House of the Dragon Episode 6 Starts With a 10-Year Time Jump and a Second 'Pilot'
House of the Dragon’s showrunners have an unparalleled talent for making every episode a standalone film that’s worth more than the sum of its parts. Unlike its predecessor, House of the Dragon episodes are worth a rewatch and each episode promises something different from the last—in this show’s case, that means actors.
Episode 6, unofficially season one’s second pilot, begins with a 10-year time jump with Emma D’Arcy replacing Millie Alcock as adult Rhaenyra and Olivia Cooke replacing Emily Carey as adult Alicent. The two characters are the focal point of the new episode, which jumps off from the foundations set in the first half of the season. Once friends, Rhaenyra and Alicent’s rivalry is now at the heart of the impending civil war. D’Arcy and Cooke portray older, wiser, and far more bitter versions of their characters—now players in the game of thrones instead of pawns.
Read more about House of the Dragon:
House of the Dragon Episode 5: Avoid Weddings at All Costs in Westeros
All the Game of Thrones Spin-Offs In Development, Because House of the Dragon Is Not Enough
Meanwhile, Viserys and Daemon seem to take a backseat to the women’s story. Also older—painfully so in the case of Viserys—the two brothers have been tamed by time, far from the volatility of their youth in the first five episodes. And yet, like Rhaenyra, they stand alone with vultures in the periphery. As Maestor Aemon said in Game of Thrones, “A Targaryen in the world is a terrible thing.” None face more vultures than Rhaenyra, who becomes the target of her unofficial hate club comprised of Alicent, the ex-best friend who seduced her father, and Crispen Cole, the “nice guy” who didn’t take her rejection well. Sometimes, Westeros is just like high school.
Aside from the show’s central cast, three new characters came to the forefront in this episode, and for two of them, it was their last. Laena Velaryon and Harwin Strong, the love interests of Daemon and Rhaenyra, had an entire character arc in Episode 6, so we should have known in the beginning what that meant. Laena—willingly— dies a dragonrider’s death bathed in Vhagar’s fire after a failed birth, while Harwin dies with his father, Lyonel Strong, in a castle fire set by his own brother, Larys. Of the three, it’s only Larys who escapes this episode alive after organizing the fire that killed his family. We smell a high-functioning psychopath in our midsts, one who has chosen to align with Alicent.
With the sense of doom that seems to thicken the air around the now senior Targaryens, it hasn’t escaped our notice that like most things that concern Daemon and Rhaenyra, even their love interests’ deaths parallel each other. We can’t wait to see how their lives intersect once again in Episode 7.
As the first pilot introduced younger versions of certain characters, so did the second pilot. Episode 6 welcomed the youngest generation of Targaryens as the show prepares to shift its focus toward their narratives. We meet young Aegon: Rhaenyra’s future opponent, Alicent’s pawn, and the show’s replacement Joffrey, who is already unlikable. We also meet Aemond Targaryen, Aegon’s future lieutenant, and Rhaenyra’s sons Jaecerys and Lucerys who play important roles in the impending battles. We’re even introduced to a young Helaena, Alicent’s only daughter, whose story will become so engrossing that we wouldn’t dare ruin it with spoilers.
It’s clear that Episode 6’s purpose is the children—legitimate and otherwise—and how they change the course of everything. The show ends with Larys’ voiceover, “What are children but a weakness? A folly, a futility… 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.”
It’s a prettier way to rephrase the GOT quote “Love is the death of duty,” but with implications that hint how the Dance of Dragons could be even worse than any war in Game of Thrones. We’re gearing up for something darker, bloodier, and crueler, and in the following episodes, we’ll find out who can stomach it and who can’t.
Read more about House of the Dragon:
Here’s When Each Episode of House of the Dragon Will Be on HBO Go
The Rings of Power vs. House of the Dragon: The Tale of Two Fantasy Epics
Don’t miss House of the Dragon on HB
