House of the Dragon truly showed us a house divided this week as the Greens moved to secure their claim in the wake of the king’s death. Here’s your recap of House of the Dragon Episode 9 ‘The Green Council’.
This article contains full spoilers for House of the Dragon. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch Episodes 1-9 over on Binge now.
House of the Dragon Episode 9: Plot Recap
The reality sets in around King’s Landing that King Viserys is dead. Of course, Alicent can’t help but reveal to her father the last words her husband spoke, which she misunderstood to believe that he wanted his son Aegon to succeed him as heir.
Otto immediately acts on this information, calling a Small Council meeting and informing his peers that their plans can move ahead. Alicent is surprised that the council members have been on board with usurping Rhaenyra all along, without consulting her.
Lord Lyman, the Master of Coin, is the only one who questions their actions, bringing up the suspicious circumstances around the king’s last words and his subsequent death. Ser Crison Cole decides to make his presence known by swiftly and brutally destroying Lyman’s skull on the stone table. Reader, both Alicent and my entire House of the Dragon watch party gasped at this.
Moving on to business (with a dead body still in the room). Otto decides they should assassinate Rhaenyra and her family to ensure they don’t retaliate. Alicent is wholeheartedly against this, saying the king would not have wanted his daughter murdered.
Otto orders Lord Commander Westerling to take his men to do the deed, but the knight refuses, hanging up his cloak in protest. There’s no doubt who will be succeeding him.
Within King’s Landing, any potential traitors to Aegon’s cause are being thrown in prison, including Rhaenys Targaryen who is locked in her chambers.
The next order of business is to find the prospective king, Aegon. He’s not in his room and neither his wife, Helaena, nor his children have seen him.
Both Alicent and Otto make moves to find him first. Alicent recruits Criston and Aemond, and Otto approaches Kingsguard twins Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk.
So where do they look for him first? The brothels of course.
Aemond (who also has a hoodie for committing crimes, I might add) and Criston quickly learn that Aegon hasn’t frequented anything as common as a brothel in years.
Erryk and Arryk find themselves searching an underground fighting ring that pits children against each other. There’s no sign of the prince. However, given the number of Targaryen-resembling children in the place, you can assume they’re on the right track.
Meanwhile, Otto is moving to ensure loyalty from the lords and ladies in Westeros by basically threatening them to bend the knee to Aegon or else they’ll be thrown in prison. When one of Rhaenyra’s supporters is caught fleeing from the city, Otto sentences him to death.
Alicent takes some time to grieve her husband before approaching Rhaenys. She hopes to garner Rhaenys’ support, saying that while they, as women, may not sit on the Iron Throne they can guide the men who do. Rhaenys respects Alicent’s attempt but points out that she is still acting in the service of men, no matter how much she believes she is not.
Aemond reveals that he thinks he’d make a better king than his brother. Erryk and Arryk are also debating Aegon’s potential with one twin being for and the other against the prince. The twins are then approached by a servant of the White Worm, claiming to know Aegon’s whereabouts and asking to speak with the Hand of the King alone.
During the meeting we see Mysaria (who you’ll remember as Daemon’s previous mistress) negotiate with Otto, asking for an end to the child fighting pits in exchange for Aegon.
And where do they find the prince after all this time? Passed out drunk under a table in the sept. Erryk and Arryk attempt to return Aegon to the castle only to be confronted by Aemond and Criston. They get into a fight after Aegon tries to escape. After restraining him, Aegon tells Aemond he has no desire to serve as king and even offers for them to flee the city, but Criston arrives to return them to the castle and to their mother.
Otto confronts his daughter about their competition for Aegon. Alicent calls her father out for using her as a pawn and stands by her decision not to murder the other Targaryens. She lays out her plans to her father, leaving little room for questioning. She wants to send terms to Rhaenyra, appoint Criston as the commander of the Kingsguard and will install Aegon as king in front of the people at King’s Landing.
Alicent is visited by Larys Strong, who barters the information he has on the White Worm in exchange for… feet? It seems Larys has a foot fetish which Alicent pays in order for him to put an end to the secret spy network that gave Otto an edge over her.
That night we see crimes committed all over the city. Ser Erryk moves to sneak Rhaenys out of the castle and in Flea Bottom, the White Worm’s establishment is burning.
Aegon whinges to his mother that he doesn’t want to be king, claiming his father never loved him so couldn’t have wanted this. He’s not wrong. Alicent impresses upon her son that he should not be swayed by Otto to kill Rhaenyra, he needs to be a better king than that.
While trying to escape in her disguise (these Targaryens love a hoodie), Rhaenys is caught up in the crowd of commoners being shuffled to Aegon’s coronation.
In the Dragon Pit, Otto goes through the motions of crowning Aegon as king, adorning him with the iron crown of Aegon the Conqueror. There’s an awkward silence when Aegon faces his subjects, but after they start to cheer for him he realises this being king thing might not be so bad after all.
The only one who isn’t cheering is Rhaenys, who unbeknownst to everyone has managed to find her way to her dragon, Meleys, and smashes through the floor of the Dragon Pit to confront the Greens.
Trampling the commoners of King’s Landing with no remorse, she comes face to face with Aegon. But after Alicent moves to protect her son, Rhaenys backs off from burning them all and flies off into the distance. To think if she’d just said ‘dracarys’ this would all be over.
https://twitter.com/bravtt/status/1581830509096681477?s=46&t=IaGw03ubmQhgpD-e7SwTFg
House of the Dragon Episode 9: Easter (dragon) eggs
It was all Hightowers all the time in House of the Dragon Episode 9 as the Greens moved to imprison any traitors and install Aegon as king. Here’s what you may have missed:
- For weeks now Helaena has been muttering “beware the beast beneath the boards”. Fire & Blood readers were unsure what this prophecy could mean but it’s clear now that it referred to Rhaenys smashing her way into Aegon’s coronation.
- Speaking of which, Rhaenys’ dramatic dragon entrance isn’t an event in George R.R. Martin’s book, but given this is House of the Dragon, after all, we needed any excuse for some fiery beast action.
- You may have noticed there are even more blonde Targaryen children introduced this week! The twins seen in the room with Helaena are her and Aegon’s children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera.
As always, I leave you with one of the many choice House of the Dragon memes from this week.
The #HouseOfTheDragon fans tonight pic.twitter.com/iCSD706kqP
— Megan Winkelmann (@MeganSteighorst) October 17, 2022
If you missed last week’s recap you can catch up here.
House of the Dragon airs weekly on Mondays at 12:00 pm AEDT on Binge.
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