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House of the Dragon S3 Ep 8 Review

Tumbleton. For a good portion of its third season, House of the Dragon has been building us towards the pivotal battle that’s supposed to take place at this otherwise unimportant town. The Greens need it to retake King’s Landing, while the Blacks want it to deny them that threat. And while it’s final seasons did have its flaws, Game of Thrones was very good at building us up to these turning points in the story. The season opened with one of the coolest fights in the franchise, the Battle of the Gullet. For it’s finale, it gives us an equally stunning climax with the Treasons at Tumbleton. And while the battle itself only takes up a portion of the episode’s 70-minute runtime, the buildup is just as nail-biting…and the aftermath all the more heartbreaking.

Rhaenyra is crashing out

At this point, I think that it’s safe to say that Rhaenyra is in full crash-out mode. She tried to do things the way she thinks her father would have. She wanted to convince everyone that she was the rightful ruler of Westeros and win the hearts and minds of the people. But the events of the season have made her slowly abandon the morals and principles that would have made her a great Queen. And once word gets out that Aegon is alive, and people are proclaiming this a sign of his divine right to rule, Rhaenyra has reached her breaking point.

Honestly, I don’t blame Rhaenyra for getting to this point. We as the audience know that Viserys never wavered on having her as his heir, and that the Greens are usurpers. But there’s only so much adversity one person can take before they snap. The only reason I even consider this episode to be her tipping point is because she at least tried to take the moral high ground, even after she lost Luke. But she’s reached the point where she doesn’t care about making people love her. She is Queen, and she will kill anyone who says otherwise.

Now, I liked the way that Rhaenyra ordered the death of the High Septon for refusing to annoint her as Queen. That’s the equivalent of killing the Pope, and if the Seven are in any way real, then that just earned her a ticket to Hell, though I doubt she’ll care. However, what I don’t like is her speech to the people of King’s Landing. Having her tell everyone about Aegon’s dream and the Prophecy of Ice and Fire might make sense on paper. However, in practice, it just makes her sound crazy. The only reason we even know she isn’t is that we know what will happen almost two hundred years in the future. Otherwise, the whole thing feels incredibly clumsy!

At least there was one supernatural aspect of the episode that got handled better: Alys.

Alys is Immortal, Huh?

The show has made it no secret that Alys Rivers is some kind of witch. The fact that she disguised herself as Alicent last episode pretty much removed any remaining ambiguity. According to the books the show is based on, there are even rumors that she’s an unaging witch. Not only does the show confirm this, but it takes it a step further. She tells a poisoned Aemond a story that is, rather quickly, revealed to be her own. She was the wife of Harren the Black, the builder of Harrenhal, and mother to one of his children. She survived Aegon the Conquerer’s Burning of Harrenhal, and tried to use the power of the Old Gods to save her infant son. It failed, and seemingly cursed her with immortality that ties her directly to Harrenhal, forced to serve whoever claims it.

That is…honestly brilliant. I don’t know much about the Seven, but we’ve seen plenty of instances of how other deities and magic like that of the Old Gods are real. And, at least in this time period, Harrenhal has this era of dark magic around it that I really enjoy. It also explains why Alys wants Harrenhal so badly: she wants to be master of her own destiny once more, hence her attempts to use Daemon and Aemond. With Aemond, she almost succeeds. But it seems that fate has other ideas.

Having recovered his dragon, Aegon has made his way to Harrenhal and a repentant Aemond. He is very tempted to take his revenge on his brother, but ultimately decides against it. He needs him, and more importantly, he need Vhagar, to bring the Greens into line. We don’t actually know Aemond leaves Harrenhal or not, so we will have to wait until the next season. For now, our focus must turn to Tumbleton.

The Tragedy of Tumbleton

The Battle of Tumbleton is the moment that the show has spent half the season building up to. On one side, we have the Greens led by the mad Ormund, determined to make Daeron his puppet king. On the other side, we have Daemon, the Tullys, and the Winter Wolves aiming to take the town. And now Ulf the White has become a wildcard thrown into the mix. All told, Tumbleton is the sight of one of the most important battles of the war, and, in my opinion, the moment that will seal the fate of House Targaryen.

The Battle of the Gullet opened up the season with the most impressive naval battle in Game of Thrones history, and the Battle of Tumbleton ends it with the most impressive set battle since the Battle of the Bastards ten years ago. Whereas Danaerys’ sacking of King’s Landing in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones had a notable lack of it, the Battle of Tumbleton has a more grounded depiction of an actual sacking of a town. The battle formations look and act pretty accurate to medieval warfare, the choreography is fast-paced and frenetic in the streets. And most importantly, the dragons are used in a strategic fashion. I especially liked the way Daemon used Caraxes to force open one of the gates, then had him kill any of the Green soldiers in range while keeping his body out of harm’s way.

But you know what I liked even more? Seeing Ormund die. I’ve hating that pompous fool from day one, and seeing Roddy the Ruin shove a dagger up his butt is the kind of death that he deserves. It only gets better, though, when Ulf kills them both with Silverwing.

Ulf the Rogue

I knew from the start that Ulf the White was going to go rogue, as that is what happens in the books. What I like about his character in the show, though, is that it gives an explanation for him turning on everyone. He is a drunkard, but Ormund made the mistake of treating him just as badly as Daemon. And that mistake cost him his life.

By the time the dust settles, I can’t say that anyone actually won the fight for Tumbleton. The Blacks are forced to retreat; Hugh finds his wife and her family dead; the only real winner is Ulf, and he’s now going to be labeled an outlaw. And the shots of the carnage were just the icing on the cake. A harsh reminder of the fact that war has no real winners.

And that’s not even the saddest part of the episode.

RIP Helaena. You were too Good for this World!

Poor Helaena. I knew what her fate was ultimately going to be, but that didn’t make it any less painful to watch. All she wanted was to leave the ugliness of King’s Landing behind, but the world would not let her. Rhaenyra wouldn’t even let her die. And the child in her belly would either be used as a hostage or killed outright. She was never going to be free, so she chose to end her own life. Everything that Alicent did has ended up being for naught.

The worst part of it, though? It’s the way that Rhaenyra closes the windows to Helaena’s room afterward. It was symbolic of her closing off the last remaining portal to her heart. The last bit of innocence left in her.

This entire episode was nothing but one great tragedy as the stage is set for the endgame. The next, and likely final, season is going to be nothing but heartbreak as we see the death of the dragons. And I don’t know how I’m going to get through it, but I will try. But at this point, no one is worthy of the Iron Throne.

I Give “Treasons at Tumbleton” a 5/5