S1┬ÀE5 ÔÇö We Light the Way
The hour retold
A wedding hour, and everything about it is funereal. It opens with a murder disguised as an accident ÔÇö Daemon calling on the wife he never wanted at Runestone, and Lady Rhea Royce dead in the dirt with the stone that finished her in her husband's hand ÔÇö and it ends with a betrothal feast turned abattoir. In between, Viserys sails to Driftmark to mend the realm's two dragon houses, promising Rhaenyra to Laenor Velaryon and their someday-sons to the throne, and the two young people, each in love elsewhere, strike the only honest bargain in the room: a marriage of duty with the door left open.
The episode's title is the Hightower words, and the episode's last image explains them. Ser Criston Cole, refused as a paramour and unstrung by the vows he has already broken, beats Laenor's lover Ser Joffrey Lonmouth to death on the feast-hall floor while the court watches its future curdle. And Alicent arrives late, deliberately, in a gown of Hightower green ÔÇö the color Oldtown's beacon burns when it calls its banners to war. She says nothing. She doesn't need to. The two women who were once each other's only friend are now the two poles of a realm, and the whole hall reads the dress correctly.
What happens
- Daemon calls on his wife at Runestone. Lady Rhea Royce falls from her horse; the stone that ends her is in her husband's hand.
- Viserys sails to Driftmark to mend the realm's two dragon houses: Rhaenyra will wed Laenor Velaryon, and their sons will sit the throne.
- Rhaenyra and Laenor strike a private bargain ÔÇö a marriage of duty, with room for what each of them actually wants.
- At the betrothal feast Ser Criston, refused as a paramour and half mad with broken vows, beats Laenor's lover Ser Joffrey Lonmouth to death on the floor.
- Alicent arrives late ÔÇö in Hightower green, the color of Oldtown's beacon when it calls its banners to war. Everyone understands.
The people of the episode
Daemon Targaryen ÔÇö Widowed by his own hand, and refused a Velaryon bride for his trouble.
Rhaenyra Targaryen ÔÇö Weds the realm's most eligible man on the realm's saddest wedding day.
Alicent Hightower ÔÇö Stops being the king's wife and becomes her father's daughter ÔÇö in green.
Laenor Velaryon ÔÇö A dragonrider of the Stepstones, wed to a princess, in love with a knight.
Criston Cole ÔÇö Confesses to the queen and finds a protector where he sought a headsman.
Viserys I Targaryen ÔÇö Collapses at the feast; the ruling is done, the rotting is not.The fallen ÔÇö spoilers
- Lady Rhea Royce ÔÇö Daemon's 'bronze bitch' of Runestone ÔÇö thrown from her horse, then finished. The Vale suspects; the Vale cannot prove.
- Ser Joffrey Lonmouth ÔÇö The Knight of Kisses, Laenor's lover ÔÇö beaten faceless by Ser Criston Cole at the betrothal feast.