House of the Dragon episode 5 photos: a Royal Wedding, the rise of the Strongs, Driftmark, and Alicent’s green gown!

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (1)

HBO has released over sixty of Ollie Upton’s stills for “We Light the Way,” the fifth episode of House of the Dragon. There’s a lot here, from the elusive Rhea Royce and the rise in station of the Strongs to the wedding and Alicent’s historic green gown.

We’ll finally meet Lady Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) in Runestone. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ll probably recall her by the ‘charming’ epithet Daemon usually refers to her as: “Bronze Bitch.” When Daemon called her that and said she was uglier than the Vale’s sheep, I think we can all agree this is not the woman we were picturing. Daemon, what’s wrong with you? Anyway, alongside her there’s an older man in the same runic bronze armor of the Royces, who I assume is her father or some other relative. This man later shows up at the royal wedding.

1x05 Vale Runestone Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) (1)

1x05 Vale Runestone Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) (2)

1x05 Vale Runestone Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford), Lord Royce (1)

1x05 Vale Runestone Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford), Lord Royce (2)

1x05 Vale Runestone Lord Royce (1)

Speaking of the wedding, it looks like King Viserys (Paddy Considine) will visit the Velaryon home, High Tide, on the island of Driftmark. He’s joined by his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), and his new hand (spoilers?), the Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes), escorted by Ser Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel.) I’d guess the king’s in Driftmark to convince Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Lady Rhaenys (Eve Best) to accept the match.

1x05 Driftmark Carriage Viserys (Paddy Considine), Young Alicent (Milly Alcock) (1)

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1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (2)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys (Paddy Considine), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys (Paddy Considine), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (2)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys (Paddy Considine), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (3)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys (Paddy Considine), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (4)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes), Rhaenys (Eve Best) (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Rhaenys Velaryon Targaryen (Eve Best) (1)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Rhaenys Velaryon Targaryen (Eve Best) (2)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys (Paddy Considine), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Rhaenys Velaryon Targaryen (Eve Best) (2)

1x05 Driftmark High Tide Viserys (Paddy Considine), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Rhaenys Velaryon Targaryen (Eve Best) (1)

Presumaby also at Driftmark, we can see Princess Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) getting to know one another as they take a truly beautiful beach stroll:

1x05 Driftmark Beach Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (1)

1x05 Driftmark Beach Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (2)

1x05 Driftmark Beach Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (3)

1x05 Driftmark Beach Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (4)

1x05 Driftmark Beach Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (5)

What is the younger son of the new hand, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), scheming? Does he have something to tell Queen Alicent (Emily Carey)?

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Godswood Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Godswood Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (1)

Speaking of schemers, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) has ominous parting words for his daughter. I’ve previously called Ser Otto ‘Plotto’ for his plots before, but now he looks more like a ‘Depressotto.’ Has he finally been defeated?

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Entrance Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (2)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Entrance Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Entrance Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Entrance Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) (2)

At the Red Keep: Lord Lyonel Strong, Queen Alicent and and a worried Ser Criston, who—unless it’s just me—is starting to look less dreamy than he used to…

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Young Alicent (Emily Carey)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) (1)

As befits any good wedding, there’s a ton of photos! Let’s start with the hosts: the king, Viserys; the heir, Rhaenyra; the king’s Hand, Lord Lyonel; the Hand’s sons, Harwin Breakbones (Ryan Corr) and Larys; Grand Maester Mellos (David Horovitch); Lord Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson), Master of Coin; and Ser Harrold and Ser Criston of the kingsguard—neither look very happy, to be honest.

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Viserys (Paddy Considine) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Viserys (Paddy Considine), Young Alicent (Milly Alcock) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Grand Maester Mellos (David Horovitch), Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Grand Maester Mellos (David Horovitch), Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson) (2)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish) (2)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) (1)

Despite Ser Otto Hightower leaving the city in disgrace, it appears that won’t stop Lord Hobert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), Otto’s older brother, from attending the wedding. He’s accompanied by his wife Lynesse (Alana Ramsey.)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Hobert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), Lynesse Hightower (Alana Ramsey)

As I mentioned earlier, the old Royce we saw with Lady Rhea attends the wedding, though we can’t say we know anything about the character or the actor yet:

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Lord Royce

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Lord Royce (1)

Of course, we can’t forget the true reason for this entire affair. The Velaryons arrive all together, with Lord Corlys and Rhaenys escorting their son Laenor, the groom. With them we can see the now teen Laena Velaryon (Savannah Steyn), Corlys’s brother Vaemond (Wil Johnson), and Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod), the ginger knight sworn to the Velaryons we saw fighting at the Stepstones.

1x05 KL Wedding Velaryon Vaemond (Wil Johnson), Corlys (Steve Toussaint), Laenor (Theo Nate), Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod), Rhaenys (Eve Best), Laena (Savannah Steyn)

1x05 KL Wedding Velaryon Vaemond (Wil Johnson), Corlys (Steve Toussaint), Laenor (Theo Nate), Rhaenys (Eve Best)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (1)

1x05 KL Wedding Viserys (Paddy Considine), Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (1)

1x05 KL Wedding Lyonel Strong (Spokes), Viserys (Considine), Rhaenyra (Alcock), Laenor (Nate), Corlys (Toussaint), Rhaenys (Best), Laena (Savannah Steyn)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) (1)

Yes, that’s Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) at one end of the royal table, attending the wedding. He’s relegated to the corner, sure, but still—he’s not only been invited but is seated at the royal table! I wonder how he’ll manage that, after last episode…

1X05KL~1

Last to arrive but certainly not least, Queen Alicent appears not in the Targaryen colors she’s publicly worn lately but in a bold green gown. This is taken straight from Fire and Blood, although she wore the famous dress at a different event:

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (1)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (2)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (3)

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (4)

Finally, there’s this sad photograph of Princess Rhaenyra, apparently tearing up, with Queen Alicent behind her. I suspect it’s from the very moment she’s wed:

1x05 King's Landing Red Keep Throne Room Wedding Young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Young Alicent (Emily Carey) (1)

Separately from Ollie Upton’s beautiful stills, HBO has also released this screen capture from next episode finally showing us Lady Rhaenys riding her dragon Meleys, which looks absolutely beautiful. You can see just how large the dragon is by comparing it to the younger Seasmoke at their side.

Rhaenys (Eve Best), Meleys, Seasmoke 1x05

That’s many more photos than usual, but I guess that’s to be expected for a royal wedding! There are lot of details to inspect here! Anything that catches your eye?

17 Comments

  1. Wow! Absolute ton of photos including spoilers (hand of the king pin visible on Strong).. kind of surprised HBO is just letting it flow.. but definitely all the more psyched for the episode!!

  2. Oh wow! I wasn’t expecting to get so many photos. I can’t wait for the episode. 😍

    I see we are getting some extended family of the Velaryons. Really looking forward to them.

  3. A little bummed we didn’t get to see an exterior shot of Storms End last week. Hopefully we get an exterior shot of Driftmark this Sunday! Those were always some of my favorite shots from GoT!

  4. serum,

    I noticed they just don’t do the establishing shots. It makes no sense to me. It will confuse the general audience.

    Last episode we just started in Storm’s End and in E2 we were just in Driftmark without any establishing shots.

    I don’t get it

  5. I feel like I just watched the whole episode in the form of a flip book lol. That scene on the beach looks stunning. Will this wedding follow GOT tradition? Surely no-one will die

  6. Damn… if that’s one of the “ugly Vale women” Daemon was talking about, I can’t wait to see the sheep! 😛

  7. 😍 I really love how drafty and kinda creepy Driftmark looks. It’s giving me Addams Family vibes and I like it, especially that shot of Rhaenys leaning against the driftwood chair looking like she’s trying to hide her smug face. I hope they make Viserys work for it.

  8. ”As befits any good wedding, there’s a ton of photos! Let’s start with the hosts: the king, Viserys; the heir, Rhaenyra; the king’s Hand, Lord Lyonel; the Hand’s sons, Harwin Breakbones…”

    A Harwin?

    “Harwin it’s me, don’t you know me?”

  9. Ten Bears,

    Hey, I’m sorry, every time I see the name “Harwin” I flash back to a scene from A Storm of Swords. Though I’m a non-book reader, I’m familiar with a few excerpts quoted in online polls of readers’ favorite passages.

    This was one of them:

    A more ragged band Arya had never seen, but there was nothing ragged about the swords, axes, and bows they carried. One or two gave her curious glances as they entered, but no one said a word. A one-eyed man in a rusty pothelm sniffed the air and grinned, while an archer with a head of stiff yellow hair was shouting for ale.

    After them came a spearman in a lioncrested helm, an older man with a limp, a Braavosi sellsword, a… “Harwin?” Arya whispered. It was! Under the beard and the tangled hair was the face of Hullen’s son, who used to lead her pony around the yard, ride at quintain with Jon and Robb, and drink too much on feast days. He was thinner, harder somehow, and at Winterfell he had never worn a beard, but it was him – her father’s man. “Harwin!”

    Squirming, she threw herself forward, trying to wrench free of Lem’s iron grip. “It’s me,” she shouted, “Harwin, it’s me, don’t you know me, don’t you?” The tears came, and she found herself weeping like a baby, just like some stupid little girl. “Harwin, it’s me!” Harwin’s eyes went from her face to the flayed man on her doublet. “How do you know me?” he said, frowning suspiciously. “The flayed man… who are you, some serving boy to Lord Leech?”

    For a moment she did not know how to answer. She’d had so many names. Had she only dreamed Arya Stark? “I’m a girl,” she sniffed. “I was Lord Bolton’s cupbearer but he was going to leave me for the goat, so I ran off with Gendry and Hot Pie. You have to know me! You used to lead my pony, when I was little.

    His eyes went wide.
    Gods be good,” he said in a choked voice. “Arya Underfoot? Lem, let go of her.

    She broke my nose.” Lem dumped her unceremoniously to the floor. “Who in seven hells is she supposed to be?”

    The Hand’s daughter.” Harwin went to one knee before her. “Arya Stark, of Winterfell.

    Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

  10. The photos aren’t sharp and most are at least a stop under exposed. I know he’s trying to go for moody but instead the shot are murky.

  11. Nice little clip from E5 that I haven’t seen anywhere (I’m probably lagging behind, ha) in Matt Smith’s interview on Fallon.

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