House of the Dragon is going to include its own version of the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones, and many fans don't even realize that it has already started. The Red Wedding is arguably the most shocking event that has ever occurred in a television series or feature film. The sequence, which happened during the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones' third season, has become incredibly iconic, and many look back on it as one of the most influential moments from the franchise.
House of the Dragon takes place roughly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, bringing to life a Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. Like the War of the Five Kings, the Dance of the Dragons has proved to be a bloody affair. However, one major event that took place in George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood (the source material for House of the Dragon) is beginning to happen in the HBO show, and just like how the Red Wedding brought an end to the War of the Five Kings, this shocking and devastating event will help bring an end to the Dance of the Dragons.
House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4 (titled "Tumbleton") served as more of a set-up chapter for the rest of the third installment. Not a lot of important events or conversations took place, but, at the same time, it seemed like nothing occurred that was unimportant, either. However, one major moment from the episode came when it was revealed that some citizens of King's Landing had written a vulgar message on the stone walls of the city.
Specifically, the episode showcased that someone had taken some sort of substance and written "Queen of Bastards" on one of the walls. Obviously, this was referring to Rhaenyra Targaryen and was meant to be a direct attack against her, since many correctly accused her of being a mother to bastard sons (Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey).
Ultimately, after Rhaenyra found out about this message, she had the City Watch (also known as Gold Cloaks) go house-to-house to find out who was responsible for writing it.
The show never actually revealed if the Gold Cloaks figured it out, but it did showcase that they still more or less assaulted quite a few citizens in the process, no matter if they were guilty or not.
On the surface, this may have seemed like a rather unimportant moment in the episode, and it was merely there to point out that not everyone in King's Landing is a fan of Rhaenyra.
However, there actually could be a much deeper meaning to that sequence, and those two scenes in Episode 4 could indicate that House of the Dragon's version of the Red Wedding has already begun.
If so, fans can expect to be introduced to an extremely important major character very soon, and everyone should prepare themselves for one of the most difficult-to-watch moments that HBO has ever put in a Song of Ice and Fire series.
House of the Dragon's Most Important Character Is About To Be Introduced
Warning - The rest of this article contains MAJOR potential spoilers for future episodes and seasons of House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon is not exactly adapting the events of Fire & Blood as closely as many would like, but a lot of the major plot points from the book are still in the show, at least in one way or another. Therefore, it is almost a guarantee that Rhaenyra's relationship with the smallfolk while she is on the Iron Throne will be the same in the show as it is in the book.
For reference, in Fire & Blood, after Rhaenyra takes the Iron Throne, her reign isn't a smooth one. Not long after she becomes queen, the common people and citizens of King's Landing start to get frustrated with her and talk about her pretty harshly.
Specifically, they begin to refer to Rhaenyra as "Rhaenyra the Cruel," "King Maegor with Teats," "The Whore of Dragonstone," and more. Now, Rhaenyra isn't totally blameless in the source material. After Jace's death and some of her allies turn on her, Rhaenyra's mental state declines rapidly.
However, there is one character in Fire & Blood who hasn't been introduced in House of the Dragon yet, who goes way further than just calling Rhaenyra names, and it is possible that he was actually the one who wrote "Queen of Bastards" on the wall of King's Landing.
In the book, this character's name is the Shepherd, and his actions directly affect the outcome of not only the Dance of the Dragons but of the Targaryen Dynasty as a whole.
Essentially, the Shepherd was a prophet and a follower of the Faith. Because Rhaenyra has already had so much trouble from the High Septon and the Faith since she took the Iron Throne in House of the Dragon, it seems even more likely that the show is teasing the arrival of the Shepherd.
During Rhaenyra's reign in King's Landing, the Shepherd went into the streets of King's Landing and openly preached against Rhaenyra.
The Shepherd called the dragons demons and convinced a rather large number of people that they were evil, as was Rhaenyra. He even went as far as to make people believe that the dragons would completely wipe out everyone, and that men would go extinct.
The Shepherd apparently knew what to say and was very convincing, because his following grew exponentially seemingly every day. Eventually, he led groups of civilians in riots in King's Landing, and everything came to a head during an event called the Storming of the Dragonpit, which will be House of the Dragon's equivalent to the Red Wedding.
It is highly likely that HBO will introduce the Shepherd in House of the Dragon sometime during Season 3. It wouldn't be surprising if it were revealed that he was the one to write "Queen of Bastards" on the wall in Episode 4, or if he already had a group of loyal followers by that time and made one of them do it instead.
No matter the case, the Shepherd will be brought in sooner or later, and it would be nice for fans to have a bit of a paper trail to follow when looking back through the episodes.
How The Storming of the Dragonpit is House of the Dragon's Red Wedding
Nothing will likely ever match the level of the Red Wedding when it comes to cultural impact, shock, and how it elicited an emotional response from viewers. However, the Storming of the Dragonpit is an extremely disturbing and outright tragic event that left Westeros changed forever.
Essentially, the Shepherd became so influential among the commoners, and their riots became so bad that he led a mob to the Dragonpit in King's Landing. This happened the night after Helaena Targaryen committed suicide, as the Shepherd was even able to convince his followers that Rhaenyra had Helaena killed.
This made the Shepherd's mob even angrier, as the common people of King's Landing always adored Helaena. So, after they were convinced Rhaenyra had Helaena killed, that was almost like the last straw.
The night after Helaena's death, the Shepherd and his followers incited violent riots all throughout King's Landing. When all was said and done, they had plundered and killed all kinds of innocent people.
Rhaenyra sent the Gold Cloaks (all 500 of them) to arrest the Shepherd, but when they met the mob, they were overrun, and every single member of the Gold Cloaks was murdered.
The following day, the Shepherd gathered together a group larger than ever before. He began to preach about the dangers of dragons and about how they were evil beasts. The Shepherd eventually claimed that the only way they could all be saved from the dragons and the impending doom that they would bring would be if they killed all of them.
The Shepherd and his followers broke into the Dragonpit in King's Landing and killed four dragons, including Dreamfyre (Helaena's dragon) and Tyraxes (Joffrey's dragon). After more than a day of the riots going on, the dragonpit was completely destroyed, and Rhaenyra watched as it all happened.
While all of that was going on, her son, Joffrey, freed Rhaenyra's dragon, Syrax. It is unclear if he was going to lead Syrax into the mob and try to fight them off, or try to rescue his own dragon, but it didn't matter.
Syrax wasn't familiar with Joffrey and wasn't bonded with him. It made things worse that Joffrey tried to ride Syrax without a saddle. Sadly, Joffrey fell from Syrax and died in the streets of King's Landing as he hit the ground and fell on his sword.
However, Syrax went on to attack the mob. Instead of staying in the sky and burning the rioters, as well as the Shepherd, Syrax flew toward the ground and tried to fight the men with her claws and teeth. Unfortunately, Rhaenyra watched from Maegor's Holdfast as Syrax fell to the ground and was killed.
The most frequently told account of events says that the Shepherd himself was the one to kill Syrax, which isn't that far-fetched. Some say the Shepherd stood face-to-face with Syrax, alone, calling upon the Seven to aid him. According to the accounts, the Warrior himself took over the Shepherd's body and defeated Rhaenyra's dragon.
Obviously, due to losing Syrax, Joffrey, multiple dragons, trusted men who were loyal to her, and hundreds, if not thousands, of King's Landing citizens, Rhaenyra's mental state plummeted off a cliff. It was also apparent to everyone that, due to what had happened, King's Landing was absolutely lost.
The day after the Storming of the Dragonpit, Rhaenyra fled King's Landing and went to Dragonstone. Therefore, the Shepherd's actions directly caused Rhaenyra to give up the Iron Throne and flee the capital.
If that wasn't bad enough, when Rhaenyra reached Dragonstone, she was immediately captured by Aegon II Targaryen and was killed shortly after.
So, the Shepherd, in some ways, can be viewed as the biggest antagonist during the Dance of the Dragons. He was almost single-handedly responsible for destroying the Targaryen Dynasty and getting rid of the dragons for good (at least until Daenerys' dragons hatched).
It is also clear that the Storming of the Dragonpit is undoubtedly the Red Wedding of the Dance of the Dragons. Both events were full of utter devastation, the deaths of major characters, and changed the entire trajectory of Westeros' future.
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