1.The episode opens with a pregnant Rhaenyra caressing her belly and hugging Luke. By the end of the episode, she loses both of the children she embraces in this scene.
2.Rhaenyra's bedchamber will be familiar to Game of Thrones fans — it's the room Stannis and then Daenerys each use as their council chambers, in which the painted table is placed during Game of Thrones.
3.Speaking of the painted table, although we saw it many times in Game of Thrones, it was never lit up like it is in House of the Dragon.
4.Earlier in the season, Rhaenyra told Alicent she didn't want her fate to be one where she was stuck in a tower having babies. But that's literally what she's forced to do while Daemon and the other men on her council are having life-changing, kingdom-changing conversations nearby.
5.Syrax screaming while Rhaenyra gives birth emphasizes the link between them.
6.They don't state it in the show, but the stillborn baby Rhaenyra has in this episode is her only daughter, who she names Visenya.
7.Ser Erryk Cargyll is the kingsguard knight who arrives on Dragonstone with Viserys' crown for Rhaenyra — he is the same one who helped Rhaenys escape last episode and who, as Aegon II's sworn protector, witnessed the boy's most heinous acts.
8.Daemon mentions sending for the men loyal to him in the city watch — as you might remember, he was Lord Commander of the city watch at the beginning of the season, and is the one who gave them their famous gold cloaks.
9.Here's the state of the dragons as of this episode: the Greens have Vhagar (ridden by Aemond), Aegon II's dragon Sunfyre, and Helaena's dragon Dreamfyre.
Rhaenyra's side has her dragon Syrax, Daemon's dragon Caraxes, and Rhaenys' dragon Meleys. Jace has Vermax, Joffrey has Tyraxes, and Baela has Moondancer (Rhaena is yet to claim a dragon).
The current unclaimed dragons are Seasmoke (Laenor's dragon, living on Driftmark), Vermithor (King Jaehaerys' former dragon), and Silverwing (Jaehaerys' wife Queen Alysanne's former dragon), both of which live on Dragonstone.
10.We don't see it on the screen, but Ser Erryk mentions Aegon II uses a three-headed green dragon as his sigil, emphasizing both his Targaryen heritage through the dragon and his Hightower allegiance through the color green.
11.The scene where Otto arrives at Dragonstone and speaks to Daemon while Rhaenyra swoops in on her dragon echoes the one earlier in the season where Rhaenyra pulled the same power move over Otto to retrieve the dragon egg from Daemon.
12.The book page Rhaenyra receives is the one she ripped out and gave to Alicent in Episode 1. It's about the Princess Nymeria, but the contents aren't important, rather it's about what the book represents — Rhaenyra and Alicent's friendship.
13.Daemon not knowing about A Song of Ice and Fire means that Viserys didn't trust him and never saw him as his true and valid heir — he always meant to replace him.
14.Rhaenyra says Lord Borros Baratheon will be "honored to host a prince of the realm and his dragon," and it turns out he is — only Prince Aemond gets in with his dragon Vhagar before Luke does.
15.We saw the Baratheon seat of Storm's End earlier in the season, when Rhaenyra was searching for suitors — at the time, Boremund was Lord there, and now it's his son Borros.
16.Yes, that is a sapphire in place of Aemond's lost eye.
17.The fact that both Luke and Aemond's dragons don't obey them during their showdown recalls Viserys' words at the beginning of the season — "The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion."
What was your fave moment in the Season 1 finale of House of the Dragon?
