House of the Dragon quotes

Rhaenyra: Do you take issue with me, Ser Alfred?

Ser Alfred Broome: My loyalty to you is proven, my queen.

Rhaenyra: Your loyalty, perhaps, but not your willingness to give me deference in a time of war.

Ser Alfred Broome: I could never doubt your capability, or your quickness of mind. It is merely that the gentler sex, heretofore, has not been much privy to the strategies of battle, or their execution.

Rhaenyra: There has been peace in our lifetime. You've seen no more battles than I have.

Daemon: I came here to raise swords, not corpses.

Lord Willem Blackwood: But now you see what my house has known for generations. They are pigheaded, intransigent. They would rather burn than succumb.

Daemon: Exactly the kind of men I need. It may yet be possible, I think, for both of us to achieve our ends.

Lord Willem Blackwood: We have fought them for an age and more.

Daemon: Then perhaps you could try less fighting and more persuading.

Lord Willem Blackwood: They are unyielding in battle. But every man has a weakness.

Daemon: You take my meaning, then. There are things the Crown itself must not been seen to do. Show them your worst.

Rhaenyra: The way they spoke at my small council today.

Mysaria: Do they hold you responsible for Rhaenys and her dragon?

Rhaenyra: I would rather they had. They speak around me, not to me. They would make me queen, but they wish to keep me here, confined.

Mysaria: They betray their own smallness.

Rhaenyra: In truth, I cannot fault them. I am now the sovereign. I cannot do as I please. And war has ever been for men to make.

Mysaria: You are your father's chosen successor.

Rhaenyra: He did not prepare me to fight. If I had been a son, a sword thrust into my hand the moment I could walk. Instead, I was given my father's cup, taught the name of every lord and castle between Storm's End and the Twins, but not the difference between hilt and foible. And they know it. And Daemon as well.

Kat: Are we not beggars already? Have you been paid for those machines you were forced to build?

Hugh: The king has promised payment.

Kat: The king has lied! By all means, stay and wait for his empty promises, husband. With them, you can feed the mouths of ghosts.

Daemon: You should address me as "my king."

Ser Simon Strong: But you're the prince.

Daemon: What would you call the husband of the Queen?

Ser Simon Strong: Well, the King...

Daemon: There it is, then.

Ser Simon Strong: ..consort.

Daemon: That last bit seems unnecessary, don't you think?

Aemond: Remind me of your place on the small council.

Alicent: You know very well I represented your father during the last years of his life, and I have been a councilor to Aegon.

Aemond: Capably so. My father's dead and Aegon is ... You served the realm well at a time of need. That need is ended. You are no longer obliged.

Alicent: It's not a matter of obligation. This council has need of a tempering voice.

Aemond: We have more than enough of those, if you ask me.

Alicent: You have the impetuousness of youth and its arrogance, neither of which is to be desired in a king.

Aemond: I release you of your seat, such as it was. I'm sure you'll be much pleased to return to more domestic pursuits.

Alicent: Have the indignities of your childhood not yet sufficiently been avenged?

Aemond: You have the gratitude of the crown.

Ser Steffon Darklyn: [after Rhaenyra suggests that he become a dragonrider] I am but a man. The dragons are gods. Your Grace honors me beyond what I deserve.

Rhaenyra: You understand your peril, Ser Steffon? I do not compel you to do this. It has never been attempted before. To claim a dragon, you must also be prepared to die.

Ser Steffon Darklyn: I well understand the risk and I accept it with gladness. I swore to ward my queen with all my strength, and to give my blood for hers. That is my oath, Your Grace.

Rhaenyra: Then perhaps the gods will favor us.

Daemon: There's something wrong with me. Someone poisoned me. The food, the wine. Or else it's this swamp air, or...

Alys: The ghost of Harren the Black moaning his curses from Kingspyre Tower?

Daemon: Drivel! All of it! The ghosts, the curses, the blasted weirwood bed! I'm done with it!

Alys: Ah, yes. It is your way, is it not? When something does not please you, you run. Dragonstone, the Stepstones, Pentos, Harrenhal.

Daemon: I awake and I do not know where I've been.

Alys: There are older things in this world than you or I, or living memory. You are not the player, but a piece on the board. As am I, for that matter.

Daemon: I am not like you.

Alys: In some ways, no. You struggle to see there's an anger that blinds you.

Daemon: She never even wanted it. The crown. She spared no thought to it.

Alys: Well, that's perhaps why your brother gave the crown to her. Perhaps those who strive for it are the least suited to wear it.

Daemon: Don't lecture me!

Alys: Viserys never wanted it himself, if you recall. It came to him, and he did his best. It’s not a prize to be won, but a burden to bear.

Larys: Take heart, Your Grace, you've already written yourself into legend. You survived dragonfire. But I'm afraid you will never be whole. Orwyle has exhausted his abilities. He's bound your leg, but you will never run again. Your mind is all that remains to you. I do not say that gladly. I came screaming into the world in the bowels of one of Harren's great towers. My lungs were strong, but my foot so twisted that my father named it sorcery. Accusing a member of our household of casting maligned spells. Well. People will pity you either behind your back or in your presence. And they will stare at you, at you, or turn away. And they will underestimate you. And this will be your advantage.

Aegon: No, n… No.

Larys: Your brother rules in your place now, which means that your life is in danger. But I think you know that.

Aegon: [weakly] Help me.

Rhaenyra: I do not think I can win this war.

Mysaria: I think you are tired.

Rhaenyra: My own son questions my capabilities. He thinks I need Daemon at my side. And Daemon himself.

Mysaria: He has ever done what suits Daemon.

Rhaenyra: He was everything I wanted to be. Carefree. And dangerous. A man. And I was what he wanted. Cherished by my father and made my father's heir. We were halves of a whole.

Mysaria: He's never been at peace.

Rhaenyra: He wished to possess me, but not to be possessed and to see me take hold, finally, of what he always believed to be his. I fear what he may now do. I fear he may have turned against me.

Mysaria: It is more his way to disappear.

Rhaenyra: In either case, I have lost him and Caraxes with him. Rhaenys and her dragon are dead. I have Syrax and two young beasts. We cannot take on Vhagar alone. And I have no army.

Mysaria: You have the Velaryon fleet and the men who fight in it.

Rhaenyra: It’s not enough. And even if we somehow prevailed, how will I rule a kingdom when my own son doubts me?

Mysaria: You have me.

Rhaenyra: You have my thanks. Truly.

Mysaria: It was my father. I was still a child. He had his pleasure with me. And when, after many months of this, it became evident that his seed had taken root. [points to her groin] There is a scar here as well. I cannot bear children. He left me for dead. But I lived.

Rhaenyra: I'm so sorry.

Mysaria: Swore to myself I would never trust another. And that oath has stood me well. This world is cold and cruel, and there are few in it who are steadfast. You, I think, are steadfast. You have seen me as worthy, as an equal, even. Because of that, I will serve you. I believe you are meant to be queen.

Rhaenyra: You stand before the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, with a dragon of House Targaryen.

Addam: I had no design upon it.

Rhaenyra: What do you want?

Addam: To learn the ways of dragonriders. And to serve my Queen. [kneels] Your Grace.

Rhaenyra: [approaches cautiously] You kneel quickly for a man so suddenly elevated.

Addam: This Dragon came to me, not I to him. I have sweated blood in service to House Velaryon. I may appear lowborn, but I know much and more of service. And if the Gods call me to greater things, who am I to refuse them?

Rhaenyra: Stand. [Addam stands] What is your parentage?

Addam: My mother was a shipwright. My father is no one of consequence.

Rhaenyra: And your ancestors? Any of House Targaryen?

Addam: We're not the sort of family to keep annals, Your Grace.

Rhaenyra: What is your name?

Addam: Addam.

Rhaenyra: You have done something I feared impossible, Addam. I am glad of it. Do you think you can get him to Dragonstone?

Addam: I can try.

Rhaenyra: Seasmoke chose him. He surely has Targaryen blood in him somewhere. The dragon must sense it. There will be others. We will find riders for Vermithor and Silverwing.

Mysaria: You trust this man?

Rhaenyra: What choice do I have? He has a dragon. Without him, I have only Syrax who may give Aemond a second thought. The question is where to look. Targaryen blood was perhaps too thin in Ser Steffon Darklyn. If I can find others with a more direct line of breeding.

Mysaria: Forgive me, Your Grace, but you are better served looking under the sheets and in the woodpiles. I once worked in a pleasure house where generations of Targaryen princelings had their revels. There are four score of their bastard progeny at least, that are known to me. There are sure to be more. Perhaps some here, on Dragonstone, the misbegotten offspring of your house.

Rhaenyra: You speak of the lowborn.

Mysaria: They are as like to serve you as highborn lords or ladies, perhaps more.

Rhaenyra: But in the highborn houses there is an ancient fealty. There is honor.

Mysaria: Your royal half-brothers, Aegon and Aemond, whose blood is pure, who wage war against you for your throne, are they bound by honor? A common shipwright vows to serve you while your brothers seek to destroy you. The order of things has changed, Your Grace. Why not embrace it?

Rhaenyra: For twenty years, the lords of this realm levied insults at my sons, behind my back. [pause] Well then. Let us raise an army of bastards.

Jace: The lowborn claiming dragons, was it her idea? Lady Mysaria?

Rhaenyra: You were enthusiastic enough when Ser Steffon made his claim.

Jace: He was the Lord Commander of the Queensguard, heir to the Dunfort. These people are...

Rhaenyra: Courageous.

Jace: Mongrels!

Rhaenyra: Jace, think what is at stake.

Jace: I know well what is at stake. House Targaryen is the blood of the dragon. If any may lay claim to it, what are we then?

Rhaenyra: The rightful rulers of the Seven Kingdoms.

Jace: And what if one of your baseborn, silver-haired dragonriders decides he wants to rule the Seven Kingdoms? Did the Conqueror's Dream foretell that?

Rhaenyra: What else would you have me do? Prosecute a war, which we will lose, in which thousands will die? Or fly against Vhagar myself? Or perhaps you will fly against her on Vermax? Jace, with these riders, we can end a needless war. I may take my rightful place on my father's throne.

Jace: And when you die?

Rhaenyra: You are my heir!

Jace: Did you think I would have dark hair? When you took Harwin Strong into your bed, did you think I might favor him, or did it not cross your mind?

Rhaenyra: Jacaerys...

Jace: I'm no fool, Mother! The proof is here for all to see! Yet I might argue my legitimacy to succeed you because I have a dragon. And now you say you will strip that from me too.

Rhaenyra: I mislike all of this.

Jace: Then don't pursue it.

Rhaenyra: But I cannot gainsay that which the Gods have laid before me.

Rhaenyra: I used to think I knew what it was to claim a dragon, but I understand now that what I thought I knew is ash in the wind. Perhaps it is blood. Or worth. Or perhaps it’s something else. Each of you has left behind a life to answer this call. A life to which you might never return. If you survive, you will be transformed. No man or woman can face a dragon and be otherwise. Some of you may welcome the prospect of change, even death, given the alternatives: privation, starvation, war. This is our purpose, to end those hardships. For you, for your kin, for all the realm. With these two dragons added to our number, the enemy will have no choice but to give way. And peace will be restored, suffering will be ended, and without bloodshed gods willing.

Lord Oscar Tully: You'll forgive me, Your Grace. I am green in this sort of matter, as you so kindly point out, but it does seem to me that you've made rather a mess here, countenancing barbarities in the Queen's name.

Daemon: Whose side are you on?

Lord Oscar Tully: The Riverlands are held together by oaths. House Tully swore an oath to King Viserys. We recognize the authority of the named heir, Queen Rhaenyra, and your own as her king consort.

Daemon: Good. Then we shall go to face your vassals and you will call your banners to war.

Lord Oscar Tully: That might be difficult, my king.

Daemon: Well, I was told they would come to heel when House Tully declared its allegiance.

Lord Oscar Tully: That may be the case, though it is yet to be seen that they will heed my authority as young as it is. And there is another problem. They all hate you.

Daemon: I don't need their love. I need their swords.