House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 8 Review: The Lord of the Tides
Paul Dailly
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The Prince That Was Promised has been talked about since Game of Thrones, and it's depressing that the prophecy could be the jumping-off point for the Targaryen civil war.
House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 8 switched gears considerably as we picked up with the characters six years later.
Thankfully, this will probably be the final time jump, so at least we can actually form attachments to some of the characters.
Going into "The Lord of the Tides," I was ambivalent about the events so far, largely because it's difficult to care for the characters when they do such heinous things.
The battle over the ascension of Driftmark is not something I expected so soon, but the writers clearly wanted us to believe big things are happening throughout the time jumps.
Corlys has been an excellent character to follow, so it was a shame we didn't get more of him before the horrific event that made his future so uncertain.
House of the Dragon has proven to be a constant battle for power, whether that's King's Landing, Harrenhaall, Dragonstone, or any of the other exciting locations we met in the original series.
As hand, I speak with the King's voice on this -- and all other matters.
Otto
You can always trust people to show up when there are questions about who will take over a particular land, and King's Landing made for the perfect setting for all this turmoil.
Rhaenys has been overlooked for the throne for much of her life, with Viserys taking what was rightfully hers all those years ago because the thought of a woman in power was laughable to many.
It's a shame she didn't get much of a say in the eyes of Vaemond and the others, but Vaemond should have known better than to show up at King's Landing and question the validity of Rhaenyra's son's claim to the throne.
It didn't help matters that he spoke disgustingly of Rhaenyra. As a result, Daemon showing off just how finely Valerian steel chops the neck was one of the most satisfying scenes of the series.
Vaemond still had a lot to offer, and while it could be argued that his death was shock value, Daemon did what his brother wanted to do at that moment.
Viserys showing up to the debate made for a nice surprise, but it also highlighted the decline in his health throughout the time jump.
Despite what anyone says about his leadership abilities, he is so fiercely protective of his daughter that he will find energy, even when he's on his deathbed.
The execution of those scenes made me believe that Otto and Alicent would do what they thought was best to shore up their family's power.
Viserys: I'll have your tongue.
[Daemon uses Valerian steal to chop half of Vaemond's head off].
Daemon: He can keep his tongue.
Honestly, they still might have if Viserys never showed up to spoil the fun, but there was a surprising warmth from Alicent towards Rhaenyra in the aftermath.
Was she that desperate for friends, or was she truly ready to put all of this angst behind her?
Viserys wanted unity in his family, but the family supper felt more like the calm before the storm for what's to come.
Rhaenyra is understandably weary of Alicent's motives. You could see how taken aback she was when Alicent grabbed her hand.
Once upon a time, they were going to travel the world on dragon back, and now, they're probably going to find themselves fighting against one another to the death.
Alicent has been a bit of an enigmatic character, but we got to see the difficulty of being the Queen in King's Landing on "The Lord of the Tides" to perfection.
Aegon assaulting the woman and Alicent covering it up was despicable, but because we don't fully know how dark Alicent is, I half-expected the "tea" to be poison.
Alicent is struggling to make her sons ready to rule, but the only one who seems interested is Aemond, the kid who people used to bully by giving him a pig as a dragon.
Back to that pesky prophecy.
My theory is that Alicent was ready to play along and allow Rhaenyra to ascend the throne ... until Viserys rambled about the Prince That Was Promised.
Alicent might now believe that one of her sons has to ascend the throne to fulfill the prophecy, but that may not be the case.
On Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 2, Missandei revealed that the translation of the prophecy in High Valyrian doesn't call for a gender.
House of the Dragon is about 150ish years before Game of Thrones at this point in the story, so we can cut Alicent some slack if she does think the prophecy means her son should be on the throne.
If that is how it transpires, it's depressing to know the family was at an understanding for the first time in a long time, only for it to be blown to pieces by the prophecy.
This is all assuming Viserys is dead, but it's doubtful there will be much left of him on House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 9.
He was a shell of his former self on this episode, and it now looks like we'll be getting to the war before long.
What did you think of that final scene?
Do you think the war starts because Alicent misinterpreted her husband's dying words?
What are your thoughts on Rhaenyra and Alicent getting along?
Were you surprised Vaemond lost his head and kept his tongue?
Hit the comments.
House of the Dragon continues Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
