How HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Changed the Battle of Tumbleton (For Now)
This post contains major spoilers for House of the Dragon season three, episode three. If you want to avoid them until you watch, you can instead check out or coverage of episode two.
HBO
⚡
Quick Take
- House of the Dragon changed the timing and specifics arounf the Battle of Tumbleton, but it’s still set to play a major role in the Dance of the Dragon.
The first two episodes from House of the Dragon‘s third season featured some pretty big changes to famous scenes from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. But in episode three, we didn’t even get to see exactly how the show altered a major event.The Battle of Tumbleton (which happened offscreen) took plus much earlier on HBO than it did in the source material. It wasn’t even really a battle, as the Greens simply stormed the city. And yet, even with those major changes, Tumbleton is still poised to play a major role on the show.
Where Is Tumbleton in Westeros?
HBO
The market town of Tumbleton is the seat of House Footly. It sits close to the head of the Mander River on the eastern half of the Reach, anywhere from 150 to 180 miles southeast of King’s Landing in the bordering Crownlands. (There are conflicting canonical sources on the distance.) It’s proximity to the Red Keep, along with the town’s population and abundant resources as a major trade post, makes it a valuable location for anyone trying to claim or hold the capital. That’s why Rhaenyra’s book counterpart had a large force stationed there.
The Biggest Changes House of the Dragon Made to the Battle of Tumbleton
HBO
The Battle of Tumbleton was actually just a sacking on House of the Dragon. It also happened much later in Fire & Blood, after a major death that has not yet happened on the show. In the source material, Tumbleton is where the graybeard Northern Winter Wolves and their riverlord allies were stationed following their own victories (two of which we have heard about on the show). A much larger Green force, led by Ormund Hightower, attacked them during a vicious, deadly fight. Rhaenyra’s men fought valiantly and seemed poised to win until Daeron Targaryen joined the fray atop his dragon Tessarion.
On the show, this was the first attack Daeron (who let a fake take his place in King’s Landing) was part of. But in Fire & Blood, he actually first joined an earlier battle. His presence and his dragon proved decisive in what otherwise would have been a losing effort for the Green at the Battle of the Honeywine. House of the Dragon cut that event from its story.
At Tumbleton, Daeron’s presence did not guarantee victory. The battle changed when….actually, we can’t tell you, because there’s a reason the Battle of Tumbleton is so important. To go any further into the changes would involve monumental spoilers. But House of the Dragon still kept one thing the same.
The Brutal Sack of Tumbleton
HBO
The dragonkeeper who reported the fall of Tumbleton to Rhaenyra said the Greens “infilitrated” the city and made its denizens “hostages.” In Fire & Blood it’s said “seldom has any town or city in the history of the Seven Kingdoms been subject to as long or as cruel or as savage a sack.”
We don’t yet know how true that will be of the series’ Tumbleton. We do know that in both versions of the story the market town will play a pivotal role in the Dance of the Dragons. Because while the details, timing, and players might have changed, one things remained the same. Ormund Hightower and Daeron attacked the city as a way to attack Rhaenyra herself.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He’s sorry he can’t talk about certain events at Tumbleton yet, but just you wait. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
The post How HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Changed the Battle of Tumbleton (For Now) appeared first on Nerdist.
Rhaenyra Just Lost a Key Ally in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON
A wise person once said “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” It is the story of Rhaenyra’s life in House of the Dragon season three’s third episode. After her sons’ deaths among much bloodshed, she’s now sitting on the Iron Throne with many, many problems to solve. While she did win favor with commonfolk, Rhaenyra has created a major rift between herself and one of her biggest allies: Lord Corlys Velaryon that will certainly have consequences as House of the Dragon progresses.
⚡ Quick Take- Rhaenyra and Corlys Velaryon lock horns after she fails to legitimize his bastard sons Alyn and Addam of Hull.
- This spells more trouble for Rhaenyra as she loses this key ally during her rocky transition into power.
In this episode, Corlys, Addam, Alyn, and Rhaenyra sat down for an intimate dinner and conversation. It was certainly the least that Rhaenyra could do after Corlys and Alyn fought in the Battle of Gullet on her behalf, which cost him many of his men as well as High Tide. And, of course, Addam has become a trusted dragonrider and stands staunchly by his queen. Corlys tells Rhaenyra that Addam and Alyn are his illegitimate children, and he wishes to acknowledge his sons and name Alyn his heir. He asks her if she can formally legitimize them as the Queen so they can be Velaryons and keep his name alive. Rhaenyra seems hesitant but Corlys is insistent, and rightfully so.
Ollie Upton/HBO
We don’t see the remainder of their conversation but, later on, when knighting Addam, she keeps his name as Addam the Hull. You can see the hurt in his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything. Of course, it does not take long for the word to get back to Corlys, who confronts Rhaenyra about why she did not legitimize his sons. She brings up how people questioned her own sons’ legitimacy and says that her reign has just begun so she can’t seem to raise up those born outside of noble troth.
Coryls takes it as an insult to his house and says he defended her when her sons were questioned. He then snaps, loudly proclaiming that both of her sons were bastards as well as her surviving son Joffrey. WELP! She looks incensed and others hear this conversation. So, what does this tension between Corlys and Rhaenyra mean for the future of House of the Dragon? Well, none of it looks good.
At the end of the episode, Rhaenyra finds out that she in fact does not have Daeron Targaryen and that Lord Ormund Hightower has taken over Tumbleton. Surely another battle is brewing there and, without Corlys’ support, Rhaenyra’s numbers are significantly smaller and she does not have the force she needs by sea in general. And, to be honest, Corlys is someone whom she has a close personal relationship with who is not insane or chaotic (looking at you, Daemon), which is something she needs as a person.
Ollie Upton/HBO
It is also possible that Corlys could go from Team Black to Team Green in an effort to get Rhaenyra out of King’s Landing for good. Things don’t look great for Team Green at all right now, but Aemond and Vhagar are still lurking around out there, so it is not impossible for them to rise back up. The question is, if Corlys is willing to fight opposite of his son Addam or if all of his issue, including Baela, will leave Rhaenyra’s side as well. There is also the possibility that she could kill Corlys, which would make her look realllyyyy bad in the eyes of her people. No matter what happens, Rhaenyra just made her already fraught transition into power even worse.
The post Rhaenyra Just Lost a Key Ally in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON appeared first on Nerdist.
The Real Story Behind HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’s Daeron Targaryen Revelation
This post contains major spoilers for House of the Dragon season three, episode three. If you want to avoid them like dragonflame for now, you can check out our coverage of episode two instead.
⚡
Quick Take
- House of the Dragon’s revelation about Daeron Targaryen proved why Rhaenyra still has much to worry about when it comes to the Greens.
HBO
History will not exactly remember Alicent Hightower as a great mother, but when it came to her son Daeron, even she recognized an impostor. Ormund Hightower gave Daemon Targaryen a fake dragonrider when the Lord of Oldtown “bent the knee” in House of the Dragon‘s third episode of season three. The Green host then went on to sack Tumbleton in the Reach with the aid of the real Daeron. So who is this still unseen child of Viserys and Alicent whose mere existence was already a major problem for Queen Rhaenyra? The Realm is about to find out.
Alicent and Viserys had four children together. The three oldest, Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena have all been major figures on House of the Dragon. The couple’s fourth child, their third son Daeron, has yet to appear on the show. At least, he hasn’t formally appeared. We met his stand-in. However, the real Daeron might have appeared in his own brown-haired disguise as Ormund’s squire in season three’s first episode.
HBO
On the show, Daeron is 16 years old, slightly aged up from the source material. He boasts the same distinctive Targaryen features as his father and siblings. In episode three, Alicent revealed she had only seen her youngest once in the past five years, which explains why she previously asked her brother Gwayne what her own son is like. Viserys and Alicent had sent Daeron to live in Oldtown as a ward of Lord Hightower.
In the books, Daeron had mostly lived in King’s Landing, not leaving for Oldtown until he was 12. Before that, his father Viserys desperately tried to form a bond between Daeron and his oldest grandson Jace since they were so close in age. They even shared a wet nurse as babies. Viserys’ efforts did not work. At all. Daeron hated Rhaenyra’s boys as much as his own siblings did.
HBO
On House of the Dragon, Daeron has lived the majority of his life on the far side of the Realm. We did not see him training with Jace and Luke together as Aegon and Aemond did. Over the last few years on HBO’s series, the distance between mother and son had grown larger. Daeron had sent his mother fewer and fewer letters, to the point she didn’t even feel like she knew him. That was probably best for him. The young man Gwayne described couldn’t have sounded any more different than his monstrous brothers.
He’s stalwart. Clever. As adept with his lute as he is with his sword. And a feature in the fancies of many a young lady, I’ll wager. (long pause) He’s kind.
He’s also an inexperienced dragonrider of Tessarion, a young, stunning dark cobalt dragon known as The Blue Queen. As the people of Tumbleton learned, Daeron’s lack of experience did not prevent him from taking to the sky to help his uncle take the city. Tessarion is not very big, but she is old enough to fight. A dragonkeeper, who was seemingly assigned to look after Tessarion, said the Green force took the city and locked the gates with Daeron and Tessarion safely inside.
HBO
(You might be asking, “Would a dragon calmly let an impostor sit on its back?” House of the Dragon makes up its own dragon lore when it wants/is convenient, so it doesn’t matter.)
Rhaenyra is not sure what Ormund hoped to accomplish with this betrayal. Tumbleton is in the eastern half of the Reach. It’s not that far from King’s Landing, but it’s not as though a single dragonrider on one of the war’s smallest dragons can compete with Rhaenyra’s collection of massive dragons. But one thing the Queen who now sits on the Iron Throne now knows is that Daeron’s existence is more than just a risk to her rule.
As her father’s son, Daeron is a whole lot more than just a possible claimant who could one day be raised up. He’s a fighter who agreed to send an impostor in his stead so that he could rain fire and blood on his side of the family’s enemies.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He knows Tessarion would have eaten that poor impostor. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
The post The Real Story Behind HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’s Daeron Targaryen Revelation appeared first on Nerdist.