Not only that the food is always lower quality for smallfolk, but helps illustrate that during war time they will be getting less and less due to the resources going to the soldiers, and also the trade blockades imposed by the Blacks
@@EzraFieldsofStrawberry yeah great point thanks for adding! as soon as I commented I realized he wasn't even eating, but I felt weird about editing it because I'm weird 😅
"have i not spared you?" was such a perfect way to end that scene. i can see how traumatized criston is, what he's going through and the guilt that's eating him alive.. and we still end this conversation in a way thats classic to one of his worst flaws. playing that white knight chivalrous card and making himself the martyr. can't you see i did that for YOU? ahhh.. fabien is really great.
It's sad that Alicent and Cole are bound by trauma and the themes and dinamics in their relationship are very interestung, but I think the fact we have so little insight on their relationship during the time skips makes these scenes feel a bit empty. "Have I not spared you" feels like It should be a much more powerful throwback to.. Idk, because they barely have had screentime.
@@Velkan1396 another reason this show could have done better with an extra episode but we're stuck with 8. Not complaining tho, sometimes it's great for tightening the story. But yeah more background on alicent and Cole would have been nice
@@drartemisa21 yeah I have no clue on why this season is 8 episodes long. I understand there was a lot to cramp in season 1, but come on, now there's clearly time
Tbf Alicent isn't cut out to run a war council. We saw how queasy she got when they were planning a coup and the prospect of assassinating Rhaenyra. Wish they touched on that more rather than making it seem she was passed over only because of her gender.
It reminds me of the fact that animals have been put to trial before, many times. And it really underscores the cruelty, waste and dishonour of hauling the head of Meleys down to and through King's Landing.
And he'll invite his bros to help, which devolves into a debauched night of puking in the shrubs, fireworks littering the yard and someone snoring on the couch.
Can I just say that I think people are interpreting Daemon’s dream wrongly! He is with his idea of the perfect Targaryen, basically a nameless person who is heaping him with Praise, not specifically his mother, and then only at the end of the dream does the idea of his mother pop into his head and he is actually quite horrified, because he wanted praise from his mother which he never could have had, but I don’t think it was actually his mother in his head during the dream…
I also agree, the reveal of who “she” was seems to have been intentionally there to shock both Daemon and the audience as even book readers were caught off guard.
i will admit, on first watching (which is all i had before recording this) i was so eagerly anticipating ME finding out who it was that it didn't occur to me that daemon didn't know who it was either. but yeah that makes complete sense. not that i previously thought he wanted to have / enjoyed having dream relations with his mum.
I assumed it was meant to be alys rivers in some weird dream sex projection like the dusky woman, and that's why she had uniform eyes, it's alys' eyes. Came across like a very GRRM thing to have happen. If she turns out pregnant later in the story with daemon's kid i'm calling it.
I reckon the door table is some Frey tradition. That it's one of the gate doors of the Twins, and they take it off its hinges and use it as a meeting table as a symbol of trust and good faith while meeting (in that they have opened the door to you and let you in their home) , but also as a reminder that they control the crossing, and the door can be closed to you if they wish it.
I saw it as far more ad-hoc. Jacaerys didn’t want to even go indoors so they had to improvise by putting a door and a crate. Keep in mind, a dragon rider is also the only person who’d treat with the Freys on their bridge instead of outside of it
I love the way they set up and paid off Corlys' hall, at the beginning we see it standing proud, filled with treasures, accomplishments and the life and laughter of the strong family he built. Now we see it cold, dark, empty. A shallow display of his vanity, all the plunder exposing how little Corlys' has now that his ambition got his entire family killed
You're right. He was the one pushing for their family to be closer to the throne even though Rhaenys wasn't bothered. He CHOSE to fight in the Stepstones himself, risking his life, when he doesn't have the armour of being a Dragonrider like Laenor. He was obsessed with his name. But, having said that, should we acknowledge that House Velaryon seems to be the only noble house of colour we have come across so far? Combine that with their Valyrian heritage but permanent subordination to the crown and the Targaryens, perhaps Corlys's ambition takes on at least another aspect if not a different vibe altogether (for the record, I still think the point stands - it's just the issue of race that is set aside in the show but we know continues to exist). I know Grr wrote the books from a typical published fantasy author perspective (white and Eurocentric) and the Velaryon line wouldn't have involved this much melanin, but he often expresses his preference for HotD's interpretation of his work and the fact of the matter is that in the show, Corlys is black and we haven't been introduced to many other POC nobles in the canon at all, and certainly no Valyrian ones outside his family line. These things WILL factor into consistent world building and this show has been fairly consistent. But who knows? Maybe the writers throw their hands up on the issue and pull a Star Trek "we just solved SA and inter-human conflict over a certain level historically and refuse to explain how, don't worry about it, just look at the cool space ships" move.
As a student of philosophy I appreciate the discussion of epistemology at 47:08. How facts are not in of themselves knowledge, even discussing belief and certainty to a degree with misinformation. It is a subject not often talked about.
When I first watched the episode, the scene where Jace offers Harrenhal to the Freys felt weird because he shouldn’t have the right to give it away, but as I’ve thought about it, it’s a kind of cosmic irony because he’s Harwin Strong’s biological son, so it IS his birthright
@@Sway22debatable. Martin said in an interview that the bastards' place in the succession is uncertain, so it could be discussed that a bastard son goes before a brother of the lord. If Jace had been acknowledged as Harwin's bastard, a claim could have been put in place, specially if most of the Strong household supported Jace and not Larys.
@@Sway22And Larys is a ratbrained traitor, Jace's entire presence in that negotiation presumes that Larys loses Harrenhal by virtue of being their enemy.
Mainly because the Green councillors are more distinct characters, even Ironrod from the little we get of him, whereas the Black councilmen tend to blend together and they’re very interchangeable with one another, nothing sets them apart. Also because the Greens discuss different stuff and every episode and it’s just “Pls do stuff ur grace” from the council and “lol no” from Rhaenyra.
@@Longshanks1690 that and the fact that they try to keep team Rhaenyra's(apart from Daemon's)hands clean so far in a setting of war (which by nature has plenty of unsavory actions). So there is really not much for them to argue about while the greens discuss a lot more things and the green characters are more fleshed out, interesting and human. The whitewashing of Rhaenyra's personality in this season has also made her a lot more boring and bland and reduces her agency so she mostly just sits around complaining about her council while they complain about her.
My favourite scene in the episode had to be Daemon and the Brackens by far. He starts off as the image of a Targaryen king, mounted on a big scary dragon with its stupid noodle neck and his goofy anime villain armour expecting all to be terrified of him and bend before him immediately… but when the Brackens say no, it just cuts to him sulking in the grass and I absolutely love that visual contrast. 😂 It just says so much about Daemon, as he relies so heavily on his brutish strength that he doesn’t know what to do when he needs to go down a different path because he actually wants the Brackens on his side. And as we’ll come to see, he is incapable of actually using diplomacy to get what he wants as that brutish strength he so relies on is what gets them to his banner, at the expense of almost everyone else in the Riverlands. It’s only a couple of scenes but everything about this episode does so much for his character, as does the scene with Alys. Likewise, I really love how the show has portrayed the Brackens and Blackwoods, much more than the main series. They actually feel like two groups of equally annoying bickerers who annoy everyone else around them by whining about each other all the time, as opposed to the honourable badasses and the pompous jerks George wrote them as. Especially since it’s the Blackwoods who showed willingness to stoop to wanton violence and the Brackens who showed honour and bravery in the face of a dragon, both sides here feel like they’ve got something going for them and that you don’t really want to be associated with either of them at the same time.
For a second you just made me think "but what if he had asked with honor and made a case for the will of Viserys" but then I realized that also would not work. There's this really annoying theme in this story that "honor and good judgement is strength" that Rhaenyra and Viserys bought into but it's not honor, or oaths. It's good judgement and opportunism. It's guile. When you break down these scenes it's not a morality problem that daemon has, it's a competence problem, with someone chastizing him for morality sake in the background. But then the very next scene you will Captain Guile Hightower parading a dead kid and his mother through the streets and their doesn't seem to be a repurcussion or side eye in sight. It's not just the fact that it works but the fact that nobody cares. It's like there is an air of fantasy over dragon stone where the characters act like they're numenorians and it does not feel intentional. It feels like the show is actually trying to tell me this is a realistic way of approaching the world at this time which is farfetched.
At this point I’ve trusted glidus and Schwift to explain the episodes so much I forgot that there’s a whole segment after the credits with the actual cast and crew talking about the episodes
Yeah but it’s always better to get a critical view unspoiled by the thoughts of the makers, cos that can trick people into thinking there’s canon outside of what exists on the page/screen lol
@@WrangleMcDangleYou could say that about any scene in any media, I guess people also mean her acting, the storyline leading up to it and when it happens. Too much to think about for you I guess 😢
Man, sometimes watching the consequences of something can be just as or even more entertaining than the event itself, just seeing the way everyone reacts to this event, the decisions they take, how they grow, etc. Its just so unbelievably entertaining. I love this show
Anyone else notice Simon Strong regarding Alys like she's the grossest oldest crone ever? And that his joke about the Wailing Tower might reflect his noticing Daemon's fascination with said crone? He's basically hanging out with Old Nan and doesn't know it.
This may be crazy, but i realized Old Nan and Alys are described the same way in the books. Both milk maids, no idea how old they are or how long they've been at the castle, and they both disappear. Are Alys and Nan the same person??
@@thomaswillard6267 But have they been in a room with "Elinda", she of the long white neck and red cloak who was a servant at Volcano Central ie Dragonstone but is now involved in whispered Mysaria led intrigues? I smell Mel.
@@cpolt1192This is brilliant. I think Alys has more ghost of high heart energy but this is CERTAINLY NO COINCIDENCE. Do we know whom she came to wet nurse for? Cos I'd be quite interested who's been consuming the breast milk of wise women at an early age, in a big magic castle, full of weirwoods on the shore of the God's Eye or hot springs and shadow pools.
I LOVE that Crispin has a brand new, shiny lemon to clean his SWORD with but the small folk have to eat around MASSIVE spots of mold for their meager citrus. It's such a perfect way to show the growing gap between the rich and the poor! Also, even though it makes my skin crawn, Daemon's dream-bang with mama Alyssa makes a lot of sense but not so much bc he wanted to dream-bag HER specifically. -her dragon just died and he likely will always see Meleys as his mother's dragon more than Rhaenys' -he never knew her face (she died when he was 2-3) -Alys is undoubtedly sending him visions to weaken his resolve -we clearly see him stop once the dream-Alyssa makes it clear who she is -it feels very Daemon either way but I definitely think it's more Alys messing with him than him wanting to bang his long-dead mother
Alicent actress is great. There's few characters I dislike so much one way but secretly rooting for in other ways. When she had the panic attack I turned ti my partner and just said "She's a fantastic actress", I felt it with her
I love Olivia Cooke she had been in great indie movies at Sundance such as Me Earl and The Dying Girl and Thoroughbred. Fantastic performance by Olivia Cooke, I heard Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy set to star in the Bonnie and Clyde remake as the titular characters.
I interpreted Rhaena's response as her tactfully conceding "yeah, I'm arguing at a deficit here, but it's literally all I can do with the authority I have, and that pisses me off too, but what else am I supposed to do?"
Im not gonna lie i dont understand why people think Rhaenyra was hesitant to act in episode 5. Every single scene with her was her saying she will act and other people saying no she shouldnt, or wondering what she can do to further the war effort, or lamenting that she doesnt know what to do to move forward. Her struggle culminates in the final scene with her and Jace bonding over their shared frustrations that they cant act as directly as they want, and coming up with a plan together to move forward in strength with the war. Her entire story in episode 5 is about how she is no longer hesitant to act, no longer pursuing peace, and struggling to figure out what to do to win, ending with her coming up with a plan of action. Even in episode 4 she wasn't hesitant to act, she wanted to go fight herself. She was reluctant to let Rhaenys go not because she was like "ugh fine I guess we have to fight", she was thinking "ugh fine I want to fight myself but Rhaenys is the smarter choice." The final scene with Alicent in episode 3 DID change her mind, ever since that moment she has realized peace is impossible, she even says it out loud in episode 4.
This episode was literally displaying Rhaenyra playing every single hand she has. And then at the end figuring out a new one with Jace. She has at least 3 big plays. 1. She sends Alfred Broom to Harrenhal to sort out Daemon. 2. She sends Elinda to spread rumours in kings landing and utilise the small folk against her enemies. 3. She pushes to make Corlys her Hand, a very smart move as it was established that when he enters the room, her court listens. Those are all great strategic plays! Then Jace has his big play, getting the Freys on their side too. And now they're coming together for their next big move with the dragons. The blacks did so much this episode.
I don’t get it either. Just because Rhaenyra isn’t screaming and throwing fits people see her as stunted. She acted. The fact that she’s not being hasty is a good thing. I think people are desperate for a Dany 2.0 in Rhaenyra but she was raised by Viserys. She has that fire inside her but she has Viserys’s wisdom telling her to calm down. Ofcourse she’s feeling flustered and confused. She can’t fire & blood wantonly
@@taytayqueen7024 Well that's the problem. Everything Rhaenyra has done in S2 has been presented as the morally righteous thing to do and her whole peacemaker arc felt very out of character.
@@unc54 She sent off Rhaenys and Baela without care. She asked for Aemonds head. She asks Corlys to be hand simply for political gain. She’s pretty selfish lol. I think she’s mostly confused & scared and knows she’s at a disadvantage. The only difference if she’s doing the selfish stuff with manipulation & words, not via physical violence. Just like she does in s1 episode 7, she manipulates her dad to get her way in the Aemond situation.
schwift keeps saying that Aemond wants to marry Haelena, and said so in season 1, but the quote he's talking about is "I'd do my duty" Aemond may want to marry Haelena sure. But it could also be that Aemond is commited to doing what is expected of a Targ king, rather than him wanting to per se
He's a lot like Daemon (obviously) he has the respect for Valyrian traditions such as marrying family members. I agree I don't think he has the hots for his sis but to him it's no big deal that's the correct Targaryen thing to do.
That scene with both Rhaenyra and Daemon leaning against the fireplace - if this was a Scooby Doo kind of fireplace and it started spinning, switching Rhaenyra and Deamon in places, all problems would be solved: Deamon is the war-man but cannot tame the Riverlands by his means, he lacks the diplomacy. Meanwhile Rhaenyra at Dragonstone is still trying everything BUT actually carying on war with violent means, if neccessary. Now put Deamon in Dragonstone at the head of the Black Council with Corlys as his reasonable right hand man and have Rhaenyra as the queen and diplomatic talent (+ dragon) deal with collecting supporters.
That would presuppose Daemon is the type of leader who would actually listen to his reasonable right hand man in the first place, which... uh, press x to doubt.
the "White Walker/Santa Claus" discussion has fascinating implications for Planetos having Narnia rules. Like, the rick & morty when they accepted Jesus Christ as his lord and Savior - the promised prince will return and tear down the wall so Westoros can experience the magic of xmas
It's hilarious but also makes me sick - will these cis straight white creepy masc fantasy nerds stop referencing exclusively each other and European history, please? It's just a constant sticky circle jerk.
For some reason i thought Rhaena nearly dying trying to claim a dragon meant she tried to claim Seasmoke but because Laenor was still alive it didn't take.
I think the Freys using a door as a table is emphasizing on how cheap and greedy the are, like even when Jace the crown prince arrives to negotiate with them they still can't be bothered to get an actual table and then demanding they get the biggest castle on the continent.
Never understood the armour melting into his flesh. Surely his flesh would start melting and should slip off his bones before the armour reaches its melting point. I prefer what they did in the show, his skin and flesh is sticking to the armour instead of the armour melting into his body.
Alicent also thinks of Aemond as a monster. She’s said the line, “You know what he is” multiple times now, I think to Rhaenyra and Otto, or maybe Cole. So that painfully long shot of her processing what just happened when Aemond becomes the acting King is especially heavy, because she believes he is a vicious, violent child who only cares about getting revenge for his missing eye.
I could be crazy, but I think the dragon head is not smoking. I believe there are incense canisters smoking instead. That head will be a hair old and would add a smell something fierce.
Yeah, we can see a cup with incense behind a wheel from the shot behind the cart. I wondered if it was a production thing to have smoke in camera or they had it in-world for the smell.
The maester's a real one. He's just there to do his job and that's it. Also I never noticed it until people started including the clip more in their videos but when BEESbury was killed the maester reached out to him to see if he was okay. If BEES was still alive he prob would've helped him. Dude just wants to do doctor stuff.
Wouldn’t the people of kings landing hate Meleys after the dragon pit scene. We see the small folk morn for the Rat catchers so why wouldn’t they for hundreds of people. It makes sense that criston would see meleys defeat as a positive thing for the small folk of kings landing
@@jt_vix The Dragonpit scene is a festering wound on what is otherwise a very healthy body of a show. It doesn’t matter how good the other body parts are, that festering wound causes problems for everything and everyone else. So normally, the idea of the people seeing dead dragons as an ill omen because it shatters their divine view of the dragons would be fine, but that doesn’t make sense since they should all actively hate Melys for slaughtering their families. Same with Rhaenys’ “Oh aren’t the men so violent and terrible?” speeches. Why should I listen to the greatest mass murderer since Maegor the Cruel on the subject of needless bloodshed? It’s just such a needless problem for the show to have because the show is like someone who doesn’t pay attention to the wound and thinks it’s no big deal. So by pretending it’s not there, the festering only gets worse and worse as time goes on.
As a child of the 80s and 90s, I can attest that the only thing that truly satisfies is a Snickers bar, but it's ability to do so was greatly diminished in 2013 when they replaced the King Size Snickers bar with a two pack of normal bars. Everything about the king size was better. You got more peanuts, and the chocolate on the outside was thicker. The world just hasn't been the same since the passing of the king size Snickers.
My theory is that Alys is creating all of Daemon's crazy dreams/nightmares. And maybe part of that magic pulls from his own memories to create the nightmares. But since he doesnt know what his mom actually looked like, Alys had to make up the look of a generic Valerian woman. And she basically admits that when she says he doesnt know whay his mom looks like.
With how similar Common Tongue is to English, are we to assume: a) word Demon doesn't exist in common tongue b) it does exist but Targaryens keep naming their children Daemon and people are too scared to comment on it c) Common Tongue is an unrelated but 1:1 translatable language to English and we are just reading the translation (i.e Demon and Daemon isn't spelled similarly)
D) "Daemon" is a term in Greek, adopted into medieval latin and then English at various times referring a protective spirit or guardian deity. It only gains a negative connotation within the context of Christendom. We can assume that a similar situation would exist between the Christianesque Faith of the Seven and the 'Pagan' Old Gods and Valyrian Dragon-gods At the point of HotD, Daemon is the first Daemon and is likely named via the same convention that a parent might name their kid "Fay" or any number of names derived from "elf". Daemon is himself as a bit of a devilish protector after all. Daemon Blackfyre is then named for Daemon Targaryen, again as a bit of a dark protector motif, the chosen successor of Aegon the Unworthy who didn't exactly have peaceful intent.
@@thomaswillard6267pretty sure daemon isn’t the first daemon ever, there’s a daemon velaryon who was aegon the conquerer’s master of ships - i agree with you but i think it’s just a valyrian name, not one house targ invents
Every episode has been missing this scene, the scene that would be missing pants (okay okay, that was just for the meme, but those two having a secret make out session would be truly something... I love the idea of Crispy finally not being a dick about Rhaenyra at the end because he's turned into a pansexual party goblin for the Greens and he just can't handle his own hypocrisy anymore)
Whenever I watch the episode on Nebula first, I try to guess what parts you’re going to cut and I’m very glad Christmas ASOIAF made it into the TH-cam Cut 😂
Na Jane Aryn is herself a hostage. The dragons she has cant do anything. Jace or Baela could just zip over to the Eyrie real quick and pull a Harrenhall. If she did want to pull a betrayal, her best bet would be to lie low and wait, not make a deal with the greens.
My actual theories are that either (more realistically) the dragons simply have more ferrous iron in their bones naturally, which has been known to turn bones black or it has a similar genetic mutation to the Ayam Ceremi chicken (which has hypermelenation of all tissues). But the best possibility is that they have a greater/more integrated system of tooth roots and paths of vascular circulation w/in bone that allows for insane increases of temperature by allowing for a “blush” response that draws an immense amt of antifreeze-blood into its face (which I suppose is darker than ours idk). So the black comes from rotten dried dark-blood inside the bone that rots away to nothing over time and made them white. Glidus and ASX have rotted my brain so I try and make this silly magic show make sense now gdi.
We’re seeing the struggle for the writers to match main protagonist screen rhaenyra with the book rhaenyra who basically holed up and did nothing at all for the timespan of this whole season, I think.
I feel like the problem is no longer that Rhaenyra doesnt want to act but that she just cant. The blacks have no army and their biggest dragon is dead while daemon is on drugs somewhere else. Her last conversation with Jace was about who has to sacrifice themself in case Vhagar shows up at Dragonstone. She has her back against the wall.
Rhaenyra's council is like those jobs that require 10 years of job experience for entry level jobs. The way it's somehow a mark against Rhaenyra that she was never *allowed* to study war, as if she had a choice
The point remains that she is not trained nor qualified for it. They are not saying that she is bad for not being trained, they are just saying that she was not educated in matters of war which she wasn't, while they have.
@@frankvandorp2059yeah i don't understand why she was complaining about being cup bearer either. She was witnessing small council meetings that way, i thought that was the whole point. Show is just getting weird with the patriarchy stuff. It was marvelously done in season 1.
ahh yes Viserys was notorious for not allowing Rhaenyra things of course.. He'll have a man decapitated for sullying Rhaenyra's name but don't let her near the books on Seige-warfare. What a guy!
17:10 gotta be the cheekiest edit i've ever seen and now i am cursed to picture hacker the dog wiggling his snout every time i hear papa schwifty speak
22:15 neurodivergent person fun fact you can do this today to clean your bath/kitchen faucets, sprinkle some salt in it to help, salt is a good abrasive substance but the lemon juice dissolves the salt a bit making it not scratch the surface, safer than a scourer. Also on the flipside alkaline is good for making soap or as an alternative to clean food, and the word alkaline literally derives from an arabic word for ash, so in a pinch u can take the ash from a fire when travelling and use it to wash up the bowls and cooking pot in the river after (please cool the ash first).
ohhhhh my god thatd be so good. yet another sacrifice in the name of the realm that aemond's done, or at least thats how he'll see it...ooooh the resentment oh thats actually so good
Hmm. I bet in this timeline, the writers are going to suggest Maelor is Aemond’s. Given Aegon’s current state and the books commenting on Aemond and Helaena’s relationship, it’s certainly possible.
@@Xyzzi21 But why? Maelor’s inclusion at this point would be entirely irrelevant. His only purpose was to survive B&C then die later on, so if you’re not going to include him now, it’s just going to be very strange for the normie audience who won’t get why they brought a new kid in for no reason.
@@Longshanks1690not really? His role as a further heir doesn't necessitate his presence during Blood and Cheese. He is literally a replacement because Jaehaerys as a political tool is just that easily replaced. Honestly Blood and Cheese in the book doesn't make sense. Why not assassinate all those high-ranking Greens then and there? I find the show to be more realistic. Not to mention it provides greater exploration of the other characters. This is a story, that's kind of what it is for. Imagine the Greens having to contend with their heir also being a bastard. Or that Aemond would be angering the Faith by essentially committing Targaryen Polygamy at a time of instability. Or Alicent and Helaena having to contend with the potential use of moontea given its recurring role in the story. Plus it just makes sense that Aemond, if capable of reading Valyrian, would try to secure a line of succession to fulfil the prophecy. Meaning this is also downstream of other characters acting within their characterization. It works on so many levels.
They missed a real opportunity to make Aegon look like a monstrosity. He doesn't look like he came out the other side of a 3 way struggle between dragons, getting flamed and suffering a massive fall.....he just looks like he's been in a modern day car crash.
Very fair point. I think they rely on Tom Glynn-Carney's attractiveness as a counterpoint to Aegon's hideousness. Before it was his horrible behaviour. Now it's supposed to be his injuries. They should have really messed him up and relied on the actor's skill to put across how pitiful he is.
@@hnnsy TGC’s facial acting is too good to pass up on. It would have been a complete waste of his talents to render him incapable of showing what he can do for the rest of the show.
But then it wouldn't be believable that he survived if he had been burnt that bad. It's still quite surprising that he survived around 10 days without any treatment (I believe that's what it took them to come back).
@@mavitilo I moreso meant disfigured, maybe thats a better word. Its been a while since I read it so maybe I am conflating it in my head but I thought he was more twisted and disfigured in the source material. As somebody above mentioned, maybe something along the lines of how Viserys ended up with his half mask and disjointed walking. I think its mentioned his armour was fused to his body by the dragon fire. I'm not a make up or effects artist just seems like more could've been done. Having said that...maybe they didn't want the actor sitting in a chair in makeup for 4 hours every day before shooting so could've been a budget/timing decision.
Thank you for making such awesome content together, my dudes. Love these videos, I usually don't like podcasts with more than one person talking. But since I know both your voices, it's easier to tell who is who and who is saying what!
I know you want to promote Nebula... but some of us can't be subbed to that many platforms :( even if it's cheap, consider that you have an international audience, and 5 dollars can be much more in other countries
After watching the episode and hearing the commonfolk referring to meleys' head as "meat" and later on demanding to have access to meat I am truly afraid of a potential plotline that might be foreshadowed by this. This is truly based on nothing but a feeling but imagine how gruesome it would be if the greens decided in order to keep the commonfolk in check they start cutting up the still somewhat alive sunfyre. I hope this doesnt happen but idk it just doesnt leave my head. poor sunfyre is suffering already
I think the smoke coming from the wagon was incense to ward off the stink which makes me think dragon meat wouldn't travel well, even if it was edible to begin with. Not that I think they wouldn't try, as the circumstance is dire and the small folk are not regarded highly by those making decisions. But that's my take. Not that it helps poor Sunfyre. I hope a woods witch or associate of the Children steps in to help him. Headcanon.
@@angelalovell5669 yea the transportation would definitely be an issue which is why it could only work on a still living dragon if they tried it but I dont quite know the distance they need to travel so lets just hope they leave sunfyre alone
Anyone notice Alicent had a look similar to Lena Heady's iconic sharp annoyed grin during her panicking scene? Probably not intentional, but a cool accident, since both characters struggle with their gender
I was so stoned by the time I started watching the episode that I thought Alyssa was Emilia Clarke for like half of the scene and that they were doing completely over the top fan service.
I completely missed the point about Cole having access to fresh fruit juxtaposed to the moldy fruit the small folk need to eat. I love that detail
Condal continues to throw the lemon tree in our faces
🍋
Not only that the food is always lower quality for smallfolk, but helps illustrate that during war time they will be getting less and less due to the resources going to the soldiers, and also the trade blockades imposed by the Blacks
Not only that but he uses the fruit for war, not to actually feed himself. Abundance where it isn't needed, starvation of those most in need.
@@EzraFieldsofStrawberry yeah great point thanks for adding! as soon as I commented I realized he wasn't even eating, but I felt weird about editing it because I'm weird 😅
Ser Simon’s Sons have reached levels of gormlessness heretofore thought impossible
They look like human-sized hobbits.
Jon Snow in season 8 was pretty damn gormless
To be fair, growing up, they had to endure a lot of gorm-shaming.
Absolutely no gorm
@@frankvandorp2059Only Breakbones seems to have taken up after their last name
Criston's sword is now lemon-scented. +5 damage against Targaryens while fighting when a Braavos terrain card is active
Lemon gate is getting out of hand 😂
would sansa eat a criston cole sword cakDELETE
@@BermeslivreRamsay Show: "I'm in you Sansa, I'll be in you forever, the desire to eat phallic foods..."
Damn I hoped i could evade Gwent here at least
Excellent comment no notes
"have i not spared you?" was such a perfect way to end that scene. i can see how traumatized criston is, what he's going through and the guilt that's eating him alive.. and we still end this conversation in a way thats classic to one of his worst flaws. playing that white knight chivalrous card and making himself the martyr. can't you see i did that for YOU? ahhh.. fabien is really great.
It's sad that Alicent and Cole are bound by trauma and the themes and dinamics in their relationship are very interestung, but I think the fact we have so little insight on their relationship during the time skips makes these scenes feel a bit empty.
"Have I not spared you" feels like It should be a much more powerful throwback to.. Idk, because they barely have had screentime.
@@Velkan1396 another reason this show could have done better with an extra episode but we're stuck with 8. Not complaining tho, sometimes it's great for tightening the story. But yeah more background on alicent and Cole would have been nice
@@drartemisa21 yeah I have no clue on why this season is 8 episodes long.
I understand there was a lot to cramp in season 1, but come on, now there's clearly time
@Velkan1396 they do it so they can get the next season out faster.
Tbf Alicent isn't cut out to run a war council. We saw how queasy she got when they were planning a coup and the prospect of assassinating Rhaenyra. Wish they touched on that more rather than making it seem she was passed over only because of her gender.
"I caused you to have a sex dream about your mother" is such a f*cking powerplay
Calling the dragon a traitor is like taking Ned’s horse through the street and calling it a traitor horse.
It reminds me of the fact that animals have been put to trial before, many times. And it really underscores the cruelty, waste and dishonour of hauling the head of Meleys down to and through King's Landing.
Yes. It's like calling Grey Wind a traitor instead of Robb and parading it's head...oh wait.
A traitor horse
@@absolut.4075😭
BEHOLD THE TRAITOR HORSE! SLAIN IN KING’S LANDING…BY YOUR KING!
They’re setting up the dog as a dragon seed, has to be with that much screen time
It's remarkable what an important recurring character it has become.
It's Azor Ahai obviously.
@@alanpennieGenuinely better character development than anyone in GoT S8
Maybe he'll become Ser Pooch? 🥺
@@thomaswillard6267And a better King than "Bran the broken" 🤭
The caption on Aegon when his mother walked out "hoarsely: Mummy" Aegon Horse confirmed?!
Damon is the husband going to clean the garage to be "helpful" while the wife does all of the cooking, cleaning, and set up for a house party.
Oh my god, he's the incarnation of malicious compliance and weaponised incompetence all rolled up in toxic armour and noodle breath.
This analogy implies Rhaenyra has done something actually useful, which is decidedly not the case.
And he'll invite his bros to help, which devolves into a debauched night of puking in the shrubs, fireworks littering the yard and someone snoring on the couch.
“I gotta.. organize this scrap wood”
He is helping he's staying out of her way
“Your Grace, Prince Daemon and Princess Alyssa were caught in behaviours most unbecoming of a Prince. They were…
*C O U P L I N G!”*
SPEAK PLAINLY
@@sarwatarannya8786 THEY FUCKED!
Pvnj i kn😂nnkn Mnemosine k nkuIi8liiljkl8i o5unumkvm u ng hszrv j6v2llbt❤@@sarwatarannya8786
In the BOWELS of a pleasure den@@sarwatarannya8786
In the bowels of a hallucination
Can I just say that I think people are interpreting Daemon’s dream wrongly! He is with his idea of the perfect Targaryen, basically a nameless person who is heaping him with Praise, not specifically his mother, and then only at the end of the dream does the idea of his mother pop into his head and he is actually quite horrified, because he wanted praise from his mother which he never could have had, but I don’t think it was actually his mother in his head during the dream…
I agree 100%
I also agree, the reveal of who “she” was seems to have been intentionally there to shock both Daemon and the audience as even book readers were caught off guard.
I think people are misinterpreting it as well, I don't think he has an Oedipus complex, he was forced to have that dream against his will.
i will admit, on first watching (which is all i had before recording this) i was so eagerly anticipating ME finding out who it was that it didn't occur to me that daemon didn't know who it was either. but yeah that makes complete sense. not that i previously thought he wanted to have / enjoyed having dream relations with his mum.
I assumed it was meant to be alys rivers in some weird dream sex projection like the dusky woman, and that's why she had uniform eyes, it's alys' eyes. Came across like a very GRRM thing to have happen. If she turns out pregnant later in the story with daemon's kid i'm calling it.
When they were removing the armour embedded in Aegon's skin the subtitles read "Squelch". Nice.
The hard of hearing need to understand the icky sounds too. Surprised they didn't say.. sounds M O I S T
Rhaenys & Meleys are falling to their death. Subtitles: *SPLOINK*
I got that same subtitle during a christan and Alicent scene
I reckon the door table is some Frey tradition. That it's one of the gate doors of the Twins, and they take it off its hinges and use it as a meeting table as a symbol of trust and good faith while meeting (in that they have opened the door to you and let you in their home) , but also as a reminder that they control the crossing, and the door can be closed to you if they wish it.
That is such a cool explanation.
No, it's Hodor's door.
I saw it as far more ad-hoc. Jacaerys didn’t want to even go indoors so they had to improvise by putting a door and a crate. Keep in mind, a dragon rider is also the only person who’d treat with the Freys on their bridge instead of outside of it
@@sanderflopI’m with you on that! “We’re not dragging a table all the way out there, take a fucking door or something”
Thats so weird and convoluted, but ok i guess
I can't believe Ser Criston Cole stole Lem Lemoncloak's last lemon and used it to give his sword a lemony scent
The absolute citrusy dishonour
This is my favorite comment and I want you to know that I have been laughing at this for three days now 🍋
Caraxes constricting other dragons would make Daemon's habit of choking people make a lot more sense. Dragons influence their riders and all that.
Ah, Daemon's cute habit of choking people...
I love the way they set up and paid off Corlys' hall, at the beginning we see it standing proud, filled with treasures, accomplishments and the life and laughter of the strong family he built.
Now we see it cold, dark, empty. A shallow display of his vanity, all the plunder exposing how little Corlys' has now that his ambition got his entire family killed
You're right. He was the one pushing for their family to be closer to the throne even though Rhaenys wasn't bothered. He CHOSE to fight in the Stepstones himself, risking his life, when he doesn't have the armour of being a Dragonrider like Laenor. He was obsessed with his name.
But, having said that, should we acknowledge that House Velaryon seems to be the only noble house of colour we have come across so far? Combine that with their Valyrian heritage but permanent subordination to the crown and the Targaryens, perhaps Corlys's ambition takes on at least another aspect if not a different vibe altogether (for the record, I still think the point stands - it's just the issue of race that is set aside in the show but we know continues to exist). I know Grr wrote the books from a typical published fantasy author perspective (white and Eurocentric) and the Velaryon line wouldn't have involved this much melanin, but he often expresses his preference for HotD's interpretation of his work and the fact of the matter is that in the show, Corlys is black and we haven't been introduced to many other POC nobles in the canon at all, and certainly no Valyrian ones outside his family line. These things WILL factor into consistent world building and this show has been fairly consistent.
But who knows? Maybe the writers throw their hands up on the issue and pull a Star Trek "we just solved SA and inter-human conflict over a certain level historically and refuse to explain how, don't worry about it, just look at the cool space ships" move.
As a student of philosophy I appreciate the discussion of epistemology at 47:08. How facts are not in of themselves knowledge, even discussing belief and certainty to a degree with misinformation. It is a subject not often talked about.
When I first watched the episode, the scene where Jace offers Harrenhal to the Freys felt weird because he shouldn’t have the right to give it away, but as I’ve thought about it, it’s a kind of cosmic irony because he’s Harwin Strong’s biological son, so it IS his birthright
It's not rly tho. Since Harwin had a son outside of marriage he would be considered only as his bastard. So the castle would still belong to Larys.
@@Sway22debatable. Martin said in an interview that the bastards' place in the succession is uncertain, so it could be discussed that a bastard son goes before a brother of the lord. If Jace had been acknowledged as Harwin's bastard, a claim could have been put in place, specially if most of the Strong household supported Jace and not Larys.
@@Sway22And Larys is a ratbrained traitor, Jace's entire presence in that negotiation presumes that Larys loses Harrenhal by virtue of being their enemy.
The Green Council scenes are just leagues ahead of the Black Council scenes in my opinion
The greens are just more interesting characters, they made Rhaenyra too “perfect”
Mainly because the Green councillors are more distinct characters, even Ironrod from the little we get of him, whereas the Black councilmen tend to blend together and they’re very interchangeable with one another, nothing sets them apart.
Also because the Greens discuss different stuff and every episode and it’s just “Pls do stuff ur grace” from the council and “lol no” from Rhaenyra.
They don’t have the balls
@@Longshanks1690 that and the fact that they try to keep team Rhaenyra's(apart from Daemon's)hands clean so far in a setting of war (which by nature has plenty of unsavory actions). So there is really not much for them to argue about while the greens discuss a lot more things and the green characters are more fleshed out, interesting and human. The whitewashing of Rhaenyra's personality in this season has also made her a lot more boring and bland and reduces her agency so she mostly just sits around complaining about her council while they complain about her.
Lord of the Tides and Hand of the Queen is about to change all that
2:33 The funny thing is that although Rhaenys claimed the dragon of Daemon's mother, Meleys, Daemon claimed the dragon of Rhaenys' father, Caraxes.
@@frankvandorp2059 okay, that's genuinely hilarious - SUCKS this wasn't played for a giggle in the show, Eve Best would have nailed it
The heraldry of house Glidus is a horse with the head of a man that has multiple eyes of every color.
*A horse with the head of a horse pretending to be a man.
You know that a character is phenomenal when his one liner got me weeping. TGC you shine as Aegon.
@@fayedunaway8 The way he still manages to make me feel sorry for him despite Aegon being a giant POS is masterful.
Mum, Mom, Mommy, Mama, Mummy, Ma, Mumm, Mother
@@jezebullsI understood that reference
daemon sounds so weak and deflated when he says "thats a lie" to the riverlords
My favourite scene in the episode had to be Daemon and the Brackens by far. He starts off as the image of a Targaryen king, mounted on a big scary dragon with its stupid noodle neck and his goofy anime villain armour expecting all to be terrified of him and bend before him immediately… but when the Brackens say no, it just cuts to him sulking in the grass and I absolutely love that visual contrast. 😂 It just says so much about Daemon, as he relies so heavily on his brutish strength that he doesn’t know what to do when he needs to go down a different path because he actually wants the Brackens on his side. And as we’ll come to see, he is incapable of actually using diplomacy to get what he wants as that brutish strength he so relies on is what gets them to his banner, at the expense of almost everyone else in the Riverlands. It’s only a couple of scenes but everything about this episode does so much for his character, as does the scene with Alys.
Likewise, I really love how the show has portrayed the Brackens and Blackwoods, much more than the main series. They actually feel like two groups of equally annoying bickerers who annoy everyone else around them by whining about each other all the time, as opposed to the honourable badasses and the pompous jerks George wrote them as. Especially since it’s the Blackwoods who showed willingness to stoop to wanton violence and the Brackens who showed honour and bravery in the face of a dragon, both sides here feel like they’ve got something going for them and that you don’t really want to be associated with either of them at the same time.
"I didn't think they'd be so eager to die..."
For a second you just made me think "but what if he had asked with honor and made a case for the will of Viserys" but then I realized that also would not work. There's this really annoying theme in this story that "honor and good judgement is strength" that Rhaenyra and Viserys bought into but it's not honor, or oaths. It's good judgement and opportunism. It's guile. When you break down these scenes it's not a morality problem that daemon has, it's a competence problem, with someone chastizing him for morality sake in the background. But then the very next scene you will Captain Guile Hightower parading a dead kid and his mother through the streets and their doesn't seem to be a repurcussion or side eye in sight. It's not just the fact that it works but the fact that nobody cares. It's like there is an air of fantasy over dragon stone where the characters act like they're numenorians and it does not feel intentional. It feels like the show is actually trying to tell me this is a realistic way of approaching the world at this time which is farfetched.
I'm not reading all of that. What's the tldr
@@Rucka_Inc. Daemon is a silly goose
@Longshanks1690 what a silly Billy
"I am so lucky that you have a disease that makes you do so much video editing" this is exactly how it feels everytime a new glidus video comes out
Wake up at 7am for school or work? No.
Wake up at 7am for dragon show analysis?? Heck yeah
awake at 6:30am cuz I couldn't sleep. RIP
@@mischr13 that’s usually how it is for me tbh
@@TaeSunWoo I got two hours! day saved XD Glidus to the rescue with this video just when I needed it lol
At this point I’ve trusted glidus and Schwift to explain the episodes so much I forgot that there’s a whole segment after the credits with the actual cast and crew talking about the episodes
Wait, what?! I didn't know that was a thing! Lol
It is less in depth, because shfifus and glipson provide book context and GRRM context, and all other context
@@Greggie1 I'm gonna see if I can find the snippets on TH-cam so I don't have to fast forward to the end.of each episode. Lol
Yeah but it’s always better to get a critical view unspoiled by the thoughts of the makers, cos that can trick people into thinking there’s canon outside of what exists on the page/screen lol
The cast and crew seem to have no idea what the fuck they are talking about half the time tbh
Alicent panic attack scene was directed masterfully. Chills!
The sweaty upper lip, rushing noise and everything else zoning out completely was so realistic
I remember feeling geniune unease watching her expression. Really incredible stuff
oOoooOo it slowly zoomed to her face as the background voices got jumbled and quieter OooooO
@@WrangleMcDangle ikr like whats so special about an established TV trope I've seen *literally* dozens of times done the exact same way?
@@WrangleMcDangleYou could say that about any scene in any media, I guess people also mean her acting, the storyline leading up to it and when it happens. Too much to think about for you I guess 😢
Man, sometimes watching the consequences of something can be just as or even more entertaining than the event itself, just seeing the way everyone reacts to this event, the decisions they take, how they grow, etc. Its just so unbelievably entertaining. I love this show
They put a valyrian steel armor on caraxes neck, then when vhagar bites it, all her teeth get cracked same way as in cartoons
Tom and jerry aaahhhh teeth destruction
“Criston is still dealing with the trauma of all those murders he committed…”
But his sword and cloak are spotless, so he's good... 😂
Rhaena echoing Lady Arryn's hatred of feeling powerless was the perfect thing to say to her
Anyone else notice Simon Strong regarding Alys like she's the grossest oldest crone ever? And that his joke about the Wailing Tower might reflect his noticing Daemon's fascination with said crone? He's basically hanging out with Old Nan and doesn't know it.
This may be crazy, but i realized Old Nan and Alys are described the same way in the books. Both milk maids, no idea how old they are or how long they've been at the castle, and they both disappear. Are Alys and Nan the same person??
@@cpolt1192they've never been seen in the same room as Melisandre
@@thomaswillard6267 But have they been in a room with "Elinda", she of the long white neck and red cloak who was a servant at Volcano Central ie Dragonstone but is now involved in whispered Mysaria led intrigues?
I smell Mel.
@@cpolt1192This is brilliant. I think Alys has more ghost of high heart energy but this is CERTAINLY NO COINCIDENCE. Do we know whom she came to wet nurse for? Cos I'd be quite interested who's been consuming the breast milk of wise women at an early age, in a big magic castle, full of weirwoods on the shore of the God's Eye or hot springs and shadow pools.
@@cpolt1192 I'm waiting to see how Qaithe and the warlocks of Qarth play into this..
I watch the show solely so that I can fully enjoy each week's Dragon Time.
And also because I really like the show.
@@jackchilton7596 😂 💯
I LOVE that Crispin has a brand new, shiny lemon to clean his SWORD with but the small folk have to eat around MASSIVE spots of mold for their meager citrus. It's such a perfect way to show the growing gap between the rich and the poor!
Also, even though it makes my skin crawn, Daemon's dream-bang with mama Alyssa makes a lot of sense but not so much bc he wanted to dream-bag HER specifically.
-her dragon just died and he likely will always see Meleys as his mother's dragon more than Rhaenys'
-he never knew her face (she died when he was 2-3)
-Alys is undoubtedly sending him visions to weaken his resolve
-we clearly see him stop once the dream-Alyssa makes it clear who she is
-it feels very Daemon either way but I definitely think it's more Alys messing with him than him wanting to bang his long-dead mother
Alicent actress is great.
There's few characters I dislike so much one way but secretly rooting for in other ways. When she had the panic attack I turned ti my partner and just said "She's a fantastic actress", I felt it with her
I also enjoy the previous episode, when Alicent makes a subtle face at the realization that Larys sees the moon tea pot in her room. So good!
I love Olivia Cooke she had been in great indie movies at Sundance such as Me Earl and The Dying Girl and Thoroughbred. Fantastic performance by Olivia Cooke, I heard Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy set to star in the Bonnie and Clyde remake as the titular characters.
I’m terrified for that dogs life with all these starving presents yelling for “meat”
I interpreted Rhaena's response as her tactfully conceding "yeah, I'm arguing at a deficit here, but it's literally all I can do with the authority I have, and that pisses me off too, but what else am I supposed to do?"
"seasoning the means" was a very very good pun
Im not gonna lie i dont understand why people think Rhaenyra was hesitant to act in episode 5. Every single scene with her was her saying she will act and other people saying no she shouldnt, or wondering what she can do to further the war effort, or lamenting that she doesnt know what to do to move forward.
Her struggle culminates in the final scene with her and Jace bonding over their shared frustrations that they cant act as directly as they want, and coming up with a plan together to move forward in strength with the war. Her entire story in episode 5 is about how she is no longer hesitant to act, no longer pursuing peace, and struggling to figure out what to do to win, ending with her coming up with a plan of action.
Even in episode 4 she wasn't hesitant to act, she wanted to go fight herself. She was reluctant to let Rhaenys go not because she was like "ugh fine I guess we have to fight", she was thinking "ugh fine I want to fight myself but Rhaenys is the smarter choice."
The final scene with Alicent in episode 3 DID change her mind, ever since that moment she has realized peace is impossible, she even says it out loud in episode 4.
This episode was literally displaying Rhaenyra playing every single hand she has. And then at the end figuring out a new one with Jace.
She has at least 3 big plays.
1. She sends Alfred Broom to Harrenhal to sort out Daemon.
2. She sends Elinda to spread rumours in kings landing and utilise the small folk against her enemies.
3. She pushes to make Corlys her Hand, a very smart move as it was established that when he enters the room, her court listens.
Those are all great strategic plays!
Then Jace has his big play, getting the Freys on their side too. And now they're coming together for their next big move with the dragons.
The blacks did so much this episode.
I don’t get it either. Just because Rhaenyra isn’t screaming and throwing fits people see her as stunted. She acted. The fact that she’s not being hasty is a good thing. I think people are desperate for a Dany 2.0 in Rhaenyra but she was raised by Viserys. She has that fire inside her but she has Viserys’s wisdom telling her to calm down. Ofcourse she’s feeling flustered and confused. She can’t fire & blood wantonly
@@liamkampff1 I think everyone wants Rhaenyra to just have Danaerys level egomaniac power moments. It’s dumb.
@@taytayqueen7024 Well that's the problem. Everything Rhaenyra has done in S2 has been presented as the morally righteous thing to do and her whole peacemaker arc felt very out of character.
@@unc54 She sent off Rhaenys and Baela without care. She asked for Aemonds head. She asks Corlys to be hand simply for political gain. She’s pretty selfish lol. I think she’s mostly confused & scared and knows she’s at a disadvantage. The only difference if she’s doing the selfish stuff with manipulation & words, not via physical violence. Just like she does in s1 episode 7, she manipulates her dad to get her way in the Aemond situation.
schwift keeps saying that Aemond wants to marry Haelena, and said so in season 1, but the quote he's talking about is "I'd do my duty" Aemond may want to marry Haelena sure. But it could also be that Aemond is commited to doing what is expected of a Targ king, rather than him wanting to per se
He's a lot like Daemon (obviously) he has the respect for Valyrian traditions such as marrying family members. I agree I don't think he has the hots for his sis but to him it's no big deal that's the correct Targaryen thing to do.
Aemond is so fucking into it BECAUSE its what a 'real Targaryen' would do.
Oh boy dragon time!! Will this be the episode where Ser Schwifty reveals his belief that Daemon is the Bloodstone Emperor reborn? Tune in to find out
That scene with both Rhaenyra and Daemon leaning against the fireplace - if this was a Scooby Doo kind of fireplace and it started spinning, switching Rhaenyra and Deamon in places, all problems would be solved:
Deamon is the war-man but cannot tame the Riverlands by his means, he lacks the diplomacy. Meanwhile Rhaenyra at Dragonstone is still trying everything BUT actually carying on war with violent means, if neccessary. Now put Deamon in Dragonstone at the head of the Black Council with Corlys as his reasonable right hand man and have Rhaenyra as the queen and diplomatic talent (+ dragon) deal with collecting supporters.
That would presuppose Daemon is the type of leader who would actually listen to his reasonable right hand man in the first place, which... uh, press x to doubt.
Daemon just wanted to go into battle but the only thing he’s fighting is raindrops and his own demons haha
He would literally rather go to war than go to therapy
@@thomaswillard6267 and he’s forced to go to therapy… my god let’s hope he makes out of the haunting of harrenhal
the "White Walker/Santa Claus" discussion has fascinating implications for Planetos having Narnia rules. Like, the rick & morty when they accepted Jesus Christ as his lord and Savior - the promised prince will return and tear down the wall so Westoros can experience the magic of xmas
It's hilarious but also makes me sick - will these cis straight white creepy masc fantasy nerds stop referencing exclusively each other and European history, please? It's just a constant sticky circle jerk.
I imagine it was incense emanating from those boxes by Meleys' head. I'm guessing rotting dragon smells like utter hell.
i think the dog is a reminder of how Aegon said Aemond is as "loyal as a hound" and it shows us the hound staying loyal while Aemond betrays Aegon
Very subtle.
@@alanpennie8013 who gaf
I'm wondering if there is some intentional symbolism in Criston choosing to polish his sword over getting closer with Alicent...
With a lemon 🥲
@@borysvengerov3398 because it’s sour, you see. It’s like poetry; they rhyme.
For some reason i thought Rhaena nearly dying trying to claim a dragon meant she tried to claim Seasmoke but because Laenor was still alive it didn't take.
I don't Ran or Daemon would let her do that while knowing the thruth.
Maybe she didnt tell them first
Or she tried to claim Jaeherys’s dragon Vermithor, who rejected her for being a woman
@@cpolt1192Thissss.
I think the Freys using a door as a table is emphasizing on how cheap and greedy the are, like even when Jace the crown prince arrives to negotiate with them they still can't be bothered to get an actual table and then demanding they get the biggest castle on the continent.
Never understood the armour melting into his flesh. Surely his flesh would start melting and should slip off his bones before the armour reaches its melting point.
I prefer what they did in the show, his skin and flesh is sticking to the armour instead of the armour melting into his body.
I think the idea is that his flesh melts and the unmelted armor sinks into his flesh before it stops melting.
@@XumalI think it was medieval misunderstanding for being burned but the flesh beginning to heal around the armour
Yeah that moment always stood out to me in the books, if it were actually true he would have died from sepsis soon enough.
Fire and Blood is told by an unreliable narrator. Especially the Dance of the Dragons, which has three of them
Alicent also thinks of Aemond as a monster. She’s said the line, “You know what he is” multiple times now, I think to Rhaenyra and Otto, or maybe Cole. So that painfully long shot of her processing what just happened when Aemond becomes the acting King is especially heavy, because she believes he is a vicious, violent child who only cares about getting revenge for his missing eye.
The smallfolk: we are sooooo hungry
Vhagar: how hungry exactly?
34:20 He mocks us! Give us the damn pisstakes, Glimborf!
Start the damn pisstake before I piss myself!
I could be crazy, but I think the dragon head is not smoking. I believe there are incense canisters smoking instead. That head will be a hair old and would add a smell something fierce.
Yeah, we can see a cup with incense behind a wheel from the shot behind the cart. I wondered if it was a production thing to have smoke in camera or they had it in-world for the smell.
The best breakdowns in the whole ASOIAF community. You’re awesome.
The maester's a real one. He's just there to do his job and that's it.
Also I never noticed it until people started including the clip more in their videos but when BEESbury was killed the maester reached out to him to see if he was okay. If BEES was still alive he prob would've helped him. Dude just wants to do doctor stuff.
"Dragon fire can't melt Valyrian steel beams" lmao
Wouldn’t the people of kings landing hate Meleys after the dragon pit scene. We see the small folk morn for the Rat catchers so why wouldn’t they for hundreds of people. It makes sense that criston would see meleys defeat as a positive thing for the small folk of kings landing
I’m convinced the writers put zero thought into the dragon pit scene. Ryan Condal said Meleys was beloved by the small folk
@@lukew8337 Reminds me of the GoT s6-8 theme of looks cool>makes sense in world. Not enough to ruin hotd or anything just a bit frustrating
@@lukew8337
It appears that it never happened and our lying eyes deceived us.
@@jt_vix The Dragonpit scene is a festering wound on what is otherwise a very healthy body of a show.
It doesn’t matter how good the other body parts are, that festering wound causes problems for everything and everyone else.
So normally, the idea of the people seeing dead dragons as an ill omen because it shatters their divine view of the dragons would be fine, but that doesn’t make sense since they should all actively hate Melys for slaughtering their families. Same with Rhaenys’ “Oh aren’t the men so violent and terrible?” speeches. Why should I listen to the greatest mass murderer since Maegor the Cruel on the subject of needless bloodshed?
It’s just such a needless problem for the show to have because the show is like someone who doesn’t pay attention to the wound and thinks it’s no big deal. So by pretending it’s not there, the festering only gets worse and worse as time goes on.
@@alanpennieI've also erased it in my head.
As a child of the 80s and 90s, I can attest that the only thing that truly satisfies is a Snickers bar, but it's ability to do so was greatly diminished in 2013 when they replaced the King Size Snickers bar with a two pack of normal bars. Everything about the king size was better. You got more peanuts, and the chocolate on the outside was thicker. The world just hasn't been the same since the passing of the king size Snickers.
New theory. Daemon is acastle.
Daemon is actually the FOUR eyed raven.
Sticking with HBO's tradition of characters turning into buildings. First it was Phil Leotardo, and now Daemon
Run back to king's landing
Get off my cobblestones
@@paquio100 Twenty years as a prince, I wanted to rule a kingdom, I killed some pirates instead, I compromised
lmao glad to hear i'm not the only one teething to get the next episode, I hope the delay isn't due to anything important and just normal life stuff
My theory is that Alys is creating all of Daemon's crazy dreams/nightmares. And maybe part of that magic pulls from his own memories to create the nightmares. But since he doesnt know what his mom actually looked like, Alys had to make up the look of a generic Valerian woman. And she basically admits that when she says he doesnt know whay his mom looks like.
59:57 I friggin love door lore, that’s why they call me Doorloreous Edd
Sorry I can’t help but let out a noisy burst of laughter every time these open with Podrick
Where's my dragon time, funny man, give it to me now, before i say "its dragon time" and dragon all over the place
I love every time they mimic Otto
1:06:16
With how similar Common Tongue is to English, are we to assume:
a) word Demon doesn't exist in common tongue
b) it does exist but Targaryens keep naming their children Daemon and people are too scared to comment on it
c) Common Tongue is an unrelated but 1:1 translatable language to English and we are just reading the translation (i.e Demon and Daemon isn't spelled similarly)
My and my best mate both agree it must be C) but B) is funnier.
D) "Daemon" is a term in Greek, adopted into medieval latin and then English at various times referring a protective spirit or guardian deity. It only gains a negative connotation within the context of Christendom.
We can assume that a similar situation would exist between the Christianesque Faith of the Seven and the 'Pagan' Old Gods and Valyrian Dragon-gods
At the point of HotD, Daemon is the first Daemon and is likely named via the same convention that a parent might name their kid "Fay" or any number of names derived from "elf". Daemon is himself as a bit of a devilish protector after all.
Daemon Blackfyre is then named for Daemon Targaryen, again as a bit of a dark protector motif, the chosen successor of Aegon the Unworthy who didn't exactly have peaceful intent.
@@thomaswillard6267pretty sure daemon isn’t the first daemon ever, there’s a daemon velaryon who was aegon the conquerer’s master of ships - i agree with you but i think it’s just a valyrian name, not one house targ invents
I'm 160 eggs into an unlucky shiny hunt in Crystal, this vid came out at the PERFECT time for me to use as background noise. Ty Gligar👍
i believe in you, you can get whatever discoloured gremlin you're looking for
I felt like the episode was badly missing an Aemond Criston scene
There were would be a lot of simmering.
Every episode has been missing this scene, the scene that would be missing pants (okay okay, that was just for the meme, but those two having a secret make out session would be truly something... I love the idea of Crispy finally not being a dick about Rhaenyra at the end because he's turned into a pansexual party goblin for the Greens and he just can't handle his own hypocrisy anymore)
Whenever I watch the episode on Nebula first, I try to guess what parts you’re going to cut and I’m very glad Christmas ASOIAF made it into the TH-cam Cut 😂
it was really challenging to figure out where to cut that one lol
Na Jane Aryn is herself a hostage. The dragons she has cant do anything. Jace or Baela could just zip over to the Eyrie real quick and pull a Harrenhall. If she did want to pull a betrayal, her best bet would be to lie low and wait, not make a deal with the greens.
I was anticipating that maybe Aemond will have a child with Halaena and they’ll all pretend it’s Aegon’s…
Yeah, but the kid would be ahead of Aemond and I don't see him wanting that
@@marza2074 fair point
“It looks like melys’ teeth are black” Well would *you* like to brush a dragon’s teeth?
My actual theories are that either (more realistically) the dragons simply have more ferrous iron in their bones naturally, which has been known to turn bones black or it has a similar genetic mutation to the Ayam Ceremi chicken (which has hypermelenation of all tissues).
But the best possibility is that they have a greater/more integrated system of tooth roots and paths of vascular circulation w/in bone that allows for insane increases of temperature by allowing for a “blush” response that draws an immense amt of antifreeze-blood into its face (which I suppose is darker than ours idk). So the black comes from rotten dried dark-blood inside the bone that rots away to nothing over time and made them white.
Glidus and ASX have rotted my brain so I try and make this silly magic show make sense now gdi.
@@swagathachristie5242 My headcanon is that dragons are descendants of Ayam Ceremi, now and forever.
I feel like these are getting funnier with each episode. The valyrian steel beams joke got an audible chuckle out of me.
We’re seeing the struggle for the writers to match main protagonist screen rhaenyra with the book rhaenyra who basically holed up and did nothing at all for the timespan of this whole season, I think.
And the struggle will continue since she basicly does only three more things in the rest of the story.
Chop chop dragon time boy, where is the video😌
I feel like the problem is no longer that Rhaenyra doesnt want to act but that she just cant. The blacks have no army and their biggest dragon is dead while daemon is on drugs somewhere else. Her last conversation with Jace was about who has to sacrifice themself in case Vhagar shows up at Dragonstone. She has her back against the wall.
"daemon is on drugs somewhere else" LMFAO
Glidus' Otto voice is my favorite thing to come of this show
Rhaenyra's council is like those jobs that require 10 years of job experience for entry level jobs.
The way it's somehow a mark against Rhaenyra that she was never *allowed* to study war, as if she had a choice
The point remains that she is not trained nor qualified for it. They are not saying that she is bad for not being trained, they are just saying that she was not educated in matters of war which she wasn't, while they have.
Of course she had a choice, she was Viserys' heir, do you really think he would forbid her those studies if she wanted to? Why on earth would he?
@@frankvandorp2059 But he could forbid anyone teaching her or helping her in any way.
@@frankvandorp2059yeah i don't understand why she was complaining about being cup bearer either. She was witnessing small council meetings that way, i thought that was the whole point. Show is just getting weird with the patriarchy stuff. It was marvelously done in season 1.
ahh yes Viserys was notorious for not allowing Rhaenyra things of course.. He'll have a man decapitated for sullying Rhaenyra's name but don't let her near the books on Seige-warfare. What a guy!
Alt Shift X fantasizing about Caraxes "noodle moves" is nxt level. Lol
Schiwft
Another hour long glimbus video! My heart is full of whimsy!
Meleys head isn’t smoking, there are 4 incense thingies surrounding her head where the smoke comes from, probably to hide the stench.
“it’s really hard to do a war in an ethical responsible way” is an all timer quote for sure
17:10 gotta be the cheekiest edit i've ever seen and now i am cursed to picture hacker the dog wiggling his snout every time i hear papa schwifty speak
22:15 neurodivergent person fun fact you can do this today to clean your bath/kitchen faucets, sprinkle some salt in it to help, salt is a good abrasive substance but the lemon juice dissolves the salt a bit making it not scratch the surface, safer than a scourer. Also on the flipside alkaline is good for making soap or as an alternative to clean food, and the word alkaline literally derives from an arabic word for ash, so in a pinch u can take the ash from a fire when travelling and use it to wash up the bowls and cooking pot in the river after (please cool the ash first).
I wonder if Helaena will become pregnant with Aemond’s baby, and if they’ll claim it’s Aegon’s..
ohhhhh my god thatd be so good. yet another sacrifice in the name of the realm that aemond's done, or at least thats how he'll see it...ooooh the resentment oh thats actually so good
Hmm. I bet in this timeline, the writers are going to suggest Maelor is Aemond’s. Given Aegon’s current state and the books commenting on Aemond and Helaena’s relationship, it’s certainly possible.
@@Xyzzi21 But why? Maelor’s inclusion at this point would be entirely irrelevant. His only purpose was to survive B&C then die later on, so if you’re not going to include him now, it’s just going to be very strange for the normie audience who won’t get why they brought a new kid in for no reason.
Wouldnt that mean that the story is going to span another 2 or 3 years? I dont see it going thst way right now.
@@TheEneccanot really, Maelor's story could be done as a newborn as easily as a toddler.
@@Longshanks1690not really? His role as a further heir doesn't necessitate his presence during Blood and Cheese. He is literally a replacement because Jaehaerys as a political tool is just that easily replaced.
Honestly Blood and Cheese in the book doesn't make sense. Why not assassinate all those high-ranking Greens then and there? I find the show to be more realistic.
Not to mention it provides greater exploration of the other characters. This is a story, that's kind of what it is for.
Imagine the Greens having to contend with their heir also being a bastard. Or that Aemond would be angering the Faith by essentially committing Targaryen Polygamy at a time of instability. Or Alicent and Helaena having to contend with the potential use of moontea given its recurring role in the story.
Plus it just makes sense that Aemond, if capable of reading Valyrian, would try to secure a line of succession to fulfil the prophecy. Meaning this is also downstream of other characters acting within their characterization.
It works on so many levels.
He cooked with that thumbnail
Where’s the dragon time ep for the last episode?
They missed a real opportunity to make Aegon look like a monstrosity. He doesn't look like he came out the other side of a 3 way struggle between dragons, getting flamed and suffering a massive fall.....he just looks like he's been in a modern day car crash.
Very fair point. I think they rely on Tom Glynn-Carney's attractiveness as a counterpoint to Aegon's hideousness. Before it was his horrible behaviour. Now it's supposed to be his injuries. They should have really messed him up and relied on the actor's skill to put across how pitiful he is.
After what they did to poor Viserys, I was also expecting a lot more grotesque…ery 🫣
@@hnnsy TGC’s facial acting is too good to pass up on. It would have been a complete waste of his talents to render him incapable of showing what he can do for the rest of the show.
But then it wouldn't be believable that he survived if he had been burnt that bad. It's still quite surprising that he survived around 10 days without any treatment (I believe that's what it took them to come back).
@@mavitilo I moreso meant disfigured, maybe thats a better word. Its been a while since I read it so maybe I am conflating it in my head but I thought he was more twisted and disfigured in the source material. As somebody above mentioned, maybe something along the lines of how Viserys ended up with his half mask and disjointed walking. I think its mentioned his armour was fused to his body by the dragon fire. I'm not a make up or effects artist just seems like more could've been done.
Having said that...maybe they didn't want the actor sitting in a chair in makeup for 4 hours every day before shooting so could've been a budget/timing decision.
The shot of Caraxes behind the brackens gave me chills bro.
Thank you for making such awesome content together, my dudes. Love these videos, I usually don't like podcasts with more than one person talking. But since I know both your voices, it's easier to tell who is who and who is saying what!
40:15 my mum was watching this ep with me and said out loud “he’s just shit isn’t he”
I know you want to promote Nebula... but some of us can't be subbed to that many platforms :( even if it's cheap, consider that you have an international audience, and 5 dollars can be much more in other countries
After watching the episode and hearing the commonfolk referring to meleys' head as "meat" and later on demanding to have access to meat I am truly afraid of a potential plotline that might be foreshadowed by this. This is truly based on nothing but a feeling but imagine how gruesome it would be if the greens decided in order to keep the commonfolk in check they start cutting up the still somewhat alive sunfyre. I hope this doesnt happen but idk it just doesnt leave my head. poor sunfyre is suffering already
I think the smoke coming from the wagon was incense to ward off the stink which makes me think dragon meat wouldn't travel well, even if it was edible to begin with. Not that I think they wouldn't try, as the circumstance is dire and the small folk are not regarded highly by those making decisions. But that's my take.
Not that it helps poor Sunfyre. I hope a woods witch or associate of the Children steps in to help him. Headcanon.
@@angelalovell5669 yea the transportation would definitely be an issue which is why it could only work on a still living dragon if they tried it but I dont quite know the distance they need to travel so lets just hope they leave sunfyre alone
@@weltraumaffe7460 HAGRID, in all possible senses.
That's about the dumbest idea anyone has ever had, so I give it 30% odds of happening.
@@kallemortYeah, why would they butcher Sunfyre? He's on the other side of the Crownlands
Anyone notice Alicent had a look similar to Lena Heady's iconic sharp annoyed grin during her panicking scene?
Probably not intentional, but a cool accident, since both characters struggle with their gender
I think they struggle with the patriarchy more than their gender but I take your point.
@@angelalovell5669
Alicent was definitely channelling Cersei this episode.
From now on she should never be without a goblet of wine.
I was so stoned by the time I started watching the episode that I thought Alyssa was Emilia Clarke for like half of the scene and that they were doing completely over the top fan service.
that's 👏 so 👋 re-lat-able 😂😂😂 aunty donna
Hahaha I would be one of the fans that would have love that.
@doctorjaguar I wasn’t even that mad Weirwoods do weird time shit already
I just want Aemond and Jace to have a mog-off. Throne goes to whomever mews the hardest.
BYEBYE
Rhaenyra drank that Tyrion Season8 wine I'm afraid......