House of the Dragon: Episode Three
or, the trouble with history
My disappointment in this villain is vast.
If you want to catch up:
This is a difficult episode both to talk about and to produce. Where Game of Thrones was based on novels, this is based on imaginary history of an imaginary world. In some ways, this makes parts of the narrative clumsy in the way that actual history is clumsy and awkward to wield for a narrative.
What I mean is that Mr Crabman likely only matters to the extent that he is a catalyst or trigger for the world’s politics to shift. As a character, he is inessential. Which is why he never speaks and, really, doesn’t do anything beyond appear menacing while he hammers men to wood to be eaten by crabs.
The derangement of such an action is fascinating. My wife was immediately bored by the threat of him, but I really liked the imagery here. Crabs fighting dragons. Shoving men into the wet, swallowing sand to be eaten by thousands of tiny crabs, their surcoats and sigils nothing but fabric in the end. Even the dragons stitched to their chests mean little once the Crabman’s crabs have their due.
Even their tactics are crablike. They cower in the caves whenever the dragons appear. Safe as a crab in its shell. They emerge to feast on the flesh of proud knights.
Three years, Daemon and the Corlys have wasted men and money and ships fighting uselessly against the cowering crabmen, making their fierce dragons worthless.
In theory, I love this. I would probably love an entire season of a very different show that is only this.
But as a character and even a subplot in House of Dragons, the Crabman delivers little but one exciting setpiece. It seems clear that this setpiece and the defeat of the Crabman is going to launch much discord, with Daemon and Corlys becoming a new fulcrum of power to rival Viserys’ Iron Throne.
And what would the alternative have been?
Viserys could have done many things over the three years between episode two and three, but he seems to have spent them primarily enjoying his new bride and son while fruitlessly trying to solidify Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne with a husband to fill her womb with her own heirs.
It seems clear that he had two real options when Daemon and Corlys went to war: slap them down with the might of the throne or join with them to claim ownership of the war.
Viserys chose neither, allowing them to claim the war. Another gambit, in truth. If they succeeded, it would weaken Viserys, but if they failed, it would shatter Daemon and Corlys. Quite a risk, though.
At the beginning of the episode, Viserys’ choice seems vindicated. They are failing and beggaring their houses and sloughing off any prestige they may have gained. Rather than conquerors, they appear as children throwing dragonfire against an indifferent mountain.
I mean, what’s more embarrassing than watching a dragon lose a fight to a tiny seacrab?
Too late, Viserys announces he’ll join the fight. Of course, coming as he planned, he would have taken ownership of the war and the glory that would come with victory. That Viserys never saw this—and still doesn’t, really, since he sees this more as extending a hand to his brother and cousin rather than swinging his iron fist into the fray—tells us much of the king he is.
But we know this. He is a good man. A kind man. But he is not built for the game of thrones.
So when Daemon runs ashore on his suicide mission for glory, we’re kinda sorta even hoping he succeeds. I mean, it’d be pretty exciting, yeah? And we watch him demonstrate why he’s one of the most feared knights of the Seven Kingdoms. We also see why his reckless adventurism is absolutely disastrous for kingship. But watching him mow through a bunch of crabmen is pretty thrilling.
And his gamble pays off because of course it does. Westeros has taught us that anyone is vulnerable, but never for a moment do we believe Daemon will fail here. I mean, if he died, the tension sort of drops out the bottom of the series. So even when he takes a few arrow shots and is surrounded by hundreds, we know his dragon must be nearby.
Watching him drag half the Crabman’s corpse through the battlefield also speaks volumes of the man he is.
Now, what does his victory mean for the Seven Kingdoms? What does it mean for Viserys and Rhaenyra, especially?
Probably nothing good!
But that’s only half the episode. The other half is a bit muddled, I think. The resolution shows, once more, the goodness and kindness of Viserys. His love for his daughter and his commitment to stand behind her claim is admirable, if disastrous. He is mostly a good father (despite making her best friend his wife who produces more heirs to rival her claim) who will do what he can for Rhaenyra.
But Rhaenyra spends most of the episode teenagering around. This is understandable, especially given the weakness of her father. She sees that her young half-brother has supplanted her in the eyes of everyone in the Seven Kingdoms. She waits only for her father to change his mind and name young Aegon heir, casting her aside once more.
Fifteen years she spent as his only child. Fifteen years she watched him long for a son. Fifteen years that he did not name her heir or bring her into his counsels. Fifteen years where her failure had everything to do with her genitals, much as Rhaenys’ failure was the accident of being born a woman and not a man.
So I get it. I do. But also, I’m not especially interested in this. Especially since it’s clearly a detour. I mean, yes, we see Viserys stand behind her and speak it plainly to the faces of the great lords of the realm. We see him give in to Rhaenyra, allowing her to choose her husband, the Queen’s Consort.
Again, this is the behavior of a good man but of a weak king. Because she needs to marry someone with power to solidify her claim. Someone like Laenor Valeryon, the son of Rhaenys and Corlys. Probably exactly him and no one else, as it ties the two Targeryen families back together, putting the most powerful family in the Seven Kingdoms as backers to her claim.
Add to that Corlys’ recent victory against the Crabman and it seems such an obvious match. Too: Laenor is a dragonrider. That matters.
Even so, we get some good stuff here. The rift between Rhaenyra and Alicent seems canyons wide. Their friendship shattered when Viserys named her queen and nothing seems to be able to bridge that gap. At least not yet, though I am hopeful here. If anything, the potential of this show is in its women.
Our Daemons and Viseryses will only take us so far.
And so I feel this episode is fine. It’s more shuffling pieces on the board rather than striking forward with the narrative. The way the pieces are newly arranged should lead to some great shit though. Lots of potential.
Some stray observations:
Rhaenyra and Ser Criston are definitely going to fuck
Throwing in an arrogant buffoonish Lannister is just chum. I love it.
Curious to see what the Free Cities will do now that their Crabman is gone. I’m guessing the threats from outside Westeros are not going away, so I’ll be curious to see how the political web continues to weave.
I’ve never seen Paddy Considine in anything, I don’t think, but it’s going to be a considerable bummer when he’s no longer in the show. I mean, this has to be coming, yes? Maybe season finale?