What was your reaction to the season finale? Did season 2 meet your expectations? Any predictions for season 3? Badd Medicine Arcade (Gaming channel) th-cam.com/channels/HIstVk00GtduPIXlJLdC3A.html Early Drops & Full Reactions on YT Memberships & Patreon: www.patreon.com/baddmedicine Backup channel Subscribe here th-cam.com/channels/1CLUwA27dz-94o3FR0o3xg.html
Hey guys! Thanks for your reaction. I liked the episode, but it felt like a penultimate episode before a season finale. I think HOTD season 2 should have ended with a battle and a win for Rhaenyra, like capturing King's Landing.
Helaena is what they call a "Dragon Dreamer" much like her ancestor, Daenys the Dreamer. They both can see visions of the future. It was Daenys' prophecy of The Doom which led to a small group of Targaryens & Velaryons to leave Old Valyria before everyone got wiped out. Helaena has seen the future & knows what is going to happen. Daemond also saw the future & now realizes that Viserys was right about "The Conqueror's Dream" of the White Walkers. He saw Daenerys & her baby dragons because she is a future descendant from his & Rhaenyra's bloodline. The God's Eye is the big lake where Harrenhal is located. It's called that because of the small island in the middle of the lake which makes it look like a giant eye when seen from above. It was once a sacred & mystical area covered with Weirwood trees, where the Children of The Forest lived. That is why King Harren the Black built his castle there. Yes, Otto is a prisoner. That is why he hasn't been answering the messages sent by Aemond or Alicent. It is yet to be known who has caputred him but it's possible that it is House Beesbury. It was mentioned in one of the episodes that House Hightower was forming an army from The Reach but they were getting resistance (& small battles) with House Beesbury in retaliation for the murder of Lord Beesbury. He was the guy in the small counsel who refused to believe that King Viserys had changed his mind about Rhaenyra & wanted Aegon to be his heir instead. Criston Cole killed him by slamming his head against the marble ball on the table.
Right. She foreshadowed Aemond losing his eye, Rhaenys busting through the floor at the coronation, said she scared of the rats, then Blood and Cheese happened. She's been calling s**t from the jump, they just chalk up what she says to her being odd.
Also, if you look on her walls she has drawings of her visions. Rats are depicted, a goose reflection is for Errik and Arryk- their house sigil is a goose. All kinds of weird and wonderful things that can be delved into. Also when she said the one bug stopped singing (out of the 3) it was Seasmoke finding a rider…
Yeah, I don't know how they missed that when that's been her only interesting character trait. But it was also weird how until this episode she would only speak in riddles and then now is dropping spoilers left and right.
You may have forgotten but halaena has had a ton of vision moments throughout the show, in season 1 episode 6 she had a line which predicted Aemond losing his eye, in season 2 episode 1 she mentioned to Aegon she was scared of the rats, and later that day a ratcatcher came and murdered her son. It was pretty well established by this point that she was a 'dreamer', just like Viserys was
She's never had visions, just cryptic remarks that are meaningless at the time and are only revealed to be prophetic after the fact. Suddenly turning into Bran/Bloodraven and turning her Targaryen magic into First Men/Old Gods magic that has never been part of her Valyrian heritage. It's just _yet another_ attempt to ride on the back of GoT. On the plus side, at least we weren't subject to more of that stupid dagger that they try to interpose into everything.
I never read the books and don't want to be spoiled but they made it really obvious Ulf would be the first or one of the first one to betray Rhaenyra/team black. Maybe they show is going to go a different direction to make us surprised
@@tuxedomask4masc he is spoiler and look at people from above just like Rhaenyra does even tho Jace is a clear bastard and everyone knows this he still feels better than others like like Jon Snow before Tyrion gave him talk he also got mad at everyone for calling him bastard but Jace will never be Jon
Heleana is definitely a seer, she said beware the beast beneath the boards right before Rhaenys burst the the floor on her dragon, she said she was more worried about rats than dragons right before blood and cheese killed her son. Early on she was talking about the insect that couldn’t see predicting Aemond losing his eye. She’s predicting a lot of stuff.
@@actionalex3611 Jojen Reed is a Greenseer, descended from the First Men and connected to Weirwoods and the Old Gods of the North. Helaena's cryptic prophecies (that neither she nor anyone else recognise as prophecy) stem from her Valyrian heritage, it's absurd of the show to try to suddenly make her a Greenseer.
@@noneofyourbeeswax01 the show isn't making her a greenseer😂, they are making her a dreamer, which is a valyrian trait that targaryens and others with valyrian blood have. Green dreams, wolf dreams and skin charging is a first men trait, usually the reeds, starks and wildlings have this powerfully. So, it's absurd you're referring to her as a greenseer 😆 🤣
Personally, I really loved this episode, but was massively disappointed as its the finale. I have heard however, that the reason for this is that they were supposed to have 10 episodes, but due to strikes and financial issues (I think?), they had to make the best ending they could with where they had to end it.
So they wrote ten episodes and were then told it was only going to be 8? Wouldn't it make sense than the rewrite the 10 episodes to fit into the 8. This felt like they just left out 2 episodes. I'm not giving the writers a pass on this because they dragged the season out and this could have and should have been better.
heard it's more about the financial decisions (HBO is trying to short series to under 10 episodes, cause the more episodes more payment for actors after it's airing it's needed). the strikes had almost or no effect on HOTD cause the show is British apparently?
@@Kornn66 No bad writing and no character was destroyed. Not the show's fault you can't comprehend character development and characters changing their mind or regretting past choices.
So apparently, Hbo wouldn't allow them to do 10 episodes, even though they had written 10 episodes for each season.. This is why it felt like there was something missing as the battle for harrenhal was pushed out of season 2 due to budget limits by HBO. It really sucks because last time around, it was the opposite. HBO offered up to 12 episodes for the final season of Game of Thrones, but the creators denied it
Oh, yeah then you actually missed something. Helaena pretty obviously has this gift. Remember her predictions like "beware the beast beneath the boards" or "I'm afraid ... not the dragons. The rats". When she was still a kid she mumbles "Hand turns loom, spool of green, spool of black, dragons of flesh, weaving dragons of thread." When Aemond complained to his mom about the pig and Alicent said "you will have a dragon one day", Helaena mumbles "He will have to close an eye." This episode reveals that she has kind of an understanding what is going on though. It suggests that she knows she is just a piece of the puzzle and everybody needs to play his part. I think that's why she behaves so strangely when blood and cheese came to kill her son. She knew it will happen eventually, maybe just not when and of course she was still struggling with it.
Haha that's cool to know, and it works really well too. Tyland was meant to be uncomfortable singing, so if the actor felt that way as well then it would help his performance.
It’s kind of sad you guys thought alicent did all of that talk with rhaenyra only bc she wanted to keep cole alive. Do you really think she is that shallow? I think most of you miss the point of alicent's character. Her character was never strong, independent or fierce in the show. She was a CHILD that got manipulated into a marrige and was conditioned by her father to believe rhaenyra(her best friend) would want her and her kids dead someday. She never wanted ANY of it, she was just a girl. Years pass, and the same fear Otto fed her, was what she used to raise her children. They all grew up neglected, having to fulfill their duties no matter the emotional damage they caused. When alicent raises the knife towards rhaenyra in season 1, she clearly says that she had to fullfill her duty and make sacrifices such as being maritally raped, having children at 15 with her best friends dad, having to live as an object, while Nyra had the liberties to bed whomever and do whatever while still remaining heir. I mean, she even had bastards, and Jace took one of her sons eyes and no one did ANYTHING. That kind of served as evidence to her fathers words, that her children would never be safe if Nyra lived. It made her go manic and project her hate onto her family, because Nyra had all the things she wouldve dreamed of having. She couldn’t understand how, if according to her father, there was only one path for women in that world, then how could rhaenyra even break out of her role, how could she reach the unattainable but Alicent never could? It is really hard to hate someone you once loved. At the familiy's last dinner, they reconnect and Alicent realizes that it IS possible, that Nyra would not hurt her sons in that way. But after Viserys death, she realizes that even as queen regent, after all her sacrifices, the men around her had already plotted to take the throne, and all her authority was gone. Her sons are all egomaniacs, she is but a woman and no one looks to her. She starts to realize that it was all for nothing. She abused Aegon for so long, forcing him to be king, to the point it broke him and made him a bully, which consequentially made Aemond a apathetic psycopath. Halaena is too pure for that world, and alicent is probably going crazy thinking about the trauma the war will impose on her. tShe even talks with her brother, that her sons trauma is her fault, and not only the atmosphere in the red keep. She sees rhanyra, and now a parallel ha formed. As a child Rhaenyra was carefree, she wanted to fly away with alicent into the unknown, while alicent was clearly always under stress and in fear because of the constant manipulation of her father. Now, in the final episode, they have switched. Now nyra has lived her carefree days, and the path towards queendom is inevitable. Now Alicent realizes that all the pain she endured, was NOT the one and only path. Her daughter and granddaughter CAN escape the trauma of the war, this is not the life she has to lead now. She has no duties. It is disgusting that she would sacrifice her son, but as Rhaenyra said, both looking at each other as adults that know about the harsh realities of the world, there are only two options, either Aegon, or peace in Nyra's reign. This was written in stone, the second that Viserys named Nyra heir, and otto set his mind on the fact that his grandson would be heir instead. There was never a way of escaping, but now there is a way. Alicent and Nyra know its painful, you can see it in their eyes on the scene, but it must be done This is what makes them both much more interesting characters. Why do all of you insist on independent, apathetic, inherently evil female characters, when we all know humans are multidimensional in every way. WHy cant Alicent be both, a very sentient and guilty character, while also loving her kids in a twisted way, while also accepting that there can be a way out, whithout it ruining her character and having all the blame imposed upon her. I adore her charcater and how the showrunners decided to give more dimesion to her. I read Fire and blood, and all book readers know it is written as a matter of fact, and it is like a history book. We dont really know about the characters personalities, except for rumors and the personality descriptions of MEN. Fire and blood was written by maesters, and all the physical and cualitative descriptions of women were probably mysiginistic.
You are spot on! Exactly what I’ve been saying to all of my friends who watch HOTD. She is so misunderstood, it’s crazy. The most complex character in the show, in my opinion. Can’t and will not understand all the hate. She’s far from perfect but people truly overlook everything that she’s been through. Rhaneyra is also super flawed as a character, she is just more likeable overall because of the whole rightful heir conversation but I find her extremely hypocritical, she is not a good person at all, nobody is at this point except Helaena.
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK 👏👏👏 Alicent is the most layered, three dimensional, tragic character in the whole damn show. I'm so sick of people labeling her the evil, slutty, bad mom. Ugh.
Bullshit Alicent in s1 was like differet Alicent she wanted kill Rhaenyra for just taking Aemond's eyes ,protected Aegon from dragon and now she give her son to be kill because she wants to run away to live in woods ?and for what she is highborn how she will live in woods ? on Rhaenyra good will or that that Daemon will not want to take revenge on rest of them ? this is some stupid writing lever of season 8 of GOT that no matter how you look at it it had plot holes and looks like competently different show than season 1.She is like opposite of what her character should be like she should be like Lady Jessica from Dune or Cathlyn Stark and they ,and her worse then Cersei and she is not
I agree with a lot of this. The only issue is: she also lost ALL respect that I ever had for her the moment she chose to send her sons to the sword. A love of a mother is meant to be the one thing that sticks, and with her she fell lower then the low. Even Cercei had the quality of a mother. I understood Allicent with most of her choices as they were for her children and her house: she then just gives it up after pushing it on her kid??? Horrible human being. I think it may be a writer flaw because she straight up doesn’t contradict the books- she contradicted herself in season 1.
The scene with Alicent in the like was kind of like a baptism of sort for her. She’s washing away her past sins and come out of it new. Renyra called her out on it though, “ok, you think you’re gonna just wash your hands of it and be free of the consequences ? It doesn’t work that way.” I agree she is a product of the men around her (especially Otto) and the only thing she chose for herself really was Cole and even THAT came with tons of guilt and shame for her. So now she’s going to save herself and Heleina.
21:22 Thats likely one of the "green men" Quote from ASOIAF wiki: "The green men or Green Men are a sacred order entrusted with the guardianship of the Isle of Faces in the riverlands. Some nursery tales claim they are horned and have dark, green skin. According to Old Nan, the green men ride elks and sometimes have antlers."
That's not quite accurate, plenty of people touch weirwood trees without having visions. He has the gift, though it is even weaker in him than it was in his brother, so you are partially right, he needed the tree. (Show-) Haelena on the other hand is shown to be the strongest dreamer since Daenys the Dreamer and before "Blood Raven" Brynden Rivers.
@@sarad2659 Oh please, you need to not be paying attention to the screen whatsoever to not understand the "close an eye", "beast beneath the boards", "rats". I understand missing the embroidery of the funeral shroud or dragons of cloth, but come on!
They’ve been showing us that Helaena can see the future since season 1. She said Aemond would lose an eye to get a dragon and she also knew Rhaenys would burst through the floor at Aegons coronation. She also said she was scared of the rats before her son was killed by blood and rat catcher cheese. I read that Daemon was in the dream world and that’s why she could connect with him and tell him to believe the vision.
Rhaenyra: “what has you spooked?” Daemon: “i have seen something… dark and terrible.” Rhaenyra: “the threat from the north? the cold and the darkness?” Daemon: “worse, season 8 of Game of Thrones.”
It was supposed to be 10 ep and the big boss said it had to be 8 for budgets reasons, the reason it felt like such a bad cliffhanger was because of this, we were supposed to get a crazy penultimate episode followed by a more realistic finale, all of it for saving money smh. Wasn’t the writers fault at all.
Yeah but they also ruined Alicents character (the only thing about her was she at least stood proudly for her side and her kids even if she wasn’t a good mother.) she gave up all three of her sons in that last scene after being the one to put Aegon on the throne who didn’t want it. And - they basically made it Aemond vs everyone else…. Like that’s stupid.
Did yall just ask if Helaena had a gift as well? I’m actually annoyed that yall asked that question. YES she has a gift..the beast under the boards was Meleys crashing through the floor. Alicent telling Aemond he’ll get a dragon and her saying it will cost an eye. Her telling Aegon that she was afraid of the rats…blood and cheese.
I'm in the minority that enjoyed this finale and the season overall. It wasn't everything that I wanted but I was satisfied with the ending. I'm not looking forward to the 2 year wait for S3 but at least we're getting another spin-off to tide us over. Enjoyed watching with y'all!
It was one of my favorite episodes! Not finale worthy, but it was still good and I don’t think enough people are acknowledging that! They better bring it next season 😂
Fr, it really was! On it's own I'd give the episode at least a 9.5 as anything but a finale. But, you can still tell it was originally going to be 10-episode season. The Battle of the Gullet would've been a banger to end this season with. I'll never know why the new execs thought HOTD of all shows would be a good one to cut the funding on.🤦🏽♀️
Helena’s visions aren’t a new occurrence. In season 1 she said something along the lines of “beware the best beneath the floor boards”. Shortly thereafter Rhaenys and Maelys burst out of the floor of the dragon keep during Aegon’s coronation.
You guys really should have rewatched season 1 before starting this. You've all been confused or completely off about so many things because of how much of season 1 you've forgotten. I STRONGLY recommend rewatching seasons 1 & 2 before season 3 drops so you actually know what the hell is going on. Love you guys and your reactions, even if you drove me a bit crazy this season! 😂🥰
A lot of people forgot that the council had already planned putting Aegon II on the throne behind Alicent's back before Viserys' death. I'm not defending what she did or how she interpreted the words of Viserys but the greens were going to push for Aegon either way.
I didn't know it was bad luck to rename your ship, something new I learned, thanks Quinn! ^_^ that mud wrestling scene ha! & vision Daemon saw gave me chills & goosebumps! So exciting to hear Daemon say "Winter is Coming" line! 😃 & tension dialogue scene between Aemond & Helaena now she knows his dark secret wow! & scene between Alicent & Rhaenyra was intensifying! Writing in this episode was outstanding! thanks Badd Medicine for an amazing experience watching the full reactions with you 😊💚♥️💙
Honestly, I've never heard of this superstition before. During the Age of Sail, ships getting renamed wasn't uncommon and today usually a ship gets renamed if it is sold to another company or warships are renamed if a famous ship leaves the service (either by design or by accident or by enemy action) to carry on the legacy and battle honours. "Yorktown" (CV-5) lost at the Battle of Midway and "Yorktown" (CV-10) formerly named "Bon Homme Richard" come to my mind.
Helena is a "Dragon Dreamer". If you pay attention to what she says as a child throught out season 1 you will notice that she predicts a few things here and there and talks in riddles. Also when she predicted her son being killed "I fear the rats" insinuating the Rat Killer/Trapper. Dragon Dreamers are a rare Targaryen Magical Gift like Warging is A rare Stark/First Man gift.
So as a Targaryen, why is she suddenly having Weirwood visions? Since when did the blood of the First Men run in her veins?Why is she running with the Old Gods all of a sudden?
There actually a possibilty that she has Blood of the First Men in her veins throught her mother Alicent.Alicent's mother is Alyrie of House Florent. This house is said to descend from a daughter (Florys the Fox) of Garth Greenhand, The founder of House Gardener. A lot of major houses (the Starks, Greyjoys, Tyrells, Lannisters, and Tullys) can trace back to them, Garth was as legend put it "A Mythical High King of the First Men". Also it was rumoured that House Hightower could trace their lineage back to the First Men also through another one of Garth's daughters,Maris the Maid. So there's a possibly with those 2 bloodlines (First men & Valyrian) It could make for a powerful Seer. I also think the writers on the show just didn't flesh Helaena out enough. It's like they put her on the backburner and forgot that she would be a bigger part in the storytelling and tried to rush it in this episode
helaena has had visions of the future since her introduction. she talked about the rats before her child was killed, she talked about aemond losing an eye, about melys breaking through the floor during aegons crowning...so yeah, she has a gift, not that id call it a gift since it probably haunts her and no one listens anyways.
If you guys go back and do a rewatch, definitely watch with close captions. Most of Helaena's prophecies are whispered or talked over. There is so much happening in the first season, the only times she seems to speak is in whispered prophecy. The family absolutely ignores her or laughs her off. H "I am afraid" A "You are safe. They would be fools to come with Vegar protecting the city." H "Not the dragons. The rats." --Confused looks-- A "The Queen is an enduring mystery."
I like to believe that if Alicent said nothing about what Viserys said before he died, Otto would have assassinated every member of house black to put Argon on the throne by force. So in a weird way Team Black was given a chance because they tried to do it legally.
In a few words. Yes, Haelena has the"sight". It has been shown several times in season 1 as well. If you have time, check out the scenes with her - she even said in episode 1 this season. "I'm scared" and Aegon said they had dragons to protect them. And she said (paraphrasing) "Not the dragons. The rats" (as in ratcatcher).
Also, I kove the perspective from people that are bot completely obsessed with the vooks. Like sometimes we get so deep in the lore and it's so refreshing to have the perspective of people that have only seen the shows. Reliving that feeling of watching the season from watching you guys!
Helena has been shown having visions all season. For example, she knew about the coming death of her son from the rat catchers. She just didn't know when it would happen. She knew there was a beast below, which was Rhaenys on Meleys, coming through the floor at Aegon's coronation. Helena has seen things, in a disjointed manner, throughout. I think this is showing her becoming more attuned to her visions. Many people online seem upset at this episode. I admit, I have not read the books, so there's that. But, I have enjoyed this one as well as this whole season.
The only thing to keep in mind is that, if you haven't seen GoT yet and you go to watch it now, there are HotD spoilers mentioned in two of the episodes. One doesn't really give anything away that we don't already know by now, but there's a HUGE spoiler in Season 3, Episode 4 that tells us the fate of one of the main characters. It's a throwaway line that could easily be missed or forgotten by someone who watched GoT before HBO ever had plans for a HotD series, but for someone who's already seen HotD, it would stand out and be hard to miss. So my advice, if you don't want to be spoiled by this major revelation, is to wait until after HotD is finished to watch GoT, or find someone who can tell you what small portion to skip over in 3x4. You wouldn't be missing anything important (to GoT) if you skip over those few seconds.
Helaena is one of the few Targaryens with the gift known as ‘dreamers’. It’s why she’s so socially awkward. She gets visions of the future and speaks in riddles often, the way Daenys the Dreamer foresaw the doom of old Valyria and urged her kin to escape to Westeros with their dragons. The books didn’t have Helaena as a dreamer but the franchise has really embraced that change, especially since Helaena’s dragon was named Dreamfyre and she’s not known to be a warrior. There’s also the question of heirs if Aemond becomes King, since he isn’t married and Aegon can no longer father sons. They’d have to acknowledge Helaena and Aegon’s daughter Jaehaera as the heir (acknowledging a woman can lead) or name Daeron (the unseen kid brother) heir.
Idk why people act like being named heir is some sort of protection for Jace. Rhaenerya was legitimatley born and she is fighting a war for her throne. Ulf proves his anger right everytime.
That doesn't mean they expect a brief glimpse of him in a cell with zero context. It just confirmed that this so-called "finale" was just an hour long trailer for season three.
While I do feel bad Aegon's downstairs got roasted I find it ironic that now his only surviving child is a girl (Jaehaera) and therefore according to the him and the Greens can't inherit the throne when he's gone, leaving him no heir except Aemond and his younger brother. Unless Helaena is already pregnant.
@@JamieNeill I feel they excluded him to make it "easier" for Alicent to betray Aegon. Because Rhaenyra needs to wipe out all male opposition and Alicent would look like even more of a scumbag if she didn't care what happened to a toddler.
@JamieNeill I was unsure if they were gonna include Maelor in the show. Which is why I thought maybe they left it open ended about whether Helaena may of may not be pregnant. We did see Alicent offer Helaena a drink (maybe moon tea) that she never got to drink since Aemond burst into the room. Or maybe he's just not gonna be included. Either way I can't wait to see how it all plays out in S3.
That's nothing like having straight up VISIONS which she understands (unlike her previous cryptic prophetic remarks) and can even communicate with other people in them. She's never demonstrated that ability before, but suddenly now the writers have imbued her with the blood of the First Men, Weirwood visions and a connection with the Old Gods. Pretty crazy for someone of Valyrian heritage.
This would have been a great episode 8, if the season had 10 episodes. As a finally though, massive dissappointment. You can’t just have a finale with practically no payoff. Next season better be action-packed
Helaena has been predicting things since wayyyy back in season one! It’s very subtle but if you go back and listen to her as she mumbles and stuff, you can hear her saying stuff that ends up happening later!
This was never supposed to be season finale. there were 2 more episodes planned out and written but Warner bros. cut them as they were deemed to be too expensive. The content from those episodes will now be used for 3x01 & 3x02.😅
I recommend watching the 2 seasons again in your free time bcs you will be able to catch so many more details! Like Helena being all prophetic, the foreshadowings etc. :p can't wait for season 3!
Helena doesn't just have the gift. She is super powerful. She entered into the dream sequence of Dameon (who was at Dragonstone) whiles she was on the rooftop in Kings Landing. That is badass level 3-eyed raven ability. Even Alice Rivers can't do that
Viserys was so close to death he thought he was speaking to Rhaenyra in that moment Alicent heard a small portion of the prophecy. The Song of Ice and Fire is a prophecy only to be told to Targaryen Heirs to the Iron Throne hence why Rhaenyra told Jace about it and it’s also inscribed on the dagger that Aemond took from Aegon after the battle at Rook’s Rest! He has no clue of this prophecy but If he heats the dagger up, the prophecy is there to see! Alicent heard the name Aegon and assumed her son. Heleana is a Dreamer, Alys is a wood witch and maybe a Greenseer as well due to Harenhaal’s location and the plethora weerwood trees literally overtaking the dilapidated castle and also the God’s Eye very near by. I don’t remember them being able to communicate in the books but I think Helaena , Alys and maybe other dreamers and greenseers from the past can communicate with each other. If that’s the direction they’re going in, it will be very interesting. Didn’t like the last episode but I think it set up a lot of possibly whats to come.
3rd watch, was excited to finish this season with you guys! I liked it. Season one was the history, season two set the table, next season lets go to war!
Why do people keep saying Helaena had visions? She's NEVER had a vision - cryptic prophecies (that aren't revealed as such until the events actually happen) are not visions.
Helaena has been having visions since the first season. I thought it was pretty well known that she has visions, if you look at the castle there are drawings of things that happened in the future that she drew. Go back and watch scenes with Helaena and you will see that she is always giving small hints to what is about to happen.
Helaena has visions…. That is why in episode 1 she said she was afraid of the rats she saw what the rat catchers would do. Why she talked of the beast under the floor she say Rheanys and Meleys coming up through the floor in season 1. When they were young and someone told Aemond he would have a dragon she said he would have to close and eye first….,,
Abubakir Salim was the standout performance for me this episode, that line delivery was great, you could sense it building up in Alyn all season, great reaction as always guys!
So in this episode it is revealed that not only does Helaena have what Viserys referred to as dragon dreams but that perhaps that magic Aegon the conqueror had is actually the same as the old magic of Westeros. We see that Helaena was able to manipulate and see the same vision as Daemon as if she transported herself through the trees to speak to him. That is the Greensight, the magic the Three eyed raven, Bran and Jojen had access to. It's pretty interesting that those two forms of magic may just be interpretations of the same thing. The dragonlords just assumed since they were always around dragons that the animal and nature connection of greensight was actually nothing to do with the animal being a dragon. Think of Bran and his direwolf, Aegon and Balerion, The Three Eyed Raven (avoid names for possible A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms spoilers that we now have to be concerned about) and his Raven etc...
Why on earth would someone from Old Valyria share the magic of the First Men, the Old Gods and the Weirwoods? It makes no sense. It's just another example of retconning to ride on the back of GoT's success.
its not gonna grow in the same day they made that dragon too small dragons grow big when they are not locked up in the pit Sheepstealer should be massive he was always roaming free
Reactions to the season of kind of confused me a lot of people saying this was boring or disappointing didn't have enough action the action has never been in the battles but in the politics and the schemes. I thought this season was phenomenal, just like the last
To be fair, Alicent is responsible for making her children resent Rhaenyra, but all of this destruction was caused by Otto's ambition and Viserys's negligence. It was clearly stated that the plan to make Aegon king was schemed by the counsil without Alicent's consent. She convincing herself that Viserys changed his mind wasn't of importance at all. Also, why is everyone saying she accepted Aegon's penalty? She literally never gave her word to it. I reckon her plan is to go back to KL and make him flee before Rhaenyra arrives just like Larys did.
The last 3 episodes after the big battle on episode 5 I kept saying “okay NOW it’ll be a good one, they’re clearly setting things up…” Yeah turns out they spent the final 3 episodes on setting up next season 😴
I think that Alicent asked Larys to get Aegon out of King's Landing and didn't tell him why, before she went to Dragonstone (or immediately after). No way would she sacrifice even her least favorite child.
I think Larys may have had Hightower locked up so that he couldn't help Aemond. Up until that point, everyone thought he was with Daeron. Alicient even said it was strange that he hadn't written to her which also insinuated that he may have died.
Guys, thank you. I was on TH-cam, looking for reactions right after I finished watching the episode. I really enjoyed the episode. Daemon's story has been fascinating to me. The soundtrack at the end of the episode made me a little teary. I thought people would also be happy about it. How I was wrong. Everyone's hating on this episode. They didn't get the action they expected, so they decided the episode was awful. No war, no dragons = bad episode. No. Characters in this series are so messed up. Both sides are facing with the consequences of their actions. When there's so much on the line, starting a war isn't easy. They change and grow. Some go insane. I love seeing that. Yeah, dragons are super cool and fun to watch, but I don't need them in every episode to enjoy this story, even if it's in the name. So thank you for seeing the good. Thank you for being positive. I needed this.
Heleana is known as a dreamer. One of her ancestors back in Old Valyria was also a dreamer, and he was the one that warned the entire family about an apocalyptic event that would happen soon(doom of old valyria when everyone died)and this is why aegon the conqueror left for dragon stone in westeros in the first place. These people are neurodivergent, psychics and could be described as being on the spectrum? in our world kind of. This world is full of magic, and people like helena can see the past present and future and just see the world in a different way. This is why she is easily overstimulated, we see this when she had to parade though the streets at the funeral, the way she said “i’m afraid of the rats” on the episode that her son died. She also has an infatuation with insects since she was little, pointing to characteristics of neurodivergent people
Nope, nope, no. Helaena's ancestor Daenys the Dreamer was a woman; Daenys's father Aenar was the Targaryen who fled Valyria and came to Dragonstone before The Doom occurred, not Aegon the Conqueror; there's no textual evidence that dragon dreamers see past present and future events, that's what greenseers like Bran and Bloodraven do. You know there's like 5 main books, a world book, the source book for this show and a very accurate wiki of Ice and Fire for your reference?
@@InimitableAde i read all of them many years ago. Still the same concept. Either way, at least heleana can see the future and the present and that’s what i said
@@marinaa.1993 you also said she can see the past, but whatever if you can't own or be corrected on what you said a few hours ago, I get it. There's a lot of that going around.
They set us up so high and then left us hanging....I feel like if they wrapped up Daemon's Harenhall storyline alongside Rhaenyra's New Dragon Riders in a longer episode 7 then ended there, the short season would've felt a little more complete. This episode felt more of a Season premiere episode for S3. But that said I still very much love this series and surely ready for the long wait for 2026. 🇹🇹 - Reply to your thoughts about Helaena, remember throughout the series she HAS shown signs of having the visions / dreamers states. All those things she used to mumble always meant something. This episode confirms it for us.
I hate that they deleted the scene of Cregan Stark leading the march of the starks army. I wanted to see Cregan Stark. Why did they have to delete the scene.
I loved the Finale! As I did every Episode before it this Season. Yes, Haelena does have the Gift of Vision. She's revealed things in a few episodes before this one.
Helaena can see the future. She’s hinted at it the entire show. She said Aemond will get a dragon but it will cost him an eye, she kept mentioning her fear of rats, the funeral of her son, and now this. People dismiss her and think she’s crazy but she’s not
@@queenxx1690 she’s a dreamer. In Westeros lore if you don’t know some people of valyian descent have prophetic dreams that come true. She doesn’t understand how they happen or how to control them but she knows what she dreams comes true so many think she’s nuts for the random things she says
Adam blew it out of the water... All younger professional Actor's can learn about patience, reserving emotional beats, from that delivery. Action is not important Dramatic beats, slight nods, Actors who work with slight, are paid off, with a moment of slight. People think they want Action Mud Wrestling, for instance. I bet the Actor's enjoyed that scene, as much as we appreciated a stuffy Lannister get kicked in the mud. Matt Smith⭐❤️🩹💯 Notice how Ali's Rivers had disappeared after the Gods eye, allowed Daemon, to see the destruction to come, and the untold tale. I loved the broken mirror between Rayenera and Daemon, showing their disfunction, and yet a bond beyond the rest of the players. The face in the God's wood's was actually the Writer, of the story. RR. Martin. Halena always showed us bits and wonderful pieces that she was a Dream seer. Future past, she can see it all, and interact with others like Bran could in OG GOT. She is a amazing Oracle of what should be. Rayenera⭐💯 Olivia Cooke❤️🩹🌀lost now, she is a pitiful child again, with no direction, wayward no path, 👁️ and she is even to be pitied, as she is a lost soul, with no one to feel for her, the sky swallows her emptiness, and in fear, of all that has come to pass, she can't just wipe clean no matter how much water she finds to cleanse the sullied soul, she has nothing to advance towards, but a setting Son...🌞❤️🩹 Beautiful as always all player's take they're places, and the Stage of Westros map, is laid out. And the tension amps, as we once again have to wait for the Series to return. Thank you Guy's Great Reactions. Bless❤️🩹💯 Uff, no matter what, I want to give that fish out of water a hug. He's not used to manners befitting Royal decorum. He unlike huggable Hugh, and Adam, wasn't in service to anyone. He was a loner, he is ever the black sheep. Like Amond felt, as a child growing up in the shadows of his more set upon older Brother Agorn. Poor sweet Agorn, he never had the love from his Royal station, or expectations of that power position. He cared for the Small folk, he was trying to be a good King, but his Family was broken, kinn in fighting, disfunction. Non of them prepared for what would come. Using the Dragons they are doomed to fall. But this was the story, as it is retold by unworthy scribes. As Matin put it. We are just all witness to the story that came before. Drama beats just satisfying. As the board is set up, and the plot, and plans are well mete. Thank you guys
So this episode on its one is a 9/10 maybe even 10/10….. but the fact that it was a finale and now we have to wait 2 more years for war it’s like a 5 or 6 out of 10. If this had been episode 8 out of 10 I think most people would have loved it. But since we got blue balls’d it’s getting review bombed so hard.
What was your reaction to the season finale? Did season 2 meet your expectations? Any predictions for season 3?
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Hey guys! Thanks for your reaction.
I liked the episode, but it felt like a penultimate episode before a season finale. I think HOTD season 2 should have ended with a battle and a win for Rhaenyra, like capturing King's Landing.
It will be epic on the coming season 3 as the big battle between dragons will took place and more emotional expected.
It's not as good as the first season but I do hope season 3 will be better.
Helaena is what they call a "Dragon Dreamer" much like her ancestor, Daenys the Dreamer. They both can see visions of the future. It was Daenys' prophecy of The Doom which led to a small group of Targaryens & Velaryons to leave Old Valyria before everyone got wiped out. Helaena has seen the future & knows what is going to happen. Daemond also saw the future & now realizes that Viserys was right about "The Conqueror's Dream" of the White Walkers. He saw Daenerys & her baby dragons because she is a future descendant from his & Rhaenyra's bloodline.
The God's Eye is the big lake where Harrenhal is located. It's called that because of the small island in the middle of the lake which makes it look like a giant eye when seen from above. It was once a sacred & mystical area covered with Weirwood trees, where the Children of The Forest lived. That is why King Harren the Black built his castle there.
Yes, Otto is a prisoner. That is why he hasn't been answering the messages sent by Aemond or Alicent. It is yet to be known who has caputred him but it's possible that it is House Beesbury. It was mentioned in one of the episodes that House Hightower was forming an army from The Reach but they were getting resistance (& small battles) with House Beesbury in retaliation for the murder of Lord Beesbury. He was the guy in the small counsel who refused to believe that King Viserys had changed his mind about Rhaenyra & wanted Aegon to be his heir instead. Criston Cole killed him by slamming his head against the marble ball on the table.
"Does she (Helaena) have the gift as well? Or did we miss something?"
Bruhs, this has been known about her since season one. lol
Right. She foreshadowed Aemond losing his eye, Rhaenys busting through the floor at the coronation, said she scared of the rats, then Blood and Cheese happened. She's been calling s**t from the jump, they just chalk up what she says to her being odd.
@@taneshah.1260 yup i guess they missed those predictions she has been making since season one
Also, if you look on her walls she has drawings of her visions. Rats are depicted, a goose reflection is for Errik and Arryk- their house sigil is a goose. All kinds of weird and wonderful things that can be delved into. Also when she said the one bug stopped singing (out of the 3) it was Seasmoke finding a rider…
Idk why everyone is surprised she’s been called crazy from the start 😭
Yeah, I don't know how they missed that when that's been her only interesting character trait. But it was also weird how until this episode she would only speak in riddles and then now is dropping spoilers left and right.
Aemond to Helaena: I need you to ride Dreamfyre and go to battle with me.
Helaena: You’re gonna die in 7 days.
More like 5 years with how they're pacing this.
@John_Locke_108 lmao true
You may have forgotten but halaena has had a ton of vision moments throughout the show, in season 1 episode 6 she had a line which predicted Aemond losing his eye, in season 2 episode 1 she mentioned to Aegon she was scared of the rats, and later that day a ratcatcher came and murdered her son. It was pretty well established by this point that she was a 'dreamer', just like Viserys was
Beware the beast beneath the boards
She was also doing embroidery on her son’s funeral shroud, before he had even died.
She's never had visions, just cryptic remarks that are meaningless at the time and are only revealed to be prophetic after the fact. Suddenly turning into Bran/Bloodraven and turning her Targaryen magic into First Men/Old Gods magic that has never been part of her Valyrian heritage. It's just _yet another_ attempt to ride on the back of GoT. On the plus side, at least we weren't subject to more of that stupid dagger that they try to interpose into everything.
@@noneofyourbeeswax01 how are her visions any different than Aegons? Or Viserys? He saw in a vision that he was having a boy
@@HeisenStark13 Not to mention the reason for all this drama in the first place, Aegon the Conqueror and his dream.
Jace had every right to be mad and suspicious though. Ulf is the perfect example of that
And they called Jace spoiled/elitist for having valid reasons to be upset. 😒
@@amnasiddique6886 Ulf literally implied he's a bastard. Everything Jace feared is coming true
I never read the books and don't want to be spoiled but they made it really obvious Ulf would be the first or one of the first one to betray Rhaenyra/team black. Maybe they show is going to go a different direction to make us surprised
of what ? he is smallfolk not some lord chill he is like dude on trip with good food and nice place to sleep he never have people need to chill
@@tuxedomask4masc he is spoiler and look at people from above just like Rhaenyra does even tho Jace is a clear bastard and everyone knows this he still feels better than others like like Jon Snow before Tyrion gave him talk he also got mad at everyone for calling him bastard but Jace will never be Jon
Heleana is definitely a seer, she said beware the beast beneath the boards right before Rhaenys burst the the floor on her dragon, she said she was more worried about rats than dragons right before blood and cheese killed her son. Early on she was talking about the insect that couldn’t see predicting Aemond losing his eye. She’s predicting a lot of stuff.
Right, like Jojen Reed in GOT...?
@@actionalex3611 Jojen Reed is a Greenseer, descended from the First Men and connected to Weirwoods and the Old Gods of the North. Helaena's cryptic prophecies (that neither she nor anyone else recognise as prophecy) stem from her Valyrian heritage, it's absurd of the show to try to suddenly make her a Greenseer.
@@noneofyourbeeswax01 the show isn't making her a greenseer😂, they are making her a dreamer, which is a valyrian trait that targaryens and others with valyrian blood have. Green dreams, wolf dreams and skin charging is a first men trait, usually the reeds, starks and wildlings have this powerfully. So, it's absurd you're referring to her as a greenseer 😆 🤣
Personally, I really loved this episode, but was massively disappointed as its the finale. I have heard however, that the reason for this is that they were supposed to have 10 episodes, but due to strikes and financial issues (I think?), they had to make the best ending they could with where they had to end it.
If that’s true, I can’t help but draw the parallel to breaking bad’s first season, so hopefully it’ll work out as well as it did for BB 😅
I can forgive the lack of battles but i cant forgive bad writing and destrying characters.
So they wrote ten episodes and were then told it was only going to be 8? Wouldn't it make sense than the rewrite the 10 episodes to fit into the 8. This felt like they just left out 2 episodes. I'm not giving the writers a pass on this because they dragged the season out and this could have and should have been better.
heard it's more about the financial decisions (HBO is trying to short series to under 10 episodes, cause the more episodes more payment for actors after it's airing it's needed). the strikes had almost or no effect on HOTD cause the show is British apparently?
@@Kornn66 No bad writing and no character was destroyed. Not the show's fault you can't comprehend character development and characters changing their mind or regretting past choices.
So apparently, Hbo wouldn't allow them to do 10 episodes, even though they had written 10 episodes for each season..
This is why it felt like there was something missing as the battle for harrenhal was pushed out of season 2 due to budget limits by HBO.
It really sucks because last time around, it was the opposite. HBO offered up to 12 episodes for the final season of Game of Thrones, but the creators denied it
yup it was the complete opposite lol
I heard it had something to do with the writer's strike
Well, if memory serves, Martin and HBO wanted at least 10 seasons of GoT with 10 episodes each and Martin was actually in favour of having 12 seasons.
Oh, yeah then you actually missed something. Helaena pretty obviously has this gift. Remember her predictions like "beware the beast beneath the boards" or "I'm afraid ... not the dragons. The rats". When she was still a kid she mumbles "Hand turns loom, spool of green, spool of black, dragons of flesh, weaving dragons of thread." When Aemond complained to his mom about the pig and Alicent said "you will have a dragon one day", Helaena mumbles "He will have to close an eye." This episode reveals that she has kind of an understanding what is going on though. It suggests that she knows she is just a piece of the puzzle and everybody needs to play his part. I think that's why she behaves so strangely when blood and cheese came to kill her son. She knew it will happen eventually, maybe just not when and of course she was still struggling with it.
Aemond to Helaena: I want you to ride Dreamfyre for battle.
Helaena be like: You will die, never to be seen again…😂
Helaena: 'A battle, in a season finale? never!'
They try cover her underdeveloped character with magic
Halena is a dreamer. You haven't noticed this whole time in both seasons Halena giving prophecies? She is now learning to control it better.
The actor who plays Tyland said in an interview that he would take fighting in the mud pit over having to sing any day!
Haha that's cool to know, and it works really well too. Tyland was meant to be uncomfortable singing, so if the actor felt that way as well then it would help his performance.
It’s kind of sad you guys thought alicent did all of that talk with rhaenyra only bc she wanted to keep cole alive. Do you really think she is that shallow? I think most of you miss the point of alicent's character. Her character was never strong, independent or fierce in the show. She was a CHILD that got manipulated into a marrige and was conditioned by her father to believe rhaenyra(her best friend) would want her and her kids dead someday. She never wanted ANY of it, she was just a girl. Years pass, and the same fear Otto fed her, was what she used to raise her children. They all grew up neglected, having to fulfill their duties no matter the emotional damage they caused.
When alicent raises the knife towards rhaenyra in season 1, she clearly says that she had to fullfill her duty and make sacrifices such as being maritally raped, having children at 15 with her best friends dad, having to live as an object, while Nyra had the liberties to bed whomever and do whatever while still remaining heir. I mean, she even had bastards, and Jace took one of her sons eyes and no one did ANYTHING. That kind of served as evidence to her fathers words, that her children would never be safe if Nyra lived. It made her go manic and project her hate onto her family, because Nyra had all the things she wouldve dreamed of having. She couldn’t understand how, if according to her father, there was only one path for women in that world, then how could rhaenyra even break out of her role, how could she reach the unattainable but Alicent never could? It is really hard to hate someone you once loved.
At the familiy's last dinner, they reconnect and Alicent realizes that it IS possible, that Nyra would not hurt her sons in that way. But after Viserys death, she realizes that even as queen regent, after all her sacrifices, the men around her had already plotted to take the throne, and all her authority was gone. Her sons are all egomaniacs, she is but a woman and no one looks to her. She starts to realize that it was all for nothing. She abused Aegon for so long, forcing him to be king, to the point it broke him and made him a bully, which consequentially made Aemond a apathetic psycopath. Halaena is too pure for that world, and alicent is probably going crazy thinking about the trauma the war will impose on her. tShe even talks with her brother, that her sons trauma is her fault, and not only the atmosphere in the red keep.
She sees rhanyra, and now a parallel ha formed. As a child Rhaenyra was carefree, she wanted to fly away with alicent into the unknown, while alicent was clearly always under stress and in fear because of the constant manipulation of her father. Now, in the final episode, they have switched. Now nyra has lived her carefree days, and the path towards queendom is inevitable. Now Alicent realizes that all the pain she endured, was NOT the one and only path. Her daughter and granddaughter CAN escape the trauma of the war, this is not the life she has to lead now. She has no duties. It is disgusting that she would sacrifice her son, but as Rhaenyra said, both looking at each other as adults that know about the harsh realities of the world, there are only two options, either Aegon, or peace in Nyra's reign. This was written in stone, the second that Viserys named Nyra heir, and otto set his mind on the fact that his grandson would be heir instead. There was never a way of escaping, but now there is a way. Alicent and Nyra know its painful, you can see it in their eyes on the scene, but it must be done
This is what makes them both much more interesting characters. Why do all of you insist on independent, apathetic, inherently evil female characters, when we all know humans are multidimensional in every way. WHy cant Alicent be both, a very sentient and guilty character, while also loving her kids in a twisted way, while also accepting that there can be a way out, whithout it ruining her character and having all the blame imposed upon her. I adore her charcater and how the showrunners decided to give more dimesion to her. I read Fire and blood, and all book readers know it is written as a matter of fact, and it is like a history book. We dont really know about the characters personalities, except for rumors and the personality descriptions of MEN. Fire and blood was written by maesters, and all the physical and cualitative descriptions of women were probably mysiginistic.
You are spot on! Exactly what I’ve been saying to all of my friends who watch HOTD. She is so misunderstood, it’s crazy. The most complex character in the show, in my opinion.
Can’t and will not understand all the hate. She’s far from perfect but people truly overlook everything that she’s been through.
Rhaneyra is also super flawed as a character, she is just more likeable overall because of the whole rightful heir conversation but I find her extremely hypocritical, she is not a good person at all, nobody is at this point except Helaena.
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK 👏👏👏 Alicent is the most layered, three dimensional, tragic character in the whole damn show. I'm so sick of people labeling her the evil, slutty, bad mom. Ugh.
Bullshit Alicent in s1 was like differet Alicent she wanted kill Rhaenyra for just taking Aemond's eyes ,protected Aegon from dragon and now she give her son to be kill because she wants to run away to live in woods ?and for what she is highborn how she will live in woods ? on Rhaenyra good will or that that Daemon will not want to take revenge on rest of them ? this is some stupid writing lever of season 8 of GOT that no matter how you look at it it had plot holes and looks like competently different show than season 1.She is like opposite of what her character should be like she should be like Lady Jessica from Dune or Cathlyn Stark and they ,and her worse then Cersei and she is not
I agree with a lot of this. The only issue is: she also lost ALL respect that I ever had for her the moment she chose to send her sons to the sword. A love of a mother is meant to be the one thing that sticks, and with her she fell lower then the low. Even Cercei had the quality of a mother.
I understood Allicent with most of her choices as they were for her children and her house: she then just gives it up after pushing it on her kid??? Horrible human being.
I think it may be a writer flaw because she straight up doesn’t contradict the books- she contradicted herself in season 1.
The scene with Alicent in the like was kind of like a baptism of sort for her. She’s washing away her past sins and come out of it new. Renyra called her out on it though, “ok, you think you’re gonna just wash your hands of it and be free of the consequences ? It doesn’t work that way.”
I agree she is a product of the men around her (especially Otto) and the only thing she chose for herself really was Cole and even THAT came with tons of guilt and shame for her. So now she’s going to save herself and Heleina.
21:22 Thats likely one of the "green men"
Quote from ASOIAF wiki:
"The green men or Green Men are a sacred order entrusted with the guardianship of the Isle of Faces in the riverlands. Some nursery tales claim they are horned and have dark, green skin. According to Old Nan, the green men ride elks and sometimes have antlers."
i thoughjt it was one of the children of the forest at first, like we see in GoT
The location mentioned above is right near Harrenhall as well.
Daemon doesn't have the gift; he was only able to see because of the tree.
That's not quite accurate, plenty of people touch weirwood trees without having visions. He has the gift, though it is even weaker in him than it was in his brother, so you are partially right, he needed the tree. (Show-) Haelena on the other hand is shown to be the strongest dreamer since Daenys the Dreamer and before "Blood Raven" Brynden Rivers.
@MS-io6kl Thanks for the clarification. It also makes sense because he's uncle too.
Guys, Helaena has been foretelling the future in literally every scene, whether vocally or with hints. Come on. :)
To be fair, she never was as literal as she was in this ep. Her hints were cryptic enough in the past it's easy for casual viewers to miss
@@sarad2659 Oh please, you need to not be paying attention to the screen whatsoever to not understand the "close an eye", "beast beneath the boards", "rats". I understand missing the embroidery of the funeral shroud or dragons of cloth, but come on!
They’ve been showing us that Helaena can see the future since season 1. She said Aemond would lose an eye to get a dragon and she also knew Rhaenys would burst through the floor at Aegons coronation. She also said she was scared of the rats before her son was killed by blood and rat catcher cheese. I read that Daemon was in the dream world and that’s why she could connect with him and tell him to believe the vision.
Got that Rhaenys scene was so stupid and of course Hess write it
I’m happy you guys enjoyed this season as much as I did! I do wish they were able to do a full 10 episodes, but I’m very happy with what we got.
Yall really can't be suprised THEY weren't paying attention to Helaena😭
We've seen multiple times in both seasons that Heleana has some sort of foresight hability
Rhaenyra: “what has you spooked?”
Daemon: “i have seen something… dark and terrible.”
Rhaenyra: “the threat from the north? the cold and the darkness?”
Daemon: “worse, season 8 of Game of Thrones.”
23:39 has no one been paying attention to Heleana???
Yeah man these three never think deeper about the scenes. Not for them!
Daemon wasnt leaning in for a kiss. If you hadn't noticed they always put their heads together almost in the shape of a heart when they talk.
It was supposed to be 10 ep and the big boss said it had to be 8 for budgets reasons, the reason it felt like such a bad cliffhanger was because of this, we were supposed to get a crazy penultimate episode followed by a more realistic finale, all of it for saving money smh. Wasn’t the writers fault at all.
Yeah but they also ruined Alicents character (the only thing about her was she at least stood proudly for her side and her kids even if she wasn’t a good mother.) she gave up all three of her sons in that last scene after being the one to put Aegon on the throne who didn’t want it.
And - they basically made it Aemond vs everyone else…. Like that’s stupid.
Did yall just ask if Helaena had a gift as well? I’m actually annoyed that yall asked that question. YES she has a gift..the beast under the boards was Meleys crashing through the floor. Alicent telling Aemond he’ll get a dragon and her saying it will cost an eye. Her telling Aegon that she was afraid of the rats…blood and cheese.
I'm in the minority that enjoyed this finale and the season overall. It wasn't everything that I wanted but I was satisfied with the ending. I'm not looking forward to the 2 year wait for S3 but at least we're getting another spin-off to tide us over. Enjoyed watching with y'all!
Helaena has been showing gifts of prophecy since Season 1, she’s a dragon dreamer.
It was one of my favorite episodes! Not finale worthy, but it was still good and I don’t think enough people are acknowledging that! They better bring it next season 😂
agree but i think people were just dissapointed the finale didnt have any action they were setting up for the last few episodes.
Fr, it really was! On it's own I'd give the episode at least a 9.5 as anything but a finale. But, you can still tell it was originally going to be 10-episode season. The Battle of the Gullet would've been a banger to end this season with. I'll never know why the new execs thought HOTD of all shows would be a good one to cut the funding on.🤦🏽♀️
@@RHQ7 It's nothing more than a trailer for season three.
Helena’s visions aren’t a new occurrence. In season 1 she said something along the lines of “beware the best beneath the floor boards”. Shortly thereafter Rhaenys and Maelys burst out of the floor of the dragon keep during Aegon’s coronation.
You guys really should have rewatched season 1 before starting this. You've all been confused or completely off about so many things because of how much of season 1 you've forgotten. I STRONGLY recommend rewatching seasons 1 & 2 before season 3 drops so you actually know what the hell is going on. Love you guys and your reactions, even if you drove me a bit crazy this season! 😂🥰
A lot of people forgot that the council had already planned putting Aegon II on the throne behind Alicent's back before Viserys' death. I'm not defending what she did or how she interpreted the words of Viserys but the greens were going to push for Aegon either way.
exactly. people seem to choose to ignore that part of the statement to serve the view of her character that they have
I didn't know it was bad luck to rename your ship, something new I learned, thanks Quinn! ^_^ that mud wrestling scene ha! & vision Daemon saw gave me chills & goosebumps! So exciting to hear Daemon say "Winter is Coming" line! 😃 & tension dialogue scene between Aemond & Helaena now she knows his dark secret wow! & scene between Alicent & Rhaenyra was intensifying! Writing in this episode was outstanding! thanks Badd Medicine for an amazing experience watching the full reactions with you 😊💚♥️💙
Honestly, I've never heard of this superstition before. During the Age of Sail, ships getting renamed wasn't uncommon and today usually a ship gets renamed if it is sold to another company or warships are renamed if a famous ship leaves the service (either by design or by accident or by enemy action) to carry on the legacy and battle honours. "Yorktown" (CV-5) lost at the Battle of Midway and "Yorktown" (CV-10) formerly named "Bon Homme Richard" come to my mind.
Thank you so much for the super! 🤜🤛😁🙏
@@BaddMedicine you're welcome! & have nice day! 😊♥️💚
Helena is a "Dragon Dreamer". If you pay attention to what she says as a child throught out season 1 you will notice that she predicts a few things here and there and talks in riddles. Also when she predicted her son being killed "I fear the rats" insinuating the Rat Killer/Trapper. Dragon Dreamers are a rare Targaryen Magical Gift like Warging is A rare Stark/First Man gift.
So as a Targaryen, why is she suddenly having Weirwood visions? Since when did the blood of the First Men run in her veins?Why is she running with the Old Gods all of a sudden?
There actually a possibilty that she has Blood of the First Men in her veins throught her mother Alicent.Alicent's mother is Alyrie of House Florent. This house is said to descend from a daughter (Florys the Fox) of Garth Greenhand, The founder of House Gardener. A lot of major houses (the Starks, Greyjoys, Tyrells, Lannisters, and Tullys) can trace back to them, Garth was as legend put it "A Mythical High King of the First Men". Also it was rumoured that House Hightower could trace their lineage back to the First Men also through another one of Garth's daughters,Maris the Maid.
So there's a possibly with those 2 bloodlines (First men & Valyrian) It could make for a powerful Seer.
I also think the writers on the show just didn't flesh Helaena out enough. It's like they put her on the backburner and forgot that she would be a bigger part in the storytelling and tried to rush it in this episode
@@noneofyourbeeswax01 she is not seeing anything in weirwood visions she knew already that scene was talking directly to damon and he is having vision
Really thought I'd see a bigger reaction from you guys about seeing Dany and her baby dragons, they even played her theme while showing it.
"Is Haelena a seer?"
🙈 🙉 🙊
(Oak, Mason & Answer
During all Haelena season one scenes)
Helaena has been predicting future events since season 1, so she definitely has the gift of foresight
helaena has had visions of the future since her introduction. she talked about the rats before her child was killed, she talked about aemond losing an eye, about melys breaking through the floor during aegons crowning...so yeah, she has a gift, not that id call it a gift since it probably haunts her and no one listens anyways.
Viserys thought he was to Rhaenyra. Alicent doesn't know the song of fire and ice. She just took what she heard and ran with it.
We need an "Answer watches GoT" series on the channel between now and the next season!
If you guys go back and do a rewatch, definitely watch with close captions. Most of Helaena's prophecies are whispered or talked over. There is so much happening in the first season, the only times she seems to speak is in whispered prophecy. The family absolutely ignores her or laughs her off.
H "I am afraid"
A "You are safe. They would be fools to come with Vegar protecting the city."
H "Not the dragons. The rats."
--Confused looks--
A "The Queen is an enduring mystery."
"What the hell is that??" - It's a Green Man, a creature from the Isle of Faces. Rumored to be half First Man, half Children of the Forest.
I like to believe that if Alicent said nothing about what Viserys said before he died, Otto would have assassinated every member of house black to put Argon on the throne by force. So in a weird way Team Black was given a chance because they tried to do it legally.
In a few words. Yes, Haelena has the"sight".
It has been shown several times in season 1 as well. If you have time, check out the scenes with her - she even said in episode 1 this season. "I'm scared" and Aegon said they had dragons to protect them. And she said (paraphrasing) "Not the dragons. The rats" (as in ratcatcher).
Also, I kove the perspective from people that are bot completely obsessed with the vooks. Like sometimes we get so deep in the lore and it's so refreshing to have the perspective of people that have only seen the shows. Reliving that feeling of watching the season from watching you guys!
Helena has been shown having visions all season. For example, she knew about the coming death of her son from the rat catchers. She just didn't know when it would happen. She knew there was a beast below, which was Rhaenys on Meleys, coming through the floor at Aegon's coronation. Helena has seen things, in a disjointed manner, throughout. I think this is showing her becoming more attuned to her visions.
Many people online seem upset at this episode. I admit, I have not read the books, so there's that. But, I have enjoyed this one as well as this whole season.
The only thing to keep in mind is that, if you haven't seen GoT yet and you go to watch it now, there are HotD spoilers mentioned in two of the episodes. One doesn't really give anything away that we don't already know by now, but there's a HUGE spoiler in Season 3, Episode 4 that tells us the fate of one of the main characters. It's a throwaway line that could easily be missed or forgotten by someone who watched GoT before HBO ever had plans for a HotD series, but for someone who's already seen HotD, it would stand out and be hard to miss.
So my advice, if you don't want to be spoiled by this major revelation, is to wait until after HotD is finished to watch GoT, or find someone who can tell you what small portion to skip over in 3x4. You wouldn't be missing anything important (to GoT) if you skip over those few seconds.
Watching GoT AFTER HOTD is absolutely the wrong way round.
This guy says with a straight face, this was the best episode 😂😂😂
Entertainment is subjective. What hits for you may not hit others and vice versa. 👍
this episode was amazing no matter what anyone says
"Could we put a banner on their tail?" 😂
Helaena is one of the few Targaryens with the gift known as ‘dreamers’. It’s why she’s so socially awkward. She gets visions of the future and speaks in riddles often, the way Daenys the Dreamer foresaw the doom of old Valyria and urged her kin to escape to Westeros with their dragons. The books didn’t have Helaena as a dreamer but the franchise has really embraced that change, especially since Helaena’s dragon was named Dreamfyre and she’s not known to be a warrior.
There’s also the question of heirs if Aemond becomes King, since he isn’t married and Aegon can no longer father sons. They’d have to acknowledge Helaena and Aegon’s daughter Jaehaera as the heir (acknowledging a woman can lead) or name Daeron (the unseen kid brother) heir.
Idk why people act like being named heir is some sort of protection for Jace. Rhaenerya was legitimatley born and she is fighting a war for her throne. Ulf proves his anger right everytime.
Makes me smile somewhat when people are so surprised at the appearance of Otto - Rhys Ifans' name did appear in the opening credits after all!
That doesn't mean they expect a brief glimpse of him in a cell with zero context. It just confirmed that this so-called "finale" was just an hour long trailer for season three.
While I do feel bad Aegon's downstairs got roasted I find it ironic that now his only surviving child is a girl (Jaehaera) and therefore according to the him and the Greens can't inherit the throne when he's gone, leaving him no heir except Aemond and his younger brother. Unless Helaena is already pregnant.
Well, he's a r*pist sooo...poetic justice, me thinks.
He has a son called Maelor, younger than the twins, but the show hasn’t shown him - they may or may not be excluding him, but he would be an heir.
@@JamieNeill I feel they excluded him to make it "easier" for Alicent to betray Aegon. Because Rhaenyra needs to wipe out all male opposition and Alicent would look like even more of a scumbag if she didn't care what happened to a toddler.
@JamieNeill I was unsure if they were gonna include Maelor in the show. Which is why I thought maybe they left it open ended about whether Helaena may of may not be pregnant. We did see Alicent offer Helaena a drink (maybe moon tea) that she never got to drink since Aemond burst into the room. Or maybe he's just not gonna be included. Either way I can't wait to see how it all plays out in S3.
Well, Aegon has a bunch of other children besides his three (or as it's probably in the show two) with Haelena, but they are all bastards.
'What sort of man are you?' 'I might ask you the same, matey.'
Did they miss that Helaena is a seer and had dragon dreams this whole time? lol
That's nothing like having straight up VISIONS which she understands (unlike her previous cryptic prophetic remarks) and can even communicate with other people in them. She's never demonstrated that ability before, but suddenly now the writers have imbued her with the blood of the First Men, Weirwood visions and a connection with the Old Gods. Pretty crazy for someone of Valyrian heritage.
It’s so funny that the actor who plays Tylan Lannister said the mud wrestling was easier than singing.
You guys are the only reactors that didn’t lose their 💩 that there was no battle in the finale lol
Because they've never watched a show they didn't like.
Guys, you are kinda late to the realization that Helaena is a seer who can witness future events. She literally predicted Aemond losing an eye in S1.
This would have been a great episode 8, if the season had 10 episodes. As a finally though, massive dissappointment. You can’t just have a finale with practically no payoff. Next season better be action-packed
It'll be action packed from the start if we get to see all the battles set up in this episode.🙂
the payoff is all the players finally coming together on the board
Helaena has been predicting things since wayyyy back in season one! It’s very subtle but if you go back and listen to her as she mumbles and stuff, you can hear her saying stuff that ends up happening later!
This was never supposed to be season finale. there were 2 more episodes planned out and written but Warner bros. cut them as they were deemed to be too expensive. The content from those episodes will now be used for 3x01 & 3x02.😅
I recommend watching the 2 seasons again in your free time bcs you will be able to catch so many more details! Like Helena being all prophetic, the foreshadowings etc. :p can't wait for season 3!
Helena doesn't just have the gift. She is super powerful. She entered into the dream sequence of Dameon (who was at Dragonstone) whiles she was on the rooftop in Kings Landing. That is badass level 3-eyed raven ability. Even Alice Rivers can't do that
Viserys was so close to death he thought he was speaking to Rhaenyra in that moment Alicent heard a small portion of the prophecy.
The Song of Ice and Fire is a prophecy only to be told to Targaryen Heirs to the Iron Throne hence why Rhaenyra told Jace about it and it’s also inscribed on the dagger that Aemond took from Aegon after the battle at Rook’s Rest! He has no clue of this prophecy but If he heats the dagger up, the prophecy is there to see! Alicent heard the name Aegon and assumed her son.
Heleana is a Dreamer, Alys is a wood witch and maybe a Greenseer as well due to Harenhaal’s location and the plethora weerwood trees literally overtaking the dilapidated castle and also the God’s Eye very near by.
I don’t remember them being able to communicate in the books but I think Helaena , Alys and maybe other dreamers and greenseers from the past can communicate with each other. If that’s the direction they’re going in, it will be very interesting. Didn’t like the last episode but I think it set up a lot of possibly whats to come.
We wanted a Dance of Dragons... we got mud wrestling in the finale to a season that was just a lengthy trailer for season three >
you want to see all the dragons die already? jesus you guys are so impatient
3rd watch, was excited to finish this season with you guys! I liked it. Season one was the history, season two set the table, next season lets go to war!
Helena always had visons but nobody paid attention.
Why do people keep saying Helaena had visions? She's NEVER had a vision - cryptic prophecies (that aren't revealed as such until the events actually happen) are not visions.
Helaena has been having visions since the first season. I thought it was pretty well known that she has visions, if you look at the castle there are drawings of things that happened in the future that she drew. Go back and watch scenes with Helaena and you will see that she is always giving small hints to what is about to happen.
Helaena has visions…. That is why in episode 1 she said she was afraid of the rats she saw what the rat catchers would do. Why she talked of the beast under the floor she say Rheanys and Meleys coming up through the floor in season 1.
When they were young and someone told Aemond he would have a dragon she said he would have to close and eye first….,,
Abubakir Salim was the standout performance for me this episode, that line delivery was great, you could sense it building up in Alyn all season, great reaction as always guys!
So in this episode it is revealed that not only does Helaena have what Viserys referred to as dragon dreams but that perhaps that magic Aegon the conqueror had is actually the same as the old magic of Westeros. We see that Helaena was able to manipulate and see the same vision as Daemon as if she transported herself through the trees to speak to him. That is the Greensight, the magic the Three eyed raven, Bran and Jojen had access to. It's pretty interesting that those two forms of magic may just be interpretations of the same thing. The dragonlords just assumed since they were always around dragons that the animal and nature connection of greensight was actually nothing to do with the animal being a dragon. Think of Bran and his direwolf, Aegon and Balerion, The Three Eyed Raven (avoid names for possible A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms spoilers that we now have to be concerned about) and his Raven etc...
Why on earth would someone from Old Valyria share the magic of the First Men, the Old Gods and the Weirwoods? It makes no sense. It's just another example of retconning to ride on the back of GoT's success.
The Answer should do Game of Thrones reactions while we wait 2 years until season 3
I've seen so many ppl mad bc sheep stellar wasn't bigger but they don't realize by season 3 he will be massive
Season 3 will literally start the same day in the timeline
@@comomodo5023 yeah but just like the characters grew the dragons will.
its not gonna grow in the same day they made that dragon too small dragons grow big when they are not locked up in the pit Sheepstealer should be massive he was always roaming free
@@ramoncarter3121 I know that I'm just saying this show doesn't stick exactly to the book it probably will be bigger next season
I believe Alicent. She feels the weight of what her mistake put in motion. However, her other son arriving in KL at the end might screw things up.
Ulf makes me feel like an embarrassed parent. 😑😑
Reactions to the season of kind of confused me a lot of people saying this was boring or disappointing didn't have enough action the action has never been in the battles but in the politics and the schemes. I thought this season was phenomenal, just like the last
Dany, the prince that was promised. I wish GOT had ended better so this flashforwards dont leave such a bitter taste
To be fair, Alicent is responsible for making her children resent Rhaenyra, but all of this destruction was caused by Otto's ambition and Viserys's negligence. It was clearly stated that the plan to make Aegon king was schemed by the counsil without Alicent's consent. She convincing herself that Viserys changed his mind wasn't of importance at all. Also, why is everyone saying she accepted Aegon's penalty? She literally never gave her word to it. I reckon her plan is to go back to KL and make him flee before Rhaenyra arrives just like Larys did.
The last 3 episodes after the big battle on episode 5 I kept saying “okay NOW it’ll be a good one, they’re clearly setting things up…”
Yeah turns out they spent the final 3 episodes on setting up next season 😴
I think that Alicent asked Larys to get Aegon out of King's Landing and didn't tell him why, before she went to Dragonstone (or immediately after). No way would she sacrifice even her least favorite child.
Let’s hope Sheepstealer also notices what Rhaena has gone through for him and doesn’t burn her😂
I think Larys may have had Hightower locked up so that he couldn't help Aemond. Up until that point, everyone thought he was with Daeron. Alicient even said it was strange that he hadn't written to her which also insinuated that he may have died.
Ser Crispy was shook.
Guys, thank you. I was on TH-cam, looking for reactions right after I finished watching the episode. I really enjoyed the episode. Daemon's story has been fascinating to me. The soundtrack at the end of the episode made me a little teary. I thought people would also be happy about it. How I was wrong. Everyone's hating on this episode. They didn't get the action they expected, so they decided the episode was awful. No war, no dragons = bad episode. No. Characters in this series are so messed up. Both sides are facing with the consequences of their actions. When there's so much on the line, starting a war isn't easy. They change and grow. Some go insane. I love seeing that. Yeah, dragons are super cool and fun to watch, but I don't need them in every episode to enjoy this story, even if it's in the name.
So thank you for seeing the good. Thank you for being positive. I needed this.
Heleana is known as a dreamer. One of her ancestors back in Old Valyria was also a dreamer, and he was the one that warned the entire family about an apocalyptic event that would happen soon(doom of old valyria when everyone died)and this is why aegon the conqueror left for dragon stone in westeros in the first place. These people are neurodivergent, psychics and could be described as being on the spectrum? in our world kind of. This world is full of magic, and people like helena can see the past present and future and just see the world in a different way. This is why she is easily overstimulated, we see this when she had to parade though the streets at the funeral, the way she said “i’m afraid of the rats” on the episode that her son died. She also has an infatuation with insects since she was little, pointing to characteristics of neurodivergent people
Nope, nope, no. Helaena's ancestor Daenys the Dreamer was a woman; Daenys's father Aenar was the Targaryen who fled Valyria and came to Dragonstone before The Doom occurred, not Aegon the Conqueror; there's no textual evidence that dragon dreamers see past present and future events, that's what greenseers like Bran and Bloodraven do. You know there's like 5 main books, a world book, the source book for this show and a very accurate wiki of Ice and Fire for your reference?
@@InimitableAde i read all of them many years ago. Still the same concept. Either way, at least heleana can see the future and the present and that’s what i said
@@marinaa.1993 you also said she can see the past, but whatever if you can't own or be corrected on what you said a few hours ago, I get it. There's a lot of that going around.
_"people like helena (sic) can see the past present and future"_
Nope. I won't expand on that because @IndomitableAbe has already got it covered.
They set us up so high and then left us hanging....I feel like if they wrapped up Daemon's Harenhall storyline alongside Rhaenyra's New Dragon Riders in a longer episode 7 then ended there, the short season would've felt a little more complete. This episode felt more of a Season premiere episode for S3. But that said I still very much love this series and surely ready for the long wait for 2026. 🇹🇹
- Reply to your thoughts about Helaena, remember throughout the series she HAS shown signs of having the visions / dreamers states. All those things she used to mumble always meant something. This episode confirms it for us.
From someone who read fire and blood, buckle up for season 3!
Guys notice who backed away when Deamond announced Rae queen. Wondering how he's going to be handled
Now Game of Thrones reactions with The Answer?❤ Greetings from Germany
I hate that they deleted the scene of Cregan Stark leading the march of the starks army. I wanted to see Cregan Stark. Why did they have to delete the scene.
I loved the Finale! As I did every Episode before it this Season.
Yes, Haelena does have the Gift of Vision. She's revealed things in a few episodes before this one.
30:02 No. It's because of Otto. He is the true source of blame.
Will the Answer watch Game of Thrones? If so will his reactions be on here? That'd be great
Sheepstealer is the second biggest dragon under Vhagor if I'm not mistaken. Apologies if the spelling is off to btw lol.
Vermithor is way bigger than Sheepstealer too
Not according to HBO it's not. Sheepstealer is as underwhelming as this Season Finale.
Yes u can tell Helena has had visions since early on...this season was awesome!
Helaena can see the future. She’s hinted at it the entire show. She said Aemond will get a dragon but it will cost him an eye, she kept mentioning her fear of rats, the funeral of her son, and now this. People dismiss her and think she’s crazy but she’s not
she cant see the future she has dreams of future which suck she is another Bran type who knows what happen and tells nothing
@@queenxx1690 she’s a dreamer. In Westeros lore if you don’t know some people of valyian descent have prophetic dreams that come true. She doesn’t understand how they happen or how to control them but she knows what she dreams comes true so many think she’s nuts for the random things she says
You do realize now that they have elevated Daemon, he is dead meat. This is GOT, after all. And we did see his dragon dead in his vision.
Good catch on Aegon being missing when Rhaenyra shows up will make the deal with Alicent be very suspicious to Rhaenyra.
The actor who plays Otto’s name is pronounced “Reese.” It’s a Welsh name ❤
Adam blew it out of the water...
All younger professional Actor's can learn about patience, reserving emotional beats, from that delivery.
Action is not important
Dramatic beats, slight nods, Actors who work with slight, are paid off, with a moment of slight.
People think they want Action
Mud Wrestling, for instance.
I bet the Actor's enjoyed that scene, as much as we appreciated a stuffy Lannister get kicked in the mud.
Matt Smith⭐❤️🩹💯
Notice how Ali's Rivers had disappeared after the Gods eye, allowed Daemon, to see the destruction to come, and the untold tale.
I loved the broken mirror between Rayenera and Daemon, showing their disfunction, and yet a bond beyond the rest of the players.
The face in the God's wood's was actually the Writer, of the story. RR. Martin.
Halena always showed us bits and wonderful pieces that she was a Dream seer.
Future past, she can see it all, and interact with others like Bran could in OG GOT.
She is a amazing Oracle of what should be.
Rayenera⭐💯
Olivia Cooke❤️🩹🌀lost now, she is a pitiful child again, with no direction, wayward no path, 👁️ and she is even to be pitied, as she is a lost soul, with no one to feel for her, the sky swallows her emptiness, and in fear, of all that has come to pass, she can't just wipe clean no matter how much water she finds to cleanse the sullied soul, she has nothing to advance towards, but a setting Son...🌞❤️🩹
Beautiful as always all player's take they're places, and the Stage of Westros map, is laid out.
And the tension amps, as we once again have to wait for the Series to return.
Thank you Guy's
Great Reactions.
Bless❤️🩹💯
Uff, no matter what, I want to give that fish out of water a hug.
He's not used to manners befitting Royal decorum.
He unlike huggable Hugh, and Adam, wasn't in service to anyone.
He was a loner, he is ever the black sheep.
Like Amond felt, as a child growing up in the shadows of his more set upon older Brother Agorn.
Poor sweet Agorn, he never had the love from his Royal station, or expectations of that power position.
He cared for the Small folk, he was trying to be a good King, but his Family was broken, kinn in fighting, disfunction. Non of them prepared for what would come.
Using the Dragons they are doomed to fall.
But this was the story, as it is retold by unworthy scribes.
As Matin put it.
We are just all witness to the story that came before.
Drama beats just satisfying.
As the board is set up, and the plot, and plans are well mete.
Thank you guys
So this episode on its one is a 9/10 maybe even 10/10….. but the fact that it was a finale and now we have to wait 2 more years for war it’s like a 5 or 6 out of 10. If this had been episode 8 out of 10 I think most people would have loved it. But since we got blue balls’d it’s getting review bombed so hard.