House of the Dragon Recap With Spoilers: “The Princess and the Queen”

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from the sixth episode of House of the Dragon! Continue reading at your own risk… The time jump has officially arrived, as “The Princess and the Queen” opens with the first look at Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra. She gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but someone enters the room within seconds of the child’s arrival to say that the Queen (Alicent) has requested to see the new infant immediately. Still in immense pain, Rhaenyra won’t let Alicent have the satisfaction of seeing the newborn without her, so she decides to take him to the Queen herself. Laenor joins his wife and helps her make the walk to see the Queen.

Alicent tells Rhaenyra she should be resting, it’s clear she wasn’t expecting her to bring the baby herself. King Viserys arrives to see his grandson, looking like he’s aged 25 years in the last decade. Alicent tells Laenor to “keep trying,” in the hopes that one of the babes will end up looking like him, insinuating that he’s not actually Joffrey’s father. As they leave, Rhaenyra tells Laenor that she should’ve had some say in the name of their child. Joffrey was the name of Laenor’s late lover, who was killed by Criston Cole at the end of last episode.

Joffrey is actually Rhaenyra’s third child. She and Laenor find the other two children with Ser Harwin Strong, and they both look much more like him than their father. The two older boys join Alicent’s two older sons to begin training with young dragons. Prince Aegon, Alicent and Viserys’ oldest son, has already bonded with a dragon named Sunfyre. Aemond hasn’t bonded with a dragon yet, and the other three boys “surprise” him with the Pink Dread, a pig fitted with fake wings. When they leave, he journeys underground to see where the dragons are kept. He immediately turns and runs back upstairs after encountering a dragon. This has apparently become a habit for Aemond. Alicent tells Viserys about the prank pulled on Aemond, but she believes it was all the fault of Rhaenyra’s children, even though Aegon was involved.  She also talks to him about how none of Rhaenyra’s children look like Laenor, but the king brushes it off, saying that nature is mysterious and that the consequences of those accusations are too dire to deal with.

Alicent questions Aegon about the prank on Aegon, saying that they have to protect their own in public. He clearly doesn’t care about claims to the throne, and doesn’t seem to mind Rhaenyra and her sons being in line to rule the Seven Kingdoms. Alicent tells him that just by being alive he is a challenge to Rhaenyra’s rule and that she will likely kill him to remove all question about her place as future Queen. “You are the king’s firstborn son. What they know, and what everyone else knows deep in their bones, is that one day you will be our king.”

Daemon Targaryen and Laena Velaryon, his wife, are in Pentos showing off their dragons. They are offered a permanent residence in Pentos, along with the knowledge that a rebellion is potentially brewing in Dorne, with the Triarchy rising again. Laena isn’t happy that Daemon is seriously considering the offer. To him, it’s nothing more than a simple transaction, providing protection in exchange for riches and comfort. Laena wants her children to grow up in Driftmark, not outside of Westeros.

The boys are working on their combat training. Aegon, overly confident in his abilities, is getting along fairly well with his cousins (technically half-nephews), while Aemond despises them. Criston Cole is training them and giving the majority of the attention to Alicent’s sons, until Harwin calls him out for doing just that. He gives Rhaenyra’s sons attention, alright, putting them into terribly difficult situations that they obviously aren’t ready for. He pits Aegon and Jacaerys against one another in a duel, despite Aegon being significantly older. Criston works with Aegon while Harwin instructs Jacaerys on how to fight. When Jacaerys falls, Criston instructs Aegon to continue attacking, and the prince is only stopped when Harwin steps in. Criston chastises Harwin for putting hands on the prince, and eventually insinuates that Jacaerys is actually Harwin’s son. Harwin attacks Cole and beats him while on the ground, similar to how Cole attacked Joffrey 10 years earlier.

Rhaenyra is told of the incident and finds Harwin in a heated exchange with his father, Lyonel Strong, the Hand of the King. Lyonel makes it clear that everyone knows those children belong to Harwin, even if Viserys won’t acknowledge it. Harwin insists that they are just rumors, even though his face doesn’t hide the fact that it’s a lie. “You have your honor, I have mine.” 

Laenor is ready to go out to sea again, wanting to go out on an adventure after spending the last 10 years playing the part of Rhaenyra’s husband. After a little back and forth on the matter — and Laenor’s suggestion that the children definitely aren’t his — Rhaenyra commands him to remain in King’s Landing, saying they have kept their word on their agreement but that he can’t abandon her just as the attacks on them are arriving. 

Lyonel attempts to resign from his post as Hand of the King, but Viserys won’t allow it. In order to try and take attention away from the issue of Rhaenyra’s children, Lyonel decides to return to Harrenhal with Harwin, setting him up to run the castle there and getting him away from King’s Landing. Meanwhile, Larys hires a few criminals to do something for him, cutting out their tongues in exchange for their lives. Those men later show up in Harrenhal, setting a fire in the castle and killing both Lyonel and Harwin, all at the request of Larys. Alicent later learns of this and is distraught to think that her words to Larys caused him to give the orders that he did.

Laena suffers from complications during the birth of her third child. Before a decision about her fate can be made for her, she approaches her dragon and gives the order for it to burn her alive. The episode ends with Rhaenyra and Laenor, unaware of some major events outside of King’s Landing, leaving the capitol to return to Dragonstone.