spying' through the bushes at Rhaenyra and Alicent's argument in the garden. More rat's-eye views perhaps? It certainly suggests that Aemond's discussion with Cole and Otto wasn't as private as they'd thought.
He does not interact positively with them, he suggests carving the eye of his own nephew, he pushes Alicent against Rhaenyra. He kills his father and brother to advance his rank and status, costing the Blacks valuable allies. While on the other side, He weakens the greens by casting Otto aside, elevating Cole into the hand, allowing Jahaerys to be killed, undermining Aegon by pushing him into cruelty and impulsiveness, surrounding him by his loyals... Larys is Larys, a self serving dangerous man who no one should ever trust, keep in mind he likes the Queen's feet, and he is not happy about her relationship to Cole, and Cole is not happy about him. I mean look at the last episode he was elevated to Lord of Whispers, his name rhymes with that of Varys but I believe he is every thing Varys is not, Cruel, Self-serving, treacherous and very dangerous and untrustworthy.
@@gottod6895 He could be for House Black but not for the people within House Black specifically, pushing House Green to instability and forcing House Black to be more proactive in defending their position. The Strongs he killed would have been strong members, lol, but they wouldn’t have been advantageous to himself. Plus from what we’ve seen from Harrenhal the Houses there aren’t stocked to the brim with supplies and men in the slightest. I think he’s for himself too but he is going for the opposing side.
@@maylabrown4584 He is doing it for the thrill and ego satisfaction,he draws pleasure from dominating Alicent and basically making her his scared bitch. The serious threat to him was Otto, because Otto is protective of his family and is the green mastermind, he cannot have intelligent people around, this is why he tolerates Cole even if he would rather dispose of him.
I really think Haelena saw much more that day and in that moment when the two came for her son. I think she saw multiple moments in the futures. And I so wish we knew what she was saying when Aegon walked in. Also I think that Larys will set up Criston's death.
Ooooh, I like the Larys theory. I had assumed Allicent & Criston had dismissed the staff after the reveal of their tryst. During the entire B & C scene I was wondering out loud "where are all the guards & servants?" It does seem suspicious.
"They no longer breathe our air" is a really esoteric way of saying he killed them. I think Larys is a powerful wizard who can turn others into animals, so he often turns the servants into rats at will, and the previous servants were turned into fish - "no longer breathing our air".
@JoeMagician I thought her arrival was odd considering she would have known getting on that boat that she would never get past the blockade. It was well established in the episode that nothing was getting through.
@Dragonn_King did it say that in the show? I think he moved her chess piece on the board for his own reasons. He's actively doing things Alicent wouldn't want like getting her father removed as hand aid encouraging Aegon to kill all the rat catchers....
When Larys said “they no longer breathe our air”, I’m not so sure he means they’re dead. I was thinking he might be doing some “experiments” on them in the black cells like Qyburn in the main series, with the air in the cells being different than in the red keep or something like that
What if the purpose behind all of Larys' machinations could be clearing the board for Robert's Rebellion and then King Bran. Imagine having the power to see through time and influence people in the past and not using that power. It makes sense sense that Bran and Bloodraven could have been working all sorts of merry mischief with the Timeline. I get a feeling that the chessboard is being cleared by both the Maesters or the servants of the Old Gods, possibly both working independently of one another to bring down the Valyrians and their Targaryen offshoot. I remember when Bran first appeared at Bloodraven's cave in the books and he met Leaf, she told him she had been traveling for hundreds of years and learning the Common Tongue _"for him, the Bran boy"_ Who knows if she was wearing some sort of glamour and influencing history to go a certain way. Also there is this. In George's other books he loves to tell stories of technologically superior races conquering a planet only to turn on one another because they were manipulated via dreams (Men of Greywater Station) or where the powerful invader comes to worship a Hive-Mind (weirwood) or something like that I admit its a bit tinfoil but fun to speculate about
came here looking for this at 1:33 "nooo not that hahaha dont be silly"🤘 😆🤘😆🤣😂😂🤣 hilarious and love that you can recognize and have a good laugh about it😁 loving your videos and excited for the new videos, Larys did it
10:26 As someone who comes from a family that has prophetic dreams, her drawing what she sees in dreams makes sense to me. When I was little, I had a dream about who would buy our house and even what military rank the new owner would be- it was all correct. Since I didn’t remember sharing that information before going back to bed, I started writing down significant dreams after waking up. This way I don’t lose any information that might make sense once I am fully awake. Thank you ❤️ for also mentioning 3:45 too 💯. I agree with you and wonder if she will figure out that Larys was the actual Rat King that allowed this to happen in another episode. 🐀 👑
It would be so very cool for an actual rat king to appear, a rare phenomenon when multiple rats become knotted at the tail usually because of overpopulation in confined spaces and filth, much like the targaryans sigil nearly being a dragon ouroboros, i feel like larys may find himself entangled by too many rats; and when there are too many rats in a small confined place they turn on eachother, cannibalizing out of pure stress. If his goal is ultimate power he may find that he prophesied his own rat king
I do find all the projection in this episode to be interesting, a theme. Larys tries to cast doubt on Otto by stating that he was the hand of the last king while Larys himself is a holdover advisor from the previous reign as well. On another point, Criston also did some projection onto Erryck or Arryck (I forget which) asking where he was when the prince was murdered when he himself, as commander of the kingsguard, was abed boinking the kings mother rather than patrolling.
Duude your channel has grown so much! I started watching wheb GoT was still runningand your channel was just a little brand new baby channel, now just look at you! I remember your theories being very uniquely intruiging from the start (I only got back in to ASOIAF recently when I realized HotD good maybe? Maybe not break my heart again like GoT ending? Lol), so it's awesome to make my way back to the channel and see hpw much its grown! Congrats dude, you def deserve it!
Your channel is on par or just as good as the bigger channels ....I can't wait until more ppl realize how solid your work is I've been binging since the newest season of HotD (basically a week) and well you and greyarea are soooo Gooooooood yooo Like newrockstars with Easter egg videos after a good movie good
@@JoeMagician in no disrespect, I kinda ment channels I've been following since game of thrones, and yours is just one I recently found ..totally didn't mean any negative connotations
Its been a week and NOBODY caught this: Heleana created a self-fulfilling prophesy by announcing her fear of the rats. Nobody was surprised by the unusual presence of the rat catcher. The queen fears rats, we are increasing the rat extermination....and that exterminator will be her doom. Subtle, but I think it's obvious that Heleana now knows that if she isnt clear about her prophecies she might suffer them rather than avoid them.
I'd be very surprised if they don't validate the theory in the show. Little breadcrumbs have been placed so specifically for the audience to pick up on that all point to it. It's a really cool reveal that builds the universe for the average viewer and fits the character so well.
I had resentfully expected the show to find a way of getting the fandom to blame Larys, not Daemon, for the atrocity of Blood and Cheese. But I then made the connection of Daemon getting Mysaria's intel as a result of her fleeing King's Landing after Larys had her house burned -- and I was slower to see the more obvious fault in the paucity of castle staff and the other hints you point out. And I am glad your greenseer/warg theory is still thriving. I can't say that you think about Larys too much...because I think about him incessantly. That monstrous, charming cutie.
Perhaps something that’s might have been looked over - Larys is “fighting for the greens” against the eventual ascension of his nephew and bloodline to the throne of Westeros. Could be a plotting to eventually flip allegiances, even if it’s not his family name, his bloodline would still sit the throne(?). Haven’t read the books so not sure on the lore.
Commenting before diving in coz so happy this showed up on "suggested". Just found out one of my housemates is another ASoIaF/GoT/HotD geek. Very cool to have someone irl to "recap" and theorize with. He's not familiar with the "Rat King" theory (plausible imo). This will be the perfect podcast to send him. Also wondering how Larys will respond to Crispin as the new Hand.
The fact that the rat had a crown and was obviously a rat KING did feel very suspicious to me. If it was just supposed to be cheese, it should have just been a normal rat.
Dayum, Larys was at the funeral at Driftmark where, surprise, suprise: no guards were nearby during all that scuffling w the kids! I mean, a lot of fighting happened before the eye thing. A dragon had just been unexpectedly flown, but nobody at all was down there?
When you take into account larys' possoble allegiance not to either of the majors but to the Children of the Forest his actions really begin to make sense. He is trying to kill all the dragons to weaken the targaryens position because the CotF no longer need that tool to fight andal/ironborn encroachment. Moreover, through their mastery of skin changing/greenseeing they can bring the dragons back at any time they wish, thus fulfilling the Prince That Was Promised as well as defending themselves from the Others who have gotten out of their control because the creation of them was a new magic they didnt understand the repercussions of because they cant see the future only the past.
I haven’t read the books but to me it seems Larys is manipulating Aegon into getting rid of Otto as hand of the king & Larys will slime his way into the hand of the king role. That is why Larys let that killing go forward if he knew what was happening. So Aegon would blame Otto & fire him as the hand of the king. And also to cause more bad blood between the greens & blacks. Larys is addicted to power & control besides his foot fetish.
That is for sure a possibility, that he is hungry for more power and is eliminating his rivals to get there. Perhaps letting a prince die to weaken those in control so he can step it.
I don't think Larys wants the position of Hand: it is simply too much exposition for him. In the trailer for this season we can see Criston Cole wearing the Hand's necklace, so they will probably follow the books and have Aegon name Criston as his Hand because he suits better Aegon's recklessness. Larys probably wants to remove Otto from the game for multiple reasons, but he would much rather remain in the shadows than being in the spotlight.
Hey Joe got question is it true that the long night is caused by extinction of dragons. Does this have any influence in the north?I heard theory that when magic is weakened nightmares start to strong up.
There's a weakening of fire magic after the death of the dragons, so if that was being used as a counterbalance to keep the white walkers penned behind the wall then yes the extinction would have hastened it.
Excellent analysis, & insightful conjecture, I agree with your "Chaos is a puppetmaster" take on Larrys Strong. Mathew Needham is waaaay too good at playing the sinister/creepy vibe..he makes my skin crawl. I have to wonder if he warged into Cheeses' dog? Even prior to the night of the assassination..that's how he knew this particular person could be used for his own devices. There was not a wasted moment in the premier, everything we were shown, and everyone we were introduced to are or will be important. So...I have a question/theory (buried for possible spoilers): . . . . . . . *For real STOP READING IF YOUR ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE BOOK FIRE AND BLOOD* . . I think the shepherd Aegon II interacted with is _The_ Shepherd. He now has a legit grievance with the Crown, had a promise reneged on by the King himself, and if he gets caught stealing his sheep back will most likely loose his hand. Chekov's firing squad, IMO.
I think it is telling that Larys in the beginning of the episode basically confronts Alicent about Criston and she doesn't seem to take his suggestion of ending things. If he knew they were together, maybe that is why he didn't stop Jaehaerys from being murdered. Maybe he would have intervened for the child (not Aemond) if Alicent had stopped with Criston.
4:55 It's worth also noting that spies, assassins, thieves, urchins, beggars, and other such figures are commonly referred to as rats in figures of speech.
