This text accommodates spoilers for “Home of the Dragon” Season 3, Episode 3.
“Home of the Dragon” Season 3 is off to a bizarre begin. The season started with what was very clearly meant to be the top of Season 2 – an enormous climactic battle — adopted by an episode that modified the established order and ended on a cliffhanger. Now, Episode 3 establishes the brand new regular for King’s Touchdown, and the numerous, many points Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) should face now that she’s taken over town.
Certainly one of these points is what to do with the Dragonseeds, the Targaryen bastards that Rhaenyra recruited to grow to be dragon riders and assist win the battle. The vital Dragonseeds to recollect listed below are Ulf (Tom Bennett), Hugh (Kieran Bew), and Adam (Clinton Liberty). The place Ulf spent the final two episodes demanding a giant fort, not one of the three get a lot in the way in which of the absurd quantity of treasure and titles somebody like Bronn (Jerome Flynn) acquired in “Recreation of Thrones.” (Keep in mind when he by some means turned Lord of Highgarden and Grasp of Coin? Wild.)
Nonetheless, the Dragonseeds do get one thing: titles. In Episode 3, Rhaenyra has Daemon (Matt Smith) knight the three males, giving them standing, a title, and a final identify. It is an enormous second for the Dragonseeds, however watching Daemon recite the knighthood oath as he knights the three males — notably Ulf — takes on a distinct which means after watching “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
That is as a result of none of those males can maintain a candle to a real knight like “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” character Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas), and watching these Dragonseeds get knighted in the identical method will make you indignant.
Raymun Fossoway is a real knight, not like these buffoons
The knighting of Raymun Fossoway in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was a loving, touching second that highlighted the honour of knighthood and the values {that a} true knight will need to have. The scene even made the knighting of Brienne of Tarth in “Recreation of Thrones” extra highly effective due to the way it related Brienne to her ancestor, Ser Duncan the Tall.
By comparability, the “Home of the Dragon” scene in Season 3, Episode 3 looks like a shame. Everybody within the scene appears like they did not need to be there. Adam solely desires to get legitimized by Rhaenyra, as she promised Adam’s father, however she refuses. Hugh appears like he would not actually care a lot about what a knighthood brings. Ulf is smug sufficient that he genuinely thinks knighthood is beneath him now that he has a dragon, and desires to be thought of as vital because the Queen herself. When Rhaenyra asks what identify he’ll select for himself, Ulf asks to be referred to as a Targaryen, which she instantly shuts down. Then, when Daemon is about to put his sword on Ulf’s shoulders and recite the oath, he would not look honored, however terrified and unworthy.
Certain, Adam does nothing incorrect. He’s the one honorable one right here. Hugh feels proper down the center. However Ulf? Thus far, all we have seen of him is an conceited drunk who retains utilizing his lineage to realize favors (largely free drinks), probably not doing something to earn respect. Is that this what a knight needs to be?
Knighthood in Westeros is about to get much more miserable
The way in which “Home of the Dragon” portrays its knighting ceremony looks like a smack within the face to the entire concept of knighthood. That is an instance of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” type of ruining the remainder of the Westeros franchise; that present carries such reverence for sure traditions and values, and right here comes “Home of the Dragon,” dragging them via the mud within the identify of a swift victory in battle.
Then once more, that is type of the entire level of this specific present. “Home of the Dragon” is supposed to be the autumn of the Roman Empire second for Westeros, depicting the gradual course of which annihilates Home Targaryen. The battle forces each side to desert the perceived purity of their beliefs and resort to brutal atrocities and dishonest so as to acquire a bonus, and the Dragonseeds are a main instance of that. The core of Targaryen energy is the concept solely they can experience dragons, and subsequently they’re higher than everybody else. But, Rhaenyra has to resort to utilizing bastards and lowlifes like Ulf, tarnishing the very idea of a dragon rider.
We all know from “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” that establishments will solely get extra corrupted with time. By the period of Duncan the Tall, lengthy after “Home of the Dragon,” true knighthood feels nearly like a overseas idea. Dunk’s mentor, Ser Arlan, could not have been probably the most memorable knight within the realm, however not less than he did the fitting factor and stood up for individuals who could not defend themselves. From what we noticed in that present, he took knighthood severely, which is greater than a number of different characters can say. That gradual deterioration makes the second in “Recreation of Thrones” the place Brienne will get knighted all of the extra poignant, as a result of it restores the ethical righteousness to the place after centuries of corruption, apathy, and other people like Ulf.
