HBO’s Original Game of Thrones Prequel Series House of the Dragon Episode seven “Driftmark” starts with Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen attending the funeral of Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen’s late wife. During this the viewer sees Olivia Cooke’s Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra give each other a look of hate due to Alicent resenting that Rhaenyra always gets the benefit of the doubt in every transgression she gets involved in. In her mind, Alicent believes that it is not fair that she always has to sacrifice for the greater good. However, Rhaenyra does not have to sacrifice anything at all which is what infuriates her even further. Whenever she tries to bring attention to this fact, she is simply gets shut down by her husband which adds to her anger at Rhaenyra. From what the viewer can see Rhaenyra’s relationship with her uncle Daemon what truly bothers her the most as she sees how they look at each other.
Further into the episode, the viewer sees Rhaenyra’s youngest son talk to his grandfather about being heir to Driftmark. During this exchange it can be said that the moment they have is a moment of sadness and understanding. This is a result of her son not wanting to be heir of anything as that means that everyone he loves is dead. In his mind, he knows exactly what it takes to rule over anything in their world. At this point he is sick and tired of all the deaths he is forced to bear witness to. The interesting thing is that his grandfather understands his reluctance especially when it comes being the only one left to inherit anything. He even has a look of sorrow to demonstrate that he too has lost many leaving him as sole heir as a result. It can be said that they could establish a very loving relationship even though they are not related by blood. A fact that is strengthen when his grandmother talks about disowning his father leaving him and his brothers with nothing but shame while his grandfather tries to reason with her out of protection for him and his brothers.
Additionally, the viewer sees that Alicent’s youngest son claim Daemon’s late wife’s dragon for himself leading to an incident that put everyone at odds when he loses an eye as a result of his nephew cutting him with a knife. Due to this Alicent demands Rhaenyra’s son lose an eye as well as punishment for what he did because of the incident. In her mind, she feels that it is only fair since Rhaenyra has been getting away with a lot of things for years now it is time for her to pay for once. The viewer can see that her hatred for Rhaenyra is also directed at her kids as well making her seems like a despicable person for targeting kids. However, it can be argued that she believes that her sons will take advantage of their station just like their mother does resulting in her hating them as well.
Rating 8.5/10