S01.E02: The Rogue Prince

[ZaldamoWilder]

18 hours ago, steelyis said:

You wouldn't be you if you were born into ASoIaF. It would never occur to you to tell your father no, or ruin his plans with technicalities. And unless your father is Ned Stark, or Selwyn Tarth, you won't be getting a lot of latitude to live your life how you want. You will be your father's then your husband's property, and you will do as they say, when they say, or suffer the consequences if you fail to do so. Which can range from being stripped of your titles, the protection of your family, and forced to become a septa or silent sister. Or you can be thrown onto the street, penniless, in a world that treats poor peasant women much worse than it treats noble born women.

Mysaria wasn't kidding around when she described how hard it is for a woman to survive without the protection of powerful men.

Can you imagine living in a world and time when men were not just permitted, but expected to have agency over what women did with their own bodi..........yeah alright, just heard it.   Withdrawn.

On 8/28/2022 at 11:54 PM, mac123x said:

Margaret Beaufort gave birth to the future Henry VII at the ripe old age of 13.  That garbage happened back then.

Presumably if he'd gone through with it, Viserys would have had a long long long betrothal.  Glad he's marrying someone who's at least post puberty.

And still.  Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old first cousin in 1957.  R. Kelly married his 14 year old protege in 1994.  Not common, but not unheard of.  {{shudder}} 

When Leana came onscreen I audibly gasped.  She looked like a baby playing dress up in her mom's closet.  Meanwh'ile dad watched from the balcony.  Just ewww.   

3 hours ago, Constantinople said:

But the main point is Viserys doesn't like an in your face hard sell. He's been king for almost 10 years. Corlys should have realized that by now.

Viserys has been king for 10 years?  I missed that.  In the scene where the Queen tells Rhaenyra to go wash the dragon smell off of her, she looks younger but not from however old she supposed to be now to minus 10 years.  Damn you @Constantinople, you're gonna make my pedantic ass look for this on rewatch.  And I don't wanna lol.  

Bruh I can't keep these names straight.  Rhaenyra is the princess/heir and Rhaenys is Corlys' old lady?   I don't see the tension between Rhaenyra and Matt Daemon lol as sexual, but at a minimum, it's clear he admires the kid's chutzpah.  I hope it isn't sexual,  not that it ever made a difference, but she's out of his league.  Shit, the hooker's out of his league.   

In a recent interview, Steve Toussaint who plays Lord Corlys commented (hilariously, says me) on the amount of fan blowback about his character's inauthenticity as a casting choice:

"They are happy with a dragon flying, they're happy with white hair and violet colored eyes, but a rich black guy is beyond the pale" he also mentioned an overarticulation of the references to wig texture as a frequent complaint.  I dunno, locs make sense to me, but the platinum blonde? now, that's weird.

[Hanahope]

7 minutes ago, ZaldamoWilder said:

n a recent interview, Steve Toussaint who plays Lord Corlys commented (hilariously, says me) on the amount of fan blowback about his character's inauthenticity as a casting choice:

"They are happy with a dragon flying, they're happy with white hair and violet colored eyes, but a rich black guy is beyond the pale" he also mentioned an overarticulation of the references to wig texture as a frequent complaint.  I dunno, locs make sense to me, but the platinum blonde? now, that's weird.

eh, Toussaint's casting is fine, imo.  the wig sucks, but not because of the style, its just a bad wig.

[tennisgurl]

6 minutes ago, ZaldamoWilder said:

Bruh I can't keep these names straight.  Rhaenyra is the princess/heir and Rhaenys is Corlys' old lady? 

Yeah, it can be hard to keep up with all of the names, as noble houses, especially Targaryens, tend to repeat the same names over and over or have names that sound similar, like how a lot of the Lannisters name their boys Ty-something. 

Its like how when your studying the history of the English nobility and you start confusing all of the millions of Henrys, Thomas's, and Catherine's. 

[ZaldamoWilder]

2 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

eh, Toussaint's casting is fine, imo.  the wig sucks, but not because of the style, its just a bad wig.

lol, he's not alone there.

[Constantinople]

15 minutes ago, ZaldamoWilder said:

Viserys has been king for 10 years?  I missed that.  In the scene where the Queen tells Rhaenyra to go wash the dragon smell off of her, she looks younger but not from however old she supposed to be now to minus 10 years.  Damn you @Constantinople, you're gonna make my pedantic ass look for this on rewatch.  And I don't wanna lol.  

In the first episode, immediately after the opening scene of the Great Council, text appears on the screen stating "IT IS NOW THE NINTH YEAR OF KING VISERYS I TARGARYEN'S REIGN"

In this episode there are repeated references to half a year passing since the previous episode

• The King's own brother has been allowed to seize Dragonstone and fortify it with an army of his gold cloaks. Daemon has squatted there for over half a year - Corlys

• It's only been half a year since my mother died, and already they tried to marry my father off and replace me as heir - Rhaenyra

• I must admit, I haven't given marriage much thought. It hasn't even been half a year since Aemma passed - Viserys

[PurpleTentacle]

When the king announced his marriage plans and it took forever I was like "don't be a bumbass, don't be a bumbass, don't be a bumbass" and of course he was a dumbass.

[MollyB]

56 minutes ago, ZaldamoWilder said:

Viserys has been king for 10 years?  I missed that.  In the scene where the Queen tells Rhaenyra to go wash the dragon smell off of her, she looks younger but not from however old she supposed to be now to minus 10 years. 

The voice over in the scene where Viserys is named heir/king is Rhaneryra speaking.  Aemma is (very) pregnant in this scene and I assumed that the child was Rhaneryra.  (and that would make her a little older than Leanna.)  However, if that pregnancy was one of the children Aemma lost, then Rhaneryra could have already been born and was four or five at the time.

Or-it could have taken four or five years before Viserys became king.

Edited August 30, 2022 by MollyB

[Meredith Quill]

7 hours ago, Constantinople said:

As @steelyis pointed out, unless your father is Ned Stark or Selwyn Tarth, a daughter won't be given much latitude, so citing Arya and Brienne does not rebut the original point.

And thanks to Joffrey, we don't really know what would have happened with Arya as she and Ned grew older. But someone had to pay Syrio Forrel to teach Arya how to sword fight, and I doubt it was Arya. For that matter it never even occurred to Arya to have a sword made for herself. Needle was a gift from Jon.

As for Yara, it occurred to her because Balon raised her as a son after his eldest two sons were killed in Balon's rebellion and his youngest son Theon was taken as a hostage.

Lyanna Stark. How many tens or hundreds of thousands of people died, including her brother and father, so she could run off with a married man? A married man who just happened to be the Crown Prince and who had his marriage secretly annulled? Yet somehow Alicent is the horrible person.

Olenna Tyrell got out of her engagement to a Targaryen by fucking Luthor Tyrell the night before he was to officially propose to Olenna's sister. But Alicent is the backstabber?

If we're going down the 'but they were the exceptions to the rule' route - okay, well then consider me an exception to the rule too. Clearly, we're not alone...

And yes, Alicent sucks.

4 hours ago, Silver-hyren said:

I legit thought they were an actual couple from pretty much scene 1 and was proud of the Targeryens for being so progressive back in the day.  Can I keep shipping them?

Sure, what could go wrong! 

[Hanahope]

2 hours ago, MollyB said:

Aemma is (very) pregnant in this scene and I assumed that the child was Rhaneryra.  (and that would make her a little older than Leanna.) 

I thought that was Rhanyes that was pregnant in that scene, and she gave birth to her son (who is younger than Leanna).

[CletusMusashi]

3 hours ago, Silver-hyren said:

I legit thought they were an actual couple from pretty much scene 1 and was proud of the Targeryens for being so progressive back in the day.  Can I keep shipping them?

You'll have to ask Corlys. He's Master of Ships.

[announcergirl]

On 8/28/2022 at 9:45 PM, CletusMusashi said:

This was easier to follow than the pilot, but also more riveting. very good second episode.

I still think Matt/Daemon is kind of a gothy douchebag. I mean, hell, even the hooker who's living in a castle with him seems to agree with me on that. And I'm rooting for Otto over Corlys. But Corlys isn't all bad. I respect him more now that I understand that the reason his hair game is so gods-awful is that he's in debt like a zillion bajillion gold dragons to his daughters' hair stylist. For all his tough guy talk, the big soft-hearted lug just can't say no to his little girl wanting to look like Marie Antoinette.

I do hope they spread out the pirate story arc for a few weeks. September 19th isn't for a while.

You stooooopid🤣🤣🤣🤣The white hair is just awful on Corlys and Marie Antoinette aka Lolita!

[king of bullshit]

Alicent managing to seduce Viserys without ever resorting to the tool foremost-ly applied for such an ambition was class. Wish their "courtship" had been developed over a longer period of time.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

Sansa is the.worst.example.eVaR. 

Of anything.

I adore your commitment to hating Sansa. It’s so consistent. 

[Lady S.]

4 hours ago, Hanahope said:

I thought that was Rhanyes that was pregnant in that scene, and she gave birth to her son (who is younger than Leanna).

Nah, it was Aemma. At first I thought that was unborn Rhaenyra, but when she mentioned her 5 failed pregnancies, that made more sense. The Old King was said to already be in failing health, so unless he surprised them to rally out a few more years, there probably wasn't much gap between the Great Council and his death, so Rhaenyra would already be 3 or 4. 

7 hours ago, Silver-hyren said:

I legit thought they were an actual couple from pretty much scene 1 and was proud of the Targeryens for being so progressive back in the day.  Can I keep shipping them?

You don't need anyone's permission, pal. There are people out there who shipped Theon/Ramsay, so it takes all sorts and this pairing looks squeaky clean in comparison. At least stepmom is not a blood relationship, so in that sense it could still seem the best of Rhaenyra's romantic prospects.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Lady S.

[paigow]

33 minutes ago, Lady S. said:

At least stepmom is not a bllod relationship

Porn trope alert....

[go4luca]

Corlys' wig looks like frazzled platinum yarn to me. 

Lady Laena looks like Shirley Temple stuck her finger in a light socket.

I grasp the ethnicity they were going for but I can't get past either one of them.

[purplemouth]

8 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

I have a problem with Otto every time he's on screen as I just keep picturing Rhys Ifans in his not so tighty whiteys in Notting Hill. I'm sure I'll get over it eventually.

Same.

[snickers]

On 8/29/2022 at 5:56 PM, Lady S. said:

n other matters, Otto only seems to shoot himself in the foot. We're told in the pilot that making Daemon commander of the goldcloaks was his own idea, and only later did he realize he'd given the guy a private army. He was the one who first suggested making Rhaenyra heir, the very same night he first sent Alicent to woo Viserys. Once Alicent is Queen, he'll surely rue Rhaenyra's position as she'll resent Alicent's. And in this ep, he went to face Daemon on his own and somehow just clean forgot the dude has a dragon?!

Manipulating the king and ordering his daughter around is definitely his strong suit.

Updated for ep 1.02

Btw, I'm glad we've all decided to call that rogue prince "Matt Daemon".

I forgot to respond to this before-loving the "Matt Daemon" reference btw 😆

As for Otto, I think his problem is that he underestimates everyone-except maybe Viseyrs.....he underestimated Rhaenrya this episode, thought he could boss her around in his subtle way by choosing the next kingsguard

He really underestimates Matt Daemon-I think he thought the gold cloaks would reject Daemon, he pretty much tried to shame them during the confrontation at Dragonstone-speaking of that confrontation, when I re-watched the episode tonight with the hubs, he is very much a casual watcher, he watched all 8 seasons of GOT during COVID lockdown-the minute he saw Otto and crew he said, "seriously, does he not know this guy has a dragon and they want to square off on a bridge?"  😆

I told him what i said above, that i really think he is so full of himself he thinks he can manipulate his way out of any situation!

[Athena5217]

On 8/29/2022 at 7:34 PM, mojoween said:

Between Alicent’s ripped cuticles and Viserys’s necrosis, they aren’t going to have a pair of hands between them.

I am having a hard time with Matt Smith, because he sounds, to me, EXACTLY like Iwan Rheon and another Ramsey Bolton is not something I need in my life.

Today I rewatched a GOT episode with Iwan Rheon, and I totally heard it. You have a good ear. I have  years of watching Matt Smith in Dr. Who stored in my memory banks so hopefully they can counteract the Ramsey Bolton voice.

[Hanahope]

3 hours ago, Lady S. said:

Nah, it was Aemma.

you are right.  i went back to look.  it must have either been a later term miscarriage or this baby didn't live.  didn't she mention a stillbirth?

seems like whoever runs the city watch is an asshole.  nothing changed 180 years later.

[paigow]

17 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Its like how when your studying the history of the English nobility and you start confusing all of the millions of Henrys, 

England used a numbering system... unlike Westeros 

[WatchrTina]

2 hours ago, paigow said:

England used a numbering system... unlike Westeros 

Are you sure about that paigow, first of his name?

:)

Edited August 31, 2022 by WatchrTina

[Colorado David]

After watching Ezekiel on Walking Dead, I'm fine with the white wig - while its fake, it has a certain style.

I like the actress playing Rhaenyra - while she may be smarter than someone her age should be, she has great delivery.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Colorado David

[Uncle JUICE]

Can someone PLEASE help me understand why every small council meeting doesn't start like this:

"First up on the agenda, just to get it out of the way, the list of problems we can solve with one dragon and no pushback. Let's see...small band of pirates making life in the stepstones difficult, yep, that one we can handle. Which dragon in the dragon pit hasn't been out in a while? I think the standard "Descent from above at night, rain fire on the ships first, then incinerate the pirates to a man should do it." Anyone object? No? Moving on, the issue of succession...again."

[tennisgurl]

1 hour ago, Uncle JUICE said:

"First up on the agenda, just to get it out of the way, the list of problems we can solve with one dragon and no pushback.

That's what I keep screaming at the screen! You have dragons! Use your freaking dragons! They don't even really need to kill anyone if they're so afraid of offending the pirates backers in the Free Cities, just have the dragon fly around letting the pirates know that they can either leave or be invited to a crab broil, this should not be this hard. A bunch of guys in boats should not be showing up people with giant winged flame throwers at their disposal. 

[Uncle JUICE]

52 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

 A bunch of guys in boats should not be showing up people with giant winged flame throwers at their disposal. 

Rest in power, Rhaegal. It still makes me mad how they did you. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Uncle JUICE

[gingerella]

19 hours ago, deaja said:

I adore your commitment to hating Sansa. It’s so consistent. 

Sansa ended up Queen of the North so she didn't do too bad considering she was used and abused over and over again.

On 8/30/2022 at 11:07 AM, SilverStormm said:

If we're going down the 'but they were the exceptions to the rule' route - okay, well then consider me an exception to the rule too. Clearly, we're not alone...

And yes, Alicent sucks.

Sure, what could go wrong! 

Why does Alicent suck? So far all we've been shown is that she is a seemingly loyal and close friend to Rhaenrya, and her father, who doesn't seem like he is one to be stood up to by a female, told her to 'be nice' to the King, which she has, but we have not seen her throw herself at him, nor try to seduce him, quite the opposite. I don't see what she's done thus far that's so wrong.

[Hanahope]

Who is Daemon's (first) wife?  have we seen her?  

[Uncle JUICE]

5 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

Who is Daemon's (first) wife?  have we seen her?  

She's an Arryn, I forget her first name, I believe she is in the Vale. I think! I'm not trying to look it up and get spoiled. 

[Constantinople]

1 hour ago, Hanahope said:

Who is Daemon's (first) wife? 

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/133128-hotd-family-tree-and-character-guide-all-those-pesky-targaryens/ (marked No Spoilers and No Book Talk).

Quote

have we seen her?

No

Edited August 31, 2022 by Constantinople

[Meredith Quill]

2 hours ago, gingerella said:

Sansa ended up Queen of the North so she didn't do too bad considering she was used and abused over and over again.

Why does Alicent suck? So far all we've been shown is that she is a seemingly loyal and close friend to Rhaenrya, and her father, who doesn't seem like he is one to be stood up to by a female, told her to 'be nice' to the King, which she has, but we have not seen her throw herself at him, nor try to seduce him, quite the opposite. I don't see what she's done thus far that's so wrong.

My opinion of Shansha is well documented in the GOT forum and fwiw I loathe her just as much in the books too where her storyline let's just say, differs.

I've stated in this topic and also in the episode 1 topic why I think Alicent sucks based on what we've seen so far. I'm too lazy to type it out again lol.

1 hour ago, Hanahope said:

Who is Daemon's (first) wife?  have we seen her?  

Rhea Royce, from the Vale and no we haven't seen her thus far.

[MBayGal]

On 8/30/2022 at 5:43 AM, SilverStormm said:

Sansa is the.worst.example.eVaR. 

Of anything.

Them's fightin' words, girl!

When we went to a GoT gift shop in Belfast, I was so disappointed that there was no Queen in the North sweatshirt.

[Hanahope]

So Daemon is a waste of space, can't even be a good Targ and produce babies for his niece (and future nieces and nephews - maybe) to marry?  well, i guess he has time, but he doesn't look like he's really interested.

[magdalene]

2 minutes ago, SilverStormm said:

Rhea Royce, from the Vale and no we haven't seen her thus far.

The one who - according to Daemon - is less pretty than a sheep.  Which is kind of unfair to sheep. Sheep are cute. 

How does Alicent suck (so far)....While seducing the king ( she didn't use the usual sexual wiles but it was a very successful seduction nonetheless) she totally blindsided and betrayed her best friend? If my best friend seduced my father and made herself my step momma I wouldn't be a happy camper. Rhaenyra looked shell-shocked when she realized the truth.

Anyways, I have more reasons for disliking Alicent but I can't list them yet. They live in my cold, black heart for now. Grins.

[Stardancer Supreme]

On 8/30/2022 at 11:12 AM, magdalene said:

Shrugs. Otto is her father, he shaped her in every way, including and especially any anxieties.  She is his creature and I loathe his oily and self-serving self, and by extension her.

A dead mother could certainly add to the anxiety of being a girl in this world. 

Incidentally, how old is Viserys supposed to be? Seems like the stress of being King and the Iron Throne cutting him up is making him seem older that he might be. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Stardancer Supreme

[paigow]

9 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

Are you sure about that paigow, first of his name?

:)

Jon Snow would have been Aegon (n+1)?

[Athena5217]

3 hours ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

A dead mother could certainly add to the anxiety of being a girl in this world. 

Incidentally, how old is Viserys supposed to be? Seems like the stress of being King and the Iron Throne cutting him up is making him seem older that he might be. 

There is an answer about this in the book talk thread for this episode. We have not gotten enough info from the show to know how old he is. The actor who plays him is 47.

[WatchrTina]

3 hours ago, paigow said:

Jon Snow would have been Aegon (n+1)?

Yes, he would have been "Aegon, n+1th of his name" . . . at least to his face and in the official documents.

But the common folk would probably call him "The White Wolf" (if they liked him) or "The Bastard of Winterfell" (if they didn't like him and wanted to deny his claim to the throne.)

Edited September 1, 2022 by WatchrTina

[Colorado David]

15 hours ago, Hanahope said:

So Daemon is a waste of space, can't even be a good Targ and produce babies for his niece (and future nieces and nephews - maybe) to marry?  well, i guess he has time, but he doesn't look like he's really interested.

we don't know yet why Daemon is having issues impregnating his wife to be, do we? i'm hesitant to speculate.

I do notice Matt loves looking down while staring forward a lot - I think they think it makes him look more malevolent.

[Raachel2008]

On 8/30/2022 at 12:38 PM, Hanahope said:

I'm struggling to be interested in this story.  its such a typical royal family power struggle story, just adding dragons. there's really nothing new here.  scheming/betraying family, daughter trying to show she's worthy of running the country, but the menfolk patronize her, wise older woman telling her 'that's her place,' new young 'step mother' that will likely bear the new heir and spare (and the eldest daughter might even have to marry a brother).

Rhaenys wasn't saying to Rhaenyra 'that's her place', she was telling her that she lives in a men's world and men will never allow a woman to sit on the throne; they will put her in her place, in fact they already did and she is basically serving coffee for them now. These are two very different things.

I'm going to agree with you though, on the 'typical royal family power struggle story'. I know it has been only two episodes, but I'm already bored by the Targaryens. One of the reasons GoT succeed, IMO, was that you had very different groups of characters. It is a court, but you don't see the courtisans. You don't see the other nobles. This show is, so far, extremely self-contained on the Targaryens.

As for Allicent x Otto x Viserys, the most absurd thing there is that six months after Aemma's death nobody's talking about the King's Hand's daughter visiting the King's chambers at night. Am I really supposed to believe that the court isn't talking about it? As if. On a side note, Rhaenyra not knowing - or knowing and not understanding what it means - is proof that she is not even remotely close to be "apt" to sit on the throne.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Raachel2008

[ElizaD]

I don't even remember what Dany's two other dragons looked like, so I'm very pleased that HOTD is making its look very distinct. Rhaenyra's dragon has the face of a little sweetie (does she get a boost in size after the time skip, too?) and Daemon's is the creepiest worm - that dolphin-like sound felt unexpected yet so right.

[Constantinople]

6 hours ago, Raachel2008 said:

As for Allicent x Otto x Viserys, the most absurd thing there is that six months after Aemma's death nobody's talking about the King's Hand's daughter visiting the King's chambers at night. Am I really supposed to believe that the court isn't talking about it? As if. On a side note, Rhaenyra not knowing - or knowing and not understanding what it means - is proof that she is not even remotely close to be "apt" to sit on the throne

Presumably Rhaenyra's lady-in-waiting is responsible for keeping Rhaenyra up-to-date with the hot goss, as in the tourney scene in the previous episode
 

Quote

Rhaenyra: Lord Stokeworth's daughter is promised to that young Tarly squire.

Lady-in-Waiting: Lord Massey's son?

Rhaenyra: Mm-hm. They're to be married as soon as he wins his knighthood.

Lady-in-Waiting: Best get on with it. I heard that Lady Elinor is hiding a swollen belly beneath her dress.

But if the lady-in-waiting is Lady Alicent Hightower?

It's one of the age old questions.

Who watches the watchmen?

Who gossips about the gossipers? 😄

[gingerella]

3 hours ago, Constantinople said:

But if the lady-in-waiting is Lady Alicent Hightower?

It's one of the age old questions.

Who watches the watchmen?

Who gossips about the gossipers? 😄

'If a knight falls in the desert and there's nobody to see him, is he really dead?' 😅

[magdalene]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:51 PM, paigow said:

Jon Snow would have been Aegon (n+1)?

I can think of at least 3 Aegons before him?

[magdalene]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:02 AM, tennisgurl said:

That's what I keep screaming at the screen! You have dragons! Use your freaking dragons! They don't even really need to kill anyone if they're so afraid of offending the pirates backers in the Free Cities, just have the dragon fly around letting the pirates know that they can either leave or be invited to a crab broil, this should not be this hard. A bunch of guys in boats should not be showing up people with giant winged flame throwers at their disposal. 

Unfortunately those pirates may have access to those weapons from GOT.  Sadly dragons are not invincible against long range weapons.

[caracas1914]

The actress portraying Princess Rhaenys:

Perfection as “Bitter, party of one.”

[Constantinople]

Are Corlys and Otto so very different?

Consider

Corlys: You're weak! Stand up for yourself!

Viserys: I will wed Lady Alicent Hightower.

Corlys: I didn't mean that!

With

Otto: You must consider the political importance of people when appointing someone

Rhaenyra: So my father shouldn't marry the daughter of a second son of a Lord Vassal?

Otto: I didn't mean that!

[CletusMusashi]

On 9/2/2022 at 5:30 PM, magdalene said:

Unfortunately those pirates may have access to those weapons from GOT.  Sadly dragons are not invincible against long range weapons.

Yeah, now that you mention it, I'd think it weird if there wasn't any anti-dragon weaponry. Dragons are a fact of life in that era's warfare. I mean, people in real life found ways to counter horses, elephants, tanks, airplanes...

[WatchrTina]

1 hour ago, CletusMusashi said:

I'd think it weird if there wasn't any anti-dragon weaponry.

I have to disagree.  At the time of this series the Targareans are the sole dragon-lord survivors of the Doom of Valyria (at least as far as we know.)  They think all the other dragons died along with their masters.  As such, the Targaryen dragons give them an incredible advantage over anyone who might be thinking of invading Westeros (the land THEY invaded and seized thanks to their dragons.) Additionally, they each appear to have a deep, almost spiritual bond to the dragon they ride.  Wouldn't the development or possession of any anti-dragon weapons be looked upon as treason within Westeros?  I'm not saying some unhappy vassal lord wouldn't TRY to develop an anti-dragon weapon.  Attempts may have been made during the initial Targarean invasion.  But I'll bet even a whisper of such activities NOW would be met with stern punishment (i.e., "Spikes, heads, walls.")

The anti-dragon weapons that we saw in Game of Thrones had the blessing of the Crown and -- once Tyrion approved the prototype -- lots of people were presumably involved in building them and deploying them on the ramparts. No secrecy was required and the best craftsmen could be recruited and/or ordered to aid in the effort.  In HotD secrecy would be essential and yet would be very difficult to achieve.

[Meredith Quill]

2 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

I have to disagree.  At the time of this series the Targareans are the sole dragon-lord survivors of the Doom of Valyria (at least as far as we know.)  They think all the other dragons died along with their masters.  As such, the Targaryen dragons give them an incredible advantage over anyone who might be thinking of invading Westeros (the land THEY invaded and seized thanks to their dragons.) Additionally, they each appear to have a deep, almost spiritual bond to the dragon they ride.  Wouldn't the development or possession of any anti-dragon weapons be looked upon as treason within Westeros?  I'm not saying some unhappy vassal lord wouldn't TRY to develop an anti-dragon weapon.  Attempts may have been made during the initial Targarean invasion.  But I'll bet even a whisper of such activities NOW would be met with stern punishment (i.e., "Spikes, heads, walls.")

The anti-dragon weapons that we saw in Game of Thrones had the blessing of the Crown and -- once Tyrion approved the prototype -- lots of people were presumably involved in building them and deploying them on the ramparts. No secrecy was required and the best craftsmen could be recruited and/or ordered to aid in the effort.  In HotD secrecy would be essential and yet would be very difficult to achieve.

The Crabfeeder and his men, aka those invading the Stepstones, are from Essos, not Westeros. Corlys mentioned they're part of 'The Triarchy', which is an alliance of the Free Cities of Myr, Lys and Tyrosh.