'House Of The Dragon' Season 3 Episode 7 Recap & Ending Explained: Did Ulf Betray Rhaenyra?

In episode 6 of House of the Dragon Season 3, Criston died, along with the rest of his platoon. The Winter Wolves and the Tullys’ fight with Criston’s gang had delayed their arrival at King’s Landing, which was bothering Rhaenyra, especially after the assault on the Gold Cloaks. The small council and Rhaenyra engaged in a heated debate about Ormund’s schemes and how he had managed to kill so many Gold Cloaks. Rhaenyra planned to send covert assassins to Tumbleton to teach Ormund that his walls weren’t as impenetrable as he thought they were. Daemon wanted to be at the forefront of that assault, but Rhaenyra compelled him to focus on making King’s Landing safe. So, Daemon tracked down one of the Hightower spies who was instrumental in the massacring of the Gold Cloaks. In addition to that, he scolded Ulf for wandering around the city without any protection, when he was strictly ordered to stay in the Red Keep. Lord Borros’ emissaries arrived at the Red Keep to inform Rhaenyra that he wouldn’t be able to offer his support to the queen because he was fighting the Vulture King. To make up for Borros’ absence, Rhaenyra told the emissaries to donate their armor so that her assassins could don it, pretend to be Borros’ men, enter Ormund’s chambers, and kill him. For the most part, that plan worked, but Gwayne saw through the trick and, with some help from Jon, killed Rhaenyra’s assassins. 

Alicent and Helaena were rescued from the tunnels by the guards in the castle. Rhaenyra reprimanded Alicent for trying to escape while Alicent justified her decision by stating that Rhaenyra would have killed Helaena and her child if said child ended up being a boy. Rhaenyra didn’t deny that accusation, but she didn’t say that she would have resorted to infanticide either. After learning from Helaena’s vision that Aemond was in Harrenhal, Alicent tried to re-enter Rhaenyra’s good books by offering Aemond to her on a platter. Rhaenyra ordered Alicent to go to Harrenhal to confirm that what Helaena had seen in a dream was true; Alicent had no choice but to oblige, and since Helaena had started eating after a mini-hunger strike, Alicent left for Harrenhal knowing that her daughter won’t die of starvation. In the meantime, Alys and Aemond started making plans to start their own empire with the help of Dreamfyre’s eggs. Over in the Vale, Rhaena wanted to meet Baela, but that request was swiftly turned down by Jeyne. Baela got into a romantic affair with Alyn. That supposedly helped ease Alyn’s worries about his father, who was losing his mind over the fact that Rhaenyra had not granted his request of granting his bastard sons the Velaryon surname. Speaking of Corlys, Ormund got Jon and his men to kidnap the Sea Snake in retaliation for the assassination attempt. What happened next? Let’s talk about today’s episode of Season 3 to find out.

Spoiler Alert

Helaena Has Some Weird Dreams

Helaena dreams of walking through the Red Keep and coming across a horse-drawn carriage that’s seemingly waiting for her. It’s dark outside, but when the doors of the castle open, the whole place gets bathed in light. We don’t get to learn what Helaena sees beyond those doors, because she is woken up by Rhaenyra. Helaena wonders if Alicent has sent any messages to Rhaenyra, and Rhaenyra says that she hasn’t, and she doesn’t expect Alicent to contact her until she is sure that Aemond is in Harrenhal. Rhaenyra then asks Helaena if Aemond had ever requested her to ride Dreamfyre into battle alongside him; and Helaena said that he had, but she didn’t oblige that request. She admits that when she was a child, she wanted to fly on her dragon, but then things got too overwhelming for her to go dragon-riding. Rhaenyra points out that that’s quite similar to what Viserys had done, as he had given up dragon-riding too. This leads to an argument between Helaena and Rhaneyra about how dragons alter one’s state of mind. Rhaenyra obviously defended herself by stating that she only kept the dragons to bring the contest between the Blacks and the Greens to an end; as in, the dragons were a defensive measure, not something she was using to aggravate her enemies. But that’s like saying that you are maintaining a nuclear arsenal as a defense mechanism and not to attack anyone; keeping the nukes is an act of aggression, and an invitation to a fight. Am I calling Rhaenyra a hypocrite? Yes, absolutely; and I think Rhaenyra knows that she’s a hypocrite as well. 

Since arguing about ideologies and ethics is pointless, Rhaenyra straight-up asks Helaena if she has dreamt about Daemon, the Winter Wolves, Tumbleton, Ormund, or the fact that Rhaenyra is gonna emerge victorious in this ongoing battle. Helaena says that she has seen a gray mare, which obviously sends Rhaenyra over the edge, and she manhandles her sister. Without saying a word, Helaena makes it clear that Rhaenyra is taking things too far, and the queen steps back. She attends the small council meeting where Torrhen is complaining about how the public has been treating him ever since Rhaenyra painted a target on his back. Torrhen has started to suspect that he is being treated like a scapegoat to cover up Rhaenyra’s failings as a queen, and he is right, because that’s exactly what is going on. But unfortunately, this is how he is gonna be punished for making sly remarks about Rhaenyra being King’s Landing oppressor (via the blockade) and then acting as their savior (by redistributing the food that the elites were hoarding), and it will continue until he either resigns as the Master of Coin or dies. Of course, Rhaenyra doesn’t say that; she simply redirects her attention to the rest of the council and asks them for an update on Corlys, Aemond, or Daemon. Orwyle says that Daemon is running a secret errand; Alyn says that the Winters Wolves and the Tullys are one day away from Tumbleton; and Rhaenyra gives Sabitha the go-ahead to take Harrenhal, and kill Aemond while she’s at it. 

Later on, we see Mysaria give Sylvi a tour of the throne room. Why? Because she wants Sylvi to let her know what’s troubling the citizens, and then she is gonna pass on those notes to Rhaenyra, thereby putting an end to the practice of meeting with the public, because that seems a little too hostile to Rhaenyra. Sylvi realizes that Mysaria is using Rhaenyra’s insecurity to put herself on a pedestal and lowkey erase her “former sex worker” tag, and she calls out Mysaria on that. Mysaria gets offended, and she has Sylvi thrown out of the Red Keep. Going back to Helaena, she dreams about giving birth to a child which is taken away by the guards before she can even get a good look at it. Then she sees herself sitting atop Dreamfyre and telling her to burn those who are coming to attack them. After that, she imagines herself sitting with Jaehaery, Jaehaera, her chickens, and a gray mare in a garden while a solar eclipse is happening in the sky. When the eclipse reaches totality, snow starts falling from the sky and fog engulfs everything around her. What does this mean? Well, solar eclipse is usually an omen for death. So, this might be an indicator that Helaena is nearing her end, and she is about to die by suicide soon after her unborn child’s death. Or this might be her predicting the Long Night. The moment where she sees herself riding a dragon, she might be channeling the spirit of Rhaena, Dreamfyre’s former rider, because I don’t see Helaena doing something so drastic even if she loses her cool after losing her child. If you have any alternative theories, let me know in the comments section below.

Alicent Reunites With Aemond

In Harrenhal, Aemond is seen practicing his swordsmanship and he quickly comes to the realization that he hasn’t fully recovered yet. His session is interrupted by Alicent’s arrival. But that’s not Alicent at all; it’s Alys disguised as Alicent, and she is exploiting Aemond’s incestuous feelings towards his mother to get him to impregnate her. Fortunately, Aemond sees through Alys’ charade and casts her aside at the opportune moment. Hilariously enough, as he walks out of his bedroom to stroll through the castle to clear his mind and deal with his raging Oedipus complex, the real Alicent arrives in Harrenhal, thereby preventing him from processing all his complicated feelings about his mother. When Aemond seemingly asks her about the circumstances under which she escaped from the Red Keep and came all the way to Harrenhal, Alicent lies about Adrian leading her through a secret passage and protecting her and whatnot. Aemond interrupts her rambling to check if her mother is real or one of Alys’ illusions. Once he is sure he isn’t being tricked by Alys again, he proceeds to the Godswood, which is where Adrian is waiting. Aemond thanks Adrian for his service, and then kills him because he doesn’t trust anyone with the secret that he is alive and living in Harrenhal. That’s when Alys appears and invites both Aemond and Alicent to supper. At the dinnertable, it’s evident that Alicent is still processing Adrian’s death, but is forced to stay calm because she knows that she is in the company of two absolute psychos. 

Alicent tries to learn who Alys actually is, and both Aemond and Alys are very vague about it. When Aemond says that he has decided to make Harrenhal his “seat,” Alicent expresses genuine shock, and she points out that Aemond’s “seat” can be taken by Rhaenyra any time she wants, because she has six dragons in her arsenal. Aemond goes on some rant about how Rhaenyra has defiled the throne and the Targaryen name; hence, it is only a matter of time before her downfall happens. By then, Aemond and Alys would have raised their throne and they’ll be ready to take over Westeros. Aemond wants Alicent to stay with her, but Alys wants her to go to Oldtown. Due to this disagreement, the “couple” leaves the dining room and goes outside to bicker. Aemond assumes that Alys is just being over-possessive and she wants him all to himself. But Alys claims that she wants to send Alicent away because she feels that she has come to Harrenhal to hurt him. While all this is going on, Alicent rushes to Adrian’s dead body and pockets his knife, just in case she needs it to protect herself. Later on, she heads over to Aemond’s room to ask him if she should leave because Alys doesn’t want her there. Aemond tells her to stay, because he is glad that she has come all the way to Harrenhal. So, to commemorate their reunion, Alicent gives Aemond some spiced wine that she has brought with her. Somehow this prompts Aemond to confess that Alys doesn’t trust Alicent and that he had tried to kill Aegon. None of this apparently shocks Alicent. A few moments after this whole interaction, when Aemond goes to Alys, he appears drunk out of his mind (on account of the spiced wine) and he collapses at Alys’ feet. And Alicent seemingly uses this opportunity to cut and run from Harrenhal.

Rhaena Returns To King’s Landing

Daemon returns to the Vale to question Jeyne (this episode kinda confirms that Jeyne is queer) regarding Rhaena’s whereabouts. Jeyne has called Daemon there because she has decided to alert Rhaenyra about Rhaena for two reasons: firstly, Rhaena is always flying around with Sheepstealer, and that’s attracting the attention of the people in her kingdom, and secondly, she doesn’t want to be punished by Rhaenyra for harboring her son’s murderer. Daemon tells Jeyne that snitching to Rhaenyra won’t help her avoid the queen’s punishment, it’s merely going to delay it. So, he pleads with Jeyne to give him one day so that he can get Rhaena out of her hair. Jeyne tells Daemon that Rhaena is apparently looking for Vhagar, because she has been sighted in the region and there are rumors that Vhagar is in Fairmarket; hence, that’s probably where Rhaena is as well. On that note, Daemon takes off to confront Rhaena. Somewhere near Fairmarket, Baela and Addam are seen looking for Vhagar too; Baela complains that this whole exercise feels like a punishment from Rhaenyra for not saving Jace. Then the conversation veers into the topic of the Velaryon surname. As Addam insinuates that he wants to get romantically involved with Baela, she lets it slip that she is already romantically involved with Alyn. 

As Addam is processing this information, Seasmoke and Moondancer attract his and Baela’s attention to point out that there’s a dragon flying in the distance. They return to the Red Keep and inform Rhaenyra that they have spotted Sheepstealer with a rider, which is obviously odd, because Daemon claimed that Sheepstealer’s rider was dead. Mysaria casts doubt on Daemon’s schemes and uses this “potential” treachery to move up one position in the race to Rhaenyra’s heart. Rhaenyra summons Addam, and they head over to the site where Sheepstealer has been spotted. Daemon obviously gets to Sheepstealer before she can, and he reprimands Rhaena for not staying hidden. Rhaena says that she was trying to kill Vhagar (thereby getting revenge for Lucerys’ death) in the hopes that that would give her the courage to face Rhaenyra. Daemon says that she’s gonna die if she faces off against Vhagar alone; Rhaena states that she’d rather die while trying to absolve herself than live with shame and guilt in her heart. Daemon offers to help Rhaena, because she relates with whatever’s going on with her and because he himself feels guilty for not doing a great job as Rhaena’s father. Before the father-daughter duo can arrive at a decision, Addam and Rhaenyra show up there on their dragons. When Rhaenyra realizes what Rhaena has done, she understands why Daemon had lied to her. As Rhaenyra proceeds to punish Rhaena, Sheepstealer goes ballistic, which leads to a full-on dragon fight. Daemon advises Addam and Rhaenyra to take Rhaena and return to King’s Landing, while he takes care of Sheepstealer. Caraxes absolutely brutalizes Sheepstealer, but he doesn’t manage to kill him and, on Daemon’s orders, allows Sheepstealer to flee into the woods. 

Upon reaching King’s Landing, Rhaenyra tells the guards to find a room for Rhaena. Rhaenyra goes to her room and, in the presence of the handmaiden, has a discussion with Daemon about his actions. Daemon apologizes, and he admits that he had no intention of deceiving Rhaenyra; he just wanted to protect Rhaena. Rhaenyra is appalled at the accusation that she might have killed Rhaena after learning that she had accidentally killed Jace. She showed the same kinda surprise when Alicent assumed that she’d have Helaena killed if she learned that she was gonna give birth to a son. She is shocked that those who are close to her assume she is some ruthless monster. If she is what everyone thinks she is, she would have beheaded the fake Daeron instead of making arrangements to send him to the Wall. Well, maybe if people keep making inaccurate assumptions about Rhaenyra, one day, she’s gonna snap and act like a monster. To avoid snapping in front of Daemon, she sends him away. Meanwhile, Baela pays Rhaena a visit and comforts her. Rhaenyra is unable to fall asleep, hence, she gets up and throws the shepherd’s skull into the fireplace. Then she goes to Mysaria’s room to chat about Daemon’s betrayal, but it also turns into a confrontation as she accuses Mysaria of trying to manipulate her by turning her against Daemon. In addition to that, they also have a conversation about how following in Viserys’ footsteps is not doing the trick for Rhaenyra. Mysaria assures her that that’s not the case at all, and that she is on the precipice of victory. Rhaenyra asks Mysaria if she’s worthy of being the queen, and Mysaria assures her that she is; and then they proceed to get freaky with each other. 

Sunfyre Is Not Dead

While heading to the port in Maidenpool from which they are gonna board the ship to Braavos, Tyland can be seen persuading Aegon to go to Casterly Rock, but Aegon has no interest in doing so. He has set his sights on Braavos, and that’s where he’s gonna go. Their conversation is interrupted by the sight of some villagers running away. Tyland asks them what or who they are fleeing from, and they say it’s the Mootons that are coming to terrorize their village. One of the villagers advises Aegon and his group to turn around and run. Since the Mootons are sworn to Rhaenyra, that does sound like a good piece of advice. But Aegon thinks that since nobody has heard about him or knows what he looks like, they don’t need to worry about being recognized; hence they keep marching towards Maidenpool. That’s when they run into someone from Rook’s Rest, who informs them that the Mootons are actually looking for Tyland. Larys tells Tyland to surrender to the Mootons so that they take him to Rhaenyra and don’t discover Aegon. Aegon tells both Larys and Tyland to do as they wish, but he is done running and he wants to confront the Mootons and die as a warrior. 

Tyland says that he’s gonna stay with Aegon, but Larys cuts and runs. Later that night, Aegon and Tyland are seen sitting around a fire and just chilling. But that’s ruined by the arrival of the Mootons. Seeing the sheer size of the army, it seems like Aegon is gonna flee. But then Aegon suddenly turns around and proclaims that he is the one true king. To my surprise, and out of nowhere, Sunfyre shows up behind Aegon, which gives a severe boost to his confidence, and he orders his dragon to burn the Mootons down. Yeah, those who theorized that Sunfyre was alive all this while because, unlike Meleys’ corpse, his body wasn’t rotting, you all were correct. Aegon was right when he felt that Sunfyre was alive. Maybe he didn’t wake up when Aegon touched him because he was still recovering. Now that he has fully, or mostly, recovered, he has come to his rider’s rescue. I think it’s pretty cool that Sunfyre’s scarring resembles Aegon’s. How does Sunfyre’s return alter Aegon’s arc? He can’t go to King’s Landing and take back his throne. However, he can certainly use the might of the dragon to raise an army against Rhaenyra.

Ulf Joins Hands With Ormund

The Winter Wolves and the Tullys are seen marching towards Tumbleton with Criston’s head on a pike. Gwayne supposedly spots this and rushes to Tumbleton to tell Ormund about this turn of events. Ormund isn’t particularly disturbed by Criston’s death, because he has Corlys in his possession now. Surprisingly enough, Ormund hasn’t kept Corlys chained up or anything like that; he is seen treating Corlys to a nice supper. Does Ormund expect Rhaenyra to give up her crown to save Corlys? Nope. But Ormund does expect the Velaryons to grow weak without their leader and abandon King’s Landing, thereby causing the citizens to cannibalize each other. Daeron wonders how that’s gonna help the Greens, especially with the Winter Wolves and the Tullys marching towards them. This seemingly offends Ormund, and he doesn’t even answer Daeron’s question (even though he is Ormund’s “king”). Instead, he turns to Corlys and starts questioning him about his fascination with the Targaryens, which prompts Corlys to get up and head back to his cell. Daeron goes to Gwayne’s chamber to talk about Ormund’s scheme and how Ormund’s kingly attitude is undercutting Daeron’s chances of sitting on the throne. Gwayne says that that’s just a natural byproduct of ambition. Daeron realizes that he has been complaining about his own plight while Gwayne is heartbroken about Criston’s death; so, he offers him his condolences. Then they return to the topic of what they should do to counter whatever Ormund is up to, but they don’t arrive at any kind of solution; Daeron says that he simply wants this conflict to come to an end, and he doesn’t even care if it’s Rhaenyra who emerges victorious. Now, before sending Corlys to his room, Ormund was seen brandishing his knife. During the concluding moments of the episode, it’s revealed that he was doing that because he cut off one of Coryls’ fingers and sent it to King’s Landing. When Alyn receives it, he is understandably shocked to his core.

In the ending of episode 7, Ulf is seen having a drink with Ormund, who brings up the incident of Daemon striking down Ulf in front of the whole market. Ulf explains the limitations that were put on him by Rhaenyra, and how Daemon punished him for not following their arbitrary rules. Ormund feigns empathy and says that he understands Ulf’s feelings. He points out that while the Targaryens only see Ulf as a means to an end, he sees Ulf as a human being. Ulf reminds Ormund that the last time that they had met (which must’ve happened off-screen when Ulf was stationed on the outskirts of Tumbleton), they had agreed that Ormund would make Ulf the lord of Honeyholt. Ormund tells Ulf to forget about Honeyholt and focus on Driftmark. Ulf really likes that idea, and he even says that those who laughed at him are going to burn. So, is Ulf gonna become the new lord of Driftmark, and is he gonna burn a bunch of people? As per the books, he did burn a bunch of people during the First Battle of Tumbleton, but he was made the lord of Bitterbridge (he wanted Highgarden), nor Driftmark. I’ll leave the rest of it a mystery, but in case you are angry at this idiot’s treachery, I don’t think he’s gonna die any time soon. Unless the writers change up things, he’s gonna stick around for a while. What are your thoughts on Ulf’s betrayal? Let me know in the comments section below.

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