“House of the Dragon” is the prequel to “Game of Thrones,” which takes us back to the most difficult times of the Targaryen dynasty.
Winning several awards for its amazing episodes, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series, every episode has an eye-pleasing moment.
But which episode truly stands out?
In this listicle, I have ranked the episodes from the good to the absolute best, going into the moments that caught our attention.
Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a new viewer, join us as we revisit this epic saga that happened almost 200 years before Game of Thrones.
Get ready to see if your favorite episodes reach the highest rating.
10. The Princess and the Queen (Ep 06)
| Director | Miguel Sapochnik |
| Writer | Sara Hess |
| Casts | Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith |
| Release Date | September 25, 2022 |
The Princess and the Queen is about a big fight in the royal family over who will be king or queen next.
The episode begins with a 10-year time jump, during which Queen Alicent has three children with King Viserys, and Laenor also has three children with Rhaenyra.
Meanwhile, Queen Alicent points her fingers at Rhaenyra, saying her children could be illegitimate because their hair color is different.
However, King Viserys denies the fact and defends his daughter.
On the other hand, Daemon marries Lord Corlys’s daughter, Lady Laena Velaryon, and has two daughters.
Moreover, in King’s Landing, Ser Criston Cole attacks Ser Harwin, hinting that he is the father of Rhaenyra’s children, not Laenor.
The episode wraps up after Queen Alicent shares words with Larys Strong, telling him she wants her father, Ser Otto, to become the King’s Hand again.
Therefore, Larys uses three criminals to set fire to Harrenhal, killing his brother Harwin and father Lyonel Strong.
9. The Rogue Prince (Ep 02)
| Director | Greg Yaitanes |
| Writer | Ryan Condal |
| Casts | Paddy Considine, Rhys Ifans, Matt Smith |
| Release Date | August 28, 2022 |
The Rogue Prince shows the dispute between the Viserys and Daemon, leading to the sour relationship between Alicent and Rhaenyra.
King Viserys forcefully makes Daemon leave the King’s Landing because he feels he is not getting the respect and power he deserves.
After Daemon was evicted from his brother’s city, he moved to the Targaryen castle Dragonstone.
Meanwhile, Corlys had a mastermind of uniting the Targaryen and Velaryon, which would help the future of their kingdom.
Lord Corlys Velaryon and his wife Princess Rhaenys propose their 12-year-old daughter Laena Velaryon to the king’s hand in marriage.
But out of nowhere, King Viserys promises to marry Alicent, daughter of Otto Hightower, in front of all the lords.
Due to this, Corlys gets angry and shakes Daemon’s hand, additionally creating a sour friendship between Alicent and Rhaenyra.
8. King of the Narrow Sea (Ep 04)
| Director | Clare Kilner |
| Writer | Ira Parker |
| Casts | Fabien Frankel, Matt Smith, Sonoya Mizuno |
| Release Date | September 11, 2022 |
In the fourth episode of the House of the Dragon, Prince Daemon Targaryen is named King of the Narrow Sea, giving him control over the waters around the city.
After taking over most of the place at Stepstone, Daemon returns to the King’s Landing and bows before the King Viserys.
But things get more interesting in the episode after Daemon tries to seduce Rhaenyra, and the news spreads throughout the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Otto discovers that Rhaenyra and Daemon are having a secret affair through his secret servant, who directly informs King Viserys.
The king asks Daemon about a palace rumor, and Daemon does not deny it; instead, he asks for Rhaenyra’s hand.
In the end, to avoid this whole scandal and to strengthen the kingdom, the King orders Rhaenyra to marry Laenor Velaryon, son of Corlys Velaryon.
However, Rhaenyra defends herself and explains how Otto manipulated him for his own benefit, resulting in Viserys dethroning Otto from the King’s Hand position.
7. The Green Council (Ep 09)
| Director | Clare Kilner |
| Writer | Sara Hess |
| Casts | Eve Best, Tom Glynn-Carney, Olivia Cooke |
| Release Date | October 16, 2022 |
The Green Council is the penultimate episode of House of the Dragon that follows the aftermath of Viserys’s death in King’s Landing.
The episode starts with Ser Otto (Viserys’s Hand) telling the council King Viserys’s dying wish was to make Aegon the next king.
On the contrary, King Viserys wished to make Rhaenrya the next queen, not Aegon, to sit on the throne.
However, Lord of Honey Holt and Master of Coin Beesbury oppose this, and as a result, Ser Criston Cole kills them.
Ser Otto Hightower forces lords and others to support Aegon by threatening to kill them if they don’t.
Meanwhile, Otto sends two twin guards, Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk, to search for Aegon, who is not in the castle and is enjoying the night in the prostitute area.
Otto’s plan was to convince Aegon to kill Rhaenyra, but Alicent’s plan was to remove her from the Kingdom.
The twins find Aegon first, but Criston and Aemond force him to take them away.
On the other hand, the people of King’s Landing are taken to the Dragon’s Pit, where Aegon’s coronation takes place, and he is given the Aegon the Conqueror crown.
While the crowd cheers for him, Rhaenys breaks the surface of the dragon pit with her dragon, Meleys, and exits without saying a word.
6. Second of His Name (Ep 03)
| Director | Greg Yaitanes |
| Writers | Gave Fonseca, Ryan Condal |
| Casts | Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Milly Alcock |
| Release Date | September 4, 2022 |
Second of His Name focuses on the young king, Aegon II Targaryen, who had just been crowned.
The episode starts after a three-year time jump, with Lord Corlys and Prince Daemon fighting Crabfeeders in the Stepstones.
On the other hand, King’s Landing is planning a big hunting festival to celebrate Aegon’s 2nd birthday.
Additionally, Otto Hightower and his brother Hobert Hightower plan to make Aegon the next King, thinking this will increase their power and status.
Ultimately, Daemon realizes that Valyrian had called for backup support from the king, which he didn’t want, leading him to perform a dangerous movement.
Daemon lures the Crabfeeder out of the cave to fight and defeats him with the help of Corlys’s army before the King’s support arrives.
5. The Heirs of the Dragon (Ep 01)
| Director | Miguel Sapochnik |
| Writer | Ryan Condal |
| Casts | Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, Eve Best |
| Release Date | August 21, 2022 |
The Heirs of Dragon’s first episode starts with King Viserys Targaryen organizing a tournament to celebrate his wife, Aemma Arryn’s pregnancy, with the hope of giving birth to a boy.
Unfortunately, both Aemma and her son, Baelon, die within an hour, and Daemon celebrates their death parade.
With this, King Viserys orders his brother Daemon to leave the city of King’s Landing immediately.
King Viserys I now has to choose the next ruler, and everyone thinks his daughter Rhaenyra will be the queen.
King Virserys organizes the “Heir to the Iron Throne” ceremony, during which he takes an oath that Princess Rhaenyra will be the next Queen after he dies.
The story shows Rhaenyra preparing to be a leader, while some lords think that she should not be the Queen.
4. We Light the Way (Ep 05)
| Director | Clare Kilner |
| Writer | Charmaine DeGrate |
| Casts | Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans |
| Release Date | September 18, 2022 |
In the episode We Light the Way, Daemon visits his estranged wife, Rhea Youce (Rachel Redford), in the Vale.
The series also focuses on Ser Laenor Velaryon’s (John MacMillan) and Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s (Emma D’Arcy) wedding.
This wedding is important because it is supposed to unite two powerful families and strengthen the kingdom.
However, Rhaenyra is not sure if she wants to marry Laenor, but she knows it’s her duty for the sake of peace and power.
After that, she approaches Laenor, who is gay, suggesting to him that both of them obey their father to benefit their Kingdom’s future.
The twist happens during the celebration when things go wrong. Alicent Hightower joins the party wearing a green gown, which signals that they should get ready for the fight with Hightower.
The show wraps up after Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) is about to commit suicide, but Queen Alicent interrupts him.
3. Driftmark (Ep 07)
| Director | Miguel Sapochnik |
| Writer | Kevin Lau |
| Casts | Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith |
| Release Date | October 2, 2022 |
Driftmark makes us emotional as it starts with the funeral of Daemon’s wife, Lady Laena Velaryon.
It shows the aftermath of a tragedy that affects the royal family and the Velaryons.
It opens after Alicent’s youngest son, Prince Aemond, claims the largest dragon, Vhagar, that belonged to the late Lady Laena.
This leads Laena’s daughters to fight Aemond, and during this, Lady Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys cuts Aemond’s eyes with a knife.
Alicent takes a steel dagger to take Lucy’s eyes in exchange when she finds out about the incident.
Rhaenyra moves toward Alicent and injures her with a dagger, creating silence in the room.
Meanwhile, King Viserys hears accusations against Rhaenyra’s children and orders his guard to punish anyone who speaks wrong about them.
On the other hand, Laenor, who was said to have been killed by Ser Qarl, had actually faked his death so he could escape with Qarl somewhere.
This episode ends with Daemon and Rhaenyra marrying privately in their old Velaryon tradition to keep the Targaryen dynasty going.
2. The Black Queen (Ep 10)
| Director | Greg Yaitanes |
| Writer | Ryan Condal |
| Casts | Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint |
| Release Date | October 23, 2022 |
The Black Queen is the finale episode of House of the Dragon, that focuses on Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s arrival at Dragonstone to deliver the news of King Viserys’s death.
Daemon learns that the throne has passed to his half-brother Aegon, which impacts the Pregnant Rhaenyra, killing her child right after birth.
With anger bursting inside him, Daemon pressurizes Rhaenyra to start a war. Meanwhile, one of the twin brothers arrives and crowns Viserys’s crown on Rhaenyra’s head.
Most importantly, after Rhaenyra becomes Queen of Westeros, she keeps her full title and Dragonstone while her son keeps Driftmark.
Daemon becomes angry when Rhaenyra says uniting the realm is more important and mentions the dream of Aegon the Conqueror.
The episode shows her trying to win over lords and knights to her side, to prove she is a leader worth following.
Meanwhile, Aemond tries to start a fight with Lucerys, but Lord Borros breaks it up, letting Lucerys escape.
After that, Lucerys flies off on his dragon, Arrax, and Aemond follows on his dragon, Vhagar.
Surprisingly, both dragons disobey their dragon rider, and Arrax fires at Vhagar, causing Vhagar to eat both Lucerys and his dragon.
After the news reaches Rhaenyra, she gets angry and declares to start a fight.
The finale leaves the audience eager to wait and see what Black Queen will do in the next session as she prepares to battle for the throne.
1. The Lord of the Tides (Ep 08)
| Director | Geeta Vasant Patel |
| Writer | Eileen Shim |
| Casts | Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke |
| Release Date | October 9, 2022 |
Lord of the Tides starts with Ser Wyman in King’s Landing appealing that he should get Driftmark after Lord Corlys instead of Lucerys, son of Rhaenyra.
On the other hand, Rhaenyra goes to Lord Corlys to seek her support, proposing that her granddaughter Bella be married to her son Lucerys.
After Viserys walks to the throne, Wyman is allowed to speak freely and shouts that Rhaenyra’s children are illegitimate.
Daemon can’t handle the insult of his wife and cuts off his head, creating a babble inside the hall.
Eventually, King Viserys declares Lucerys as the next heir to the Driftmark, reuniting the family again.
The episode ends with King Visery’s death and Alicent’s son Aemond starting a fight, pointing towards the illegitimacy of Rhaenyra’s children.
| Episode | Rating |
|---|---|
| The Princess and the Queen | 8.0/10 |
| The Rogue Prince | 8.3/10 |
| King of the Narrow Sea | 8.4/10 |
| The Green Council | 8.7/10 |
| Second of His Name | 8.7/10 |
| The Heirs of the Dragon | 8.7/10 |
| We Light the Way | 8.8/10 |
| Driftmark | 9.1/10 |
| The Black Queen | 9.2/10 |
| The Lord of the Tides | 9.3/10 |
