House of the Dragon S2E05 Explained 

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I saw a funny meme that said it's a good thing Alicent didn't hear Aegon say "Mummy" because she probably would have thought he was naming *her* as his heir.

The Sunday curse is broken thank the gods

9:20 Clearly Aegon saying Mummy was him expressing his wish to keep ruling after his death, as a mummy

The shot of Daemon sitting on a rock in his badass black armor looking completely defeated might be my favorite in the show so far

"Who will pass the bloody gate" "The bloody hound"😂

I love how they are making Jayce a competent politician in the making, the Frey's are known for not engaging in fair fights, arriving late, preserving their armies, and using the Crossing as leverage for every deal. And Jayce gets them to swear allegiance, commit men to the war, and secure the crossing for the Winter Wolves, all for a crumbling ruined castle.

Sometime 20 years later, S12 E6 explained: we see Cheese's dog STILL sitting in front of his master's grandson's grave, showing loyalty

Alicent: women can’t rule! Also Alicent: why won’t they let me rule!? 😭

It's nice to see Crazy Dream Daemon and War Crime Daemon finally come together like this

The Brackens have some serious balls for turning their backs on Daemon and Caraxes. Absolute power move.

In my best Olenna Tyrell voice, "Haelaena is the queen. You are not the queen because you are not married to the king."

Regarding Daemon chopping wood, I think that is one of the wisest things he has done all series. As the saying goes, “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” When being assaulted by your memories, menial labor can be very healing.

My brain saw the notification and thought it was Sunday already

every crumb of behind the scenes footage we get is a treasure, they look like they’re having an absolute blast (fabien especially, what a guy)

8:24 Aemond is still betrothed to one of Borros Baratheon's daughters, I don't think he's gonna pull a Robb Stark

🦆🦆🦆CALLING ALL TRUE WARRIORS WHO PREFER THE DUCK 🦆🦆🦆

Alicent: why didn’t you speak up for me? Criston: *trauma dumps*

I appreciate the seamless use of both Duck Duck Goose and Simon Says as part of your script it was not lost on me

“Criston Cole: Hand of the King; Queen’s Ding-a-ling.” -Mushroom, after sneaking in to write in the White Book

Westeros is cooked.

"Alicent doesn't listen very well" should be the tagline of the show

I thought Daemon’s mom looked a lot like his brother’s wife which felt kinda revealing considering he never actually saw his mother.

Daemon chopping wood at this point in time reminds me of the father in "The Witch" who could only chop wood as his crops were rotting and his family was starving.

"Daemon has creepy dreams and does a war crime" is how I will pitch the show to my friends

I actually never noticed Alys disappearing, I hope that is deliberate and not accidental.

Without revealing any spoilers, I really enjoy the way they've had Hugh act as the viewers window into the lives of the small folk up until now. If you've never read Dance of Dragons, Hugh's point of view feels organic and makes sense as a way of seeing through the eyes of the people of King's Landing during this time. Its a pretty brilliant way that they've adapted this character from a book that was written more as a historical text than a personal narrative. I never would have questioned why we are focusing on this blacksmith, because he was written in this show to seem like a sort of audience stand in. It will be very, very interesting seeing where his story goes in the future.

We can only hope that, if we ever see Bittersteel in live action, he keeps the energy of the Bracken walking away from Caraxes.

I havent had a problem with Daemon being stuck in a Silent Hill game for the past few episodes, but I would like to see him be more directly involved in the conflict for the last episodes of the season.

"The gentler sex has not been much privy to the streatgies if war" _Never mentions, strategy, troop counts, tactics, battlefields, military logistics, nothing_ Honestly one of my favorite details, between Jaehaerys and Viscerys and 70 years of peace no one knows shit except 'my dragon bigger than your dragon'

the small folk kinda forgot that Meleys killed hundreds of them at Aegon's coronation

Did anyone else notice how the eery musical notes when Aemond stood before the throne during a thunderstorm were identical to the musical notes played during thunderstorm chase after Luke in last season's finale?

HE DID ITTT!!! Out before sunday baby

Haven't seen many people talk about it, but the Riverlands lady standing up to Daemon with that epic speech gave me chills. Seeing him confused and overwhelmed by someone finally stepping up to him was pretty satisfying.

Something noteworthy that was not brought up in this video is that Aemond is already betrothed to one of Borros Baratheon's daughters, so he will probably not marry Haelena

I think the scene where alicent proposes herself as queen regent really spoke to her naivete about this war. She still believes that aegon is king only because viserys wished for this and this scene makes it apparent to her that nobody else sees it that way, as larys said, what would it look like if we raised a woman of our own against rhaenyra.

A lot of peeps complaining about how long your videos take to come out clearly never had to deal with dialup internet. Best ASOIAF youtuber

I love, _love_ the detail that of all the people to suggest putting riders on their dragons from outside the bloodline is Jace, you know, the _actual Targaryen bastard who can ride a dragon_

I love that you review the episodes WITHOUT hinting at what’s going to happen in the books. I have not read them and would like to discover them through the show, hard to do when people keep spoiling it. Thanks for not doing that 👌🙏

Best part of my week is here!

Demonstrating that dragons can be vulnerable as a commander in service of rulers that rely on dragons for all eyes to see probably isn’t the best play. You either embolden ambitions to seize power or shake confidence in loyal subjects. I rate this an SMH/10.

Jacaerys serving face at all times 🫡

“Mummy” Yes, Aegon, your mummy costume is very good

Thank you so much for not spoiling past the episode. It's much more enjoyable than getting a spoiler halfway through really fun analysis

If I were Jeyne Arryn, I would absolutely send a thank you note to Rhaenyra for sending me very valuable hostages and two young dragons with which to negotiate, well, whatever the hell I want 😂

You really do the best recap videos. I love that you don't spoil anything for the future for those of us who hadn't read the books. Thank you so much for these weekly updates.

This episode will forever be remembered as the one where Daemon did his mom.

Aegon can't wear Viserys' mask because his face is burned on the left side while Viserys' mask is for the right side of the face. 😅

Total head canon conspiracy, but I truly believe in my heart that non Targs can ride dragons too, but the propaganda for centuries has convinced the people of Westeros that no one can do this. If you read the lore of Old Valyria, it says that mountain people discovered the dragons and managed to take them, but there was nothing special about these people. They were just the first to establish a relationship with dragons, and made taming them a part of their culture. We will probably never see a regular Westerosi ride a dragon, but this is a random hill in the GOT lore I’m happy to die on.

If we keep retconning the Eyrie’s appearance, can we please retcon Casterly rock from the joke we got in S7 to something more akin to the rock of Gibraltar?

I couldn't not believe that in just one episode we had: 1) a witch scolding a takes-no-bs King Daemon who's happy to beat any accuser, no matter the gender 2) a granddaughter moralizing an extremely proud Lord Colrys 3) Alicent mocking Cole 4) something similar with Rhaenyra, but I don't remember which man she was talking down to This series has had "men want war and wise women must guide them" motto all along, but suddenly concentration of that stuff went up by 200% and almost all male characters turned reactive/passive instead of proactive. The only male character still being decisive and not listening to women is... "the villain" Aemond. I wonder what are the implied conclusions.

Rhanerya saying Sunfyre is dead while Criston says he left him at Rook's Rest... Foreboding.

you dont even know how much i look forward to the incredible depth of analysis you provide Mr Shift X

"Maybe incests is bad", that's like the whole source of problems since Aegon conquered Westeros

it is genuinely so impressive how high quality these videos are in such a short amount of time

The 1000 old men from the North on their way to assist Rhaenyra: 🐌 Anyone else when they need to be in the location their last scene mentioned: ⚡

Alicent asks Criston what happened with Aegon, and his non-answer is an answer. If Aegon were burned by Rhaenys and her dragon, he would have no problem proclaiming it. That leaves only Aemond. She understands the implication right away.

“What else should we expect from the man who ordered the murder of a babe in his mother’s arms.” “That is a lie and I shall have the man who told it brought before me…” “Your man, is half the kingdom my prince.” That exchange was my fav part of the episode

Clever subtle sneaking of Steffon Darklyn's want for vengeance into the discussion about the factions' dragon strength and numbers haha

Only 30 seconds in but I can hear AltShiftX speaking just a tiny bit faster than usual, trying to get this video out before Sunday

I like how Aeomond is shaping up to be everything people accused Daemon of being while Daemon, for all his posturing and aggressive methods has never directly betrayed his family.

The loyal waiting pup reminded me of Seymour and now I'm extra sad :-(

Take a shot every time Shift says “in the book”. You might die

His voice is so chill it's perfect to go to sleep to

It'd be cool to see more of the common people in HotD. Like the scene of Dyana opening the door, she most likely stays in a shared room/house that a lot of peasants would have lived in back in medieval times. It would be some interesting world building to see how life is for peasants besides them toiling away in the background.

Isn’t Aemond betrothed to a Baratheon? But then, yeah, having a gigantic dragon means never having to say you’re sorry. I think they gave Alyssa generic features so that even book-readers would be shocked by the revelation at the end of the scene, rather than having some people know what’s up at the beginning of the scene.

When strong looks at alive it’s almost as if he isn’t looking at her, it’s like he’s looking around to see who daemon is talking to. If you watch it again she had already stepped past him but strong is still looking beyond her instead of looking backwards as she gets behind him.

I think we've all assumed Helaena was asking about Aegon but there's no guarantee she was. We know she barely acknowledges her surroundings and often gets lost in visions or wonders if what she's seeing is real. She could be totally disconnected from the Iron Throne and asking him if it was worth it to k!ll Luce when it cost her son.

I love listening to Alt Shift's voice when I'm cleaning. Honestly I could happily listen to him yap about anything for hours

Man I’ve been watching these since the got days . Brings me back to better times . The videos are still awesome

This is the only reason I even wait for the weekends anymore, I gotten to a point where not being at work at 3 Am is weird.

Alt Shift X is so powerful, he had me thinking it was Sunday for a minute.

I pointed out the last vanishing and my partner thought it was an editing mistake like the coffee cup I said NAY she is but a figment of daemonds imagination!

People might not like Daemon's side quests but he needs the XP for the boss fight ahead

Alicent: I never thought the leopards would eat *my* face.

King's Landing has the worst ambulance services.

It’s worth pointing out that when criston uses alicent’s name it implies that, alongside the small council meeting, criston doesn’t see her as a Queen authority figure now that it’s all the men leading. He also says he wants to spare her, ever playing the white knight he desperately feels he needs to be after everything that contradicts thats image, but he fails to save her when she needs him to and only when he deems her in need of saving.

8:44 Why are Aegons burns on his left when his right side was attacked?

The patern of this season seems to be a good episode that people complain about on reddit and Twitter and than we have an amaizing episode

There is one succession law that would allow Daemon to rule, seniority, or the Rota (used in Kievan Rus) system, all the male members of a single generation rule in succession, followed by the son of the eldest brother, followed by the next, but only if their father had been on the throne (imagine if Daemon had a younger brother, and he had children, but he died before Daemon did, those children would never inherit). Given the Targaryens are inspired by the Byzantines in their costumes a lot (look at young Rhaenyra's and Alicent's tiaras, they are directly modelled off of Empress Theodora, Justinian's wife), and the Slavs were hugely influenced by the Eastern Romans, it could be interesting if that was some kind of Valyrian form of inheritance, although we all know that Daemon is simply claiming right of conquest.

I’m glad it’s not on Sunday for once. But I was so happy to see this video because I thought it was Sunday for a second and HotD was on tonight

5:37 Regarding Cheese kicking the dog, didn't he kick him because he needed the dog to get away, for the safety of both the dog and the mission? I suspect there was a little bit of love in that kick ❤🐶

the dog is just hungry for some moldy cheese

I’m quite drunk right now but I want to say we all love Shifty. 10/10 analysis again, god bless this Australian beaut.

A full day early? Must be that Alt Shift Exceptionalism

Thank the gods that Alicent didn’t hear Aegon say mummy. She probably would have thought he was naming her his heir.

Wheres the latest explainer vid? Ive scrolled past a hundred breakdown videos on ep. 6 that people posted this week, ironically yours is the only one I was looking for!

I feel like the kings landing people should’ve been happy that Meleys specifically was killed. Cause Meleys killed a bunch of them a few episodes ago

Man, I can't wait to watch these. Your voice is perfect for storytelling.

"Maybe he ll marry sylvi" funniest line from alt shift x

Someone said Jeyne Arryn neck longer than Caraxes 😂😂😂 💀 🐉

I wish they showed more of the confrontation with aemond and halaena

7:00 - to be honest you don't need any psychic powers to know how much Aemond wanted Aegon dead

Alt shift X's explanations are more interesting than the show itself, for sure

The slow zoom on Alicent's face at the council was astonishing.

Watching Alt Shift X videos after watching this week's Dragon Talk feels like when you accidentally walk-in on someone in the bathroom and have to act normal in public the next day

20:26: "So Rhaenyra is frustrated that she wasn't trained for war. We saw how young Aegon and Aemond and Jace were trained to fight from a young age, but since Rheanyra is female she was Viserys' cupbearer, pouring wine and being ignored at council." Well, nobody was really trained for war. But I'd say that being the king's cupbearer and constantly listening to the council's strategising for the war in the stepstones is certainly a better preparation for being a leader in war than beating straw dolls with swords from a young age. Being a good fighter doesn't make you a good leader. It's very similar to Jon Snow being made Lord Commander Mormont's personal steward, resulting in the same feeling of being ignored and mishandled when it's actually a training to become a leader.

To be fair ‘I cannot say’ is not ‘I don’t know’. Technically, Orwyle and Cole didn’t lie. Love your channel I am a new fan 🎉❤

Alt Shift has harnessed the power of Alt Schwift and got a video out on Saturday. The Seven be praised!

I signed up on nebula for a mere 30$ a year to alt schwft x because that guy is hilarious! Love his dragon time talks with glidus! These explained videos are okay too I guess..