Explanation of Major Events Happening in House of the Dragon Episode 2

1) frequently mentioned in chapter steps Why is the (stepstones) region so important to the series?

we open the directory in what is called the steps in westeros. This region is strategically important for the continents of Westeros and Essos, the reason for this is simple, the region called the steps is almost the Bosphorus of the modern world. The location of the region is in such a place that it is the closest sea route between the two continents, and because it has small pieces of land, it makes it easy for seafarers to repair damaged ships at sea and to take a break.

The first people used this region to cross over to Westeros, that is, this region was once completely an island, but divided into small islands by natural ways or black magic, and a large part of it was overflowed by the sea. The important information here is that this region is not referred to as the land of westeros or essos, we can call it the gray zone between two continents.

Now let’s get to the trouble that Corlys Velaryon couldn’t tell the king and the council during the whole episode.

As we know, our brother corlys velaryon, the greatest sailor of westeros, has a monstrous navy, and with this navy, he provides the naval defense of the royal and also trades with the free cities in the continent of essos with his own ships through the driftmark, which is the settlement of his house.

It maintains its economic power with the silk, gold, fabric and precious metals it brought from the continent of Essos. The steps are very important not only for the Velaryon household, but also for the households that attach importance to maritime trade such as Lannister, Tyrell, Greyjoy, because the most cost-effective and guaranteed way to pass to the cities of Essos via the narrow sea is through the steps. While the Velaryon house continues its trade in this way, there is a movement in the continent of Essos. The pirates in the region provide themselves with mercenaries and economic power with the booty they get by attacking the merchant ships. Just to cope with these pirates, the free cities of Essos, myr, lys and tyrosh, which are enemies to each other, form an alliance between them.

their problem is the same with corlys velaryon. To be able to eliminate the pirates on the steps and continue their trade. These three free cities seem to have good intentions at first, eliminating the pirates on the steps and establishing dominance in the steps area. King Viserys and his council, who received the news of this, welcome this news because the pirates that prevented their trade have disappeared, and there are dynasties that they can do diplomacy against. But this does not happen as the king expected. These three free cities, which provide security on the steps for a certain price with the Westeros houses for a short time, begin to demand a terrible amount of money from these Westeros houses after a while. If this fee is not paid, he gives an ultimatum that he will attack all ships passing over the steps from Westeros to Essos. King Viserys thinks this is a bluff, and Corlys forces Velaryon to trade on the steps. These three free cities, which broke their agreement with the king, begin to sink all the merchant ships coming from Westeros and kill their crews, as if to show that they were not bluffing:

Severely affected by this situation, Corlys Velaryon, the lord of the Velaryon house, complains about this situation for two episodes, but cannot find an interlocutor. After King Viserys Targaryen’s refusal to take his daughter, Laena Velaryon, as his wife, he can’t stand the insult and sets out to resign from his position on the council and form an alliance with the Daemon.

let’s come to craghas drahar, the person we saw in the second part of the series

himself one of the most important leaders of the triple alliance, the prince of the free city of myr, craghas drahar is a very good warrior. He carries a hammersword resembling the distinctive Zülfikar. we can call this friend the more violent essos version of the daemon. he has no custom of killing his victims and captives directly. He fixes his captured enemies to the wood as if he were crucifying them and inflicts non-mortal wounds on the prisoner’s body, the prisoner stays for days in the sea water that burns his wounds and under the burning Dorne sun, but the craghas are not satisfied with it. In the last hours of the captive, craghas drahar releases the essos crabs that he feeds on the captives, and makes the captive watch his death live while these crabs tear open the captive’s wounds and eat them.

2) Rhaenyra targaryen’s character development is officially split in two in this episode

Crown Prince Rhaenyra is virtually absent by the king viserys and the council in the first 30 minutes of the episode, while Corlys Velaryon talks to the council about the situation on the steps, Rhaenyra’s advice is found ridiculous and she is asked to choose the king guard to keep her busy. like her father Rhaenyra I chose you as heir because I had to, but you are not worthy to sit on the throne. he says with his actions. As you can already see, King Viserys is using his daughter Rhaenyra to make him a shambles in the council:

In the episode, Rhaenyra often mentions that her communication with her father has weakened after she was elected crown prince and they can’t talk as much as they used to. While Rhaenyra is waiting for her father to train her for the throne, she talks about her desire to choose a wife and male heir, even when her father speaks to her after a long time. In such a situation, it is a very serious situation not for a princess who will ascend to the throne, but for a girl whose mother died 6 months ago. Rhaenyra’s Targaryen vein, who can’t stand her father and the council’s ignorance, also throws and flies to Dragonstone with her dragon Syrax.

3) the need for a kingsguard arises when kingsguard ryam redwyne, whom we often see behind king viserys targaryen in the first episode, dies

Criston Cole, one of the most important characters of the series, enters the red castle with this episode:

Criston Cole is a soldier who grew up in the Blackhaven region, and the Blackhaven region is a region connected to the Baratheon House, where we know from Game of Thrones, where Beric Dondarrion was the feudal lord.

criston cole, on the other hand, is a soldier who was not known before the king’s tournament in the first division, but what makes him the sworn guard of princess rhaenyra is his real combat and campaign experience. He fights against the raids of the kingdom of Dorne, which is not yet part of the kingdom, in the first position under the command of House Dondarrion and defends the kingdom. even notice that while the other kingsguard candidates in the courtyard have their banners, criston cole does not have any banners:

5) laena – king viserys dialogue

First of all, this marriage proposal is actually a favor that Corlys Velaryon did to King Viserys, because King Viserys and his grandfather King Jaehaerys Targaryen put the Velaryon house into the background during their reign. House velaryon is still putting up with the idea of ​​putting them down and reuniting their houses, of course the velaryons’ move is strategic, but as you can see from the king’s conversation with the vigilante, the velaryon-targaryen marriage is the best-case scenario for both houses:

But King Viserys shows great disrespect to the richest family in Westeros, who owns both his daughter and 80 percent of the royal navy, and listens to their feelings and unites the Hightower house with his family.

6) Rhaenyra – Rhaenys dialogue: this was the strongest scene of the series in my opinion

Rhaenys repeatedly tells Princess Rhaenyra that she cannot become queen because the rules and customs of Westeros would not allow that. These words seem meaningless to Rhaenyra, who had dreams of the throne at that age, because she talks about being the heir and going to the throne. But at the end of the episode, he is shocked like Corlys Velaryon.

8) wounds on viserys’ body

The wounds on the king’s body are in two parts, not a genetic or contagious disease, but the destruction caused by the sharp swords on his body due to his sitting on the throne. As you can see from the first episode of game of thrones and daemon, those sitting on the throne need to sit on the throne at an angle to avoid damage from the throne:

but the screenwriters deliberately make King Viserys Targaryen sit on a wooden chair:

moreover, as king viserys sits on the throne, he puts his arms and fingers on the swords, and with every move the swords sink into his body. Of course, these scenes are not shot randomly, since King Viserys was a king who ate the bread of the peace and prosperity created by his grandfather, King Jaehaerys, and could not adopt the reign of Westeros as much as he did, the scriptwriters wanted to convey the message from under the surface in this way. As you often see in this chapter, the king is a king who has been heavily manipulated by the council of viserys and especially the king’s hand hightower. If they let him, he will stick legos all day in the Red Castle.