We Light the Way
The Hightower words, and the royal wedding that ended in blood.
"We Light the Way" is the fifth episode of the first season of House of the Dragon, written by Charmaine DeGrate and directed by Clare Kilner; it first aired on September 18, 2022. Its title is the motto of House Hightower. The plot depicts Daemon visiting his estranged wife, Rhea Royce, in the Vale, and the wedding of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Laenor Velaryon.
Quick Facts
- Series
- House of the Dragon
- Season
- 1
- Episode
- 5
- Director
- Clare Kilner
- Writer
- Charmaine DeGraté
- Photographer
- Alejandro Martinez
- Editor
- Crispin Green
- Air date
- 18 September 2022
Lore & Background
Daemon murders his estranged wife, Lady Rhea Royce, framing her death as a hunting accident. Viserys and Rhaenyra sail to Driftmark to arrange her marriage to Ser Laenor Velaryon, uniting the Targaryen and Velaryon houses; knowing Laenor is homosexual, Rhaenyra tells him they can perform their royal duties and be free to have lovers. Ser Criston Cole proposes that he and Rhaenyra elope to Essos; she refuses to give up her place as heir, and he later confesses to Queen Alicent that he was intimate with the princess.
Reader's Guide
At the feast celebrating the coming wedding, Alicent interrupts Viserys' speech by entering in a green gown, House Hightower's signal colour for a call to arms. Laenor's lover, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, deduces that Criston is Rhaenyra's paramour and speaks to him; Criston, taking it as blackmail, beats Joffrey to death. Rhaenyra and Laenor are hastily wed in a private ceremony the same night, Viserys collapses, and Alicent stops Criston as he is about to take his own life.
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Elsewhere in House of the Dragon
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