Larys: What are children but a weakness? A folly? A futility? Through them, you imagine you cheat the great darkness of its victory. You will persist forever, in some form or another. As if they will keep you from the dust. But for them, you surrender what you should not. You may know what is the right thing to be done, but love stays the hand. Love is a downfall. Best to make your way through life unencumbered if you ask me.
Alicent: [referring to Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin Strong] They're dead.
Larys: You've heard the stories of Harrenhal, Your Grace. It was built in hubris by Harren the Black as a monument to his own greatness. Blood mixed into the mortar. It is said to be a cursed place. That it passes judgment on all who pass beneath its gates.
Alicent: You, you passed judgment.
Larys: The Queen makes a wish. What servant of the realm would not strive to fulfill it?
Daemon: [after Otto Hightower offers his condolences] No matter how fat the leech grows, it always wants for another meal.
Corlys: The crown was yours until those fools at the Great Council plucked it from your head. Is it such a terrible thing for your husband to wish to win it back?
Rhaenys: Tonight of all nights, let us lay aside this falsehood. It is not justice for your wife that drives you. It is your own ambition. 'Tis desire for the throne. If not for yourself, then for the scions of your house. I gave up the idea of wearing a crown a generation ago. It is you, lord husband, who refuses to abandon this pursuit, even now, at the cost of our children.
Corlys: What is this brief mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy?
Rhaenys: Legacy may be why you live your life, Corlys. I want Driftmark to pass through Laena's line to Baela. To true Velaryon blood. Declare it now, while all are gathered here, and we will say that is how we will honor Laena's memory.
Corlys: And disinherit our son?
Rhaenys: He will be the King Consort. His son will one day sit the Iron Throne.
Corlys: You would have me cast an even darker shadow over those little boys than already exists.
Rhaenys: We are alone here, husband. You can speak the plain truth as we both know it. Rhaenyra's children are not of your blood. But Laena's are. They are her legacy.
Corlys: History does not remember blood. It remembers names.
Rhaenyra: [after stopping Alicent from blinding Lucerys] You've gone too far!
Alicent: What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law, while you flout all to do as you please?
Viserys: Alicent, let her go!
Alicent: Where is duty?! Where is sacrifice?! It's trampled under your pretty foot again!
Otto: Release the blade, Alicent.
Alicent: And now you take my son's eye, and to even that, you feel entitled!
Rhaenyra: Exhausting, wasn't it? Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness. But now they see you as you are.
Aemond: Do not mourn me, Mother. It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon.
Alicent: I disgraced myself. And ensured my husband's favor will forever rest on her.
Otto: And yet I've never seen that side of you, my daughter. I even doubted its existence.
Alicent: It was an ugly thing. I regret it.
Otto: We play an ugly game. And now, for the first time, I see that you have the determination to win it.
Viserys: I must admit my confusion. I do not understand why petitions are being heard over a settled succession. The only one present who might offer keener insight into Lord Corlys' wishes is the Princess Rhaenys.
Rhaenys: Indeed, Your Grace. It was ever my husband's wish that Driftmark pass through Ser Laenor to his trueborn son, Lucerys Velaryon. His mind never changed, nor did my support of him. As a matter of fact, the Princess Rhaenyra has just informed me of her desire to marry her sons, Jace and Luke, to Lord Corlys' granddaughters, Baela and Rhaena. A proposal to which I heartily agree.
Viserys: Well, the matter is settled. Again. I hereby reaffirm Prince Lucerys of House Velaryon as heir to Driftmark, the Driftwood Throne, and the next Lord of the Tides.
Vaemond: You break law, and centuries of tradition, to install your daughter as heir. Yet you dare tell me who deserves to inherit the name Velaryon?! No. I will not allow it.
Viserys: "Allow it"? Do not forget yourself, Vaemond.
Vaemond: [points at Lucerys] That is no true Velaryon! And certainly, no nephew of mine.
Rhaenyra: [to her sons] Go to your chambers. [to Vaemond] You have said enough.
Viserys: Lucerys is my trueborn grandson. And you are no more than the second son of Driftmark.
Vaemond: You may run your House as you see fit. But you will not decide the future of mine! My House survived the Doom, and a thousand tribulations besides! [looking at Lucerys hatefully] And gods be damned, I will not see it ended on the account of this... [pauses]
Daemon: Say it.
Ser Vaemond Targaryen: [glaring at Rhaenyra] Her children are bastards! [to Viserys] And she is a whore.
Viserys: [forces himself to his feet and draws his dagger] I will have your tongue for that!
[Daemon suddenly swings Dark Sister from behind, beheading Vaemond above the jawline]
Daemon: He can keep his tongue.
Viserys: It both gladdens my heart, and fills me with sorrow, to see these faces around the table. The faces, most dear to me in all the world. Yet grown so distant from each other, in the years past. [removes his half-mask, showing his missing eye and rotting face] My own face is no longer a handsome one. If, indeed, it ever was. But tonight, I wish you to see me as I am. Not just a king, but your father. Your brother. Your husband. And your grandsire. Who may not, it seems, walk for much longer among you. Let us no longer hold ill feelings in our hearts. The Crown cannot stand strong if the House of the Dragon remains divided. But set aside your grievances! If not for the sake of the Crown, then for the sake of this old man, who loves you all so dearly!
Tyland: What is it that could not have waited an hour? Was Dorne invaded?
Otto: The King is dead. We grieve for Viserys the Peaceful, our sovereign, our friend. But he has left us a gift. With his last breath, he impressed upon the Queen his final wish that his son Aegon should succeed him as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.
Tyland: Then we may proceed now with the full assurance of his blessing on our long-laid plans.
Otto: Yes. There is much to be done, as we have previously discussed. Now, there are two among the captains of the City Watch who remain loyal to Daemon. Let us replace them. Lord Lannister?
Tyland: The Treasury is well in hand. The gold will be divided for safe keeping.
Otto: Let ravens be sent to our allies, Riverrun and Highgarden...
Alicent: Am I to understand that members of the Small Council have been planning secretly to install my son without me?
Lord Jasper Wylde: My Queen, there was no need to sully you with darkling schemes.
Lord Beesbury: I will not have this! To hear that you are plotting to replace the King's chosen heir with an imposter...
Tyland: His firstborn son is hardly an imposter.
Lord Beesbury: Hundreds of lords and landed knights swore fealty to the Princess.
Tyland: That was some twenty years ago. Most of them are now dead.
Lord Jasper Wylde: You heard the Lord Hand. Plot or no, the King changed his mind.
Lord Beesbury: I am six and seventy years old. I have known Viserys longer than any who sit at this table, and I will not believe he said this on his deathbed, alone, with only the boy's mother as a witness! This is seizure! It is theft! It is treason!
Rhaenys: [after Alicent visits her while under house arrest] I will do you the considerable courtesy of assuming there is a good reason for the outrage of my treatment here this morning!
Alicent: My sincerest regrets for the lack of ceremony.
Rhaenys: The King? [Alicent nods] And you are usurping the throne.
Alicent: It was my husband's dying wish. [Rhaenys scoffs] Believe it or no, it is of no consequence. Aegon will be king. I came here to ask for your support.
Rhaenys: Well, I must credit you for your boldness.
Alicent: House Velaryon has long allied itself with the Princess Rhaenyra. And what has it gained you? Your daughter dead, alone in Pentos. Your son cuckolded. Rhaenyra's heirs are none of yours. It is your husband who grasps so heedlessly for the throne. And even he has abandoned you. Gone these six long years to fight a desperate battle, returning grievously, if not mortally, wounded, leaving the Lady of Driftmark to chart her course alone.
Rhaenys: The word of my house is not fickle.
Alicent: No. But, dear cousin, you more than any soul alive understand what I say now. Princess Rhaenys, I loved my husband, but I will speak the truth we both know. You should've been queen.
Rhaenys: I little thought to hear those words from you.
Alicent: The Iron Throne was yours by blood and by temperament. Viserys would've lived his days a country lord, content to hunt and study his histories, but here we are. We do not rule but we may guide the men that do. Gently, away from violence and sure destruction and instead toward peace.
Rhaenys: Is it in the name of peace that you've imprisoned me? And what of my dragon?
Alicent: If we are overmatched, Rhaenyra will be tempted to strike us, and war will ensue. Without your dragon, she may be persuaded to negotiate. If it's Driftmark you want, you shall have it for you and your granddaughters to pass on as you see fit.
Rhaenys: You are wiser than I believed you to be, Alicent Hightower.
Alicent: A true queen counts the cost to her people.
Rhaenys: And yet you toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?
Mysaria: [to Otto Hightower] There is no power but what the people allow you to take.
Alicent: None of this is a game.
Otto: And yet, you treat it as one. A charming contest, the prize a pouch of silver. We have relied on one another these many years and now, it is the good of the family we both desire. Whatever our differences, our hearts remain as one.
Alicent: Our hearts were never one, I see that now. Rather, I have been a piece you moved about the board.
Otto: If that is true, then I made you Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Would you have desired it otherwise?
Alicent: How could I have known? I wanted whatever you impressed upon me to want, and now the debt comes due. A debt you were happy enough to pay.
Otto: A sacrifice. A sacrifice made for the stability of the realm. No King has ever lived who has not had to forfeit the lives of a few to protect the many! Though I understand your squeamishness...
Alicent: Reluctance to murder is not a weakness! I have Aegon. We will proceed now as I see fit. We will send terms to Rhaenyra on Dragonstone. True terms that she may accept without shame.
Otto: If she lives, her allies will mass behind her banners, looking for her return.
Alicent: Then she must not return. My husband would have desired this mercy be shown to his daughter.
Otto: Your husband? Or you, his daughter's childhood companion?
Alicent: Criston Cole will be named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. My son will be anointed tomorrow at dawn. The whole of King's Landing must witness his ascent. He will assume authority, there will be no more dithering. My son will take the crown of his namesake, the Conqueror, and carry Blackfyre, his sword. Let the people remember the ancient strength of House Targaryen.
Otto: You look so much like your mother in certain lights.
Alicent: Have the decency to look grateful. Do you know what has been done to give you this day? In an hour, you will be king.
Aegon: And my father never wanted this.
Alicent: That's not true.
Aegon: He had twenty years to name me heir, and never did. Steadfastly he upheld Rhaenyra's claim.
Alicent: He changed his mind.
Aegon: No. He could have, but he never did. Because he didn't like me.
Rhaenys: Viserys is dead. I grieve this loss with you, Rhaenyra. My cousin, your father, possessed a kind heart. [pause] There is more. Aegon has been crowned as his successor.
Rhaenyra: They crowned him?
Daemon: How did Viserys die?
Rhaenys: I could not say.
Rhaenyra: How long ago?
Rhaenys: A day past, perhaps two. I was made a prisoner in my quarters while the Queen made her preparations.
Daemon: Viserys has been slain!
Rhaenyra: Alicent demanded you declare for Aegon?
Rhaenys: She did. I refused her.
Daemon: And yet you are alive.
Rhaenys: The High Septon crowned Aegon in the Dragonpit. I witnessed it myself just before I fled on Meleys.
Rhaenyra: They crowned him before the masses?
Rhaenys: So that the masses would see him as their rightful king.
Daemon: That whore of a Queen murdered my brother and stole his throne, and you could have burnt them all for it!
Rhaenys: A war is like to be fought over this treachery, to be sure, but that war is not mine to begin. I only rushed this warning to you out of loyalty to my husband and to my House. The Greens are coming for you, Rhaenyra, and your children.
Lord Bartimos Celtigar: Pray forgive my bluntness, Your Grace, but talk of men is moot. Your cause owns a power that has not been seen in this world since the days of Old Valyria. Dragons.
Rhaenyra: The Greens have dragons as well.
Daemon: They have three adults, by my count. We have Syrax, Caraxes and Meleys. Your sons have Vermax, Arrax and Tyraxes. Baela has Moondancer...
Rhaenyra: Daemon, none of our dragons have been to war.
DDaemon
There are also unclaimed dragons. Seasmoke still resides on Driftmark. Vermithor and Silverwing dwell on the Dragonmount, still riderless. Then there are three wild dragons, all of whom nest here.
Rhaenyra: And who is to ride them?
Daemon: Dragonstone has thirteen to their four. I also have a score of eggs incubating in the Dragonmont. Now, we need a place to gather, a toehold large enough to house a sizeable force. Here, at Harrenhal. We cut off the west, surround King's Landing with the dragons, and we can have every Green head mounted on spikes before the fucking moon turns!
