House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7 Review: Kill Him, Caraxes

This review for HOUSE OF THE DRAGON season 3 episode 7 contains spoilers.

Say what you will about House of the Dragon (and we do – in great detail – week after week) but one cannot deny that it certainly has some dragons…a whole house full of them, in fact.

Before the Game of Thrones prequel series premiered in 2022, HBO made sure that the fire-breathing inspiration for House Targaryen’s scaley sigil was front and center in marketing. This made sense from a purely promotional perspective, of course, as the beasts serve as the best bit of visual spectacle that George R.R. Martin’s universe has to offer, and therefore its chief appeal for casual viewers who simply want to watch Medieval scenery go up in flame. What a delight it’s been, however, to discover that the centering of the dragons serves tremendous thematic importance as well.

In the immortal words of Ben Wyatt: “You forgot about the essence of the game [of thrones]. It’s about the cones dragons.”

Yes, it turns out that Vhagar, Syrax, Caraxes, Sheepstealer, and friends aren’t just flying nukes (though they are that), they’re also the living embodiment of House Targaryen’s downfall. Both readers of the source material Fire & Blood and watchers of Game of Thrones understood that well enough going in. But the way in which House of the Dragon has used its dragons as independent operators in that downfall (and not merely symbols of royal decadence and hubris) is a pretty remarkable thing.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the opening and closing scenes that bookend the penultimate episode of the show’s penultimate season. Here we begin with Helaena (Phia Saban) sweatily tossing and turning in bed, experiencing several of her prophetic Targaryen “Dreams” (or perhaps the symptoms of Mommy’s Suspicious Soup from last week). After being rudely awoken by Her Grace Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), the two half-sisters share a conversation about prophecy and… what else? dragons. For her part, Rhaenyra wants to know why Helaena no longer rides her mount, Dreamfyre.

“When I was a girl I wanted to fly but now when I’m with Dreamfyre it’s … too much,” Helaena says.
“You believe the dragons alter us in some way?” Rhaenyra questions, undoubtedly thinking of her father’s own skepticism regarding the family familiars.
“You now have many dragons. Are you yourself not altered?” responds Helaena.

Naturally, Rhaenyra does not believe herself to be altered by the presence of dragons in her life. Then, in the scenes to follow, the woman once known as the Realm’s Delight throws her Master of Coin under the bus, gets eaten out by her Master of Whisperers, and takes part in a Mexican standoff with her husband/uncle, her cousin/step-daughter/niece-in-law, her other cousin/step-daughter/niece-in-law, some guy named Addam, and all of their dragons.

So yeah, it’s probably safe to say that Rhaenyra has been altered by the presence of dragons in her life. Part of that alteration is undoubtedly the byproduct of the power dragons represent. They say that absolute power corrupts absolutely and in the World of Ice and Fire there is no power more absolute than a dragon. While that is compelling enough a concept on its own, what House of the Dragon adds to the Westerosi gumbo is even more compelling.

These things quite simply cannot be controlled.

We’ve previously seen examples of How NOT to Train Your Dragon including Aemond being unable to stop Vhagar from chomping down on his cousin Lucerys, and Rhaena proving helpless to prevent Sheepstealer from running roughshod through the Battle of the Gullet like a Border Collie off-leash at the dog park. We see it again now as that aforementioned standoff among Rhaenyra, Daemon (Matt Smith), Baela (Bethany Antonia), Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), and Addam (Clinton Liberty) devolves into a 4 v. 1 beatdown of Sheepstealer for no reason other than Syrax, Caraxes, Moondancer, and Seasmoke deciding that it was their weird Vale cousin’s time to go.

“Call off your dragon!” Daemon yells to Rhaenyra across the battlefield. But she could no sooner call off Syrax than she could take flight herself. In fact, the only command any dragon heeds amid the melee is Daemon’s “Kill him, Caraxes,” to put an injured Sheepstealer out of his misery. Turns out dragons really like that one.

Though the dragonriders of the Dance of the Dragons are the ones in the saddle, they’re not the ones behind the wheel. Even the name of the conflict itself, the Dance, connotes a whimsical pastime for the weapons being deployed, and not the righteous war for the Iron Throne being waged by a very messed up family.

Speaking of a very messed up family: Aegon Targaryen, everybody! In my review from the episode two weeks ago (big thanks again to Mr. David Crow for pinch hitting last week), commenter “yorkslado” respectfully wondered if I was wrong to compare Aegon’s journey through his kingdom to other fantasy examples of a king slumming it with the common folk and coming to better understand their plight. Upon some reflection, I must concede that the yorkslado was right. Aegon’s arc this season isn’t about learning to empathize with the smallfolk. It’s about him learning that they have their place on the totem pole: well under him.

Recall that Aegon never actually wanted the Conqueror’s crown thrust upon him. He enjoyed all the excesses of royalty without any of the responsibility – so much so that Cole and Aemond had to literally hunt him down through the streets of Flea Bottom to bring him back to the Red Keep and sit his ass down on the iron chair. Actually sitting on that seat for a time did little to ignite a passion for rule inside him. Even roughing it out in the country with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) and Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Lannister) didn’t light a fire under Viserys’ eldest son.

But now Aegon has suddenly found his voice as he screams his identity to a gathering of Rivermen allies of the queen, right before a recovered Sunfyre arrives on the scene and torches them all.

Aegon’s re-embrace of his destiny would feel sudden if it weren’t for that aforementioned reunion with his dragon. Sunfyre means everything to Aegon and this season has done an excellent job of capturing the dynamic described in the book. Sunfyre is not only uniquely beautiful among his kindred creatures, he is also uniquely close to his rider. It’s through Aegon’s bond with something so otherworldly and ethereal that he seems to be fit for the Iron Throne… even if he very much is not.

It’s telling that Aegon grows more confident the closer he gets to Rook’s Rest where Sunfyre’s supposedly slain body lays. It’s also telling that Aegon insists on a path for himself, Larys, and Tyland that brings them nearer to the danger of the Riverland armies en route to a ship to Braavos and not to the sure safety of Tyland’s home at Casterly Rock. It’s also as though… something is drawing Aegon closer for mystical purposes unknown. Within that context, Larys’ defection of the game isn’t about his fear of Black-aligned foes, it’s about his fear of Aegon.

Of course, Aegon should be afraid of Aegon as well. While his declaration of purpose is undeniably cool and will serve as the narration for many hype videos on TikTok, it’s also just words. And as George R.R. Martin always tells us “words are wind.” The real power behind Aegon and his claim is the literal dragon that shows up to kill some folks. Aegon undoubtedly believes that Sunfyre sprang into action to save its master, inspired by his courage and words. But as we’ve seen time and time again, no one truly knows why the dragons do what they do. A groggily-revived Sunfyre could have just as easily been draw to the slaughter by simple sights and sounds and chosen to burn all those men because it was a fun thing to do.

Aegon finally truly believes he should be king. And he believes that because Sunfyre seems to believe it. Unfortunately, Westeros doesn’t have any Blu-ray copies of Jordan Peele’s Nope lying around for a parable on what happens to people who believe they’ve bonded with nature.

While House of the Dragon season 3 episode 7 both opens and ends on a very strong note, the rest of the installment is more of a mixed bag filled with the same cliche dialogue and uninspired direction that has dogged much of the season. Even that climactic dragon confrontation comes along with some “Are you still watching?” streaming prompts like “She was Sheepstealer’s rider! All this time, you knew!” Still, even when this hour isn’t at its best, it remains thematically on point.

A lack of control looms large throughout this chapter, even when the dragons aren’t present. Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), bless him, is now completely in the thrall of Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) in Harrenhal. Though he still believes himself a king ready to re-establish his kingdom from the burned out husk of Harren the Black’s old castle, it’s clear that Alys is Aemond’s puppeteer. No, scratch that, she’s something more powerful than Aemond’s puppeteer… she’s his mother.

That much becomes apparent when Aemond’s actual mother makes her arrival at Harrenhal (the Westerosi “fast-travel button” is getting pressed quite liberally these days) to give Aemond that spiced wine that he loved so much as a lad. When Aemond collapses from the poison in the chalice – just like his new mommy Alys wanted him would happen! – she responds with a maternally exasperated “idiot.” Now she’s got to use her river magic to revive her dumbass son, who is also her lover in true Westerosi fashion.

This family, man. Perhaps it’s for the best that the dragons are making all the decisions.

Even the folks who think they’re in control of their destiny are hilariously out of their depth. Ormund Hightower (James Norton), learned man of letters that he pretends to be, has what I’m sure he believes is a productive conversation among equals with a very much alive but very much kidnapped Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). His proposal to the elder statesman is so unclear and ill-considered that it proves to be the catalyst for Ormund’s captive family Gwayne (Freddie Fox) and Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) to finally openly imagine what life without Ormund would be like.

Of course, by episode’s end Ormund will finally make an alliance with one of the few other Dance combatants as dumb as he is. Ulf (Tom Bennett) agreeing to sell out his friends has a distinct “Cypher meets Agent Smith scene in The Matrix” energy. Hell, Ormund even shares Agent Smith’s aversion to bad smells! Combine Ulf’s treachery with Hugh’s (Kieran Bew) disappointing reunion with his wife last week and the (dragon)seeds of treachery have now firmly been planted.

Given House of the Dragon season 2’s unusually truncated ending and season 3’s unusually epic beginning, it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of momentum heading into next week’s finale. But if the forecast provided by the dreams and dragons in this penultimate episode are any indication, we should soon have plenty of fire and blood on our doorstep.

The House of the Dragon season 3 finale airs Sunday, August 9 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.