Who will Rhaenyra marry? Will Viserys break his promise? 5 burning questions ahead of House Of The Dragon episode 4

Book readers might even get the answer to a question they've long been wondering about in the next episode of HotD

TV Features Will Viserys
Who will Rhaenyra marry? Will Viserys break his promise? 5 burning questions ahead of House Of The Dragon episode 4
Milly Alcock Image: Ollie Upton/HBO

Even with the release of Amazon’s rival fantasy show The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, House Of The Dragon is still going strong as it heads into its fourth episode. It just proves there’s plenty of audience to go around if you’ve got an appealing series, no matter what genre it may be.

After some political maneuvering during a hunting party, last week’s episode ended with a spectacular battle sequence, where we finally got to see the full power of a dragon unleashed. It looks like we’re back to politics with episode four, “King Of The Narrow Sea,” but Prince Daemon’s return to court is bound to be fraught with tension. Especially since his brother’s hold on his power seems to be slipping. Here’s what we’re wondering about as we wait to see where all this Targaryen squabbling leads.

previous arrow2. Is King Viserys losing support among his council and the realm? next arrow
2. Is King Viserys losing support among his council and the realm?
Paddy Considine Image Ollie Upton/HBO

Viserys had a tough act to follow when he first came to power. His grandfather, King Jaehaerys the Conciliator, reigned over a peaceful and prosperous kingdom for many years. After his death, King Viserys not only inherited the crown, he also inherited the goodwill of the people. He hosted balls, tournaments, and hunting parties, and generally kept the people happy. But underneath all the revelry, the foundation of his rule may not be as solid as it appears.As we’ve seen in the episodes so far, Viserys has a good heart but he’s not well-suited to politics. He’s guileless, quick to appease, and easily manipulated. He’s not great at making hard choices, often ignoring problems (like his brother Daemon) rather than confronting them directly. A soft king can only last so long before his shortcomings become glaringly obvious and people start taking advantage. Which is already happening. How much longer can he keep his council in line? Or his brother? Or his daughter? How can he rule a kingdom without its respect?

6 Comments

  • frenchtoast24-av says:

    Slideshow quota met

  • fnsfsnr-av says:

    We could try to narrow it down by assuming Rhaenrya is going to marry someone we’ve already seen (which of course may not be the case). Absent folks who can’t marry like maesters, Kingsguard and people who are already married, there’s not a ton of choices. Note that Daemon is actually married, while he was willing to disregard this and marry again I don’t think the rest of the kingdoms would be that OK with that unless some timely demise is on the horizon. Otto Hightower is also currently single but there’s no benefit to anyone really for that to happen. (Best friends that marry each other’s FATHERS would be a totally screwed up GOT type thing though!)Last episode there were clearly some major hints that the guy with the limp who was dragged in out of nowhere would be in play – in fact, Viserys thought his dad was trying to suggest exactly that. I think it’s going to come down to him and a bunch of randoms we haven’t seen yet, but it might extend past next episode.

    • captain-splendid-av says:

      Since I already know the answers to these questions, my focus is more on where the showrunners are going to slim things down. For example, Rhaenyra is linked, either overtly or covertly, to at least four dudes during her lifetime and pops out 6 kids, and I’m doubtful they’re going to go with all that.

      • fnsfsnr-av says:

        Ha, thanks for not spoilering me book person – I was a book person for GOT and know how annoying it can be to see this type of speculation. It’s actually interesting watching this without a book background – on the one hand it does add suspense as well as removing the risk they’ll do different things with a favorite character. On the other hand, I now understand what all the newbies were complaining about when they said there were too many characters and they couldn’t tell them apart ;-),

    • mark-t-man-av says:

      in fact, Viserys thought his dad was trying to suggest exactly thatAs I recall, Viserys didn’t think the dad was trying to set Rhaenyra up with the limpy guy, but with his other son, “Breakbones”, supposedly the strongest man in the kingdom.

  • deb03449a1-av says:

    Why is this a slideshow

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