House of the Dragon Episode 8

Throughout Episode 8 of the House of the Dragon, we are reminded of all the injuries that the family has suffered. A succession crisis begins after news of Lord Corlys sustaining a grave wound reaches Driftmark, and Vaemond, the younger brother of Corlys decides to lay claim to Driftmark.

However, we do not know how “grave” the wound is because Lord Corlys did not appear on screen in Episode 8. But apparently, it is bad enough for everyone to start preparing for the worst outcome.

Back in King’s Landing, King Viserys is already bedridden and has his mind clouded with milk of the poppy most of the time to numb his physical pain. His condition has clearly worsened even more than before.

The Targaryen and Velaryon families cannot stop hurting themselves. However, nobody has truly suffered more than King Viserys in House of the Dragon. At this point, his sunken and skeletal body does not grant him enough strength to run the kingdom anymore and to keep peace in his family.

Exactly six years ago, Aemond lost his eye in a confrontation with his nephews, sons of Rhaenyra. At the same time, Rhaenyra suffered a cut on her wrist when Alicent lept to take one of her son’s eyes as a debt to be paid.

 

Now with Vaemond laying claim to Driftmark, the only option that Daemon and Rhaenyra have is to challenge his claim and ask the crown to choose the true heirs to Driftmark. Technically, Lord Corlys had announced that Rhaenyra’s sons as his heir to Driftmark.

Knowing that Alicent is not on her side, Rhaenyra decides to request the King to support him, however, the King is clearly out of his mind due to milk of the poppy. At the petitioning, it is the Hand of the King who is sitting on the Iron Throne on his behalf to listen to the claims, which clearly isn’t a good sign for Daemon and Rhaenyra.

Yet right after Vaemond begins his speech, King Viserys arrives and decides to sit on the Iron Throne himself, delivering one of the saddest and most iconic entrances in House of the Dragon.

The man is in extreme physical pain but has decided not to take the milk of the poppy so that he can fix the House of the Dragon. Daemon clearly feels something for his brother to this day, as he helps him climb up the Iron Throne and places the fallen crown back on his brother’s head. Apparently, his condition has sparked Daemon’s sympathetic side already. Anyway, the best is yet to come.

 

Viserys names Rhaenyra’s son as the legal heir to Driftmark, a claim that is also supported by Rhaenys after striking a deal with Rhaenyra to join their houses. In a rather unexpected turn of events, Vaemond loses his cool and calls Rhaenyra a whore and her sons a bastard in front of the entire hall. Enraged with the comments, Viserys uncovers his daggers and demands his tongue. This was just before Daemon sliced open Vaemond’s head using a single blow of his sword and delivered one of his best one-liners in the show, “he can keep his tongue”.

 

The King orders his entire family to have a feast together and to set aside their differences. It seems that everybody is happy for a while, yet the King can only wish it to be true. Deep down, King Viserys knows that his family is more divided than ever, and as soon as he’s gone, they will be ready to put their swords on each other’s throats. It is quite a sad sight from his perspective.

As soon as he’s taken away from the dinner table, we see confrontations between the children of the House of the Dragon after some sarcastic toasts to each other. At this point, an upcoming rivalry between Daemon Targaryen and Aemond Targaryen is also foreshadowed.

 

Episode 8 ends on a rather sad note, as the King wishes to be dead already. He feels the presence of a second person in the room, and it’s Alicent. However, it appears that the King having his mind clouded by the milk of the poppy, assumes her to be Rhaenyra and tells her that the vision of Aegon was always true and that it is her who is going to be the promised prince. Talk about miscommunication!

Finally, the King dies and is freed from his misery, as he appears to be interacting with his dead wife Aemma, during his final moment. This sets House of the Dragon on the verge of civil war and unrest in Westeros. On one side, we’ve got Rhaenyra and her supposedly illegitimate sons, and on the other hand, we’ve got Alicent, who now believes her son Aemond is the promised prince.

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