Showrunner Ryan Condal, director Clare Kilner, and more reflect on the aftermath of the Battle at Rook’s Rest and the shifting power dynamics on both sides of the war. Watch House of the Dragon S2 Sundays at 9PM on #StreamonMax.
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00:00This episode is very much everybody vying for power but also it's very much about that
00:08happening through grief.
00:13Much of episode 5 revolves around how Rhaenys' death is resonating across all of the different
00:18characters and no one as much as it lands with her husband Corlys.
00:24This poor guy over the course of these two seasons has slowly had every human connection
00:29stripped away from him one by one.
00:31He is sitting in the Hall of Nine but it means nothing to him anymore because she's gone
00:35and all of this stuff, who cares?
00:37Steve is an incredible actor.
00:39He has such deep soul to all of his performances.
00:44I had no clue that he was going to have this tear, like this silent tear roll down his
00:49face.
00:50It was incredibly moving to see it.
00:55Our largest dragon has been killed.
00:58Duskendale and Rook's rest are gone.
01:01I think everybody's reeling, I mean Rhaenyra not the least of which and you hear a lot
01:04of this backbiting and bickering going on at the table because everybody is under tremendous
01:09amount of stress.
01:10They don't know how to react but Rhaenyra finds herself at sea.
01:14I mean that was her last great female advisor.
01:18And that's also when Rhaenyra sees this huge power vacuum and knows she's got to do something.
01:25Queen Rhaenyra wishes to name you Hand.
01:27Even the death of my wife does not content her.
01:30She's playing the role of the great politician here.
01:32The next best thing next to having Daemon back is one of the most respected men in Westeros
01:37and that's the Sea Snake.
01:38And she doesn't exploit Rhaenys' death to do it.
01:41She knows that the man is there looking for purpose, probably looking for a bit of vengeance
01:44and she probably takes advantage of that in the moment to try to get him back on side.
01:48The path I walk has never been trod.
01:52What you cannot do, let others do for you.
01:56There is more than one way to fight a war.
02:00I think Mysaria's power increases in Rhaenys' absence because I think Rhaenyra is desperate
02:04in looking for that sympathetic female voice in her life.
02:08Mysaria is offering another way which is I understand the will of the people and we can
02:12manipulate that and play that to your advantage.
02:15An element of what we're watching is propaganda war, how to win the hearts of the people.
02:20And that's all learning that she receives from Mysaria.
02:23I don't think this is something that Rhaenyra had thought of or considered until Mysaria
02:27brought it to the fore.
02:28And it's a bit of a modern concept, this idea of the quote-unquote power of the people.
02:33I have an errand for the Lady Mysaria.
02:35In real history, smart and sometimes cunning and ruthless medieval sovereigns did use people
02:41and their will to their advantage.
02:43Behold!
02:44The traitor dragon Maelys!
02:47It is, look, they've killed a dragon.
02:50Mark my words, this is a black omen.
02:52I think this is very, this is very cool.
02:55His expectations are so high, his expectations are for people to honor him and push him up
03:00on a pedestal.
03:01If you look like you've won and you carry yourselves like you've won and the public
03:05don't know what's really happened, then that's what everyone's going to believe.
03:08But what happens is so different.
03:10Don't they realize we won the battle?
03:13Strange victory, if it was won.
03:15The calculation that he doesn't make is how it will land on the small folk.
03:19I mean, Maelys is a beloved dragon that probably flew over that city hundreds of times and
03:23is seen as one of these symbols of the unshakeableness, of the invincibility of the Targaryens.
03:28I thought the dragons was gods.
03:30You know, as soon as people can see you can kill dragons, well then anybody can do it.
03:34And does that mean that these people that we've always thought of as being gods because
03:38of their ability to ride dragons is actually all a bit of a mirage?
03:44This is, at best, a terrible omen and at worst, a harbinger of the things to come.
03:53The King.
03:54Ser Criston, what befell him?
03:56His grace fought valiantly.
03:58And Aemond?
03:59What was his part in this?
04:01I could not say.
04:03The dramatic tension that looms over the episode is what is the state of Aegon and did he survive
04:09the end of episode four?
04:12And will he survive through the end of this episode?
04:14And I think that's what's kind of looming over all these characters, that big question,
04:18to show the cost of letting your sovereign get on his dragon and ride into battle.
04:23Someone will have to rule in his stead.
04:25It's everything he ever wanted.
04:26With great power comes great responsibility and he's got to be seen as someone who knows
04:30how to wield it.
04:31I agree your grace, it must be Prince Aemond.
04:34I mean, this is a massive power shift all of a sudden at the Green Council.
04:37I was dramatized by the meeting where Aemond takes power in this very kind of banal way
04:41where he just stands up from the foot of the table, takes his ball, moves over to the King's
04:45seat and puts it down and sits and then starts doling out orders while everybody, including
04:50Alicent, especially Alicent, are reeling from the decision.
04:53And you feel the shift in that way and how different the Red Keep is going to be with
04:57Aemond in charge versus the way it was with Aegon.
05:00Someone cut down the fucking rat catchers.
05:03A term too simple, Lord Bracken.
05:05Renounce the false King Aegon as a usurper and bend the knee to me or your house burns.
05:14Daemon approaches life always trying to hammer that square peg into the round hole and he's
05:19just trying to force his will upon this place.
05:23I love the image of him in his full dragon battle armor sitting on the rock and not understanding
05:28what's happened and saying...
05:30I did not think they would be so eager to die.
05:33And the Riverlands is just this unwranglable place to him.
05:36He's brought his values and sort of Targaryen dragon lord values into a place that is rich
05:41with the old gods and these old ways.
05:43These people just don't respect the dragon lords the way Daemon is hoping or used to.
05:48See, I must begin here with a lesson in etiquette.
05:51On the page I thought, yeah, this is the right territory.
05:54This is where we should be.
05:56This is where his head's at.
05:57It's how mental his kind of state is.
05:59Is Daemon trying to usurp Rhaenyra?
06:01It's like unfair that he wasn't given the crown, that he isn't listened to, that he
06:08doesn't have that power.
06:09We just don't know what he's going to do or ultimately how he's going to turn.
06:14And while I don't think that anybody could ever be asked to believe that he would turn
06:17against Rhaenyra and go to war against her, I think we could all believe that maybe Daemon
06:22would just go and claim the throne for himself and then see what happens.
06:26What would you call the husband of the queen?
06:28Well, the king.
06:29There it is then.
06:30Consul.
06:31That last bit seems unnecessary, don't you think?