‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 4: 5 Things You May Have Missed, From Secret Passages to the Return of Ser Harwin

House of the Dragon Episode 4 opens with Rhaenyra fiddling with the necklace dear Uncle Daemon gave her while entertaining lame-ass suitors far from King’s Landing. She’s seated on a massive stone throne covered in skins while Boremund Baratheon (Julian Jones) sits beside her — while Ser Criston stands watch on the other side.

Rhaenyra is on a tour of the Seven Kingdoms to find a husband. Based on this scene, it’s clearly not going great. She listens to an elderly Lord Dondarrion (who, yes, is likely an ancestor of Lord Beric Dondarrion from Game of Thrones) bore her before reverting to straight up rudeness about his age.

Now before we get to the really juicy Easter egg in this scene, we want to point out that Rhaenyra is obviously at Storm’s End, a legendary castle known to us as House Baratheon’s seat.

Storm’s End is an ancient castle that sits overlooking the churning tides and hurricane-like winds of Shipbreaker Bay. There is allegedly magic built into its massive curtain wall, which protects the castle from the elements. Legend has it that in the Age of Heroes, Durran Godsgrief fell in love with Elenei, daughter of the sea god and goddess of the wind. So irate were they with this hero taking their child, the god and goddess ravaged his house seat, killing the guests and Durran and Elenei’s wedding. Durran built six castles, one after the other, in defiance of the gods, who in turn razed each structure. Only the seventh castle succeeded in standing against the winds, the castle called Storm’s End.

There is debate over how Durran got the idea for the massive, magical curtain wall. Some sources say the Children of the Forest helped, while others say a child who grew up to be legendary Stark hero Bran the Builder offered his advice.

What’s important is that Storm’s End is a castle we heard a lot about in Game of Thrones, but never saw. House of the Dragon is giving us a peek into its court.

Rhaenyra’s audience at Storm’s End soon turns sour when a young Blackwood (Alfie Todd) offers his hand for marriage. Though he is sweet (and nervous), he is heckled by an older — but still young — Bracken (Gabriel Scott) from the sidelines. When Rhaenyra dismisses Blackwood, Bracken calls him a craven, which sets the boy off. Blackwood pulls out his sword and Bracken matches with steel of his own. Rhaenyra susses up the situation and hilariously just says, “We’re leaving.”

The melée between Blackwood and Bracken is quick, but deadly. We hear steel clash as Ser Criston leads Rhaenyra away. Within seconds, there is a victor. Rhaenyra turns around to see the younger Blackwood has defeated the bullying Bracken.

Now, there are a few Easter eggs in just this quick interlude.

One, George R.R. Martin mentions in Fire & Blood that there was indeed a duel between the sons of Lord Blackwood and Lord Bracken during Rhaenyra’s tour. (Albeit, they occurred in the Riverlands, not in the Stormlands. We think they brought Riverlands lords to Storm’s End just to composite multiple legs of Rhaenyra’s tour into one quick info-dumping scene.)

Two, though it doesn’t really come up in Game of Thrones, the Brackens and Blackwoods’ feud keeps getting referenced in Martin’s books. It is a constant headache for Catelyn Tully, Robb Stark, and their allies.

Three, according to Liz Shannon Miller, that kid who tried to woo Rhaenyra is Willem Blackwood, not Sam or Ben. However, his vibe is very similar to that of Fire & Blood character Benjicot “Ben” Blackwood, who becomes Lord of his house at the age of 11. He is a fierce soldier on the side of Rhaenyra, as is his sister “Black Aly.” This could be a sign that showrunner Ryan Condal has every intention of bringing those characters into later seasons, where they will participate in some of the bloodiest land battles of the impending Targaryen civil war.

One of the legends about the Red Keep, the main castle in King’s Landing, is that it was built with all sorts of secret passages, entrances, and exits — kind of like the Arconia in Only Murders in the Building Season 2. Maegor the Cruel, the third Targaryen to rule Westeros, killed the builders to keep the castle’s secrets, but that doesn’t mean future folks didn’t figure out the blueprints. This week, Daemon leads Rhaenyra out of the castle using these secret passages, cluing her into a family secret that has nothing to do with the future events of Game of Thrones…or does it?

These secret passages pop up a lot in Game of Thrones. Varys uses them to communicate with his little birds, Arya stumbles upon them while “catching cats,” and Jaime uses them to bust Tyrion out of jail (right at the end of Season 4/Book 3). Of course, Tyrion also uses these passages to sneak into his father’s room, where he kills both Tywin and Shae.

Needless to say, these secret passages will have a role to play during the Dance of the Dragons…but that’s heavy spoiler territory.

Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), the guy who was Rhaenyra’s most ardent admirer during Episode 3’s hunt, gets to do the princess a most convenient solid in this week’s episode. When Rhaenyra is running from Daemon (and an upset street vendor) through King’s Landing, she runs straight into a man of the City Watch. When she recognizes him as Ser Harwin, the smitten knight immediately knows his princess (even in street urchin apparel).

Ser Harwin, to his credit, sees Prince Daemon and lets Rhaenyra go, calling her, “Boy.” It’s an interesting moment where Ser Harwin allows Rhaenyra to go about her business without blowing her cover or betraying her to her father. In this quick little scene, Ser Harwin proves he might — he just might — be someone Rhaenyra can trust.

It’s really fascinating how a random Valyrian steel dagger used by a catspaw, i.e. hitman, to attempt killing Bran Stark has become a larger piece of Westerosi lore on HBO. In the books, it’s special (so far) because it’s Valyrian steel, meaning a rich person like a Lannister had to be behind the attempted assassination. In the world of HBO’s adaptations, it’s also the dagger that will kill Littlefinger, end the Night King, and keep Aegon the Conqueror’s prophetic dream secret.

House of the Dragon tells us that the catspaw dagger once belonged to Aegon the Conqueror (and his father Aeron before him). Aegon I had the last of the Valyrian steel workers hide his “Song of Ice and Fire” into the blade with runes that can only be seen when the blade is hot. Rhaenyra reads them aloud, “From my blood come the prince who was promised and his will be the song of ice and fire,” and they match with much of the prophetic lore in Martin’s books.

So this dagger is more than just a random blade now. It’s a sacred Targaryen heirloom that Viserys keeps on him at all times. I wonder how much else we’ll see this dagger do over the course of House of the Dragon….