Ad Disclosure
30 Thoughts, Questions, and Observations After the House of the Dragon Season 3 Finale
Published:
(spoilers, obviously)
.
.
.
.
.
House of the Dragon wrapped up season 3 with a big battle on Sunday night, but parts of the larger story didn’t move along very much.
Some thoughts/observations/questions in no real order:
- Queen Rhaenyra is now… what? Pissed off? Mad at everyone and everything? Seems like she’s going down the Daenerys Targaryen path where she takes an annoying heel turn. Throw in a bit of Cersei Lannister by murdering the local religious guy. This character is pissing me off and giving me PTSD of Game of Thrones, Season 8.
- The Winter Wolves were somehow interesting while being a joke at the same time. You’ve got this old dude, Roderick Dustin, just climbing a ladder and taking out a bunch of armored Hightower guys while wielding a shield and a basic-looking axe. Then he gets his arm chopped off and sprays the blood in Ormund Hightower’s face before shoving a blade up his rear end. That turns into maniacal laughing because he realizes he’s going to go down in a blaze of glory, literally, with a dragon toasting him. He was badass while also being comically bad in a few moments.
- Alysanne Blackwood – is she ever going to speak? Or does she just show up from time to time slinging arrows and killing off main characters? I had to ask Twitter to find out who this woman was.
- Aemond spent the whole season just hanging out in Harrenhal? He was this season’s Daemon.
- How did Aegon find Aemond anyway?
- Where is Tyland Lannister? Did he just go back to Rook’s Rest after Sunfyre showed up to barbecue all of the soldiers last week?
- What’s Larys up to?
- Aegon and Sunfyre returning from the dead does add some intrigue to the story. Wasn’t sure where either one of those characters was going.
- Daemon got his ass kicked by an unnamed Hightower soldier. Apparently the guy is named “Jon Roxton” in the books.
- Ulf sucks. I hate Ulf. Actor Tom Bennett did a good job of making us hate Ulf.
- I thought the guy playing Ormund Hightower, James Norton, did a good job of making that character look arrogant and a coward at the same time. Good job with the outward “look how important I am” posturing when it was realized that the guy is actually a wuss.
- Did we see Vhagar once this entire season?
- Baela didn’t appear in the finale.
- Rhaena and Addam didn’t do much of anything this season. There’s a slight intrigue, perhaps, about Addam and Alyn starting to show the opposite in loyalty to the queen. Alyn killing the religious guy was the key part of that conflict.
- Not sure why, but the Helaena arc didn’t do much for me. The tapestry at the end was interesting, bit of foreshadowing there, but that whole storyline felt predictable and inevitable.
- Where is Alicent? She escaped Harrenhal, I guess. Who are the soldiers just standing there?
- Mysaria was booted for… not being good at her job? Didn’t she just hook up with Rhaenyra last week? Now she’s dumped off to Essos?
- I like how Mysaria was able to just slip away from the soldiers escorting her and then blend into the crowd while wearing this noble-looking blue outfit. Inconspicuous!
- Alys Rivers is interesting, and we learn more about her in the finale, but her character is sort of dragged down by Aemond’s inaction.
- I’m bored with the whole “Harrenhal is a mysterious and cursed place” storyline. We know. Let’s get on with it.
- Which dragons were chasing Ulf at the end there? That wasn’t Vhagar, was it? Why would Vhagar be chasing Ulf anyway?
- If that wasn’t Vhagar, where is Vhagar?
- What was Caraxes doing after breaking down Tumbleton’s front door?
- Was that even Ulf being chased, or was it Daeron?
- Did Daeron survive? Guess we’ll find out.
- Did Sheepstealer survive?
- The actor who played Gwayne did a good job. Freddie Fox is his name.
- Corlys is good. We can always go for more Corlys scenes.
- No thoughts on Hugh the Hammer. Maybe he’s gonna turn just like Ulf did.
- Did Oscar Tully participate in the battle or just hang out? He’s kind of young.
Overall, it was an okay season. I guess the Hightowers are done now, so that’s it for Team Green. But Rhaenyra is losing the plot and now Aegon is back in the fold.
Do you remember when Game of Thrones was appointment viewing? People used to set their calendar for Sunday night at 9 p.m. It was a big cultural thing; everybody watched and everybody was totally into it. House of the Dragon has never felt like that outside of maybe portions of season 1. It hasn’t been must-see television for two seasons now.
But sometimes you keep watching a show because you feel invested in it. You’re not totally excited but it’s like, “I’ve made it this far, let’s tune in and see what happens.” That’s kind of where I’m at with HOTD and maybe you are, too.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com