House of the Dragon Season 3 Finale Recap and Review

We also bade farewell this week to Queen Helaena (Phia Saban), who has given one of the most quietly and consistently compelling performances this season as a woman who knows how tragically it’s all going to play out. The manner of her death – she threw herself out a window – was the same as the book, but there are some differences: her youngest son, Maelor, was born before her death on the page, and met his own tragic end. This is less horrible than the murder of an infant might have been, but it’s plenty disturbing. Her final scenes with Rhaenyra are also superbly done: watch how Viserys’ older daughter, when she tries to force Helaena to eat, impatiently puts aside the very tapestry that might have given her the answers she so desperately sought.

At Harrenhal, Aegon arrives on Sunfyre and resolves to work together with his wayward brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) for maybe the first time in their lives – albeit not before slapping him around a bit and threatening to kill him for, in fairness, his attempt on Aegon’s life. But Aemond’s obvious guilt and true repentance saves him; the pair set off to find the still-missing Vhagar and take the fight to Rhaenyra. We also learn, by the way, that Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) is the former Lady of Harrenhal. She was the wife of Black Harren, its builder, and was cursed to remain in the limits of its lands and never die when she sought dark powers in the forest to save the life of her badly-burned son. Alys’ background was never established fully in the book, so this is a new and potentially pretty potent wrinkle. In fact, Aegon and Aemond’s reconciliation is also new territory, and it’s going to be interesting to see how much trouble that terrible twosome get into as a united front.

The majority of the episode, however, concerns the attack on Tumbleton. Despite the efforts of the late Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), the Rivermen have arrived en masse and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) has flown down on Caraxes to take command and, oh yes, flame anyone who needs flamed. Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), one of the most likeable characters on the board and therefore probably doomed, tries to make peace by offering the return of the imprisoned Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), but no dice. He and Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) are left trying to survive in the besieged city; it’s not clear by the end of the episode that Daeron is OK.

Meanwhile, Ormund is searching desperately for his ace in the hole, the dragonrider Ulf (Tom Bennett), who is so excited about his heel turn that he’s drunk himself into a stupor. Here, Ormund makes an ultimately fatal mistake. He’s so overcome by the stink of the privy where he finally discovers Ulf that he entirely loses his temper and whales on the other man. Ulf still does his bidding long enough to flame half the army of Rivermen – but he then turns his fury, and Silverwing, on Tumbleton itself and Ormund in particular. So long, you prissy little manbaby bully.

Ulf is not the only dragonrider who’s in trouble this week: Hugh (Kieran Bew) also left his post in King’s Landing to look for his wife in Tumbleton, running in with the ground forces, while Baela (Bethany Antonia) is grounded in the Keep after daring to criticise Rhaenyra. As for the episode’s title, there are any number of candidates. Ulf obviously, but Hugh also disobeys orders to go to Tumbleton. Daeron and Gwayne both betray Ormund in attempting to sue for peace; Ormund has arguably betrayed Aegon in elevating Daeron. And Daemon accuses Corlys of treachery when he argues for peace. There’s a lot of it going around.

The end result is shellshocked troops stumbling around a charred battlefield, trying to collect corpses, while Caraxes and Hugh’s Vermithor chase off Ulf’s Silverwing. The Battle of Tumbleton is – at best – a draw for the Blacks, and if it’s a victory for the Greens it might prove to be a Pyrrhic one, what with the loss of Ormund, their best strategist, and the uncertain fate of Ulf and Silverwing afterwards.

House of the Dragon: Season 3 Official Images