Knowing Alicent then yes, it would've still been a problem, because she wants her kids on the throne (it would actually probably threaten her more, though she couldn't then be as blatant as she is in disparaging them). Remember, she still feels like Aegon should be heir and not Rhaenyra. The whole bastard thing is an easy way for her to feel like she's morally right, but like I said, we've seen that that's just a cover.

I do think that Princess R and Daemon actually wanted to kill her husband, but Qarl decided to warn him in advance so they faked his death and apparently escaped at the end. So I think the Princess and Daemon really do think he's dead. Eventually someone will probably find out he's alive and she'll be in deep shit.

I don't think that at all.

Daemon killed a guy right before that scene and ostensibly that was the fake body used.

Daemon and Rhaenyra have a whole conversation (that had a different tone at the time) about how only they would know the truth but their enemies will think how ruthless they are and fear them. If you watch that back knowing what happens at the last scene it takes on a different context.

The show wanted to make you think that Rhaenyra was so heartless even after Laenor recommitted himself to her. But if you remember their conversation, it was about duty and being able to live your life and how those things don't always intersect (it was also a nice scene of Rhaenyra reassuring him that he is a good and kind man). This freed Laenor of his duty and allowed him to live his life free of the guilt that was ravaging him for not being the kind of son/wife people wanted him to be. It's also a nice parallel to Cole's earlier offer to Rhaenyra to do the same thing and she refused because she didn't want to give up her position.

That isn't to say that he doesn't come back into the story at some point and get screwed up because hey, nice guys always finish last in Westeros, but I fully believe this was Rhaenyra and Daemon's intention.

Daemon killed the guard to give them a body for the switch. I guess Rhaenya’s potential future children with Daemon would still be bastards since she is married to a still alive Laenor if their plans were to be discovered.

But Daemon and Rhaenyra were legally married, and at least in the past the Targaryans were able to have multiple wives (it's just not kosher in current Westeros). Besides, in the real world if someone is left for dead, their spouse remarries and have kids, and the person resurfaces, are the kids now bastards?

The bigger thing would be that there are three older brothers to whatever Daemon and Rhaenyra have and then you'd have to out them and thus Rhaenyra first. For all of Daemon's faults I don't think he's trying to trick his niece so he can have power, I think he truly (blech) wants to be with her. Oh and can I mention that for once I was glad they switched actresses?

having two spouses may have been okay in the past but Rhaenrya and Daemon clearly aaid that Laenor had to be “dead” for them to marry.

I wonder if dragons can sense their rider is still alive. I assume Laenor’s dragon will have to stay ( or maybe it flies away)and someone will attempt to ride it but be refused and that will raise lots more questions.

Right, for Westeros customs they weren't going to have a dual marriage, I'm just addressing the possibility of Laenor being found alive. I don't think that makes any kids Rhaenyra had with Daemon retroactively bastards.

I think this will be the last we see of Laenor. In the book history, he was killed off without any doubt. The Fire and Blood book is more of a history book than a novel, and it doesn't necessarily explain everything. For example, in the book, nobody really knows who set the fire at Harrenhal and there are multiple suspects, but House of the Dragon clearly shows Larys was responsible.

A whole lot of other shit is about to start going down, and a Laenor is still alive reveal won't be necessary to advance the plot.

But they do tend to rewrite some stuff for the show, so anything is possible.

So Laenor just abandoned his kids?

He is not the real father.

Wonder if Daemon and Rhaenyra have a child together.

Yeah, but to the kids, he is their father.

Not to the older kid. But the younger kid, yeah. Felt kinda bad for these kids who both just saw one parent die, and their other parents are marrying each other. Do I call you great uncle or uncle-in-law or father now?

Rhaenrya has three kids, right? Don't they all believe that Laenor was their father? Their real father (the 2nd choice knight) is already dead but he never acted as a father to them, I thought.

Wait, what? He acted too much like a father to them, and they had scenes to show it, to the point that he beat up Cole because of it. And the eldest kid point blank asked his mom if Harwin was his dad. In the funeral scene he was like "why do I have to comfort those kids, my dad died too why can't we go to his funeral?" Also, I excluded the last one because that kid is still an infant, right?

Good episode, but damn it was shot way too dark for my liking, and I was watching in a dark room (as usual) and everything.

I liked this comment to the article:

Next week, Alicent gonna be all like...

This is good enough to keep watching, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such an unsympathetic sack of assholes. I’m surprised they didn’t add at least one or two characters for the audience to identify with. While GoT had plenty of characters in the murky to evil range, there were always plenty of characters who were generally decent, or at least attempting to be.

I'm glad that they specifically stated that Laenor and Rhaenyra at least tried to conceive, but were unable to. They should have at least tried to get a donor with white/silver hair to continue on the bloodline without having children with dark hair.

The Targaryens aren't known to be sympathetic people. All that inbreeding causes problems. I'm interested to see where this goes though. I'm trying to decide if I want to stop reading the book. I don't want to spoil the tv show for myself.

OLED one tv to rule them all. People and their $300 wal mart tv's lol....

Yeah, they're all scumbags. Whatever good will one character may garner is lost later in the episode or in the episode after. One fucked up lineage after another. That'll get dull in no time if it hasn't already. At least this seasons is marginally better than the last 2-3 of GoT.

I watched it tonight and it wasn't that dark on my TV at all. I wonder if they lightened the image since it originally aired?

Anyway great, eventful episode. Really liked this one.

No relation.

The Knight Harwin Strong died in the fire Larys Strong started (limp).

The hand (Lord Strong, Harwin and Lary's gather), was the hand and he died in the fire too. We are to imply with Visery's declining health that Alicent convinced him to bring her father in again.

Yes.

Yes. This is a make-believe world.

A random guy.

Prince Laenor and his lover, the one hired to kill him. All four of them, Rhaenyra, Daemon, Laenor, and his lover faked Laenor's death so that he could leave everything behind and Rhaenyra could marry Daemon.

There is a relation, though. Laena is the daughter of Corlys and Rhaenys, and Rhaenys is Daemon's cousin (I think). So Daemon had kids with his cousin once removed (and Rhaenyra was married to her second cousin). And in addition to the uncle/niece wedding we just had, we're about to see a sister-wife, so...

You're correct, they are cousins.