RobertDeSneero

I was ready to root for Aemond being a badass finally getting revenge for his eye, so I'm kind of disappointed that Luke Strong died because Aemond couldn't control his dragon. He'd still be alive if he'd just given up his eye like a good little bastard.

Graham and Ryan had plans to investigate weird stuff after parting with the Doctor, so this was part of it.

This episode feels like the direction Rian Johnson was trying to pull Star Wars towards.

The theory would be that one reason to build the Dragonpit would be to be able to contain the dragons inside and they didn't think in three dimensions, so didn't make the ceiling strong enough. It's not hard to imagine the Dragonpit being constructed by a paranoid Targaryen who wanted to be able to prevent dragons from being used against him.

Even before Aemma (and Baelon) died, Otto was anti-Daemon. That's why Daemon kept being moved around to various posts, ending up in charge of the City Watch. There's a real possibility that Otto was once a reasonable man who was against Daemon being heir for the good of the realm, legitimately fearing another Maegor the Cruel, that he was desperate to remove Daemon from the succession by any means necessary. Maybe he only went off the rails once he had the opportunity for a royal grandson, but was decent before that.

I think people are obsessing too much about the people killed in the dragonpit. Assume that the regular way out was barred, so that Rhaenys can either escape through the floor as she did or else not escape at all. Should she flee or remain a prisoner? What if there was no way for her to leave without causing even more collateral damage?

This is what the book says: I interpret it as her accepting certain death and going out in a blaze of glory because fleeing wasn't a realistic option or else she's really, really dumb to embrace a fight she can't win when she has the option of running away.

Maybe he's going to have sex with other women. Perhaps Mysaria after having her send Blood and Cheese to the Red Keep.

The play in the street that Daemon had Rhaenyra watch gives a clue as to how the smallfolk might react to a cockless monarch. The feelings of the smallfolk are not wholly irrelevant. If they were, someone like the High Sparrow could never rise to power.

Ladd is obviously going to be part of an ongoing storyline delving into Kilbride's past. The guys in the vault were the diamond brokers.

Well, yeah, but so was Ned Stark. She's just more likely to keep her head through the first season than he was while being one of the more honorable characters in this drama. I think it's been consistent, but I've considered Alicent more likeable than most of the players on the other side.

Does she really want to displace Rhaenyra or is she more interested in preventing the Strong bastards from stealing a throne that doesn't belong to them due to their illegitimate parentage? In Alicent's ideal world, I think she wants her Aegon to be Rhaenyra's heir.

Did she have a choice? The book says she didn't try to flee, but it was a trap and maybe she didn't have the chance to get away from a two-on-one situation.

They certainly existed by the time of GoT. One was used to kill Ros and Tywin.

I can give a plausible reason for why Rhaenys let them live, I think. The instinct of the Gold Cloaks was to close the doors. Otto is yelling at them to open the doors because he wants Rhaenys to have an exit lane so that she will just leave. Do you think he wants the doors open because he wants as many smallfolk lives to be saved? He just doesn't want to put her in a situation where she has to fight her way out because he dies in that scenario. If Rhaenys cooks up some Green barbecue, the doors will be closed, she will be trapped, and there will be a strong possibility that she and her dragon will be killed. She doesn't want that. Aegon and company are hostages. She demonstrates that she can kill them if she isn't given a way out. In the background, the doors stop closing. Once her off-ramp is confirmed, she sticks to the terms of her unspoken deal, that they get to live so long as she gets to escape, and flies off.

Ser Criston's only gotten laid once in his life, right?

At this point, I want to kill Aegon, kill Rhaenyra, kill Daemon, make Rhaenys queen and Aemond her heir and let Aemond decide what to do with the Strong bastards.

Maybe they're setting up a contrast where Rhaenyra is quite the opposite next week and wants to rain down fire and death on the Greens.

I think it's implied that mithril's qualities stem from "light". Gil-Galad seems to believe that the existence of mithril proves that a Silmaril was hidden in the tree, suggesting that the key ingredient is the light of the Two Trees contained within the Silmaril. Elrond's retelling says merely that some claimed it was hidden there, but the song says that a mighty elf poured "all of his light"--his life?--into the tree, so maybe it doesn't come from a Silmaril. Whichever explanation, it makes sense that this light captured by mithril could be helpful to replenish the "fading light of the Eldar". Maybe this leads to Sauron crafting the One Ring by stealing the light within an elf, killing them. It is also possible that the mithril in the show has a unique origin due to the Balrog and the lightning --what if the Valar sent special lightning?--and that there previously had been some sort of mithril, called something else at the time, that was made directly from the light of the Two Trees rather than indirectly, so had different qualities and may not have been obviously recognized as the same substance.

Regarding inheritance in Westeros, Martin has said it is uncodified and irregular. It sounds like it defaults to male-preference primogeniture, but this can be overruled. Someone can designate their own heir different from the traditional succession. This seems to require confirmation by the crown. The crown can also overrule either the traditional or designated heir. Of course, overruling either traditional or declared succession could cause the displaced to wish to contest the succession, which may lead to armed conflict, so a wise ruler usually needs a good reason to approve a change in inheritance.

I wouldn't hate it if they build up Rhaenyra only to pull the rug out from under viewers and make her a mad queen who becomes increasingly paranoid and murderous so that the audience thinks she deserves her book ending.

I remember when GoT renamed the character Asha Greyjoy as Yara because they thought viewers would be confused because the show already had an Osha. Book readers were mad that fans were basically being called stupid. Were the showrunners actually right?

I think she can accept Rhaenyra as heir. What she cannot abide by in any way is Jace as Rhaenyra's heir. I'm absolutely certain his plan for the ending was a Dany heel turn out of nowhere after a defeat of the White Walkers, with Jon ending up having to go against her. Was there a way to do the last season in a way that pleased fans while keeping that key element?

Aegon and Aemond act like they should be Daemon's sons. Aegon would have laughed at "heir for a day". Helaena is the Luna Lovegood of the Martinverse. Rhaenys accept the marriages for the sake of avoiding war. Baelq and Rhaena are a bit older than their betrothed, but I suppose not too old. Alicent treated the serving girl exactly how I expected she would, but also like she's paid off so many girls to quietly leave that she always keeps a pouch of money ready for the inevitable next one. Someone in Westeros needs to invent the male chastity belt.

This doesn't feel like a question that needs to be answered this season. Or even next season.