‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Finale Recap: Hold Your Fire

In the Narrow Sea, Ser Tyland Lannister, the Greens’ master of ships, forges an unlikely alliance with a bawdy pirate queen, Lohar (Abigail Thorn), after beating her in mud wrestling. (Her demand that he impregnate her apparently many wives is either a caveat or a bonus, depending on your perspective.)

Their combined fleets will be arrayed against that of Lord Corlys, with his son and first mate, Alyn, by his side. But only reluctantly: The younger man angrily rejects his father’s overtures as too little, too late. Alyn grew up poor and hungry, watching Corlys and his heir, Laenor, strut around in their finery. Since Laenor is gone, now Corlys wants Alyn for a son? The sailor gives the offer a hard pass.

The bulk of the fighting on land looks as though it will take place in the hotly contested Riverlands. The rogue prince Daemon has massed the region’s armies under Rhaenyra’s banner — yes, Rhaenyra’s, not his own. He finally comes around to making a full-throated endorsement of his niece-wife’s claim to the Iron Throne after his witchy new friend, Alys, guides him to a weirwood tree to induce a vision. (Blink and you’ll miss one of the mystical Children of the Forest scampering away as he approaches)

In his vision, Daemon sees sights both familiar from “Game of Thrones” (Daenerys Targaryen and her hatchlings, the Night King and his undead army) and new (Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne, a telepathic message from Queen Helaena, who tells him they’re all just players in a larger story). This convinces him at last that the Song of Ice and Fire of which his wife and his brother Viserys once spoke is true. Chastened, and as close to apologetic as Daemon gets, he kneels at his wife’s feet when she surprises him at Harrenhal, declaring her at last to be the one true queen of Westeros. Everybody cheers.

Of course, no one in that army has seen dragon combat up close yet. Enduring the charnel house that was the Battle of Rook’s Rest has shaken the faith and courage of Ser Criston Cole, commander of the Green army, which is marching south to take on Daemon. (A closing montage shows Stark, Lannister and Hightower forces headed there as well. The Hightower army is accompanied by a dragon we haven’t seen before; based on the source book by George R.R. Martin, that would be Tessarion and his rider, Prince Daeron Targaryen, the youngest son of Viserys and Alicent.)