The comment by that smallfolk “I thought the dragons was gods” shows just how much of a catastrophic mistake parading Meleys through the streets was. Dragons are the cornerstone of Targaryen power, for so long the common folk thought they were invincible, that nothing could oppose them; it doesn’t matter if it took another dragon to kill her. Now the smallfolk know that dragons are like any other animal, mortal and vulnerable.
@@HappyHog11 They didn't see it with own eyes. And how many would even know if it? Also it's obvious they thought dragons as something divine, sacred. You cannot kill a god.
The reaction by the smallfolk is fascinating. They aren't cheering or celebrating, they seem concerned and apalled. It shows that they really believed the dragons were somewhat sacred, and the sight of the head being paraded around is almost sacrilegeous, with one smallfolk even shouting "This is an abomination!" at 1:58. Secondly, it seems as if they realize that retribution from Rhaenyra is coming. They know the slaying of a dragon has escalated this conflict, and they all seem to fear Rhaenyra's retribution for this act.
@@Liztastaney7 Would never have been an issue if Alicent didn't make a power grab to begin with. This whole war falls on the Hightowers power grabbing.
And thus the Targaryens. No wonder the riots are about to break out next episode. The people are getting tired of the bs, and with them showing the dragons head, it gave the people the confidence needed to rebel.
@@arbynChief617 I think it has been implied that the common folk really don't know the stories. That was why Tywin Lanister was surprised when Arya, pretending to be lowborn, knew the story about Nymeria. If most of the lowborn thought dragons were invincible this was a wakeup call.
@@sabgogo7393 To see is to believe for them. It happened in dorne not outside their backyards, word of mouth and songs can't sustain something for so long.
"It's just meat" is such a, pun intended, raw line. Sets up the uprising in King's Landing where we see why neither armies nor dragons are the absolute power of this world
@@vicentecastillo8352 Most smallfolk always assumed dragons were invincible hence why the never rose up against Targaryen power. This will come into play either Season 3 or 4.
@@vicentecastillo8352 full spoiler of the dance ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rGjpM31G_dY.htmlsi=_L9mMvjUW1CXqGSh and this much better ngl
@@kaangunhan2572 False equivalnce. That's not what they meant by it anyway... He means that dragons are not invincible, just like the rest of us. Also children ARE innocent.
@@kaangunhan2572 Stop trying to justify Dany's horrendous actions. The smallfolk are being ruled over by feudal monarchs. They don't have much (if any) of a say about what's going on. Also, children are innocent so...
Damn i know not even maegor the cruel would disrespect a dragon like that there literally the pride of house targeryan its so gross how they felt the need to do that tho😢
@@adry3211 nah I don't think they did because in season one there is literally balerions skull and viserys and the rest of the family I feel like kinda honored him in some way the same with meraxes skull in season two
The Targs kept all the dragon skulls of the ones they could recover; they had hundreds of them in The Red Keep and Robert actually kept the biggest ones as a personal trophy. So it's one of them, but not the only one.
@@FrostSpirit617 House Targaryen was one of the lower dragonlords in Old Valyria. Before the doom, they left Valyria with 5 dragons, including a young Balerion. They couldn't have hundreds of dragons at the same time but could've had them over the generations.
I think this has the opposite effect of fear. The small folk have always revered and feared them and that's why they follow the Targaryens. But in this scene, the small folk are realizing they may have the power to kill dragons and with their current living conditions they just might try. Crispy Cole has started a chain reaction that will most likely lead the small folk to revolt.
Criston is an arrogant snot who is both hypocritical and shortsighted. There was a time when both sides of a conflict would cease fire to allow for the burial of the dead!
@@GorgonzolaCheddathey already did that with the power of the Faith Militant against Maegor. Maegor the Cruel proved that he was the choosen one with or without his dragon by challenging them using Trial of the Seven. He also already killed his Nephew in a dragon battle so everyone knew about dragons getting killed. They only managed to exterminate all the dragons because Rhaenyra was so weak as a leader she never use her dragons and never fight in battles during the dance, she just ran leaving her dragon behind to be slaughtered. If it's Aegon even if he was wounded was there the outcome will be different. This cripple Aegon still fought another fresh from battle rider, Baela in the sky and still beat her. Crippled Sunfyre ate Moondancer. Imagine if Rhaenyra and her fresh from battle dragon Syrax did this? Everyone will glorified her even more lol but in reality she didn't do shit, her dragon was wasted. They will definitely change this in the show haha
Wouldnt be surprising if this is what lead to the storming of dragonpit as it shattered the illusion that Dragons were invincible and thus the power of House Targaryen
It fought for Rhaenyra. The Greens use this as a PR stunt. Problem is, the smallfolk might now fear retaliation and they also now can see that dragons are killable when most of them might have thought otherwise previously.
Cause A.) Dragons have been clearly shown to have wills of their own B.) It literally killed hundreds of people but of course the small folk kinda forgot about that because the writers wanted to shit on Cole again
@@arbynChief617so you’re saying that even without Rhaenys, Meleys would have sided with the blacks of her own volition? When it’s been shown that Dragons have no allegiance to anyone if they have no owner.
Which makes it even more important because what it represents. These people respected and feared dragons being like a air force but they are living creatures to disrespect that is to disrespect the Targaryen’s. I don’t think the Greens truly understood what they just did. They pissed on their own house banner. Thus the downfall of dragons did begin. All because of Otto Hightower and his stupid daughter. Irony is it that none of Alicent’s line survived to Dany’s time. A cruel but deserved fate in my opinion.
@@RagnarraAlicent basically make her children just silver haired branch of Hightowers who don't understand or respect their valyrian origins and thus undermining own position in the realm. The last true dragonlords are on the Dragonstone (and Harrenhall right now), the next generations of Targaryens will be just sorry shadow of former power and eventually forget about their original culture
@@Ragnarra Spoiler: How Alicent's story ends is quite fitting yet tragic. She was confined to a part of the Red Keep(Maegor's Holdfast I think?) for the remainder of her days with only a septa, maids and some guards to keep her company. Her senses began to leave her and she kept calling for her dead children and now disliked the colour green. Eventually she succumbed to a disease and died alone.
Parading the dragon is like having a large brown bear do tricks on a tricycle for circuses or an orca whale to do tricks in captivity. It reduces the worth of the creature.
@@arbynChief617 They don't feel "bad" about it in a way you might guess. The persons you see in this scene are presenting the common folks in a metaphorical way: The commoners basically for the first time understand that dragons are no allmighty gods but merely huge animals that in fact, as showed, can be killed. Huge spoiler from here on if you haven't read the books. The scene with Meleys' cut off head is extremely important.
@@arbynChief617They are not feeling bad, they are terrified and astonished. First, because it is likely the first time they are ever shown a dragon body up close; second, because up to this moment, dragons were a sacred symbol in Westeros. Peasant might not be educated, but surely they know the repercussions of defiling a sacred symbol in such a way could only be catastrophic. That’s why everybody immediately tries to evacuate the city afterwards. They know shit’s about to take an awful turn.
@@DarkSoul1992well then the smallfolk kinda forgot about Meraxes, Quicksilver and Arrax. Give me a break, they always knew they could be killed. Tryna tell me you wouldn’t rejoice at seeing the corpse of the thing that killed your brother?
I do like how the Smallfolk are wearing colorful clothing unlike in GOT. History shows that even in hard conditions such as the "long-winter" period, peasants still found time to dye their clothes. They didn't wear rags and burlap sacks unless they took some for of vow or penance.
Think that's the point, no spoilers but lets just say showing the dragons as potentially vulnerable to the smallfolk is going to backfire horribly in the long run
@@petamasku Yeah but Cersei burnt the sept and orchestrated Robert's death. They are somehow similar in how they are ruthless for power. Different kinds of being cunning. Aemond misses the big picture too I love them both. They are both my favourites 😂
I don't care for Team Black but parading the dragon's head rubs the wrong way. The dragons on either side already are fighting and dying for causes not of their own making. At least leave their corpses alone.
It was also a catastrophic mistake since it shattered the illusion that the Targaryens were untouchable. Now the people realize that, however slim, they have a chance to fight back
"Don't they realize we won the battle?" "A strange victory. If it was one." Brilliant exchange. Then to cut to Aemond and Alicent echoing the conversation just silently. One wondering if this was truly a victory. The other only focused on what they won. God it's good to have peak TV back.
Corlys was mourning Rhaenys but i think there was also guilt- she literally found out about his bastards shortly before going off to battle All this did was show the people dragons could be killed by men and I think even Alicent knew parading Meyles head about was a bad idea because it doesn't just signal a weakness on the black's but on their side too. Rhaenyra and her dragons are far away on Dragonstone, but three dragons are in Kingslanding what was to stop people from wanting to kill the green dragons just as much as the blacks.
It also shows just how far they're willing to go to destroy their own family, the dragons. You can see the disgust on many of the common folks faces and "I'm telling you, this is a black omen." Dragons were revered and honored. To do this to a dragon, and then parade around with the head, well, it's very disrespectful and shows just how fucked your cause is. It clearly shows that the greens were willing to kill dragons, the one thing that gave the Targaryen's the power they had. How can you stay in power when you're killing off the one thing that gives your family that power? And then to parade it around so disrespectfully. The common folk don't seem very impressed by this display of disrespect. In fact, I seem more horror and shock on their faces than anything. Which, let's be real, if you don't get respect from the common folk, that's eventually gonna come back to bite you in the ass.
@@tabortoothtiger7580 It could also be shock and horror at the parody of death. First it was hey look at the dead kid as we parade his little body through the streets, then it was hangings like wall ornaments that are still there- we don't know who the guilty one is so we killed the lot, now there is a parading of a dragon head? the greens don't show much respect for the dead. Also many of the people would know if Meyles is dead then Rhaenys is likely also dead there was no mention of her death. though on the show Rhaenys death is a bit confusing. in the book there was a body beside Meyles burned beyond recognision but believed to be Rhaenys. on the show there would be no reason for Rhaenys to be burned and unless Meyles fell on her back and crushed Rhaenys---Aegon survived a fall of a similar height while badly burned so why wouldn't Rhaenys?
@@jimmykray9583 I know she didn’t have a choice. Viserys had access to every noblewoman in Westeros. I wish he would’ve put more thought into it. I hate to say he should’ve married a person with dragon blood.
@@LotsofLisa that's the issue the actual show runs into narratively by aging Alicent down to Rhaenyra's age. B/c they also age Laena down for the show too. By Fire & Blood's standard Laena would've been the same age that Alicent was when Viserys chose to wed her in comparison to the show. Alicent being grown in the novel doesn't take away her agency when her and the king wed. And if Corlys proposes an older Laena to him he probably wouldn't have been so weirded out with courting her b/c he did choose Alicent at the same age.
The Smallfolk are confused, horrified and disgusted. ...and this is after doing a very similar parade with a dead Targaryen princelet. *This is how the House of the Dragon falls!!!* Not blood, but P.R.
Smallfolk in expectation: "So the dragons are vulnerable, we must think about it and discover the truth behind this meaning" Smallfolk in reality: "Can we eat it?"
@@derekholmes4733 I posted in a rush. I meant to say "architect" but used protagonist instead. Frankly, antagonist is the better fitting word. That being said, in this narrative NOBODY is a hero. Neither Team Black nor Team Green can claim any moral high ground. Team Black is responsible for the murder of a small child. Most recently, Rhaenyra presided over the mass slaughter of dozens of illegitimate Targaryen offspring.
She's getting milked by Otto to seduce Viserys who was still mourning of his dead wife. Viserys also couldn't marry Laena as she was still a child when they met and Laena was more interesting to talk about dragons than getting married. Also, he could've just married another woman around his age to get married but nope, just choose his daughter's best friend instead
viserys was too busy playing with his bullshit lego set and alicent was too obsessed with rhaenyra’s business to care about her own children, it’s all disaster.
Pretty good move, its just writers sucks. Its vehemently obvious that Smallfolks would hate meleys because hundres were killed during dragonpit scene,. BUt like GoT season 8, smallfolks somehow forgot about it
No kidding. By showing off the head of a dragon, it completely shattered the illusion that the Targaryens were invulnerable and that, with the right tools and strategy, you can defeat them and their dragons.
@@ilbb7055 aaaaand here's an idiot. 🤦♀️ No doof....read what @Timberlake Tigergirl said above. That, airhead, is what you would call an intelligent statement.
Dude they were making their way out by breaching thru a fuvking concrete ceiling. Do you expect rhaenys and meleys to work together carefully chisel the concrete piece by piece ? Wth man 😂
this undermines the ultimate symbol of targaryen rule... doesn't matter if they had a targaryen king and the head being paraded was of an enemy dragon. just dumb
Parading Meleys head like that was an absolute disgrace 😢. Shame on the Greens for doing it. There is no such thing as a traitor dragon. All dragons are 100% loyal to their riders, despite the cost. No different than a war horse being loyal to its rider. They’re not the ones who choose sides. Vhagar was once Laena’s dragon. If she were still alive. Vhagar would have been fighting for the Blacks. The Red Queen and her true Targaryen Princess rider deserved to be remembered with dignity. All of the dragons deserve respect regardless of which side they fight for. Rhaenyra would never have done such a thing.
@@titandragon753 at this moment in time Vhagar is pretty much the only thing keeping the greens in power, Fear of Vhagar is the only thing keeping Rhanerya from taking King's Landing with her dragons...for now.
@@Keram-io8hv Laena was weird and weak? I might remind you that she was the first person to claim Vhagar after such a long time of freedom. You need to be extremely strong to claim a dragon like Vhagar. Laena just made it easier for Aemond to claim Vhagar.
@@titandragon753 Yeah totally, she bored Vhagar so much she went for Aemond Thanks Leana (also Vhagar was claimed right before Leana by Baelon Targaryen)
@@justincase7848 At first he didn't tho when Rhaenys initially brought it up to him. You probably saw the first season, if not... SPOILERS BELOW He didn't consider giving Driftmark to his granddaughters in S1 b/c by that time Lucerys was still alive and he named him heir since Luc was the oldest living Velaryon heir from his son Laenor. (Luc is a bastard really but Rhae/Lae proclaim him as their actual son and legally he is a Velaryon)
It was not the first time a Dragon had been killed in battle on Westeros (Meraxes) or even the first time a Targaryen killed another Dragon Rider in battle (Quicksilver) but it hit different this time. It wasn't a foreign enemy or a victorious king slaying the dragon, despite what they said no one saw Aegon riding his dragon showing his power all they saw was a dragon's head pulled by men.
I hate how the scriptwriters works, they simply don't have the courage to make Rhaenyra what she is known for, as Rhaenyra the cruel, even the fact that the population is completely starving seems to be the fault of the greens, and the blacks together with Rhaenyra closed all the entrances where food came to supply the city, this being one of the main reasons for the population to kill all the dragons after with so much rage, but the cowardly scriptwriters are already going to blame it on the greens for parading with a dragon's head, how pathetic that is
The cruelty doesnt come until later dumba**. Fun fact; blockades are a normal part of war. It could be the Greens blockading Dragonstone and the results would be the same.
So essentially the Targaryens, who were seen as higher than men, are now seen as men because the dragons they conquered aren’t so divine after all. GRRM is a good ass writer for thinking this through.
Calling Meleys a traitor is so stupid. Dragons aren't slaves or subjects to any human authority. They are companions and loyal to their rider. Meleys went with Rhaenys. She didn't give a damn about a foolish human civil war.
They dont care; anyone and anything that aided Rhaenyra was a traitor to them. Since they couldn't recover Rheanys body (probably vaporized in the explosion), they used Maelys's head
people already knew Dragons can be killed LOL , they shot one in the eye (Maraxes) and the other one (Quicksilver) was killed by Belarion , the writers kinda forgot again
I don't regret the fact that I start watching all the trailers before I watch the episode itself so that if it's disappointment I should mourn about it first before I watch the actual episode😂
The small folk seeing dragons as immortal god-like beings does kind of raise a plot hole; what do they think happened to Balerion? He was a colossus among dragons, surely people would have wondered where he went?
As cruel as he was, meagor was never so awful or stupid as to parade a dragons head through kings landing. The greens caused the downfall of the Targaryens
Never show the “little” people your weakness or vulnerability. Dragons were the source of the Targaryen power and was only thing (really) keeping the people and the houses in line. With One swift stroke the Greens shattered that.
people already knew Dragons can be killed LOL , they shot one in the eye (Maraxes) and the other one (Quicksilver) was killed by Belarion , the writers kinda forgot again
The Targaryeans are fighting each other so much they don't realize they're entire family is dooming themselves. They rule because of dragons. One of the fiercest, fastest, and most experienced of the dragons is being paraded through the streets. They just showed the 7 kingdoms that even the strongest dragon can be killed.
we should've had a scene similar to viserys when he died. like: the raven arriving with the sad news and everyones reaction towards it... i think rhaenys and meleys deserved. not just some 20 seconds of corlys hardly crying and rhaenyra just looking at the sky somehow sad😤
people already knew Dragons can be killed LOL , they shot one in the eye (Maraxes) and the other one (Quicksilver) was killed by Belarion , the writers kinda forgot again.
@@sabgogo7393 True but reading about in a history and actually seeing it are two different things,Quicksilver and Maraxes died almost a century prior to this,what does it say when the kingdom sees your main claim to power dead and being displayed on a cart.
Less forgiveness and more realizing they can kill dragons. Its a stupid move to parade them because people thought when dragons appeared that was it. Now they see its no longer the case
This was such an astronomically stupid thing to do. To show to your people that you aren't the tamers of immortal firebreathing gods. A powerful reputation that your family spent generations cultivating.
It was way more than just an insult. They just shattered the illusion that dragons are immortal. And thus have shown the people the weakness of the Targaryens.
Only a dragon can kill another dragon, or with dragon stone deep within the area of dragonstone, it was a better death then GOT, they just dropped the dragon from the sky and made it switch sides. (Which they totally stole from the wrath of the lich king)
people already knew Dragons can be killed LOL , they shot one in the eye (Maraxes) and the other one (Quicksilver) was killed by Belarion , the writers kinda forgot again
people already knew Dragons can be killed LOL , they shot one in the eye (Maraxes) and the other one (Quicksilver) was killed by Belarion , the writers kinda forgot again
Detour from the books again! Rhaenyra sowed the discontent from the people of KL when she taxed them to hell for the war effort. I bet they gonna make it look like it's Daemon's plan again. 😂
I knew this dumb shit would happen. I called bs when velaryon pledged to rhaenyra AFTER she basically got them all killed..... smdh. This is terrible writing tbh. I literally said " his wife's gonna die so it makes a bs excuse for him to support rhaenyra." Terrible
