House of the Dragon moved so fast this week that I still have whiplash. There was a wedding, a funeral and someone lost an eye. Here’s your recap of House of the Dragon Episode 7 ‘Driftmark’.
This article contains full spoilers for House of the Dragon. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch Episodes 1-7 over on Binge now.
House of the Dragon Episode 7: Plot Recap
After splitting up last week, the whole Targaryen family is back together at Driftmark for Lady Laena’s funeral. It’s an emotional affair. Rhaenys is crying, Laenor is crying, Daemon is laughing for some reason, Aegon looks like he’s watching paint dry.
At the wake, everyone is sad and drunk. Rhaenyra reminds her son Jace, who would rather be mourning his father Harwin Strong, that it isn’t appropriate.
Corlys Velaryon tells his reluctant grandson, Luke, that Driftmark is his birthright. Rhaenys completely blanks her niece, Rhaenyra, Laenor is off crying in the sea, and Aegon is getting plastered. Oh! And FYI that snake Otto Hightower is back as Hand of the King. Things move fast in Westeros.
Speaking of which, since last week, it’s also been revealed that Aegon and Helaena are now betrothed. Yes, after getting up in arms about Rhaenyra and Daemon maybe possibly hooking up, Alicent has decided to marry her son to her daughter.
Alicent engaging her son to her daughter after speaking against the Targaryens ‘queer customs’#HouseOfTheDragon #HouseOfTheDragonHBO pic.twitter.com/uZvu3RX852
— Savi – HOTD era (@black_pill_) October 3, 2022
Viserys approaches his brother Daemon trying to convince him to return to Westeros, but Daemon doesn’t want anything to do with him. After being snubbed Viserys decides to go to bed, but not before calling Alicent ‘Aemma’ by mistake, which is quite possibly the sickest burn he’s given yet.
That night, Rhaenys and Corlys have a discussion about legacy. Rhaenys simply wanted her daughter to come home, where she would have had proper medical care, but Corlys is seemingly obsessed with having his family on the Iron Throne, and so supports Daemon’s decision to move them to Pentos. Rhaenys wants Driftmark to pass to Laena’s daughter Baela instead of Luke, claiming she is of true Velaryon blood. Corlys reminds her that history doesn’t remember blood, it remembers names.
Then we have the reunion everyone has been waiting for: Rhaenyra and Daemon.
Walking along the beach, Rhaenyra admits to Daemon the truth of her marriage to Laenor, saying they tried to fulfil their duty but they ultimately found happiness with others — her with Harwin, Laenor with Ser Qarl. Daemon warns Rhaenyra that Alicent will exploit the truth about her children’s parentage, but Rhaenyra doesn’t believe Alicent is capable of murder. We’ll see.
Rhaenyra then comes clean with Daemon, she blames him for leaving her in an unhappy marriage and fleeing to Pentos all those years ago. Daemon admits his marriage wasn’t all that great either, but they made it work. Now, having admitted they haven’t been happy without each other, Rhaenyra kisses Daemon and they find a random shipwreck on the beach to have sex in.
No, your TV brightness isn’t broken, this beach is very dark and we’re now squinting to watch Aemond, who you’ll remember as the dragon-less Targaryen son, as he stalks Laena’s ex-dragon Vhagar.
Vhagar is initially annoyed that this small creature is disturbing its sleep and looks like she may torch Aemond at one point. But she eventually listens to his Valyrian commands and they bond on their first flight around Driftmark.
Vhagar’s disappearance is noted by Baela who wakes Jace and Luke in the middle of the night to help find her. When Aemond returns to the castle he is confronted by the group.
Baela says her mother’s dragon was hers to claim, but Aemond shrugs it off with a you snooze you lose sentimentality. A fistfight breaks out between the children with the four Velaryons ganging up on Aemond.
Aemond is about to smash Jacaerys with a rock, calling him a bastard, which enrages Luke and causes him to pick up a knife and slash out Aemond’s eye.
A family meeting is called. It’s confirmed that Aemond will lose his eye and Alicent is out for blood.
The kids pass the blame around. Rhaenyra stands up for her sons, saying they were forced to defend themselves after Aemond slung insults about their parentage. Viserys questions Aemond on where he heard such lies and while the boy looks to Alicent he eventually passes the blame onto his brother, Aegon.
Viserys: who spoke these lies to you….#HouseOfTheDragon #hotd pic.twitter.com/dbtjhnMwub
— sarcapsm (@sarcapsm) October 3, 2022
Aegon protests that everyone knows the truth just by looking at Rhaenyra’s sons. Viserys is just sick of everyone’s shit and asks them all to kiss and make up.
That’s not good enough for Alicent who wants an eye from Luke in exchange. Ah yes, maiming children is always the answer is it not?
She orders Ser Criston to enact her revenge but he hesitates. So she picks up Viserys’ Valyrian steel dagger herself and attacks Rhaenyra.
Alicent is sick of always being the dutiful one while Rhaenyra gets away with anything and everything. Rhaenyra bites back that now everyone can see who Alicent really is. When they’re forced apart Rhaenyra is left with a cut on her arm from the knife.
As the two families move to console each other we’re shown some not-so-subtle foreshadowing of the split amongst the Targaryen dynasty that will become the greens vs blacks.
Later, Alicent punishes herself for acting out of turn, but her father reminds her that they are playing an ugly game and he can finally see the potential for her to win it. Otto says that while Aemond lost an eye, he won them Vhagar, which was worth the sacrifice.
Laenor has finally decided to show up, telling Rhaenyra that he “should’ve been there” during the fight to which she responds “those should be our house words”. Someone call an ambulance, I’ve been slain.
Recent events have made Laenor realise he’s failed his wife. He hates that the gods made him this way (read: gay). Rhaenyra, a true queen and ally, responds by saying she is grateful for who he is, which is an honourable man with a good heart. Laenor promises to be a better husband.
rhaenyra targaryen supported her gay husband, allowed him to have his lovers, encouraged him to be with them, and finally she helped him fake his own death to run away and live a happy gay life. THIS IS HOW REAL ALLIES BEHAVE WE WON’T ACCEPT ANY LESS#HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/GeDejjk5kc
— rhaenyra targaryen’s lawyer (@Targ_Nation) October 3, 2022
The king is barely out of sight before Rhanyra and Daemon are discussing their marriage. If the two Targaryens were married Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne would be further solidified and they could unite against the greens.
But there’s a small problem: she already has a husband.
As we’ve seen, Daemon is pretty good at dispatching spouses and so gets to scheming. He approaches Ser Qarl wearing a hood, his traditional scheming clothing, promising gold for a “quick death”.
Then we see Daemon take out a random servant in the castle. Meanwhile, Ser Qarl attacks Laenor, allowing witnesses to see them fight. By the time the guards arrive with Corlys and Rhaenys, Laenor’s body is burning in the fire and Qarl is gone.
And then Rhaenyra and Daemon are getting married in a traditional Targaryen ceremony by the sea. Daemon’s kids are still mourning their mother and Rhaenyra’s kids just lost both their fathers, but hey nothing mends the heart like a wedding. The whiplash I have from these people, I swear.
In the final moments, we see Ser Qarl escape on a rowboat to sea, except he’s not alone. Laenor has faked his death and they’re rowing off to live their best gay lives.
House of the Dragon Episode 7: Easter (dragon) eggs
House of the Dragon Episode 7 wasted no time in moving the timeline of the Targaryen family right along. Here’s what you might’ve missed:
- The dagger that Alicent uses to attack Rhaenyra is the same Catspaw dagger that will one day be used to kill the Night King.
- House of the Dragon took a bit of a different approach to George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood this week by keeping Laenor Velaryon alive. In the book, he is said to be killed in a quarrel with Ser Qarl, but House of the Dragon allowed him to instead fake his death and escape.
- In Episode 6, Helaena Targaryen mentioned that Aemond would have to “lose an eye” to become a dragon rider, which turned out to be true in this episode. This supports the idea that she is prophetic, so pay close attention to anything she says in the future.
Because House of the Dragon Episode 7 reiterated my love for my boy Daemon, please enjoy my favourite meme from this week:
Favorite thing about Daemon is that he has a hoodie for committing crimes #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/FkwVFMwV4T
— Matt (@m_ttt21) October 3, 2022
If you missed last week’s recap you can find that here.
House of the Dragon airs weekly on Mondays at 11:00 am AEST on Binge.
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