‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 5: 5 Things You May Have Missed, From Rhaenys’s Dragon to Ser Harwin the Hero

House of the Dragon stealthily introduced another dragon this week. We’ve already spent time with Rhaenyra’s Syrax, Daemon’s Caraxes, and Laenor’s Seasmoke. This week, as House Velaryon sent a fleet of their ships to King’s Landing, we saw two dragons flying with them. One of these, the grey-er of the two, is obviously Laenor upon Seasmoke. The other dragon is red, but doesn’t have the long, lanky body of Caraxes.

So who is this dragon? And who is the dragon-rider? Well, it’s none other than Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon Meleys, nicknamed “the Red Queen.”

What’s interesting to note here is that it seems Laena is still without a dragon, or else she would be flying with them. As for Laena, the child everyone tried to marry Viserys to in House of the Dragon Episode 2, she’s grown up a bit since we last saw her…

Almost five years have passed since the first episode of House of the Dragon. That means the tiny twelve year old girl the court was trying to set up with Viserys is now a teenager. And let’s just say Savannah Steyn’s teen version of Laena Velaryon has clearly grown up a lot during puberty. It’s not just that she can sit at the big kids’ table in King’s Landing, but she can hold her own with Daemon Targaryen.

Yup, Laena Velaryon is 100% trying to get with the newly single Daemon. Sure, he still has eyes for Rhaenyra, but the princess is marrying Laenor. But both Laena and Daemon are single and it seems they had a little bit of a mingle at the party.

Laena makes sexy eye contact with Daemon and a moment later he joins her on the dance floor. He makes a sort of negging compliment, asking if anyone’s ever told her that’s she’s almost as pretty as her brother. She immediately probes about Rhea Royce’s death and Daemon establishes he’s not sad about his newly-single status. Laena then lists off all of Daemon’s positive attributes, noting he’s a Targaryen prince, warrior, and dragon-rider. You’ll recall that all Laena cared about on her garden stroll with Viserys was…dragon-riding. Daemon points out she’s only interested in him because she doesn’t know him. She counters perhaps they can remedy that. “Perhaps,” he says before trying one more time to woo Rhaenyra back.

So what’s going on in this scene? Well, spoilers, but the next woman Daemon is going to marry is none other than Laena Velaryon. I won’t go into details about what sort of relationship they have, but they are considered well-matched in Martin’s books. That’s because Laena eventually claims the largest and oldest dragon still alive, Vhagar, as her own and the two just bash around on their dragons. We haven’t seen this yet, though…

You probably missed this, but there is some debate amongst Viserys’s maesters about the best way to treat his majesty’s various back sores and sliced up fingers. Grand Maester Mellos wants to stick to maggots and leeches to take care of the king, but a younger maester named Orwyle is all about something called “herbal poultices,” which I first heard as purple poultices like a rube!

Maester Orwyle is most definitely a key figure during the events of the Dance of the Dragons, but he’s not technically supposed to be bouncing around King’s Landing at this time. He only enters the court after Grand Maester Mellos — spoiler — eventually dies and the Citadel names him as the new Grand Maester.

We are told in Fire & Blood that Viserys fared better under Orwyle’s care. Martin writes, “Orwyle’s potions and tinctures were more efficacious than the leechings Mellos had preferred.” So this mention of “herbal poultices” is clearly a nod to this line and a suggestion that Mellos might not have the best strategy for healing the king.

House of the Dragon shows us a key moment in Westerosi political history this week: the origin of the Greens.

You might have noticed that since marrying Viserys, Alicent has hung back from court life. She doesn’t really rattle any cages and she wears either old dresses from her single life or maternal-looking gowns that favor the Targaryen color red. In House of the Dragon Episode 5 that all changes as she carefully times her arrival to the wedding party for maximum impact. The entire court sees her strut out in a sexy green and gold gown that symbolizes way more than you might think.

As Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) explains to his brother, House Hightower changes the color of the lighthouse lamp at Oldtown to green as a signal to their bannerman that they are being called to war. This is Alicent simultaneously deciding to get in on the succession fight — preferring Aegon as heir over Rhaenyra — and signaling to allies that they need to team up. You’ll note that Alicent specially seeks out her father’s older brother at the party and he assures her he has her back.

Going forward, Alicent and Aegon’s supporters in the court will be known as the Greens. Eventually, Rhaenyra will start wearing all black and her team will be the Blacks.

But why does Alicent do this now? Well, this is the episode where her father (Rhys Ifans) straight up explains that she either has to kiss up to Rhaenyra and hope for the best or prepare for war. After learning that Rhaenyra lied to her about her sex life, Alicent can’t trust her former friend. So cozying up to her isn’t an option. Instead, it must be war.

For the past few weeks, Ser Harwin Strong has popped up and pulled focus away from the main plot. First, he checked out a blood-soaked Rhaenyra at the royal hunt and then he turned his head at Rhaenyra’s antics with Daemon in King’s Landing. This week, Ser Harwin Strong comes to Rhaenyra’s rescue in a major way.

When the brawl between Ser Criston and Ser Joffrey breaks out, wedding guests begin pressing into each other and Rhaenyra is thrown to the ground. With a single nod from his father, Ser Harwin launches into the fray. But his goal is not to beat folks up for kicks. He cuts through the crowd and carries Rhaenyra to safety. So while Ser Criston was straight up murdering a dude, Ser Harwin actually proved himself a better protector for Rhaenyra.

Consider that as Ser Criston is clearly going to be in Alicent’s thrall going forward. If Ser Criston is no longer Rhaenyra’s sworn sword (and maybe something more?), who will be? Why not the guy who came to her rescue when it actually counted? And who we already saw Rhaenyra happily dancing with during the party.

Ser Harwin Watch 2022! It’s a thing!