What Happens in Season Two, Episode Three – ‘The Burning Mill’?
WARNING: Major spoilers for Season Two, Episode Three – ‘The Burning Mill’ ahead.
The Royal civil war is beginning to filter through the Kingdom – and at the Riverlands, the noble Bracken and Blackwood houses lose hundreds of men as they take opposite sides.
But the Riverlands, to all the key players, seems to be an essential piece of their puzzle to win over the Kingdom. Ser Criston, now Hand of the King, decides to head there to claim the Riverlands and its castle, Harrenhal, for the Greens.
Despite being warned of it being a hasty decision, he collects men and sets out on horseback, with Alicent bringing in her brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower, to fight alongside him.
But Ser Gwayne, who dislikes Ser Criston from the outset due to him taking his father’s role as Hand, and having an obvious connection with his sister, quickly begins to defy him.
It nearly costs him dearly, with Baela spotting them while riding on her dragon, chasing them into hiding.
What no one is yet aware of is Daemon has already arrived at Harrenhal on his dragon, Caraxes, to claim the Riverlands as his own.
Ready for battle, he is surprised to discover those left to look after the castle are happy to side with Team Black, angry that Lord Larys Strong has abandoned them for King’s Landing.
But with the castle in a state of disrepair after a fire – which everyone seems to know was arson – Daemon begins to struggle, and soon begins having hallucinations of a young Rhaenyra while staying in the reportedly doomed halls.
Aegon, still intent to prove his mettle as leader, wants to head into battle on dragonback, but is talked down by everyone – eventually only listening to Larys Strong, who tells him he was “being tricked so Alicent and Aemond could rule in his absence”.
He later decides to get drunk and spend an evening at Flea Bottom, and at an inn, a man named Ulf is seen claiming to be a bastard Targaryen, siding with Rhaenyra, before quickly bending the knee at Aegon’s arrival.
Aegon later discovers brother Aemond in the arms of a brothel madam whom he’s grown to confide in. Aegon mercilessly mocks his brother, who storms off.
Over in Dragonstone, Rhaenyra makes preparations for war – sending her small children away with Rhaena to protect the future of their family. She then makes one last ditch effort to broker peace by infiltrating King’s Landing to speak to Alicent.
Dressed as a nun, Rhaenyra corners Alicent during her prayers for a quiet word to attempt peace, but Alicent remains defiant that Viserys wanted Aegon on the throne, and divulges his deathbed ramblings.
Realising Alicent’s error, Rhaenyra informs her that Viserys was talking about the Song of Ice and Fire, the held secret that he had passed down to her decades before.
While Alicent is now aware she’s made a mistake – and that he was actually referring to Aegon the Conqueror, and not her son Aegon II – she declares that it’s too late to correct what’s happened and leaves.
Now with no choice, Rhaenyra knows that war is officially unavoidable.
What is the Song of Ice and Fire?
In the real world, the Song of Ice and Fire is the name given to George RR Martin’s book collection that Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and the history of Westeros comes from.
Within the TV franchise, it is what Tyrion Lannister names the book he writes detailing the history of what happens during the initial Game of Thrones series.
House of the Dragon, which is set 200 years before the events in Game of Thrones, turns it into a tragic prophecy that the Targaryens live by.
While we’re never privy as viewers as to what the tale is, Viserys told Rhaenyra back in season one that it was a closely guarded secret handed down from one ruler to the next, forewarning them of trouble that could happen at any given time.
First told by Aegon the Conqueror, it passed from generation to generation for over a century.
King Viserys was so shaken by it, he largely lived his life waiting for the threat that could destroy their entire world, telling Rhaenyra of the story as he announced her as successor.
His ramblings about Aegon and The Prince That Was Promised, a part of the prophecy, was what Alicent misconstrued on his deathbed, believing he meant their son.
As fans know, his fears were entirely too early, with the actual events not playing out until hundreds of years in the future.
So Viserys worried for nothing, and his dying words being the trigger point of his family’s strife.
Why is Harrenhal considered cursed?
Harrenhal has long been considered a cursed castle, with rumours being blood was mixed into the mortar that made its walls.
Larys Strong told Alicent that it passes judgement on all those who pass through its gates – and that seems to be what’s occurring with Daemon.
It also happens to be the excuse Larys gives Alicent after arranging a fire to burn the castle, killing his father, Lyonel, and his brother, Harwin, in the process.
Located on the north shore of the Gods Eye lake in the Riverlands, it was also a key castle during Game of Thrones.
It was built after the tyrannical Ironborn, led by King Harren Hoare’s grandfather, conquered the Riverlands.
The castle was then built in the heart of the Riverlands – the largest in Westeros – to show off their power and domination of the area.
When it was finally completed three generations later, shortly before Aegon’s Conquest, King Harren Hoare named it after himself.
The entire family quickly burned alive after the Targaryens arrived, flying over its walls.
It has since passed down to numerous other houses, all of whose lineage died out after occupying the castle.
In TV canon, the last known house to own it was House Baelish – with Littlefinger being gifted it by the Lannisters. As is now tradition for the castle, he died with no bloodline to claim it.
Is Ulf a true Targaryen?
It takes some nerve to brazenly claim you are a secret member of the Royal house - but that’s exactly what Ulf does in the tavern.
Wasting no time to make the claims, the man, who has previously been seen wandering the streets of King’s Landing, says he’s the secret bastard son of Baelon the Brave – Viserys and Daemon’s father.
Baelon died before being able to assume the throne, with his father, King Jaehaerys, starting the series with a Great Council vote to have Viserys succeed him on the throne.
According to lore laid by George RR Martin’s book, Fire and Blood, Baelon was known to be a good man, with no known bastards to his name. However, the book is also noted to be unreliable, and that he could, in fact, come from Targaryen lineage.
However, the show is later to confirm this, with his open discussion of his claims potentially causing him trouble – or setting him up to be a major player as the Dance of Dragons continues.