{"id":523501,"date":"2026-07-13T08:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/523501\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T08:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:11:12","slug":"house-of-the-dragon-ep-4-power-ranking-new-prince-in-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/523501\/","title":{"rendered":"House of the Dragon Ep. 4 Power Ranking: New Prince in Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n I am going to be livid if\/when something happens to Mysaria.
\n Photo: Ollie Upton\/HBO\n <\/p>\n

Team Black? Team Green? Or just Team Dragon? Join forces and sign up<\/a> for our subscriber-exclusive newsletter dissecting House of the Dragon season three.<\/p>\n

The House of the Dragon Scorecard<\/a> is an accounting of the events of this week\u2019s episode, \u201cTumbleton,\u201d<\/a> in which points are awarded to characters on a scale of 0 to 10. Points will be awarded for any or no reason.<\/p>\n

We have reached the halfway point of the third season, and a number of things are coming into focus. Rhaenyra got what she wanted<\/a> and sits on the Iron Throne, but is still inexperienced enough at ruling that she\u2019s making sloppy mistakes. There\u2019s a fun new villain in town, Ormund Hightower, a pompous prick with a sensitive nose and a secret prince he\u2019s hiding away. Daemon is still doing Daemon things, this time involving a disembodied charbroiled head he\u2019s attempting to pass off as the person responsible for another prince\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

All of which means the stage appears to be set for\u2026 something. A lot of plates are spinning, man. Rhaenryra\u2019s going to find out it was Rhaena on Sheepstealer and that Daemon lied to her about it. Alys the Witch is up to something. Helaena might be pregnant. Ulf found out he can\u2019t go to taverns anymore and it\u2019s ruining his entire life. Everyone on this show is a little incompetent in their own special way and it\u2019s kind of fun to try to figure out whose flaws are going to eat them alive first. It\u2019s even more fun when that person has a dragon.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to the points.<\/p>\n

Rhaenyra\u2019s crash course on the difference between \u201cwanting to be queen\u201d and \u201cattempting to rule a kingdom\u201d continues apace. She\u2019s already spending kind of a lot of time sighing and gazing longingly at the model city her father died dreaming about, which can\u2019t be a great sign. One of the members of her council quit and left town on a horse. Her two most trusted advisors can\u2019t stop snipping at each other. One of them brought her a flambeed skull and plopped it on the conference table. It could be going better.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the thing where, amid all of the small and large frustrations, people in town did some graffiti about her and she reacted by sending armed guards into the streets to tear apart some homes and bash some teens in the head in front of their friends and loved ones. Really undoing that goodwill she built up mighty fast.<\/p>\n

Two great faces this week from Alicent, a woman who has spent the entire first half of the season contorting her visage into a range of horrified emotions:<\/p>\n

1) When Rhaenyra is talking to her about Daeron and says, \u201cYou know I would have spared him,\u201d which is a heck of a thing to say to someone after you just decapitated their dad.<\/p>\n

2) When she was with Helaena in their chambers and noticed something that looked suspiciously like a baby bump under her daughter\u2019s shirt.<\/p>\n

Her eyes are gonna pop straight out of her head and roll around on the floor one of these days.<\/p>\n

See, this is what I mean about Daemon needing a task. You want some gold? No problem, he\u2019ll swoop over to the Vale and get you some gold. Need to engage in a ruse to trick the Queen into believing someone else hijacked a wild dragon and got her son killed? All good, just let him roast some guy with his dragon real quick and return to the castle with an unrecognizable head to pin the blame on. Bingo bango, problem solved.<\/p>\n

Errrrr, maybe not \u201csolved.\u201d That might be a little strong, especially with Rhaena still out there terrorizing the Realm\u2019s livestock on her dragon. I suspect that\u2019s the kind of thing that will come up again. Let\u2019s go with \u201cproblem addressed.\u201d But that\u2019s an issue for Future Daemon, a man Current Daemon rarely thinks about.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s \u201cwrong place, wrong time,\u201d and then there\u2019s \u201cminding your business below the cave where a father just learned his estranged daughter caused the prince\u2019s death with her unruly dragon and the aforementioned father concocts a plan to return home with an unrelated charred head to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m giving him two points. The guy deserves\u2026 something.<\/p>\n

Between all the bathing and troop-quartering and c-word shouting, we learned a few things about Ormund this week:<\/p>\n

1) He\u2019s been raising Daeron for many years and, with Aemond and Vhagar MIA, is now scheming up a plot to make the poor kid king.<\/p>\n

2) He\u2019s a real pompous weasel who doesn\u2019t especially love the idea of a woman in charge.<\/p>\n

3) He has \u201ca sensitivity to odors,\u201d per Alicent, which is one of the funnier villain-related weaknesses.<\/p>\n

It is my belief that this last factoid will result in him being undone by a smell so foul it renders him incapacitated. Call it Chekhov\u2019s Stink.<\/p>\n

I am still very mad at him for killing Simon<\/a> but I am also, now, becoming very curious about what\u2019s going on in that leaky castle. The last time we saw him, he was bleeding out and begging Alys for help. Now, Vhagar is nowhere to be seen and Alys is slinking around the castle answering gentlemen callers and he\u2019s basically a ghost. The possibilities here are almost limitless. I assume we\u2019ll find out soon. Whatever is happening, I just hope Alys is having fun.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a sweet boy.<\/p>\n

Is\u2026 is Rhaena becoming a supervillain? She\u2019s hiding out in a lair. She\u2019s saying lots of things about how she\u2019s been overlooked and forgotten and is getting angry about it. She\u2019s altered her appearance significantly. She has a weapon of mass destruction that allows her to finally feel power \u2014 or at least control \u2014 over a world that never seemed to value her.<\/p>\n

If she starts cackling maniacally next week, don\u2019t say I didn\u2019t warn you.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I forget that Helaena is already a mother. Something about her screams \u201clittle kid\u201d to me, whether it\u2019s the innocent love of animals or the way Alicent babies her. I think that\u2019s why, when Alicent went to help her with the little shawl and noticed what appeared to be a baby bump, my first instinct was to shout \u201cYOUNG LADY!\u201d like I was her dad or something.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhose head was that?\u201d<\/p>\n

I am going to be livid if\/when something bad happens to her.<\/p>\n

Aegon \u2014 I\u2019m sorry, \u201cGregor\u201d \u2014 is getting a series of lessons in humility, between cleaning toilets and getting called \u201cMangleface\u201d and being forced to kiss the most disgusting shoe you\u2019ve ever seen. A wise woman once said, \u201cWhat doesn\u2019t kill you makes you stronger,\u201d but I don\u2019t know if that applies to kissing gross footwear a couple days after finding the remains of your beloved dragon have been turned into a roadside attraction. Ask Kelly Clarkson if you see her.<\/p>\n

This guy\u2019s just throwing around pennies and lies to try to keep Aegon alive long enough that he can live in a castle again. I bet, if you got Larys drunk enough to be a little honest, he\u2019d tell you he\u2019s kind of having a blast right now.<\/p>\n

So far this season, Corlys has:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Almost died
\u2014 Watched his family home burn down
\u2014 Shouted loudly at the Queen who refused to legitimize his sons<\/p>\n

To quote Jason Statham in the wildly underrated 2016 comedy Spy, \u201cSometimes a man needs to go to sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Alyn was talking to Rhaenyra as she looked at the model city, with the two of them bonding over dealing with the legacy of a strong but distant father, in the moments after Alyn half-jokingly suggested solving the city\u2019s rat problem by introducing cats, a little voice in my head started whispering kissssssssssss.<\/p>\n

I suspect it will only get louder.<\/p>\n

Leading his men on a death mission because he\u2019s got nowhere to go if he\u2019s not fighting. I suppose I could find a more charitable way to characterize his actions this week. But, like, what\u2019s the fun in that?<\/p>\n

Okay, go back and watch the scene where Alys informs Gwayne and Criston that Rhaenyra took King\u2019s Landing. Pay close attention. Look at the face Gwayne makes in that moment. It\u2019s honestly incredible. I might watch it again now.<\/p>\n

The countdown to Ulf doing something extremely stupid continues, this week aided by Rhaenyra telling him he\u2019s not allowed to go to taverns anymore. He is going to pout and sulk and be a little boy about it and then, maybe, he\u2019s going to remember he has a dragon and get an idea.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not going to be a good idea.<\/p>\n

Tick-boom\u2026 tick-boom\u2026 tick-boom\u2026<\/p>\n

ON ONE HAND: It is kind of nice that Hugh wants to watch over Tumbletown on his dragon, knowing his wife is there and the town is under siege.<\/p>\n

ON THE OTHER HAND: I suspect he\u2019s going to see another soldier make creepy eyes at her and burn down everything in sight, which is\u2026 not ideal, diplomatically.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed that Orwyle, fresh off retaining his title and back to providing counsel to Rhaenyra, more or less advocated for assassinating the High Septon. I\u2019m fascinated by him. Give me a little web series that just follows him around the castle all day. I\u2019m barely joking.<\/p>\n

The good news for him is that he\u2019s been elevated to the Small Council.<\/p>\n

The bad news for him is that Mysaria is going to eat him for lunch.<\/p>\n

Checking in with Alys:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Got to break the news to Criston and Gwayne that Rhaenyra took King\u2019s Landing
\u2014 Is probably hatching a secret plan involving Daemon and Vhagar
\u2014 Appears to be having the time of her life<\/p>\n

Alys is thriving. We love to see it.<\/p>\n

We all see where this is going, yes? They release a bunch of cats to control the rat population. The cats become too powerful, so they release a bunch of dogs to control the cats. The dogs take over the city. One of them claims a dragon. Now we\u2019ve got a dog soaring above the city on a winged hellbeast, refusing to reason with anyone and laying waste to all of his real and perceived enemies. He\u2019s savvy, too, this one. He knows how to play the game. The humans around him continue to flail and embarrass themselves, leaving the door ajar for a well-timed strike. Maybe his name is Dodger and he has a little spot of black fur on his nose. All hail King Dodger, First of His Name.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a slippery slope. That\u2019s my point.<\/p>\n

Mysaria: 25
Alyn of Hull: 25
Alicent Hightower: 25
Alys the Witch: 23
Helaena Targaryen: 23
Hugh Hammer: 21
Corlys \u201cThe Sea Snake\u201d Velaryon: 20
Rhaenyra Targaryen: 20
Ulf the White: 18
Daemon Targaryen: 17
Grand Maester Orwyle: 17
The Rats of King\u2019s Landing: 17
Addam of Hull: 15
Larys Strong: 15
Rhaena Targaryen: 15
Baela Targaryen: 12
Ormund Hightower: 11
Ser Torrhen Manderly: 10
Ser Simon Strong: 10
Gwayne Hightower: 9
Sylvi: 9
Admiral Sharako Lohar: 9
The One Guy at Harrenhal Who Saw a Massive Fire-Breathing Dragon Swoop Toward the Castle and Reacted by Shouting \u201cDRAGON\u201d: 9
Daeron Targaryen: 6
The High Septon: 5
Aegon II Targaryen: 5
Fake Daeron Targaryen: 4
Otto Hightower: 2
The Poor Shepherd Daemon Torched And Said Was Sheepstealer\u2019s Rider: 2 points
Jacaerys \u201cJace\u201d Velaryon: 1
Ser Lorent Marbrand: 1
Lord Jasper: 0
Ser Criston Cole: 0
Aemond Targaryen: -100<\/p>\n

This post has been updated to correct the name of Sheepstealer\u2019s rider.<\/p>\n

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