House Of The Dragon “Second Of His Name” Review
House Of The Dragon “Second Of His Name” is the third episode from the first season of the HBO series House Of The Dragon. Following the ending of episode 2, this one again starts with a time skip of a few years. Alicent has already given birth to Viserys’ first child from her, a son. They name him Aegon after Aegon the conqueror and the king orders a hunt in celebration for his second name day. With Rhaenyra feeling increasingly isolated and deliberately neglecting her duties as she assumes she’ll be supplanted by Aegon at some point anyway, feelings between son, daughter and step mother couldn’t be worse. Also following Daemon’s show of strength last episode by taking down the Crabfeeder, Viserys is more in doubt than ever before, something Alicent doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of. During the hunt a White Hart is spotted and Otto uses it to encourage Viserys to see it as a sign of Aegon II’s rightful claim, he even tries to marry Rhaenyra off to her half brother even though he’s only two. The White Hart doesn’t show itself to Viserys but it does to Rhaenyra after she and Ser Criston spend the night in the woods. Viserys ends the episode by telling Rhaenyra that she should marry for love as he did after a little nudge from Alicent and that Rhaenyra would never be supplanted.
Review
This was a good episode but definitely one that seems to be the calm before the storm. The way both her father and her hunt seems to mirror precisely how their rule currently is and will be, Viserys has everyone do the hard work from him and is applauded for doing the bare minimum whilst not getting a single speck of blood on him. Whereas Rhaenyra has to kill a hog with nothing but a knife working together with Ser Criston, she ends up covered in blood and all messy, but she did it herself.
The fight for Rhaenyra’s hand was always hilarious but it also showed a sort of naivety to Rhaenyra, she never saw it coming at all and really she should have, being the Princess and heir naturally would make people want to marry her for land and title. Hopefully she’ll grow from this.
