House of the Dragon' episode 4

Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has returned victorious from the Stepstones where he's defeated the corsair prince they called the Crabfeeder. He's gotten ...

I figure things will just continue to get more shocking and terrible as we continue, and a bit of uncle-niece making out in a pleasure house is the least of our concerns. I also continue to have a tough time really connecting with any of the characters outside of Rhaenyra, though Viserys is sympathetic in his own way, as is Alicent, and Daemon is certainly fascinating. Hightower is finished as Hand, but his grandson is the only male heir, and his daughter is queen. Ultimately, the king tells her that her choice in the matter is now once again out of her hands. Perhaps this is a subtle way of taking all that back, having Rhaenyra read the blade’s inscription and, as a fluent speaker of Valirian, find no such double meaning. Viserys is aghast at the thought and reminds his brother that he’s already married. Her intentions become clear quickly enough, and the knight tells her “no”—he’s sworn a vow of chastity as a Kingsguard, for one thing, but surely he also knows what kind of consequences such an act could carry. Rhaenyra calls off the rest of the tour a full two months early and heads back to King’s Landing. Here’s the thing about getting all hot and bothered like this and then being left unsatisfied—and also being a beautiful princess. The two make their way out into the lively nighttime streets of King’s Landing and into a fever dream of paupers and whores, eyeless fortune tellers and yellow-cloaked guards, firebreathers and drunkards. The note shows a secret passage in her room that leads out to a staircase behind the walls that she never knew about. First, we must hop onto the back of a dragon—Syrax, perhaps—and go find Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock).

A blonde girl and a blonde man in regal dress stand in a garden. Credit: HBO. > Entertainment ...

The boy gives Mysaria a handful of money, and just like that we know who our White Worm is. "I learned that the skin trade could only take me so far in this life." Later we get our answer courtesy of a hungover Daemon, who wakes up in a bed belonging to his former girlfriend, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). "Apologies for the late hour, my lord," a soldier says to Hightower. We won't go over all the grisly details from that night, but the sequence of events is still important. Crucially, though, after Daemon abruptly disappears, we see a young boy watching as Rhaenyra leaves the brothel looking for him.

'House of the Dragon' Episode 4: Sex! Deceit! We discuss what happens between Daemon and Rhaenyra in "King of the Narrow Sea."

According to co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik, in a featurette that aired after the episode: “Ultimately, his impotence in the scene is a reflection of the fact that he knows, deep down, that what he’s doing isn’t right.” It was how unaware she was that the act was all about her uncle messing with his brother, the king, and the line of succession for the Iron Throne. * Was Rhaenyra taking notes during her trip to the pillow house? (Again, not something I expected having to state for the record.) But as someone who covered Game of Thrones throughout its run and who has read plenty of Martins’ work, I’ve made my peace with the fact that It was about how she clearly has an attraction to Daemon, and how he played the long game with that, for his own gain. [House of the Dragon](https://tvline.com/tag/house-of-the-dragon/) depicted the scene that readers of George R.R.