House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon (2022–present) is an American fantasy drama airing on HBO about the events leading up to and surrounding the civil war known as the "Dance of the Dragons," which took place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.

Season 1

The Heirs of the Dragon [1.01]

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: As the first century of the Targaryen dynasty came to a close, the health of the Old King, Jaehaerys, was failing. In those days, House Targaryen stood at the height of its strength, with ten adult dragons under its yoke. No power in the world could stand against it. King Jaehaerys reigned over nearly sixty years of peace and prosperity, but tragedy had claimed both his sons, leaving his succession in doubt. So, in the year 101, the Old King called a Great Council to choose an heir. Over a thousand lords made the journey to Harrenhal. Fourteen succession claims were heard, but only two were truly considered. Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, the King's eldest descendant, and her younger cousin, Prince Viserys Targaryen, the King's eldest male descendant.

King Jaehaerys I Targaryen: [flashback, the day of the Great Council] It is declared by all lords paramount and lords vassal of the Seven Kingdoms that Prince Viserys Targaryen be made Prince of Dragonstone.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Rhaenys, a woman, would not inherit the Iron Throne. The lords instead chose Viserys, my father. Jaehaerys called the Great Council to prevent a war being fought over his succession. For he knew the cold truth. The only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself.

Queen Aemma Arryn: You will lie in this bed soon enough, Rhaenyra. This discomfort is how we serve the realm.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I'd rather serve as a knight and ride to battle and glory.

Queen Aemma Arryn: We have royal wombs, you and I. The childbed is our battlefield.

Ser Otto Hightower: You've not been seen in the Vale or at Runestone for quite some time.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I think my bronze bitch is happier for my absence.

Ser Otto Hightower: Lady Rhea is your wife, a good and honorable Lady of the Vale.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: In the Vale, men are said to fuck sheep instead of women. I can assure you the sheep are prettier.

Ser Otto Hightower: No one here can know what Daemon would do were he king, but no one can doubt his ambition. Look at what he did with the gold cloaks. The City Watch is fiercely loyal to him. An army two thousand strong.

King Viserys I Targaryen: An army you gave him, Otto. I named Daemon Master of Laws, but you said he was a tyrant. As Master of Coin, you said he was a spendthrift that would beggar the realm. Putting Daemon in command of the City Watch was your solution!

Ser Otto Hightower: A half-measure, Your Grace. The truth is, Daemon should be far away from this court.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Daemon is my brother. My blood. And he will have his place at my court.

Grand Maester Mellos: Let him keep his place at court, Your Grace, but if the gods should visit some further tragedy on you, either by design or accident...

King Viserys I Targaryen: Design? What are you saying? My brother would murder me, take my crown? Are you? Please. Daemon has ambition, yes, but not for the throne. He lacks the patience for it.

Ser Otto Hightower: The gods have yet to make a man who lacks the patience for absolute power, Your Grace.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Did you say it?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I don't know what you mean.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You will address me as Your Grace or I will have my Kingsguard cut out your tongue. "The Heir for a Day". Did you say it?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: We must all mourn in our own way, Your Grace.

King Viserys I Targaryen: My family has just been destroyed. But instead of being by my side, or Rhaenyra's, you chose to celebrate your own rise! Laughing with your whοおみくろんres and your lickspittles! You have no allies at court but me! I have only ever defended you! Yet everything I've given you, you've thrown back in my face!

Prince Daemon Targaryen: You've only ever tried to send me away, To the Vale, to the City Watch, anywhere but by your side! Ten years you've been king, and yet not once have you asked me to be your Hand!

King Viserys I Targaryen: Why would I do that?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Because I'm your brother. And the blood of the dragon runs thick.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Then why do you cut me so deeply?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I've only ever spoken the truth, I see Otto Hightower for what he is.

King Viserys I Targaryen: An unwavering and loyal Hand?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: A cunt! A second son who stands to inherit nothing he doesn't seize for himself.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Otto Hightower is a more honorable man than you could ever be.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: He doesn't protect you. I would.

King Viserys I Targaryen: From what?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Yourself. You're weak, Viserys. And that council of leeches knows it. They all prey on you for their own ends.

King Viserys I Targaryen: I have decided to name a new heir.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I'm your heir.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Not anymore. You are to return to Runestone and your lady wife at once. And you are to do so without quarrel, by order of your King.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): Everyone says Targaryens are closer to gods than to men but they say that because of our dragons. Without them, we're just like everyone else.

King Viserys I Targaryen: The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion. They're a power man should never have trifled with. One that brought Valyria its doom. If we don't mind our own histories, it will do the same to us. Targaryen must understand this to be King. Or Queen. [Rhaenyra looks at her father as his words sink in] I am sorry, Rhaenyra. I have wasted the years since you were born wanting for a son. You are the very best of your mother, and I now believe, as I know she did, that you could be a great ruling Queen.

King Viserys I Targaryen: There's something else that I need to tell you. It might be difficult for you to understand, but you must hear it. Our histories... They tell us that Aegon looked across the Blackwater from Dragonstone and saw a rich land ripe for the capture. But ambition alone is not what drove him to conquest. It was a dream. And just as Daenys foresaw the end of Valyria, Aegon foresaw the end of the world of men. 'Tis to begin with a terrible winter gusting out of the distant north. Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those winds. And whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living. When this Great Winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark. Aegon called his dream "The Song of Ice and Fire." This secret, it's been passed from king to heir since Aegon's time. Now you must promise to carry it and protect it. Promise me this, Rhaenyra. Promise me.

The Rogue Prince [1.02]

Lord Corlys Velaryon: I fear that the eyes of our enemies are presently fixed on the Red Keep. The Queen has passed. A girl has been named heir to the Iron Throne, the first in its history. The King's brother, so disinherited, has claimed the Targaryen seat on Dragonstone without challenge. And now, a foreign power has established a colony in our most critical shipping lane.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You paint such an aspirant portrait of my reign, Lord Corlys.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: It is an honest one, cousin. At the moment, the Crown is perceived as being vulnerable.

King Viserys I Targaryen: And a blind incursion in the Stepstones is the only way to demonstrate that we are not?

Lord Corlys Velaryon: To elude a storm, you can either sail into it or around it. But you must never await its coming.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Whether it's to my daughter or to someone else's, your father will remarry sooner than late. His new wife will produce new heirs, and chances are better than not that one of those will be male. And when that boy comes of age and your father has passed, the men of the realm will expect him to be heir, not you. Because that is the order of things.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): When I am Queen, I will create a new order.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: How I wish that could be, Rhaenyra. But the men of the realm already had their opportunity to appoint a ruling Queen at the Great Council and they denied it.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): They denied you, Princess Rhaenys. "The Queen Who Never Was". But they bent the knee to me and called me heir to the throne.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Do you remind your father's men of that as you carry their cups? Here is the hard truth, which no one else has the heart to tell you. Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne. And your father is no fool.

Mysaria: I have been sold as property more times than I care to count, beginning in a homeland I can no longer recall. Most of my years have been spent living in terror.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: You're safe with me, I swear it.

Mysaria: You are Targaryen. You can afford to play your stupid games with the King, but I cannot. I didn't come into your service wanting gold. Or power. Or station. I came to you to be liberated.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Liberated. From what?

Mysaria: Fear.

King Viserys I Targaryen: I wish I had known better what to say to you in the aftermath. I struggled to realize that my daughter had so quickly become a woman grown. But I know she understands what is now expected of me.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): The king must take a new wife.

King Viserys I Targaryen: I could never replace your mother. No more than I intend to replace you as heir. But you are my only heir and our line is vulnerable, too easily ended. And by marrying again, I may begin to ensure that we are better defended.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): Against whom?

King Viserys I Targaryen: Whomever may dare to challenge us. [pause] I do not wish to make us estranged.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): You are the king. Your first duty is to the realm. Mother would have understood this. Just as I do.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: You've heard of the trouble in the Stepstones?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Some Myrish prince is feeding Westerosi sailors to the crabs.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: I have been petitioning the King to send my navy into the territory, but he's denied me.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: It was never my brother's strongest trait.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: What?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Being king.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: The Crabfeeder is backed by powerful entities within the Free Cities who wish to see Westeros weakened. And the King's failures have allowed him to accumulate strength. If those shipping lanes fall, my house will be crippled. And I will not have Driftmark beggared while our King idles himself with feasts and balls and tourneys.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I will speak of my brother as I wish. You will not.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Waiting in the Stepstones is a chance for you to prove your worth to any who might yet doubt it. We are the realm's second sons, Daemon. Our worth is not given. It must be made.

Second of His Name [1.03]

King Viserys I Targaryen: Since you came of age, I've been slowly drowning in a lake of parchment flung from every corner of the realm. Marriage proposals, all. And I have tried often to discuss it with you, but you've refused me at every turn.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): That is because I do not wish to get married.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Even I do not exist above tradition and duty, Rhaenyra!

King Viserys I Targaryen: Many in my line have been dragon riders. Very few among us have been dreamers. What is the power of a dragon next to the power of prophecy?

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): The hour is too late, husband.

King Viserys I Targaryen: When Rhaenyra was a child, I saw it in a dream. As vivid as these flames, I saw it. A male babe born to me wearing the Conqueror's crown. And I so wanted it to be true, to be a dreamer myself. I sought that vision again, night after night, but it never came again. I poured all my thought and will into it. And my obsession killed Rhaenyra's mother.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): Viserys...

King Viserys I Targaryen: I thought Rhaenyra was the way out of my abyss of grief and regret. And naming her heir would begin to set things right.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): Oh, it did.

King Viserys I Targaryen: I never imagined I would remarry, that I would have a son. What if I was wrong?

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): Rhaenyra will be a good queen.

Ser Otto Hightower: It wouldn't matter if she were Jaehaerys himself born again. Rhaenyra is a woman.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): What of my son? Would you have me raise a man to steal his own sister's birthright?

Ser Otto Hightower: It is Aegon that's being robbed. He's the firstborn son of the King. To deny that he is heir to the throne is to assail the laws of gods and men. The road ahead is uncertain, but the end is clear. Aegon will be king.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You have misjudged me, Rhaenyra.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): All know it. Jason Lannister knows it. You said it yourself, the lords of the realm gather like vultures to a carcass, hoping to feast on my bones.

King Viserys I Targaryen: It is true that as rulers we must marry for advantage to forge alliances and bolster our strength. You have always understood this. I myself was promised to your mother when I was...

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): Ten-and-seven years of age. The Vale had an army to rival the North. I've heard that story since I've had ears to.

King Viserys I Targaryen: I loved her. She made a man of me. I do not seek to replace you, child. You've been much alone these last few years. Alone and angry. I will not live forever. I wish to see you contented, happy even.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): You think a man will do it?

King Viserys I Targaryen: A family.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I had a family.

King Viserys I Targaryen: What would you have me do?!

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): If it was for advantage, you would've wed Laena Velaryon!

King Viserys I Targaryen: That is true enough. You must marry, strengthen your own claim, shore up your succession, multiply. As to your match, make it yourself. Search him out. Find one that pleases you, as I did. Rhaenyra, I did waver at one time. But I swear to you now, on your mother's memory, you will not be supplanted.

King of the Narrow Sea [1.04]

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): How angry is he?

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): The King went through great effort to arrange your tour. He is frustrated. But I am glad you are home. I find I have few friends lately. I like to believe I'm still the Lady Alicent, but all anyone sees when they look at me now is "The Queen."

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I've missed you, too.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: You cannot live your life in fear, or you will forsake the best parts of it.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I have no desire to live in fear. Only solitude.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Such a lovely prospect.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): Their wants are of no consequences.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: They're of great consequence if you expect to rule then one day.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: When I offered up my crown, you said I could have anything. I want Rhaenyra. I'll take her as she is, and wed her in the tradition of our house.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You are already wed.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: That didn't stop Aegon the Conqueror from taking a second wife.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You are no conqueror. You are a plague sent to destroy me.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Give me Rhaenyra to take to wife and we will return the House of the Dragon to its proper glory.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Of course. It's not my daughter you lust for, is it? It's my throne. Go back to the Vale, Daemon, to your lawful wife. Strive to restore whatever scrap of honor remains in you. Or don't. Matters not to me. As long as you are gone from my sight for good.

King Viserys I Targaryen: My father was a hale and healthy warrior and dragonrider at the peak of his abilities. Jaehaerys named a great royal hunt to celebrate him being named the Hand of the King. Five days later, my father lay dead. Tourneys last longer. Baelon the Brave, rider of Vhagar, heir to the Iron Throne, dead of a burst belly. The gods have a dark wit.

Ser Otto Hightower: It was a grim day. I recall it all too well.

King Viserys I Targaryen: It was a good day for you. Jaehaerys named you Hand in Baelon's stead.

Ser Otto Hightower: That's hardly how I viewed it, Your Grace. It was a duty.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You served my grandsire nobly in his final days. You are the man that taught me how to be King.

Ser Otto Hightower: Oh, you honor me, Your Grace.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Just five days you went from being another man in Jaehaerys's court to the second most powerful man in the realm. I wonder, how long did it take you to choose yourself over your King?

Ser Otto Hightower: Your Grace?

King Viserys I Targaryen: I will never recover from Aemma's death. But Alicent, she took me through the worst of my grief. She was a calculated distraction. I only now realize how well-calculated it was.

Ser Otto Hightower: That is an absurdity. The Queen loves you as I know you love her.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Your interests no longer align with those of the realm. Your judgment has been compromised.

Ser Otto Hightower: A loyal Hand must tell his king a discomforting truth from time to time, Your Grace. If he doesn't, he's failed as a servant.

King Viserys I Targaryen: You were a faithful servant, Otto. The Crown and the realm both owe you a debt that can never be repaid. But I can no longer trust your judgment.

We Light the Way [1.05]

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): I do not wish to see you go.

Ser Otto Hightower: Such is the king's decision.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): A decision I most vigorously regret.

Ser Otto Hightower: And yet you made it possible. You chose Rhaenyra.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): She swore her innocence. And I believed her.

Ser Otto Hightower: You wanted to believe her. As did her father.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): Your informant was wrong. An honest mistake, perhaps, but I did not foresee this!

Ser Otto Hightower: You should have.

Queen Alicent Hightower (Young): If you had not been so relentless in advancing Aegon as heir...

Ser Otto Hightower: Listen to me, daughter. The King will die. It may be months or years, but he'll not live to be an old man, and if Rhaenyra succeeds him, war will follow, do you understand? The realm will not accept her. And to secure her claim, she'll have to put your children to the sword. She'll have no choice. You know it. You're no fool and yet you choose not to see it. The time is coming, Alicent. Either you prepare Aegon to rule, or you cleave to Rhaenyra and pray for her mercy.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I know that whatever agreement being struck up there will not change your appetites, nor will it change mine.

Ser Laenor Velaryon (Young): And what do you propose?

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): That we perform our duty to our fathers and to the realm. And when it's done, each of us dines as we see fit.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: We are placing our son in danger.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: The lords of the realm bent the knee to Rhaenyra and swore obeisance to her.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: That was before there was a true-born prince named Aegon Targaryen. Rhaenyra's succession will be challenged. Knives will come out, for her, her husband, and their heirs.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Our house controls the realm's navy and half its dragons. Anyone fool enough to challenge Rhaenyra's claim will be crushed.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: To what end, Corlys? Wealth? Power? Pride?

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Justice. By all rights, you should be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. You were robbed of the crown by...

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: I never wore the crown because the realm would not have it so.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: But I would remedy that small-minded error by any means necessary.

Ser Criston Cole: Let us leave it all behind and see the world together, where we'll be nameless and free. Free to go where we like, to love as we like. In Essos, you could marry me. A marriage for love, not for the crown.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I am the crown, Ser Criston. Or I will be. I may chafe at my duties, but do you think I would choose infamy in exchange for a bushel of oranges or a ship to Asshai? It is my duty to marry a nobleman from a great house and Ser Laenor will make a fine husband. But my, uh, my marriage does not have to be the end. Ser Criston, Laenor and I have an understanding. I've granted him leave to pursue his own interests. And in turn, he's granted me the same.

Ser Criston Cole: So you want me to be your whοおみくろんre?

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I want us to continue as we began, with you as my sworn protector, my white knight.

Ser Criston Cole: I took an oath. As a, as a knight of, of your Kingsguard. An oath of chastity. I've broken it.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): I won't tell anyone...

Ser Criston Cole: I've, I've soiled my, my, my white cloak. And it is the only thing I have to my fսcking name! I, I thought if we were married, I might be able to restore it.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Young): The Iron Throne looms larger than me, larger than anyone in my family.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Will I be remembered as a good king?

Lord Lyonel Strong: Your Grace?

King Viserys I Targaryen: What will they say of me when the histories are written? I have neither fought nor conquered, nor suffered any great defeat.

Lord Lyonel Strong: Some might call that good fortune.

King Viserys I Targaryen: It hardly makes a good song, does it? To be sung at feasts in a hundred years, five hundred.

Lord Lyonel Strong: You have carried King Jaehaerys's legacy, and kept the realm strong. Is it not better to live in peace than to have songs sung after you are dead?

King Viserys I Targaryen: Perhaps. But there is a part of me wishes I'd been tested. I often think that in the crucible, I may have been forged a different man.

Lord Lyonel Strong: Many that are tested only wish to have been spared it.

The Princess and the Queen [1.06]

Queen Alicent Hightower: You are nearly a man-grown. How is it that you can be so shortsighted? If Rhaenyra comes into power, your very life could be forfeit. Aemond's as well. She could move to cut off any challenge to her succession.

Prince Aegon Targaryen (Young): Then I won't challenge...

Queen Alicent Hightower: You are the challenge! You are the challenge, Aegon! Simply by living and breathing! You are the King's firstborn son. And what they know, what everyone in the realm knows in their blood and in their bones, is that one day, you will be our King.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Dark rumors are hunting us, Laenor. They nip at our heels. Questions about our sons' parentage. Vile, disgusting insinuations.

Prince Laenor Velaryon: Insinuations, are they?

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: They are our sons! Yours and mine. And their true father will not abandon them now to go carousing through the Narrow Sea, waggling his sword and winking at his sailors.

Prince Laenor Velaryon: I am a knight and a warrior. And I have played my part here, faithfully, for ten years. I am owed some...

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: You are owed nothing! For ten years, you have indulged yourself at court, bought the finest horses, drunk the rarest of wines, fսckеd the lustiest boys. This was our agreement. I have not begrudged you. But you do not desert your post when the storm lashes.

Prince Laenor Velaryon: The wise sailor flees the storm as it gathers.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Very well then. I command you. As your Princess and the heir to the throne, you are commanded to remain in King's Landing and at my side.

Lady Laena Velaryon: You laud the virtues of Pentos, but you have no interest in it. If you did, you would venture into the city, but instead, you spend your time here, in the library, reading accounts of the same dead dragonlords whose legacy you claim has no hold on you.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Didn't know I was being so minutely observed.

Lady Laena Velaryon: You do not sleep.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Well, how can I with you haunting my every move?

Lady Laena Velaryon: Life has, I know, disappointed you. Perhaps, I too, am not the wife you would've wished for yourself.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Laena...

Lady Laena Velaryon: It does not pain me. I have made my peace. But you are more than this, Daemon. The man I married was more than this.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Young): Is Harwin Strong my father? Am I a bastard?

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: You are a Targaryen. That's all that matters.

Lord Larys Strong: What are children but a weakness? A folly? A futility? Through them, you imagine you cheat the great darkness of its victory. You will persist forever, in some form or another. As if they will keep you from the dust. But for them, you surrender what you should not. You may know what is the right thing to be done, but love stays the hand. Love is a downfall. Best to make your way through life unencumbered if you ask me.

Queen Alicent Hightower: [referring to Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin Strong] They're dead.

Lord Larys Strong: You've heard the stories of Harrenhal, Your Grace. It was built in hubris by Harren the Black as a monument to his own greatness. Blood mixed into the mortar. It is said to be a cursed place. That it passes judgment on all who pass beneath its gates.

Queen Alicent Hightower: You, you passed judgment.

Lord Larys Strong: The Queen makes a wish. What servant of the realm would not strive to fulfill it?

Driftmark [1.07]

Prince Daemon Targaryen: [after Otto Hightower offers his condolences] No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: The crown was yours until those fools at the Great Council plucked it from your head. Is it such a terrible thing for your husband to wish to win it back?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Tonight of all nights, let us lay aside this falsehood. It is not justice for your wife that drives you. It is your own ambition. 'Tis desire for the throne. If not for yourself, then for the scions of your house. I gave up the idea of wearing a crown a generation ago. It is you, lord husband, who refuses to abandon this pursuit, even now, at the cost of our children.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: What is this brief mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Legacy may be why you live your life, Corlys. I want Driftmark to pass through Laena's line to Baela. To true Velaryon blood. Declare it now, while all are gathered here, and we will say that is how we will honor Laena's memory.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: And disinherit our son?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: He will be the King Consort. His son will one day sit the Iron Throne.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: You would have me cast an even darker shadow over those little boys than already exists.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: We are alone here, husband. You can speak the plain truth as we both know it. Rhaenyra's children are not of your blood. But Laena's are. They are her legacy.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: History does not remember blood. It remembers names.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: [after stopping Alicent from blinding Lucerys] You've gone too far!

Queen Alicent Hightower: What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law, while you flout all to do as you please?

King Viserys I Targaryen: Alicent, let her go!

Queen Alicent Hightower: Where is duty?! Where is sacrifice?! It's trampled under your pretty foot again!

Ser Otto Hightower: Release the blade, Alicent.

Queen Alicent Hightower: And now you take my son's eye, and to even that, you feel entitled!

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Exhausting, wasn't it? Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness. But now they see you as you are.

Prince Aemond Targaryen (Young): Do not mourn me, Mother. It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon.

Queen Alicent Hightower: I disgraced myself. And ensured my husband's favor will forever rest on her.

Ser Otto Hightower: And yet I've never seen that side of you, my daughter. I even doubted its existence.

Queen Alicent Hightower: It was an ugly thing. I regret it.

Ser Otto Hightower: We play an ugly game. And now, for the first time, I see that you have the determination to win it.

The Lord of the Tides [1.08]

King Viserys I Targaryen: I must admit my confusion. I do not understand why petitions are being heard over a settled succession. The only one present who might offer keener insight into Lord Corlys' wishes is the Princess Rhaenys.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Indeed, Your Grace. It was ever my husband's wish that Driftmark pass through Ser Laenor to his trueborn son, Lucerys Velaryon. His mind never changed, nor did my support of him. As a matter of fact, the Princess Rhaenyra has just informed me of her desire to marry her sons, Jace and Luke, to Lord Corlys' granddaughters, Baela and Rhaena. A proposal to which I heartily agree.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Well, the matter is settled. Again. I hereby reaffirm Prince Lucerys of House Velaryon as heir to Driftmark, the Driftwood Throne, and the next Lord of the Tides.

Ser Vaemond Velaryon: You break law, and centuries of tradition, to install your daughter as heir. Yet you dare tell me who deserves to inherit the name Velaryon?! No. I will not allow it.

King Viserys I Targaryen: "Allow it"? Do not forget yourself, Vaemond.

Ser Vaemond Velaryon: [points at Lucerys] That is no true Velaryon! And certainly, no nephew of mine.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: [to her sons] Go to your chambers. [to Vaemond] You have said enough.

King Viserys I Targaryen: Lucerys is my trueborn grandson. And you are no more than the second son of Driftmark.

Ser Vaemond Velaryon: You may run your House as you see fit. But you will not decide the future of mine! My House survived the Doom, and a thousand tribulations besides! [looking at Lucerys hatefully] And gods be damned, I will not see it ended on the account of this... [pauses]

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Say it.

Ser Vaemond Targaryen: [glaring at Rhaenyra] Her children are bastards! [to Viserys] And she is a whore.

King Viserys I Targaryen: [forces himself to his feet and draws his dagger] I will have your tongue for that!

[Daemon suddenly swings Dark Sister from behind, beheading Vaemond above the jawline]

Prince Daemon Targaryen: He can keep his tongue.

King Viserys I Targaryen: It both gladdens my heart, and fills me with sorrow, to see these faces around the table. The faces, most dear to me in all the world. Yet grown so distant from each other, in the years past. [removes his half-mask, showing his missing eye and rotting face] My own face is no longer a handsome one. If, indeed, it ever was. But tonight, I wish you to see me as I am. Not just a king, but your father. Your brother. Your husband. And your grandsire. Who may not, it seems, walk for much longer among you. Let us no longer hold ill feelings in our hearts. The Crown cannot stand strong if the House of the Dragon remains divided. But set aside your grievances! If not for the sake of the Crown, then for the sake of this old man, who loves you all so dearly!

The Green Council [1.09]

Ser Tyland Lannister: What is it that could not have waited an hour? Was Dorne invaded?

Ser Otto Hightower: The King is dead. We grieve for Viserys the Peaceful, our sovereign, our friend. But he has left us a gift. With his last breath, he impressed upon the Queen his final wish that his son Aegon should succeed him as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.

Ser Tyland Lannister: Then we may proceed now with the full assurance of his blessing on our long-laid plans.

Ser Otto Hightower: Yes. There is much to be done, as we have previously discussed. Now, there are two among the captains of the City Watch who remain loyal to Daemon. Let us replace them. Lord Lannister?

Ser Tyland Lannister: The Treasury is well in hand. The gold will be divided for safe keeping.

Ser Otto Hightower: Let ravens be sent to our allies, Riverrun and Highgarden...

Queen Alicent Hightower: Am I to understand that members of the Small Council have been planning secretly to install my son without me?

Lord Jasper Wylde: My Queen, there was no need to sully you with darkling schemes.

Lord Lyman Beesbury: I will not have this! To hear that you are plotting to replace the King's chosen heir with an imposter...

Ser Tyland Lannister: His firstborn son is hardly an imposter.

Lord Lyman Beesbury: Hundreds of lords and landed knights swore fealty to the Princess.

Ser Tyland Lannister: That was some twenty years ago. Most of them are now dead.

Lord Jasper Wylde: You heard the Lord Hand. Plot or no, the King changed his mind.

Lord Lyman Beesbury: I am six and seventy years old. I have known Viserys longer than any who sit at this table, and I will not believe he said this on his deathbed, alone, with only the boy's mother as a witness! This is seizure! It is theft! It is treason!

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: [after Alicent visits her while under house arrest] I will do you the considerable courtesy of assuming there is a good reason for the outrage of my treatment here this morning!

Queen Alicent Hightower: My sincerest regrets for the lack of ceremony.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: The King? [Alicent nods] And you are usurping the throne.

Queen Alicent Hightower: It was my husband's dying wish. [Rhaenys scoffs] Believe it or no, it is of no consequence. Aegon will be king. I came here to ask for your support.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Well, I must credit you for your boldness.

Queen Alicent Hightower: House Velaryon has long allied itself with the Princess Rhaenyra. And what has it gained you? Your daughter dead, alone in Pentos. Your son cuckolded. Rhaenyra's heirs are none of yours. It is your husband who grasps so heedlessly for the throne. And even he has abandoned you. Gone these six long years to fight a desperate battle, returning grievously, if not mortally, wounded, leaving the Lady of Driftmark to chart her course alone.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: The word of my house is not fickle.

Queen Alicent Hightower: No. But, dear cousin, you more than any soul alive understand what I say now. Princess Rhaenys, I loved my husband, but I will speak the truth we both know. You should've been queen.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: I little thought to hear those words from you.

Queen Alicent Hightower: The Iron Throne was yours by blood and by temperament. Viserys would've lived his days a country lord, content to hunt and study his histories, but here we are. We do not rule but we may guide the men that do. Gently, away from violence and sure destruction and instead toward peace.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Is it in the name of peace that you've imprisoned me? And what of my dragon?

Queen Alicent Hightower: If we are overmatched, Rhaenyra will be tempted to strike us, and war will ensue. Without your dragon, she may be persuaded to negotiate. If it's Driftmark you want, you shall have it for you and your granddaughters to pass on as you see fit.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: You are wiser than I believed you to be, Alicent Hightower.

Queen Alicent Hightower: A true queen counts the cost to her people.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: And yet you toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?

Mysaria: [to Otto Hightower] There is no power but what the people allow you to take.

Queen Alicent Hightower: None of this is a game.

Ser Otto Hightower: And yet, you treat it as one. A charming contest, the prize a pouch of silver. We have relied on one another these many years and now, it is the good of the family we both desire. Whatever our differences, our hearts remain as one.

Queen Alicent Hightower: Our hearts were never one, I see that now. Rather, I have been a piece you moved about the board.

Ser Otto Hightower: If that is true, then I made you Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Would you have desired it otherwise?

Queen Alicent Hightower: How could I have known? I wanted whatever you impressed upon me to want, and now the debt comes due. A debt you were happy enough to pay.

Ser Otto Hightower: A sacrifice. A sacrifice made for the stability of the realm. No King has ever lived who has not had to forfeit the lives of a few to protect the many! Though I understand your squeamishness...

Queen Alicent Hightower: Reluctance to murder is not a weakness! I have Aegon. We will proceed now as I see fit. We will send terms to Rhaenyra on Dragonstone. True terms that she may accept without shame.

Ser Otto Hightower: If she lives, her allies will mass behind her banners, looking for her return.

Queen Alicent Hightower: Then she must not return. My husband would have desired this mercy be shown to his daughter.

Ser Otto Hightower: Your husband? Or you, his daughter's childhood companion?

Queen Alicent Hightower: Criston Cole will be named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. My son will be anointed tomorrow at dawn. The whole of King's Landing must witness his ascent. He will assume authority, there will be no more dithering. My son will take the crown of his namesake, the Conqueror, and carry Blackfyre, his sword. Let the people remember the ancient strength of House Targaryen.

Ser Otto Hightower: You look so much like your mother in certain lights.

Queen Alicent Hightower: Have the decency to look grateful. Do you know what has been done to give you this day? In an hour, you will be king.

Prince Aegon Targaryen: And my father never wanted this.

Queen Alicent Hightower: That's not true.

Prince Aegon Targaryen: He had twenty years to name me heir, and never did. Steadfastly he upheld Rhaenyra's claim.

Queen Alicent Hightower: He changed his mind.

Prince Aegon Targaryen: No. He could have, but he never did. Because he didn't like me.

The Black Queen [1.10]

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Viserys is dead. I grieve this loss with you, Rhaenyra. My cousin, your father, possessed a kind heart. [pause] There is more. Aegon has been crowned as his successor.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: They crowned him?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: How did Viserys die?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: I could not say.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: How long ago?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: A day past, perhaps two. I was made a prisoner in my quarters while the Queen made her preparations.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Viserys has been slain!

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: Alicent demanded you declare for Aegon?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: She did. I refused her.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: And yet you are alive.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: The High Septon crowned Aegon in the Dragonpit. I witnessed it myself just before I fled on Meleys.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen: They crowned him before the masses?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: So that the masses would see him as their rightful king.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: That whore of a Queen murdered my brother and stole his throne, and you could have burnt them all for it!

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: A war is like to be fought over this treachery, to be sure, but that war is not mine to begin. I only rushed this warning to you out of loyalty to my husband and to my House. The Greens are coming for you, Rhaenyra, and your children.

Lord Bartimos Celtigar: Pray forgive my bluntness, Your Grace, but talk of men is moot. Your cause owns a power that has not been seen in this world since the days of Old Valyria. Dragons.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: The Greens have dragons as well.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: They have three adults, by my count. We have Syrax, Caraxes and Meleys. Your sons have Vermax, Arrax and Tyraxes. Baela has Moondancer...

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Daemon, none of our dragons have been to war.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: There are also unclaimed dragons. Seasmoke still resides on Driftmark. Vermithor and Silverwing dwell on the Dragonmount, still riderless. Then there are three wild dragons, all of whom nest here.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: And who is to ride them?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Dragonstone has thirteen to their four. I also have a score of eggs incubating in the Dragonmont. Now, we need a place to gather, a toehold large enough to house a sizeable force. Here, at Harrenhal. We cut off the west, surround King's Landing with the dragons, and we can have every Green head mounted on spikes before the fucking moon turns!

Ser Otto Hightower: Princess Rhaenyra.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I'm Queen Rhaenyra now, and you are all traitors to the realm.

Ser Otto Hightower: King Aegon Targaryen, Second of His Name, in his wisdom and desire for peace, is offering terms. Acknowledge Aegon as King and swear obeisance before the Iron Throne. In exchange, His Grace will confirm your possession of Dragonstone. It will pass to your trueborn son, Jacaerys, upon your death. Lucerys will be confirmed as the legitimate heir to Driftmark and all the lands and holdings of House Velaryon. Your sons by Prince Daemon will be given places of high honour at court; Aegon the Younger as the King's squire, Viserys as his cupbearer. Finally, the King, in his good grace, will pardon any knight or lord who conspired against his ascent.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I would rather feed my sons to the dragons than have them carry shields and cups for your drunken usurper cunt of a king!

Ser Otto Hightower: Aegon Targaryen sits the Iron Throne. He wears the Conqueror's crown, wields the Conqueror's sword, has the Conqueror's name. He was anointed by a septon of the Faith before the eyes of thousands. Every symbol of legitimacy belongs to him. And then there is Stark, Tully, Baratheon. Houses that have also received, and are at present, considering generous terms from their king.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Stark, Tully and Baratheon all swore to me when King Viserys named me his heir.

Ser Otto Hightower: Stale oaths will not put you upon the Iron Throne, Princess. The succession changed the day your father sired a son. I only regret you and he were the last to see the truth of it...

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: [removes and discards Otto's Hand badge] You are no more Hand than Aegon is King, fucking traitor!

Ser Otto Hightower: [Hands Rhaenyra a page she once tore from Alicent's book, detailing the conqueress Princess Nymeria; Alicent sent it as a gesture of good-will] The Queen has not forgotten the love you once had for each other. No blood need be spilled, so the realm can carry on in peace. Queen Alicent eagerly awaits your answer.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: She can have her answer now, stuffed in her father's mouth along with his withered cock. Let's end this mummer's farce. [Draws his sword, Dark Sister]

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: No - King's Landing will have my answer on the morrow.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Lord Corlys. It brings much relief to see you hail and healthy, again.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: I'm very sorry about your father, Princess. He was a good man. Where is Daemon?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: There were other matters which demanded the Prince's attention.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Hmm. [limps forward to the Painted Table] Your declared allies?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Yes.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Too few to win a war, for the Throne.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Well, we would also hope, to have the support of Houses Arryn, Baratheon and Stark-

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Hope is the fool's ally.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Both Arryn and Baratheon share blood with my House, but all of them swore oaths to me-

Lord Corlys Velaryon: As did House Hightower, if I remember?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: As did you, Lord Corlys.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: [looks briefly to Rhaenys, their granddaughters and Rhaenyra's sons] Your father's realm was one of justice, and honor. Our Houses are bound by common blood, and common cause. This Hightower treason cannot stand. You have the full support of our fleet, and House, Your Grace. [bows to her]

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You honor me, Lord Corlys. [she follows his gaze to Rhaenys, who smiles] Princess Rhaenys. But, as I said to my bannermen, I made a promise to my father to hold the Realm strong, and united. If war's first stroke is to fall, it will not be by my hand.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: You do not mean to act?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Taking caution does not mean standing fast. I wish to know who my allies are, before I send them to war.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: The consequence of my... near-demise in the Stepstones is that we now control them. I took care to fully garrison the territory this time. A total blockade of the shipping lanes will be in place in days, if not already. The Triarchy have been routed; the Narrow Sea is ours. If we further seal the Gullet, we can cut off all seaborne travel and trade to King's Landing.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: I shall take Meleys and patrol the Gullet myself.

Lord Bartimos Celtigar: When we drain the Narrow Sea, we can surround King's Landing. Lay siege to the Red Keep, and force the Greens to surrender.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: If we're to have enough swords to surround King's Landing, we must first secure the support of Winterfell, the Eyrie and Storm's End.

Maester Gerardys: I'll prepare the ravens, Your Grace.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: We should bear those messages. Dragons can fly faster than ravens, and they're more convincing. Send us.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: The Prince is right, Your Grace.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Very well. Prince Jacaerys will fly north. First to the Eyrie to see my mother's cousin, the Lady Jeyne Arryn, and then to Winterfell, to treat with Lord Cregan Stark for the support of the North. Prince Lucerys will fly south to Storm's End, and treat with Lord Borros Baratheon. We must remind these Lords of the oaths they swore, and the cost of breaking them.

Lord Borros Baratheon: If I do as your mother bids, which one of my daughters will you wed, boy?

Prince Lucerys Velaryon: My lord, I am not free to marry. I'm already betrothed.

Lord Borros Baratheon: So you come with empty hands. Go home, pup. And tell your mother that the Lord of Storm's End is not some dog that she can whistle up at need to set against her foes.

Prince Lucerys Velaryon: I shall take your answer to the Queen, my lord.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: Wait, my Lord Strong. Did you really think that you could just fly about the realm trying to steal my brother's throne at no cost?

Prince Lucerys Velaryon: I will not fight you. I came as a messenger, not a warrior.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: A fight would be little challenge. No. I want you to put out your eye. As payment for mine. [he tosses a dagger to Lucerys] One will serve. I would not blind you. Plan to make a gift of it to my mother.

Prince Lucerys Velaryon: No.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: Then you are craven as well as a traitor.

Lord Borros Baratheon: Not here.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: [charges at Lucerys] Give me your eye or I will take it, bastard!

Lord Borros Baratheon: [storms to his feet] Not in my hall! The boy came as an envoy, I will not have bloodshed beneath my roof. Take Prince Lucerys back to his dragon. Now.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: Vhagar, NO! [Vhagar consumes Lucerys Velaryon and Arrax, marking the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons]

Season 2

A Son for a Son [2.01]

Lord Cregan Stark: Duty is sacrifice. It eclipses all things; even blood. All men of honor must pay its price. The North owes a great duty to the Seven Kingdoms. One older than any oath. Since the days of the First Men, we have stood as guardians against the cold and the dark. Through its long tradition, the Night's Watch cultivated its strength from doomed men who had their life as their only possession. But my ancestor, Torrhen Stark, began a tradition by making an offering at the onset of winter: one in ten men from our household was to be chosen to fortify the Watch. This is not a sentence, but an honor. A duty embraced by all who serve the North. Even by mine own kin. The North must stand ready. Winter is coming.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: The realm will soon tear itself apart if men do not remember the oath sworn to King Viserys and to his rightful heir.

Lord Cregan Stark: Starks do not forget their oaths, my prince. But you must know that my gaze is forever torn between north and south. In winter, my duty to the Wall is even more dire than the one I owe to King's Landing. I need my men here.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: Whilst your men guard against wildings and weather, the Hightowers plan to usurp the throne. If my mother is to defend her claim to hold the realm united, she needs an army. War is coming to the whole of the realm, my lord. We cannot wage it without the support of the North.

Lord Cregan Stark: My father brought King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne to see the Wall. His Grace stood at this very outlook and watched as their dragons, the greatest power in the world, refused to cross it. Do you think my ancestors built a seven-hundred foot wall of ice to keep out snow and savages?

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: What does it keep out?

Lord Cregan Stark: Death.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: It was a raven that brought me news of Laena's death. I existed for weeks in torment, refusing to believe what I'd been told. It was only when I saw my daughter's mortal remains that I could begin to mourn her. A raven has told Rhaenyra that her son is dead. She needs to know it for certain.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: She was a fool to go alone. What if Aemond were to happen upon her?

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: Then I would pity Aemond. The queen was wise to recuse herself. She has not acted on the vengeful impulse that others might've.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: If you'd have acted when you had the chance, Aegon's line would be extinguished and Luke would be alive.

Ser Erryk Cargyll: [after Mysaria is arrested on Daemon's orders] Forgive me, my prince, but the lady speaks the truth. She was no agent of the Hightowers.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: What's it to you?

Ser Erryk Cargyll: A matter of honor.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Was it honor that made you stand by and watch as the Hightowers usurped the throne? You and your traitorous twin?

Ser Erryk Cargyll: No, my prince. I'm shamed by it. It's why I abandoned the Kingsguard and my brother and came here.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I don't care. Aegon was in your grasp. You should've killed him yourself.

Ser Erryk Cargyll: Arryk and I were named to the Kingsguard at just eight and ten. And we swore the same oath: to defend the whole of the royal family. So what were we to do when they turned against one another?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: My brother is hostage to my grandsire and mother, and they tell him that a war of dragons can yet be avoided.

Ser Criston Cole: 'Tis inevitable. They must see that.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: Otto fears to upset the order of things. And Alicent is simply angry.

Ser Criston Cole: Angry?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: She blames me for starting this war after she plotted with my father's council to usurp his throne. "Her Grace" speaks with two tongues.

Ser Criston Cole: She has a gentle heart. And Rhaenyra is a cunning spider. Long ago, she drew Alicent into her web, intoxicated her. It is not your mother's fault.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: She holds love for our enemy. That makes her a fool.

Queen Helaena Targaryen: They killed the boy.

Rhaenyra the Cruel [2.02]

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: When the people share our grief, they draw closer to us.

Queen Helaena Targaryen: I don't want them closer. I don't know them.

Queen Alicent Hightower: Sometimes, we have to pretend.

Queen Helaena Targaryen: Why?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: We are representatives of the throne. We have a duty.

Lord Bartimos Celtigar: It must be said that the damage to our position is immeasurable, at a time when we most need loyalty to our cause.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: But it's a lie. Having lost my own son, that I would inflict such a thing on Helaena, of all people... an innocent.

Ser Alfred Broome: The death of Prince Lucerys was a shock and an insult. A mother so aggrieved might, naturally, seek relief in retribution.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Are you suggesting, Sir Alfred, that my grief drove me to order the decapitation of a child?

Ser Alfred Broome: I merely thought, perhaps, an action taken in haste...

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Mind yourself.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Do you accept me as your queen and ruler? Or do you cling, even now, to what you think you lost?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: What I think I lost?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You did not lose it. You gave it away. Because you thought only and ever of your own glory, and not of my father in his grief, who needed you.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Your father was a coward who knew I was the stronger son, that I was the leader of men and he was afraid to be seen in my shadow.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Is that what you understand of your own brother?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Oh, you know him better than I do, who was raised by his side? Do you believe he made you heir because of your great wisdom? Because of your virtue?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: How dare you...

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Or did he merely use you as a tool to put me in my place because he was afraid of me? Because he knew your legacy, unlike mine, would never outshine his own.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: He was not afraid of you, Daemon! He could not trust you any more than I can trust you.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: He was a fool who sought greatness but shrank from spilling blood to achieve it. And I see you will suffer the same fate.

Mysaria: I was brought to Westeros with nothing. I toiled in service, I stole. I sold my own body for coin or bread. And I listened. I collected confidences. I made myself valuable to powerful men. Bit by bit, I earned my living. A house, a household, a home. Then they set it all aflame.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Who did?

Mysaria: The Hightowers, I can only assume. The Hand did not like it when I showed my teeth. But I thank him for it. For too long, I made it my aim to be of consequence. But now, I see that was the wish of a child. Daemon. Otto Hightower. Makes no difference. They will never accept me. I might as well have remained a whοおみくろんre.

Ser Otto Hightower: [after learning Aegon and Ser Criston's plan to assassinate Rhaenyra] Instead of judgment, you display impetuousness, and diminish us in the eyes of our enemy! Ill-considered, trifling! Do you never think of your father? His forbearance? His judiciousness? His, his dignity?

King Aegon II Targaryen: Fuck dignity! I want revenge. My father is dead.

Ser Otto Hightower: He is, and we are the poorer for it. He was right about you.

King Aegon II Targaryen: He made me King.

Ser Otto Hightower: Is that what you think?

The Burning Mill [2.03]

Lord Jasper Wylde: The Blackwoods and the Brackens have feuded for centuries. This is nothing more than an excuse for them to indulge their ancient grudge. It's no true war.

King Aegon II Targaryen: Call it what you will. I call it war. And so will Dragonstone.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: The young men have taken the bit in their teeth. They wish to punish, to avenge. Soon, they will not even remember what it was that began the war in the first place.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: That is easy enough. They usurped my throne.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: That is one answer. Or was it when the child was beheaded? Or when Aemond killed Luke? Or when Luke took Aemond's eye? We teeter now at the point where none of it will matter. And the desire to kill and burn takes hold and reason is forgotten. There may be another way. Alicent Hightower.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: When last we met, Alicent said I would make a fine queen. You've seen what has happened since then.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: She came to me in the hours after your lord father's death. She knows war is coming and that it'll be savage beyond all compare. There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin. And no war so bloody as a war between dragons.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I'm claiming Harrenhal.

Ser Simon Strong: Apparently so. [walks over to Daemon and goes to one knee] I, Ser Simon Strong, castellan of Harrenhal, pledge fealty to Rhaenyra of House Targaryen, First of Her Name. I swear this by the old gods and the new. Supper is venison with black cabbage and peas. No redcurrant. Sorry about that.

Alys Rivers: [encountering Daemon in Harrenhal's godswood] You will die in this place.

Queen Helaena Targaryen: I feel sad about Jaehaerys. But I ought not to, I think. People die all the time, especially babes. They're so little, so they're taken so easily.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Sadness is a condition of motherhood.

Queen Helaena Targaryen: There's naught to be gained from it. That horrid procession where the smallfolk all stared at me. I warrant they thought I had no more right to grief than they do. Surely they lose their babes more than highborn ladies.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: The Stranger comes for us all, queen and commoner. You have as much claim to grief as anyone.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: We watched the tourney together, you and I, the day my brother was born. We knew, even then, that men trained up for battle are eager to fight, to seek blood and glory. But you are ... I know you do not have that desire within you. Rhaenys has counseled me. She said she saw in you a wish to avert the worst of what may now come.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: So, you've come to surrender then?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I have come to see if we may uncover some path towards peace. My dragons are restless. They smell battle. But if you and I may come to terms...

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: There are no terms now. You have no army, your allies turn from you when they hear of your depravity, your hands are bloodied in a crime I could never have imagined you...

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: The trespass was not mine. Think what you will. I am a mother, too, and you have yet to answer for the murder of my son.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: I repudiate that act with all my heart.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Of course, you do. And the usurping of my rightful inheritance? Have you now stooped so low that you will countenance the suffering and death of thousands in order that your feckless son...

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Your father changed his mind.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Oh, so you say. And so your father has proclaimed to the realm. I saw the king that night. Mere hours before I left him, he had affirmed my right to the throne. A right he upheld steadfastly every day of his life after my mother died. And yet, you will maintain that his mind was changed in an instant?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: I will.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You lie.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: No, Rhaenyra.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: My father loved me, Alicent, and I believe he loved you, too. Did you betray him at the very last? When was your plan first laid? Was your ambition so keen...

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: He changed his mind, Rhaenyra! He changed his mind. I swear this to you on the memory of my mother. I have been, at times, unkind, but never untrue. I pronounced before all gathered in that room that you would make a fine queen. Do you think me capable of such naked deceit?

The Red Dragon and the Gold [2.04]

King Aegon II Targaryen: [after hearing about Aemond's secret dialogue with Cole] The two of you have been plotting without my authority?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: [in High Valyrian] You had more pressing matters to attend to. Such as holding court, choosing your sobriquet, and naming imbecilic lickspittles to our Kingsguard. Do you have a wiser strategy, my king? If so, you should voice it to your council. We all await your answer.

Lord Larys Strong: If I may be so bold, my Queen, you have not seemed yourself of late.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Only weeks ago, my lord husband was alive, and the realm was at peace. Now, I've barely had the hours to grieve one tragedy before suffering the next. I regret if I have not been myself.

Lord Larys Strong: Hmmm. [examines several books on the table between them] I did not know you shared your lord husband's love for the histories.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: If not his love, certainly an abiding interest. The voices of history guided Viserys. He knew his wisdom could only reach so far.

Lord Larys Strong: Do you think that is why he changed his mind, in the end? No matter how suited he thought Rhaenyra for the crown, the, uh, voices of history, as you say, would have told him how the realm would react to her succession.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: It was impossible to know what steered his thoughts in those final hours.

Lord Larys Strong: Do you now doubt his intentions?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Rhaenyra's supporters will believe what they wish, and so will Aegon's. The war will be fought, many will die, and the victor will eventually ascend the throne. The significance of Viserys's intentions died with him.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: You are a strange kind of woman.

Alys Rivers: I'm no woman at all. I'm a barn owl, cursed to live in human form.

Ser Alfred Broome: An enemy host, growing in constitution, marches somewhere, in the vastness of the Crownlands. We could, perhaps, act if we had a host of our own. Or someone here to lead us.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: Mind your tongue, Ser Alfred.

Ser Alfred Broome: Does it speak falsely, my prince? This council is rudderless.

Princess Rhaenys Targaryen: I'm doing my best to steer it, Ser Alfred.

Ser Alfred Broome: Why should your voice be any louder than ours, Princess? The Queen did not name you Hand. It is her voice, and that of the King Consort, that we need to raise alliances and command our vassals. But they are gone.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: What has come of this council?

Ser Alfred Broome: My lord...

Lord Corlys Velaryon: Our enemy is on the march. Is there naught to be done in the absence of the queen, but to grouse and claw for power? We do not know the queen's doings. But we must trust that she seeks the same as each of us at this table. An end to this conflict.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: It was my hope that once enthroned, you would honor the burden of your new duties, be silent, and strive to learn from the more studied minds around you. In the hope that you might be half the king your father was.

King Aegon II Targaryen: Tread carefully.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Or what? You'll hang me, as you did your ratcatchers? Or have me banished, as you did your Hand? I ruled in your father's absence throughout his long illness, and Otto Hightower was as cunning a statesman as ever lived. You should humbly be seeking our opinions and counsel. You have no idea the sacrifices that were made to put you on that throne.

King Aegon II Targaryen: What would you have me do, Mother?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Do simply what is needed of you. Nothing.

Regent [2.05]

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Do you take issue with me, Sir Alfred?

Ser Alfred Broome: My loyalty to you is proven, my queen.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Your loyalty, perhaps, but not your willingness to give me deference in a time of war.

Ser Alfred Broome: I could never doubt your capability, or your quickness of mind. It is merely that the gentler sex, heretofore, has not been much privy to the strategies of battle, or their execution.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: There has been peace in our lifetime. You've seen no more battles than I have.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I came here to raise swords, not corpses.

Lord Willem Blackwood: But now you see what my house has known for generations. They are pigheaded, intransigent. They would rather burn than succumb.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Exactly the kind of men I need. It may yet be possible, I think, for both of us to achieve our ends.

Lord Willem Blackwood: We have fought them for an age and more.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Then perhaps you could try less fighting and more persuading.

Lord Willem Blackwood: They are unyielding in battle. But every man has a weakness.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: You take my meaning, then. There are things the Crown itself must not been seen to do. Show them your worst.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: The way they spoke at my small council today.

Mysaria: Do they hold you responsible for Rhaenys and her dragon?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I would rather they had. They speak around me, not to me. They would make me queen, but they wish to keep me here, confined.

Mysaria: They betray their own smallness.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: In truth, I cannot fault them. I am now the sovereign. I cannot do as I please. And war has ever been for men to make.

Mysaria: You are your father's chosen successor.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: He did not prepare me to fight. If I had been a son, a sword thrust into my hand the moment I could walk. Instead, I was given my father's cup, taught the name of every lord and castle between Storm's End and the Twins, but not the difference between hilt and foible. And they know it. And Daemon as well.

Kat: Are we not beggars already? Have you been paid for those machines you were forced to build?

Hugh: The king has promised payment.

Kat: The king has lied! By all means, stay and wait for his empty promises, husband. With them, you can feed the mouths of ghosts.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: You should address me as "my king."

Ser Simon Strong: But you're the prince.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: What would you call the husband of the Queen?

Ser Simon Strong: Well, the King...

Prince Daemon Targaryen: There it is, then.

Ser Simon Strong: ..consort.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: That last bit seems unnecessary, don't you think?

Smallfolk [2.06]

Prince Aemond Targaryen: Remind me of your place on the small council.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: You know very well I represented your father during the last years of his life, and I have been a councilor to Aegon.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: Capably so. My father's dead and Aegon is ... You served the realm well at a time of need. That need is ended. You are no longer obliged.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: It's not a matter of obligation. This council has need of a tempering voice.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: We have more than enough of those, if you ask me.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: You have the impetuousness of youth and its arrogance, neither of which is to be desired in a king.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: I release you of your seat, such as it was. I'm sure you'll be much pleased to return to more domestic pursuits.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Have the indignities of your childhood not yet sufficiently been avenged?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: You have the gratitude of the crown.

Ser Steffon Darklyn: [after Rhaenyra suggests that he become a dragonrider] I am but a man. The dragons are gods. Your Grace honors me beyond what I deserve.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You understand your peril, Ser Steffon? I do not compel you to do this. It has never been attempted before. To claim a dragon, you must also be prepared to die.

Ser Steffon Darklyn: I well understand the risk and I accept it with gladness. I swore to ward my queen with all my strength, and to give my blood for hers. That is my oath, Your Grace.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Then perhaps the gods will favor us.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: There's something wrong with me. Someone poisoned me. The food, the wine. Or else it's this swamp air, or...

Alys Rivers: The ghost of Harren the Black moaning his curses from Kingspyre Tower?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Drivel! All of it! The ghosts, the curses, the blasted weirwood bed! I'm done with it!

Alys Rivers: Ah, yes. It is your way, is it not? When something does not please you, you run. Dragonstone, the Stepstones, Pentos, Harrenhal.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I awake and I do not know where I've been.

Alys Rivers: There are older things in this world than you or I, or living memory. You are not the player, but a piece on the board. As am I, for that matter.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I am not like you.

Alys Rivers: In some ways, no. You struggle to see there's an anger that blinds you.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: She never even wanted it. The crown. She spared no thought to it.

Alys Rivers: Well, that's perhaps why your brother gave the crown to her. Perhaps those who strive for it are the least suited to wear it.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Don't lecture me!

Alys Rivers: Viserys never wanted it himself, if you recall. It came to him, and he did his best. It’s not a prize to be won, but a burden to bear.

Lord Larys Strong: Take heart, Your Grace, you've already written yourself into legend. You survived dragonfire. But I'm afraid you will never be whole. Orwyle has exhausted his abilities. He's bound your leg, but you will never run again. Your mind is all that remains to you. I do not say that gladly. I came screaming into the world in the bowels of one of Harren's great towers. My lungs were strong, but my foot so twisted that my father named it sorcery. Accusing a member of our household of casting maligned spells. Well. People will pity you either behind your back or in your presence. And they will stare at you, at you, or turn away. And they will underestimate you. And this will be your advantage.

King Aegon II Targaryen: No, n… No.

Lord Larys Strong: Your brother rules in your place now, which means that your life is in danger. But I think you know that.

King Aegon II Targaryen: [weakly] Help me.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I do not think I can win this war.

Mysaria: I think you are tired.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: My own son questions my capabilities. He thinks I need Daemon at my side. And Daemon himself.

Mysaria: He has ever done what suits Daemon.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: He was everything I wanted to be. Carefree. And dangerous. A man. And I was what he wanted. Cherished by my father and made my father's heir. We were halves of a whole.

Mysaria: He's never been at peace.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: He wished to possess me, but not to be possessed and to see me take hold, finally, of what he always believed to be his. I fear what he may now do. I fear he may have turned against me.

Mysaria: It is more his way to disappear.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: In either case, I have lost him and Caraxes with him. Rhaenys and her dragon are dead. I have Syrax and two young beasts. We cannot take on Vhagar alone. And I have no army.

Mysaria: You have the Velaryon fleet and the men who fight in it.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: It’s not enough. And even if we somehow prevailed, how will I rule a kingdom when my own son doubts me?

Mysaria: You have me.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You have my thanks. Truly.

Mysaria: It was my father. I was still a child. He had his pleasure with me. And when, after many months of this, it became evident that his seed had taken root. [points to her groin] There is a scar here as well. I cannot bear children. He left me for dead. But I lived.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I'm so sorry.

Mysaria: Swore to myself I would never trust another. And that oath has stood me well. This world is cold and cruel, and there are few in it who are steadfast. You, I think, are steadfast. You have seen me as worthy, as an equal, even. Because of that, I will serve you. I believe you are meant to be queen.

The Red Sowing [2.07]

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You stand before the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, with a dragon of House Targaryen.

Addam of Hull: I had no design upon it.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: What do you want?

Addam of Hull: To learn the ways of dragonriders. And to serve my Queen. [kneels] Your Grace.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: [approaches cautiously] You kneel quickly for a man so suddenly elevated.

Addam of Hull: This Dragon came to me, not I to him. I have sweated blood in service to House Velaryon. I may appear lowborn, but I know much and more of service. And if the Gods call me to greater things, who am I to refuse them?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Stand. [Addam stands] What is your parentage?

Addam of Hull: My mother was a shipwright. My father is no one of consequence.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: And your ancestors? Any of House Targaryen?

Addam of Hull: We're not the sort of family to keep annals, Your Grace.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: What is your name?

Addam of Hull: Addam of Hull.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You have done something I feared impossible, Addam of Hull. I am glad of it. Do you think you can get him to Dragonstone?

Addam of Hull: I can try.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Seasmoke chose him. He surely has Targaryen blood in him somewhere. The dragon must sense it. There will be others. We will find riders for Vermithor and Silverwing.

Mysaria: You trust this man?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: What choice do I have? He has a dragon. Without him, I have only Syrax who may give Aemond a second thought. The question is where to look. Targaryen blood was perhaps too thin in Ser Steffon Darklyn. If I can find others with a more direct line of breeding.

Mysaria: Forgive me, Your Grace, but you are better served looking under the sheets and in the woodpiles. I once worked in a pleasure house where generations of Targaryen princelings had their revels. There are four score of their bastard progeny at least, that are known to me. There are sure to be more. Perhaps some here, on Dragonstone, the misbegotten offspring of your house.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You speak of the lowborn.

Mysaria: They are as like to serve you as highborn lords or ladies, perhaps more.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: But in the highborn houses there is an ancient fealty. There is honor.

Mysaria: Your royal half-brothers, Aegon and Aemond, whose blood is pure, who wage war against you for your throne, are they bound by honor? A common shipwright vows to serve you while your brothers seek to destroy you. The order of things has changed, Your Grace. Why not embrace it?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: For twenty years, the lords of this realm levied insults at my sons, behind my back. [pause] Well then. Let us raise an army of bastards.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: The lowborn claiming dragons, was it her idea? Lady Mysaria?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You were enthusiastic enough when Ser Steffon made his claim.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: He was the Lord Commander of the Queensguard, heir to the Dunfort. These people are...

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Courageous.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: Mongrels!

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Jace, think what is at stake.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: I know well what is at stake. House Targaryen is the blood of the dragon. If any may lay claim to it, what are we then?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: The rightful rulers of the Seven Kingdoms.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: And what if one of your baseborn, silver-haired dragonriders decides he wants to rule the Seven Kingdoms? Did the Conqueror's Dream foretell that?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: What else would you have me do? Prosecute a war, which we will lose, in which thousands will die? Or fly against Vhagar myself? Or perhaps you will fly against her on Vermax? Jace, with these riders, we can end a needless war. I may take my rightful place on my father's throne.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: And when you die?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You are my heir!

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: Did you think I would have dark hair? When you took Harwin Strong into your bed, did you think I might favor him, or did it not cross your mind?

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Jacaerys...

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: I'm no fool, Mother! The proof is here for all to see! Yet I might argue my legitimacy to succeed you because I have a dragon. And now you say you will strip that from me too.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I mislike all of this.

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon: Then don't pursue it.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: But I cannot gainsay that which the Gods have laid before me.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: I used to think I knew what it was to claim a dragon, but I understand now that what I thought I knew is ash in the wind. Perhaps it is blood. Or worth. Or perhaps it’s something else. Each of you has left behind a life to answer this call. A life to which you might never return. If you survive, you will be transformed. No man or woman can face a dragon and be otherwise. Some of you may welcome the prospect of change, even death, given the alternatives: privation, starvation, war. This is our purpose, to end those hardships. For you, for your kin, for all the realm. With these two dragons added to our number, the enemy will have no choice but to give way. And peace will be restored, suffering will be ended, and without bloodshed gods willing.

Lord Oscar Tully: You'll forgive me, Your Grace. I am green in this sort of matter, as you so kindly point out, but it does seem to me that you've made rather a mess here, countenancing barbarities in the Queen's name.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Whose side are you on?

Lord Oscar Tully: The Riverlands are held together by oaths. House Tully swore an oath to King Viserys. We recognize the authority of the named heir, Queen Rhaenyra, and your own as her king consort.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Good. Then we shall go to face your vassals and you will call your banners to war.

Lord Oscar Tully: That might be difficult, my king.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: Well, I was told they would come to heel when House Tully declared its allegiance.

Lord Oscar Tully: That may be the case, though it is yet to be seen that they will heed my authority as young as it is. And there is another problem. They all hate you.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I don't need their love. I need their swords.

The Queen Who Ever Was [2.08]

King Aegon II Targaryen: I am the King. Why must I run?

Lord Larys Strong: Because the Prince Regent is going to kill you. You were in danger before, and now? He is thwarted. He is angry. There's no telling what he will do. We have an opportunity while he is away...

King Aegon II Targaryen: An opportunity to push him out. Take me to my throne. And once he returns I shall take him prisoner.

Lord Larys Strong: And what then? When Rhaenyra descends upon you with her seven dragons, and you without Vhagar, what then? I have, over the years, in anticipation of little bumps in the road, moved the greater part of Harrenhal's gold reserves to the Iron Bank of Braavos. We can live well, and remain until what is coming has passed.

King Aegon II Targaryen: [laughs bitterly] You want to take me to Essos, to live with the goatfuckers.

Lord Larys Strong: It's best to live, I think, however you do it.

King Aegon II Targaryen: Is it? My dragon is dead. I am burned and disgusting and alone. And I'm a cripple...

Lord Larys Strong: You're not alone.

King Aegon II Targaryen: My cock is destroyed. Did they tell you that? Burst into flames like a sausage on a spit.

Lord Larys Strong: Do not despair, Your Grace, there are better days ahead. Let your brother and the pretender destroy themselves in blood and bitterness. And when they are spent, and their armies in tatters, we will return. And the people will rise up to meet us.

King Aegon II Targaryen: I can't even piss without it running down my leg...

Lord Larys Strong: They will be tired of endless deprivation and fear. They will hail the returning King. His father's true heir. Aegon the Victorious, risen from the ashes. Aegon the Peacemaker. Aegon the Rebuilder.

King Aegon II Targaryen: [smiling, convinced] Aegon the Realm's Delight.

Ser Gwayne Hightower: [holding his sword at Ser Criston's throat] Do you think nothing of your oath, "Lord Commander?"

Ser Criston Cole: I think of nothing else, My Lord.

Ser Gwayne Hightower: A steward's son from Dorne fucking the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms?

Ser Criston Cole: Former Queen. She has broken no oaths, for all I may have done.

Ser Gwayne Hightower: I could send you to the Wall.

Ser Criston Cole: You could. And stain the Hightower name for a generation. The King's mother and his Hand...

Ser Gwayne Hightower: She is my sister!

Ser Criston Cole: She saved my life. Twice. Once from the headsman's axe and once from myself. Since then, she has been the beacon I follow. [Ser Gwayne sighs and lowers his sword] Do not think I have no shame in me, Ser. Desire for women has brought me grief after grief.

Ser Gwayne Hightower: Then resist it!

Ser Criston Cole: Oh, would that it were so simple.

Ser Gwayne Hightower: Your brothers in the Kingsguard find a way.

Ser Criston Cole: Do they? Perhaps they do. Or perhaps all men are corrupt. And true honor is a mist that melts in the morning.

Ser Gwayne Hightower: That is a bleak philosophy.

Ser Criston Cole: I have no philosophy. Or rather, my philosophy was this. [picks up his sword] Protect the righteous and dispense justice upon the rest. But now? [lowers his sword] You saw what I saw. The dragons dance, and men are like dust under their feet. And all our fine thoughts, all our endeavors are as nothing. We march now toward our annihilation. To die will be a kind of relief, don't you think?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: [pulling Helaena roughly by the arm] They have defiled our birthright, made commoners into dragonlords! It is a sin and must be punished!

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: May I remind you your sister is still the queen?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: As you were once! And you see now what is the consequence of your weakness! We are in peril today more than yesterday!

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Was it peril that moved you to burn the town of Sharp Point? Peril or basest fury at your own humiliation? [Pulls Helaena away] You wish to rule the Seven Kingdoms, but you rain ruin and death upon its smallfolk when you've been insulted because it makes you feel strong, and now you seek to corrupt your sister, of all our line, the gentlest and most deserving of your protection.

Prince Aemond Targaryen: And who will protect her if she cannot protect herself?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: And who will she be if her mind is broken?

Prince Aemond Targaryen: 'Tis no longer our rule that is threatened, our very lives! Would you not have us prevail?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Not like this. Not like this!

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I wasn't expecting you.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: That seems rather a lapse in foresight. [looks around at the gathered army] I see you have done well here.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: They are sworn to me. And not a moment too soon.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: And to whom are you sworn?

Prince Daemon Targaryen: [in High Valyrian] The world is not what we thought it was. This war is just the beginning. Winter is coming. And with it, darkness and doom.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: [also in High Valyrian] You sound like my father.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: I saw it. I saw that we cannot withstand it. And yet, somehow, we must. [switches back to Common] The Realm's only hope is a leader that can unite it, and my brother chose you. [bends the knee] You are the true Queen. Rhaenyra, First of Her Name, Protector of the Realm. I am meant to serve you. And all of these with me, until death, or the end of our story.

[The entire army behind Daemon bends the knee]

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: [in High Valyrian] Leave me again at your peril.

Prince Daemon Targaryen: [rising] I could not. I have tried. My Queen. [turns and addresses the army] For every one of us who falls, a hundred of them! [draws his sword] There will be no mercy! We fight for our Queen!

Lord Corlys Velaryon: We join the blockade and are like to find ourselves in peril, sooner than late. I wish to set out on good terms with my First Mate.

Alyn of Hull: Have I been remiss in my duties?

Lord Corlys Velaryon: You've done what is asked of you, and more. But you are curt, silent. The men find you distant. You cannot lead if you do not inspire.

Alyn of Hull: I have not asked to lead, as you well know.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: You have been given a position to which all who serve me aspire.

Alyn of Hull: Forgive me, My Lord. I will endeavor to improve myself.

Lord Corlys Velaryon: I am trying to help you!

Alyn of Hull: You want to help me? Is this the "help" you offer after all these years? A reminder to be grateful?

Lord Corlys Velaryon: I meant no offense. You may go.

Alyn of Hull: Do you know what it was like for us? To grow up fatherless? To be sneered upon as bastards? Never sure of the bread to feed us? Do you know what hunger does to a boy? What grief does? Or shame?

Lord Corlys Velaryon: You are dismissed!

Alyn of Hull: I sold fish in the market from cold dawn until sunset, putting up my coppers to stave off the winter. And I watched the man who sired me walk past with his son and heir, with furs around his shoulders, choosing sweetmeats to eat after supper by the fire. And now that boy is dead. And his sister before him. And the heir that took his place. And now, now, now you remember I live! Now you wish to suddenly scatter the crumbs of your favor! I am an honorable man, and I will serve you because I must. But if it is all the same, I will decline any offers of help. If I survive this war, I will continue as I began. Alone.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Why have you come here?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Aemond will soon fly to join Cole in the Riverlands. When he's gone, Helaena as queen will be the Crown's authority. If you come then to King's Landing, I will see to it that our guards throw down their arms. We will open the gates, we will shed no blood. You will enter as a conqueror. Already you have the stronger hand. Once you take the throne, this senseless war must end.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: What of Aegon?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: He's broken beyond recognition. He lies in the dark, in pain and terror. He has many faults, but he still heeds his mother. I believe I can prevail upon him to bend the knee, if indeed...

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: No! Still you defend him. Still you imagine you can have all you want without paying too high a price, a price I had no choice but to pay.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: What I want is to set things right.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: If I am to take the throne, I must put an end to the opposition. I must take Aegon's head. And I have to do it for all to see. You know this. However you may try to evade it, you know this. Choose. Will you shrink from what you set out to do? Or will you see it through and make your sacrifice? A son for a son.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: You are much changed.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: Let us be done with this, please. And what do I do with you now?

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: You let me go, to do what I promised. And you fly to the Red Keep in three days' time, and you take your throne. Or you take me for a liar. I have neither weapon nor armor. My life itself is forfeit. I cast myself on the mercy of a friend who once loved me.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: History will paint you a villain. A cold queen grasping for power, and then defeated.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Let them think what they must. I am at last myself with no ambition greater than to walk where I please and to breathe the open air. To die unremarked and unnoticed and be free.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: You speak as if from a distant dream.

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower: Come with me.

Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen: My part is here, whether I will or no. It was decided for me long ago.

Cast

Paddy Considine - King Viserys I Targaryen
Matt Smith - Prince Daemon Targaryen
Emma D'Arcy (adult) / Milly Alcock (teenage) - Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen
Rhys Ifans - Ser Otto Hightower
Olivia Cooke (adult) / Emily Carey (teenage) - Lady Alicent Hightower
Steve Toussaint - Lord Corlys Velaryon
Eve Best - Princess Rhaenys Targaryen
Sonoya Mizuno - Mysaria
Fabien Frankel - Ser Criston Cole
Graham McTavish - Ser Harrold Westerling
Matthew Needham - Larys Strong
Jefferson Hall - Lord Jason Lannister / Ser Tyland Lannister

External links

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has an article about:

House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon quotes at the Internet Movie Database