House of the Dragon Episode 9 Sets Up the War Between the Greens and the Blacks

Episode nine of House of the Dragon put the whole board in motion, and by the end of it the war between the Greens and the Blacks feels unavoidable. Alicent, Aemond and Rhaenys all make choices in this episode that matter for where things go from here.

Alicent's Chess Game and a Loyal Lord's Costly Defiance

The episode started hot, and I know some people felt it was one sided, but what I saw was a chess game playing out with Alicent stuck right in the middle of it. Olivia Cooke is doing a hell of a job here. She wants her son on the throne and she is convinced that is what Viserys wanted, even though he did not. She is completely tortured by it, but she is trying to do what she thinks is right.

That tension boils over in a scene where one lord pushes back hard on the men trying to install Aegon. He says he has known Viserys a long time, and all Viserys ever talked about was his daughter becoming queen. This is not some claim someone made up. Viserys put her there and fought for her for years. The lord will not accept that a single deathbed moment undoes all of that, and he even questions whether they killed Viserys to get what he calls that little pigeon onto the throne.

Ser Criston Cole ends the argument by smashing the lord's head into a plate, killing him on the spot. I loved that scene because that lord stayed loyal all the way to the end. He said no, I am not having it, and he stood his ground even though it cost him everything.

Otto Hightower Wants Everyone Dead, Alicent Refuses to Go That Far

After that, Otto Hightower lays out his plan. He wants to nip this in the bud by taking out Rhaenyra, Daemon and everyone connected to them. Alicent shuts that down immediately. That is not the game she wants to play. Her plan is simpler: tell Rhaenyra that Aegon is king, and if it means war, it means war. Otto argues the opposite, that killing everyone now avoids a war entirely, and his backup plan is to find Aegon and have him order the killings himself once he is crowned. Alicent will not allow it.

So the search for Aegon becomes the spine of the episode. Otto sends the twins out to find him, while Alicent sends Aemond and Ser Criston to bring her son back safely.

The Hunt for Aegon Feels Like Season One All Over Again

Aemond is a complicated character for me. He won me over as a kid getting his dragon, then lost me when he was fighting other kids and punched one in the face. He got some of that back with the line about losing his eye being worth the price of getting a dragon. I do not like his methods, but I respect the conviction behind them, especially in that standoff with Daemon last episode where he said he was not ready yet and would step down, even though Aegon himself wants nothing to do with being king.

This episode reminded me the most of the original Game of Thrones from around 2010 or 2011, with kids fighting in the pits and one of Aegon's own children chained up and ready to fight. It was disturbing, but it fit where these characters are right now.

Aemond opens up to Criston during the search, telling him his brother is not fit to rule and does not deserve it. He even suggests he would take the crown himself, but he is not going to force it. Criston tells him he is loyal to Alicent and will keep protecting him regardless.

Mysaria's White Worm Is Holding Aegon Hostage

Mysaria, running things with the White Worm, is the one who actually has Aegon. She describes keeping him locked up in conditions I compared to a Harry Potter style cupboard, and she says she could have killed him but did not. She agrees to give him back on the condition that Hightower stops forcing children to fight for entertainment. Hightower's response is simply, I'll remember, and I believed him in that moment.

No One in This Show Is Purely Good, and Rhaenyra Is Who I'm Rooting For

I understand people saying nobody in this show is really good, but I think it is the most human that characters have been. They do good things, they do bad things, they do things that are questionable, and there is something to find in all of them. In the first couple of episodes everyone was on Ser Criston's side. Now he is seen as a lunatic and a murderer. Rhaenys has done some questionable things too, but she is the one most people seem to be rooting for right now.

Viserys's Deathbed Confusion Set All of This in Motion

Part of why Alicent believes what she believes goes back to Viserys on his deathbed. He was actually talking to Rhaenyra in that scene, telling her she is going to put it all together and it is going to be her, but he was so far gone that he was actually speaking to Alicent, who misunderstood him completely. That confusion is the root of everything Alicent has done since.

Alicent later confronts her father, Otto Hightower, directly about it, telling him she knows what he did and that he used her as a chess piece the whole time. He does not deny it outright, and instead pushes back that she is part of this game too and knows exactly what she is doing.

Larys's Feet Scene Was Disturbing but Olivia Cooke Sells It

Larys goes full Tarantino with the feet in this episode, and I know some people are asking if it was necessary. I think it was one of those Game of Thrones moments where the point is simply that this guy is messed up. He wants to see her feet at night, and that is genuinely all he asks for. It is not a sexual act, and yet it plays exactly like one.

What makes the scene work is Olivia Cooke's face. She turns to the side like she cannot believe this is what she has to do to get information out of him. It is a disturbing scene, but she stood out in it, and honestly she stood out across the whole episode.

Otto Hightower's Littlefinger Energy and the Hangings

Larys reminds me of another character I could not place the name of in the moment, a lunatic type who burns things and cuts off tongues. Otto Hightower feels different to me. He reminds me more of Littlefinger because he has been plotting since day one. There is a scene where lords who pledged loyalty to Rhaenyra twenty years ago are now all dead, and the ones who refuse to break their oath in this episode get hanged for it.

The head of the Kingsguard tells them he only takes orders from the king and that he is done. I thought for a second they had hanged him too, but I paused it and realized they had not. I think he ends up fighting for Rhaenyra later.

Keeping Rhaenyra and Daemon Off Screen Made Sense to Me

I get why some people said this episode felt one sided, but I think it needed to be that way. Rhaenyra and Daemon do not know any of this is happening. They have no idea Viserys has died and no idea they are being pushed out. I missed their performances because they have been so great, but leaving them out of this episode felt relevant given where they actually are in the story right now.

Aemond, Aegon and the Coronation

There is a great conversation between Aemond and Aegon before the coronation where Aemond tells him flat out that he does not think Aegon should be king, but he is doing this for their mother because he is a loyal son. Aegon, sitting in the king's coach, complains that their father never wanted him to take the throne. Alicent tells him that is not true, and he brushes her off, prompting her to call him an imbecile.

Once the coronation actually happens, you can see Aegon start to enjoy it. He is getting a taste of real power for the first time, realizing there is more to being king than watching kids fight in a pit, and he starts cracking jokes as it sinks in. Aemond can barely stand watching it, knowing he could be king himself but choosing to play by the rules instead.

Rhaenys's Dragon Escape Was the Biggest Moment of the Episode

Rhaenys spends this whole episode in King's Landing, eventually locked in a room. She has a great confrontation with Alicent where she tells her she is more ruthless and smarter than she ever gave her credit for, and that Alicent is fooling herself pretending she needs to put men in power instead of taking the throne herself. Alicent tries to win her over to her side, which is a smart move on Alicent's part, but Rhaenys refuses.

One of the twins breaks her out, and she gets away to find her dragon. I did not think she was going to die, I knew she was going to make it out. This felt like her strongest episode as a character. She watches Aegon get crowned, appears on her dragon, and has the power right there to burn everyone in that room. Instead she flies away, warning them this is not over.

I watched some of the after show discussion, and I know people are going to have a problem with why she did not just do it. My read is that she is not the killer these other people are. She would have been the kind of peaceful queen her predecessor was, or that Viserys tried to be, just quicker about it. I hope the show actually addresses this later, maybe with Daemon asking her directly why she did not roast them when she had the chance, because I think she has an answer for it.

The First Eight Episodes Were the Prologue to This War

Looking back, I think this episode shows how much those first eight episodes functioned as an incredible prologue. From what I have heard about the book, even it does not spend that much time on Viserys's reign, it is much more focused on the war between the Greens and the Blacks, which is exactly where this show is heading into season two.

I hope they get Miguel back as a showrunner alongside the current team. Whatever happened behind the scenes, whether it was scheduling or something else, I hope they work it out, because I think they need both of these people together. This is one of the most perfect seasons of television that I've ever seen, and I hope other shows, especially in the fantasy, science fiction and superhero space, take notes on the pacing and the focus on character that made it work.

Do you think Rhaenys made the right call by flying away instead of burning the coronation to the ground?