House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4 Ending Explained
House of the Dragon (2022) Season 3, Episode 4 starts to move the pieces of the puzzle forward and gives us a hint of where this story still needs to go. It also establishes Ormund Hightower (James Norton) as a mighty foe indeed for Team Black, one that James Norton plays to perfection with a combination of violent tendencies and a lot of arrogance.
The episode also advances the plot for a Daemon (Matt Smith) that is forced to act like a father to his daughter Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), for perhaps the first time. After visiting the Vale and getting the gold Rhaenyra tasked him with getting, Daemon finds not only Sheepstealer, but his rider: Rhaena.
Daemon begs her to come back with him to King’s Landing, but Rhaena refuses. Instead of giving her up, Daemon kills a shepherd and brings his head to Rhaenyra. Surely, the decision to lie to his wife will come back to haunt him. But for now, the episode ends on Ormund and his plans, once again.
How Does House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4 End?
The episode ends with Ormund and Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). After Ormund gave Daemon a fake Daeron last episode, we get to see the real one in this hour. And honestly, he might just be our favorite Hightower. Not that the bar is all that high. But of course, Ormund isn’t seeing Daeron as a person, even if he was the one to raise him. No, for Ormund Daeron is a means to an end. And the end is the crown.
Earlier in the episode we see Hugh the Hammer’s (Kieran Biew) brother-in-law be taken before Ormund because he struck a Hightower soldier that was trying to assault his sister. In the initial scene, Ormund berates the soldier and lets the man go. But it was all a fakeout to make us think Ormund wasn’t the villain he most certainly is.
By the end of the episode, he tells Daeron that he must be king. Daeron isn’t too convinced, and points out to Ormund that he isn’t exactly first in line. His brothers are still alive, and he doesn’t want to betray them. Ormund doesn’t really care. “Victory will be ours,” he says. “It is the will of the Gods.”
Then, as if to prove a point, he brings back Hugh the Hammer’s brother-in-law and tells Daeron to kill him. Daeron tries to plead for the man’s life, telling Ormund that mercy is a kingly virtue, but Ormund doesn’t relent and Daeron ends up killing the man by driving a sword through his chest.
Satisfied, Ormund wipes the blood on the dead man’s body and watches as Tessarion burns the remains. “And now, we begin,” he says. And we’ve got ourselves a proper villain.
Does House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4 Set Up the Battle of Tumbleton?
The show is surely heading there, but how quickly they get to one of the definitive battles of the war according to Fire & Blood remains to be seen. Rhaenyra has already sent Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) and Hugh the Hammer to patrol Tumbleton with their dragons, but she hasn’t given them the order to attack just yet.
With four episodes to go, it is likely we will see this battle this year. But the show might wait until the end of the season. For now, Ormund remains in control, and if the show follows the chronological order of events set up in the source material, there’s something big that needs to happen before we get to the battle of Tumbleton: the Butcher’s Ball.
In the book the Butcher’s Ball isn’t even considered a battle, but a massacre. Ser Criston Cole’s (Fabien Frankel) army is ambushed by the Team Black forces of the North and the Riverlands and killed. Considering how much fans hate Cole; the show is likely to give his death his due before moving on to Tumbleton.
What Can We Expect From House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 5?
We already saw Criston and Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) ready to head into battle, even without Aemond and Vhagar. In fact, no one has heard of Aemond since he collapsed at the feet of Alys Rivers, and he isn’t in Harrenhal anymore. In the books Criston Cole is killed at the Butcher’s Ball, but Gwayne Hightower actually perishes earlier, as Rhaenyra and Daemon take King’s Landing.
That means things don’t look good for either of them, as there’s no more canon material for their characters. But before we get there, the show is likely to show us what happened to Aemond. In the source material he takes Harrenhal and considers Alys part of the “spoils of war.” The two enter into what some call a relationship, even if it wasn’t at all consensual, and Alys eventually gives birth to Aemond’s bastard.
We probably won’t see all of that right away, but House of the Dragon is likely to at least establish that “romance,” and it seems to soften it a little, making Alys actually willing. We’re also likely to get some development on the Helaena (Phia Saban) pregnancy news. There are already too many contenders for Rhaenyra’s throne. Can she afford to leave another alive?
