House Of The Dragon Fans Had Some Big Reactions To Rhaenyra’s Scenes With Daemon And Others

Did you watch House Of The Dragon Episode 4 last night? Well, we’re going to talk about some big spoilers here. So, if you haven’t sat down and watched yet, consider bailing on this article (and obviously coming back as soon as you finish the episode).

So much happened in “King Of The Narrow Sea,” the fourth episode of House Of The Dragon’s first season. Laura had 9 takeaways from the episode in her analysis piece, and almost every single one felt like a massive deal. Otto Hightower got fired! Daemon came to court wearing a crown and then somehow made up with his brother! The Sea Snake is not so quietly making big moves! As the Band-Aids would say in Almost Famous, it’s all happening. 

But I’m not going to talk about any of that because last night’s episode was owned by Rhaenyra. I mean where do you even start? She refused a whole line of suitors asking for her hand. She sort of made up with her ex-best friend/ step-mom Alicent Hightower. She snuck out of the castle and went on a bender that was part Cirque Du Soleil show and part deleted scene from Caligula. She almost had sex with her uncle Daemon. She did have sex with Criston Cole. She convinced King Viserys to fire Otto Hightower. Altogether, it was one of the wildest single episodes a character has ever had on Game Of Thrones, and viewers on Twitter could not get enough of her escapades.

The single most popular tweets were ones just recounting all of the wild shenanigans she got up to. Here’s an example…

Fans seem to have a lot of different opinions as to which of the above actions were good decisions and which were mistakes, but the prevailing sentiment from those on Twitter is one of support. Viewers are excited she’s out there living her life and starting to truly play the Game Of Thrones. She’s such an interesting character, and it feels like her story could go in so many different potential directions.

Of course the most discussed of those potential directions last night was about Daemon Targaryen. Some fans are loudly and unapologetically on Team Daemon and talked about how loving and affectionate they seemed together on their rather unusual date night. They think there are a lot of signs that the two care very deeply for each other in their own ways. Here’s an example:

And of course there are plenty of other people who think Daemon cannot be trusted and is manipulating Rhaenyra as part of some kind of larger game he’s playing with political implications. There were some signs Mysaria was partially involved in Otto Hightower finding out about their date night at the brothel, but thinking Daemon was involved in that, given his history with Mysaria, isn’t exactly a big stretch. 

Besides, I think there are plenty of fans who just do not want to see Rhaenyra and Daemon together. Maybe it’s the incest thing. Maybe it’s that he’s a loose cannon who has already been shown to be reckless and bloodthirsty. Maybe it’s that they’d rather see her end up with Cristan Cole. Regardless, there was plenty of this on Twitter last night too…

I haven’t read the books. I’m just along for the ride like most of Twitter, and I’m finding myself getting more and more invested each week, especially in Rhaenyra. She’s a special character who brings so much life to every scene she’s in. I can’t wait to see where she ends up going and how this plot with Daemon plays out. I truly have no idea to expect, well, at least apart from one thing.

No matter what happens, I expect it to continue stressing King Viserys out. This poor dude is overmatched by everyone, and he’s clearly feeling the ill-effects. He’s got soars everywhere. His fingers are falling off. All he wants to do is play with his model of Old Valyria, but instead, he’s got to be a King, which he’s terrible at, and be a father and brother, both of which he’s a well-intentioned failure at. It’s no wonder fans were dropping memes like this…

House Of The Dragon will return for Episode 5 next Sunday night. At this point, it’s already become appointment television for millions of people, and if the showrunners keep dropping heater episodes like this, expect it to grow even more in popularity. It's already been renewed for a second season and will feature some different creative voices behind the scenes.