True. I think it's a testament to Martin's storytelling that we want these journeys to be like the songs, but that in the end we always get a wake-up call like Sansa did. Real medieval society, and this world which is based off of it, wasn't like the songs, and that's why they're often chaste, romantic, and show clear heroes and villains by comparison.

Totally

Can you get an Emmy for brooding? Matt Smith broods soooo well in this episode.

He needs to be the doctor again but I love this role too!!!!

He's been great, but I think Paddy Considine has completely stolen the show so far.

@@jenny_of_oldstones3523 and he is so hot!

I failed the exams so hard and studied since 2020 😭

SAME!

“Lightbringer University” merchandise PLEASE

Lmao its a glorious feeling

Whats lightbringer university

100% good call. Everyone tells him “you’re there king” when they’re trying to manipulate him. He only takes what’s given to himn

I think it showed him to be a weak king.

He's like Theon,with the Ironborn at Winterfell,badly chopping off Ser Rodrick's head...making the suffering last longer. Being told WHAT to do by an advisor(Dagmar Cleftjaw) to prove he (Theon) is the leader/Prince just makes things worse. Viserys jabbing the poor stag just makes him look weak and helpless.

he was also hesitant to kill it, while his daughter on the other hand she stabbed that boar who attacked her with no mercy, at the same time she showed mercy to the white stag it just shows you she is capable of violence but she's also a good person. Her father on the other hand is just weak he has no stomach for violence, now that doesn't mean he's bad but it's definitely not a good trait for a king to be spineless.

Why? Becaus eit's a faster death? Or because incinerating suggests a hotter power than 'merely' burning? Or becaus e it suggests something nucleair like to connect to the Ashai legends of doom?

Well for me it only makes sense that dragon fire would incinerate because it is able to melt stone,steel,ect.

​@@lethaldose9780 It depends on how long the pressure and exposure lasts, a brief driveby/flyby with fire is enough to burn you to death...…incineration on requires non stop concentration for a few seconds.....burning stone/steel takes time too.

He’s just not a strong man, physically or mentally. He seems like a pretty nice man though. But that’s not enough for that world.

@@annjohnson6193 Yeah he's not a bad person..but he is a poor leader and king

*Wee Bey reaction gif*

He will take what is his…through hearthfire AND wine!

I think it showed she didn’t want to kill it and doesn’t care what others thought she should do.

To me it shows that she is right leader but she doesn’t need to kill it to prove the point!

I agree. I like her because she didn't, but I also understand that being a ruler in this society means that you won't always be likeable. If she were content to remain a princess, that would be one thing. But she turned down an offer (to their minds anyway) from the gods themselves to seal her destined rule with a portent the nobility couldn't ignore. She made a gesture of respect now that will, ironically, lead to more bloodshed later. Which of the houses who may dispute her claim would have thought better of it if they saw her drag the White Hart into camp, instead of just the boar symbolic of her younger brother and rival for the throne? But that's the rub, these kinds of choices are what make the characters and world feel real. They have to choose between being human and being powerful, and sometimes the right choice goes unrewarded in the human sense.

Yes!!!!!

The big thing for me is she does nothing to solidify her place herself. She wasted the Royal Hunt party that brought a bunch of influential lords, lady's, and knights and didn't try to form a friendship or relationship at all to solidify her claim. Instead she decided to Sulk and run off.

@@Argos-xb8ek True. Rhaenyra's grating on me at the moment.

@@Argos-xb8ek she acts like a spoiled brat.

@@Argos-xb8ek yeah I haven't quite seen anything that tells me that she's the Realms Delight yet. I think it would be one thing if she had been politicking all this time and everybody liked her, just at the end of the day they didn't want a woman doing it. But here we are and it's as if the entire Kingdom thinks of her as a spoiled child. Hopefully something will change once she gets married and has kids.

@@Argos-xb8ek Hell yeah, every single action/decision taken by her in this episode was so annoyingly stupid for someone who should be doing everything in their power to present themselves as a fit future ruler and to try and get people on her side, especially since she knows she's already at a disadvantage as a woman! The way she was acting would only be reasonable and sympathetic if she had already been officially displaced by her baby brother - as it is, she seemed to be doing her best to make it happen and alienate everyone who dared to speak to her (and then she'd presumably sulk even more about how unfair everyone is to her). And she only got a badass return to the camp because she was lucky enough to stumble on a boar and survive it (with a lot of help from her King's guard, whom she didn't even plan on taking in the first place). Otherwise that moment would be a humiliating return of a spoiled child who had a tantrum.

To me, she comes off as a spoiled brat.

@@annjohnson6193 What's spoiled about her?

@@annjohnson6193 Me, too

@@pearlngozi2818 For the first few minutes of episode 3 I was sure, judging by her sulky behaviour, that she had been officially substituted by her baby brother as the heir to the throne. Which would've been an excellent and sympathetic reason for her behaviour. But no, turns out she hadn't - why then is she sulking and acting as if she was trying to convince her dad and everyone else that she's just too spoiled to be a fit ruler? Why draw attention to her conflict with her dad by publicly shunning official events (her dad is one of the few people that actually want her to sit on the throne and she's just showing everyone that hey, what with her acting this stupid maybe we could convince him to switch to his baby son!)? Why cause a public scene by arguing with her dad about marriage in front of everyone? Why is she acting like she's unaware that (heiress to the throne or not) she would be expected to marry? Why is she insulting the older lady who rightly pointed out that Daemon's war on the Crabfeeder affects the whole kingdom? That last scene seemed like a clear attempt to show her as a badass, but to me it did the opposite, because 1) that woman was actually right, and 2) what did R. expect the old lady to do about the war? She of all people should know that as a woman that lady (who is NOT a king's daughter) didn't have much scope for action, she actually did the only thing she could do: went to her queen and the heiress to the throne and tried to persuade them of the seriousness of the situation. R. refused to accept her point and, having no way of arguing it, she decided to insult the woman in front of everyone. What a great way to make people think she'll make a good ruler! What a great way to make them want to follow her! So yeah, even if you can pin some of that on her being a teenager who feels threatened in her position, every single one of her actions in this episode seemed so effing stupid for someone who should be doing all in their power to prove to everyone that they're up to the task of fulfilling all the duties of a ruler. And the only reason she got to have a triumphant return to the camp in the end is because she was lucky enough to stumble on a boar in the forest AND to have a King's Guard by her side to slow it down and wound it first (not that she cared to take the guard with her when she took off into the forest on her own). If it wasn't for the boar, her return would be a humiliation and everyone would (rightly) see her as a little girl coming back after throwing a tantrum. Not a good look.

LOL, I was hoping to see her too, but you're right, she seems to be done with all that. Now, she just wants to live the rest of her life out at The Villages in Ocala, FL, riding around in her dragon sized golf cart and doing arts and crafts.

I thought the same. And it is at face value. But behind face value there’s also symbolism. Just like in George’s writing

Yup, he indulged himself with Alicent and now the gods are gonna punish him for it.

Maybe indulging his daughter to become a spoiled brat.

@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 Thats true. But it's just how I perceived it is all, lamens terms, lol He looked like he had a rough night, and had his face in his palm, like he was holding his temples from the HORRID headache that comes from drinking ungodly amounts of wine, heh.

@@BasementPepperoni he's drinking fucking coffee and is hungover. how is this difficult? he's been indulging in alcohol, and he's hungover, it's the most obvious shit in the episode lol

Also I kinda want to do some Garth the Green art now too! 🌿

You were reading the signs!

Regime Change Boar: boars are used in the ASOIAF books proper to symbolise a change in power.

Ah yea, I recall we’ve chatted before. Glad you’re liking my coverage!

Good call!

man ppl being upset abt dog breeds is goofy. i like ur idea abt them being from valyria, but dog breeding also serves a practical purpose. westeros is a feudal farming society, farmers and hunters need different dogs for different jobs. the idea that westerosians only had one type of dog just doesn’t make sense- unrealistic even.

I like that last bit about her doing the right thing but maybe not getting credit. That makes sense

@@morganburt2565 Exactly. I swear there’s paintings of women with pugs from like at least 500 years ago. Is it really as unrealistic as people bonding with dragons?

@@cameronkumarhatyara3417 Bonding with dragons is a part of the world, so for the world it's believable - it fits within the internal consistency. These people may feel that the dog breeds fall outside of what would be internally consistent, but I would argue that as real dogs have been bred to do things from hunting rats to warming beds to pulling sleds to providing hair for clothing, having pugs is totally within the scope of internal consistency for the setting. I can totally see maesters fucking around with dog breeding just to see what happens and producing a companionship dog is a believable goal.

@@Aquilarden Ye they’re both believable to me.

That’s a very common sentiment, and yes I feel grateful as well!

Oh hey small world! Hahaha

Yeah you know I figured I’d… ZAG when others are zigging!

RIP Rickon Stark

@@DavidLightbringer too soon,man. 😄😄😄😄

I adore Matt Smith in this role. I can't think of a better fit for Daemon's character. I'm not keen on Viserys either, but maybe that is the point of His character. I think He's meant to be portrayed as amiable, but "weak", as a King.. For example, during the (blood chilling) Stag "killing" scene, it appeared as though Viserys did not even like Himself. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown" and it seems as though Viserys is really feeling that weight!! As for Rhaenyra, I actually wondered if that white Stag came to Her by "order" of (that time periods) current Greenseer. I also thought Her killing of the boar was Completely unnecessary "overkill".. (perhaps, ecen foreshadowing some of Her future decisions). I certainly wondered if the CotF and the Greenseer/s were testing Her mettle in this episode!! The best episode so far imo :)

Needs some context to understand the character better. He's trying to fill the shoes for Jaeherys, who managed to unite the realm through diplomacy after Maegor the Cruel almost destroyed everything Aegon the Conqueror built. The way he stands up for his daughter in his dialogue with Jason Lannister and the fact that he rode Balerion shows he's not a weak king at all, it's just that from his perspective, it is better to rule like Jaeharys ruled (listen to your councilors and don't give your lords any reason to rebel against you) instead of how Maegor did (rule by fear and burn anyone who defies you). He's still a better ruler than any king or queen who sat the throne throughout the entire GoT series.

the Pug that was Promised

I thought so too! Plus some of the inherent health conditions are caused by inbreeding. Pug is the glaring example of poor breeding habits. I think it represents both the dragons and their humans.

youtube be fuckin with shit man. that's why us YTers always say it, every time

@@DavidLightbringer ahhh! I have heard some say it like ants Canada

I think this is spam

@@minty.maelstrom thanks hun I was so confused because I didn’t recall David having a contest. That’s why I figured it was spam.

Viserys was not really successful though. They caught it for him and he had to stab him twice.

@@petyaivanova9629 varying degrees of success, surely. He probably still ended up with a cool rug.

@@damongnojek3912 😆

That sounds like a variation on a terrible thanksgiving dish. "This year we are not making a turducken; we are making a Craboarstag. A crab, stuffed in a boar, stuffed in a stag. With barbecue sauce

Actually I'd be interested to know if anyone saw a similarity between the killing of the deer and George Orwell's memoir/essay 'Shooting An Elephant'. Beat for beat it's pretty identical and has the same pathetic emptiness. I wouldn't be surprised if the writers took inspiration from it.

Jackson - where can we watch that? I have been unable to find it. Thank you!

@@julieloucalcote1368 here's the first one kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bbqkl9aczrvInHk.html

@@julieloucalcote1368 it's on HBO under each episode

Hopealooe-thank you ma’am!

yeah you know it's not just like a really cool bar that's just way too hot. there is flesh torture.