Aegon: I am the King. Why must I run?
Larys: Because the Prince Regent is going to kill you. You were in danger before, and now? He is thwarted. He is angry. There's no telling what he will do. We have an opportunity while he is away...
Aegon: An opportunity to push him out. Take me to my throne. And once he returns I shall take him prisoner.
Larys: And what then? When Rhaenyra descends upon you with her seven dragons, and you without Vhagar, what then? I have, over the years, in anticipation of little bumps in the road, moved the greater part of Harrenhal's gold reserves to the Iron Bank of Braavos. We can live well, and remain until what is coming has passed.
Aegon: [laughs bitterly] You want to take me to Essos, to live with the goatfuckers.
Larys: It's best to live, I think, however you do it.
Aegon: Is it? My dragon is dead. I am burned and disgusting and alone. And I'm a cripple...
Larys: You're not alone.
Aegon: My cock is destroyed. Did they tell you that? Burst into flames like a sausage on a spit.
Larys: Do not despair, Your Grace, there are better days ahead. Let your brother and the pretender destroy themselves in blood and bitterness. And when they are spent, and their armies in tatters, we will return. And the people will rise up to meet us.
Aegon: I can't even piss without it running down my leg...
Larys: They will be tired of endless deprivation and fear. They will hail the returning King. His father's true heir. Aegon the Victorious, risen from the ashes. Aegon the Peacemaker. Aegon the Rebuilder.
Aegon: [smiling, convinced] Aegon the Realm's Delight.
Gwayne: [holding his sword at Ser Criston's throat] Do you think nothing of your oath, "Lord Commander?"
Criston: I think of nothing else, My Lord.
Gwayne: A steward's son from Dorne fucking the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms?
Criston: Former Queen. She has broken no oaths, for all I may have done.
Gwayne: I could send you to the Wall.
Criston: You could. And stain the Hightower name for a generation. The King's mother and his Hand...
Gwayne: She is my sister!
Criston: She saved my life. Twice. Once from the headsman's axe and once from myself. Since then, she has been the beacon I follow. [Ser Gwayne sighs and lowers his sword] Do not think I have no shame in me, Ser. Desire for women has brought me grief after grief.
Gwayne: Then resist it!
Criston: Oh, would that it were so simple.
Gwayne: Your brothers in the Kingsguard find a way.
Criston: Do they? Perhaps they do. Or perhaps all men are corrupt. And true honor is a mist that melts in the morning.
Gwayne: That is a bleak philosophy.
Criston: I have no philosophy. Or rather, my philosophy was this. [picks up his sword] Protect the righteous and dispense justice upon the rest. But now? [lowers his sword] You saw what I saw. The dragons dance, and men are like dust under their feet. And all our fine thoughts, all our endeavors are as nothing. We march now toward our annihilation. To die will be a kind of relief, don't you think?
Aemond: [pulling Helaena roughly by the arm] They have defiled our birthright, made commoners into dragonlords! It is a sin and must be punished!
Alicent: May I remind you your sister is still the queen?
Aemond: As you were once! And you see now what is the consequence of your weakness! We are in peril today more than yesterday!
Alicent: Was it peril that moved you to burn the town of Sharp Point? Peril or basest fury at your own humiliation? [Pulls Helaena away] You wish to rule the Seven Kingdoms, but you rain ruin and death upon its smallfolk when you've been insulted because it makes you feel strong, and now you seek to corrupt your sister, of all our line, the gentlest and most deserving of your protection.
Aemond: And who will protect her if she cannot protect herself?
Alicent: And who will she be if her mind is broken?
Aemond: 'Tis no longer our rule that is threatened, our very lives! Would you not have us prevail?
Alicent: Not like this. Not like this!
Daemon: I wasn't expecting you.
Rhaenyra: That seems rather a lapse in foresight. [looks around at the gathered army] I see you have done well here.
Daemon: They are sworn to me. And not a moment too soon.
Rhaenyra: And to whom are you sworn?
Daemon: [in High Valyrian] The world is not what we thought it was. This war is just the beginning. Winter is coming. And with it, darkness and doom.
Rhaenyra: [also in High Valyrian] You sound like my father.
Daemon: I saw it. I saw that we cannot withstand it. And yet, somehow, we must. [switches back to Common] The Realm's only hope is a leader that can unite it, and my brother chose you. [bends the knee] You are the true Queen. Rhaenyra, First of Her Name, Protector of the Realm. I am meant to serve you. And all of these with me, until death, or the end of our story.
[The entire army behind Daemon bends the knee]
Rhaenyra: [in High Valyrian] Leave me again at your peril.
Daemon: [rising] I could not. I have tried. My Queen. [turns and addresses the army] For every one of us who falls, a hundred of them! [draws his sword] There will be no mercy! We fight for our Queen!
Corlys: We join the blockade and are like to find ourselves in peril, sooner than late. I wish to set out on good terms with my First Mate.
Alyn: Have I been remiss in my duties?
Corlys: You've done what is asked of you, and more. But you are curt, silent. The men find you distant. You cannot lead if you do not inspire.
Alyn: I have not asked to lead, as you well know.
Corlys: You have been given a position to which all who serve me aspire.
Alyn: Forgive me, My Lord. I will endeavor to improve myself.
Corlys: I am trying to help you!
Alyn: You want to help me? Is this the "help" you offer after all these years? A reminder to be grateful?
Corlys: I meant no offense. You may go.
Alyn: Do you know what it was like for us? To grow up fatherless? To be sneered upon as bastards? Never sure of the bread to feed us? Do you know what hunger does to a boy? What grief does? Or shame?
Corlys: You are dismissed!
Alyn: I sold fish in the market from cold dawn until sunset, putting up my coppers to stave off the winter. And I watched the man who sired me walk past with his son and heir, with furs around his shoulders, choosing sweetmeats to eat after supper by the fire. And now that boy is dead. And his sister before him. And the heir that took his place. And now, now, now you remember I live! Now you wish to suddenly scatter the crumbs of your favor! I am an honorable man, and I will serve you because I must. But if it is all the same, I will decline any offers of help. If I survive this war, I will continue as I began. Alone.
AAemond
Sister. We share the same blood, you and I. I know you wish no harm to anyone. But in a time like this, when the good of the realm depends on us… Our mother is not a dragonrider. She cannot understand that you and I have a truer call to heed. Come with me… to Harrenhal? We will lay waste to Daemon and his army. Let our enemy see that we will answer outrage with outrage.
HHelaena
And if I refuse? Will you burn me as you did Aegon?
HHelaena
I saw it. You burned him and you let him fall.
AAemond
What you say is treason.
HHelaena
Aegon will be king again. He’s yet to see victory. He sits on a wooden throne. And you… you’ll be dead. You were swallowed up in the God’s Eye, and you were never seen again.
AAemond
I could have you killed.
HHelaena
It wouldn’t change anything.
Rhaenyra: Why have you come here?
Alicent: Aemond will soon fly to join Cole in the Riverlands. When he's gone, Helaena as queen will be the Crown's authority. If you come then to King's Landing, I will see to it that our guards throw down their arms. We will open the gates, we will shed no blood. You will enter as a conqueror. Already you have the stronger hand. Once you take the throne, this senseless war must end.
Rhaenyra: What of Aegon?
Alicent: He's broken beyond recognition. He lies in the dark, in pain and terror. He has many faults, but he still heeds his mother. I believe I can prevail upon him to bend the knee, if indeed...
Rhaenyra: No! Still you defend him. Still you imagine you can have all you want without paying too high a price, a price I had no choice but to pay.
Alicent: What I want is to set things right.
Rhaenyra: If I am to take the throne, I must put an end to the opposition. I must take Aegon's head. And I have to do it for all to see. You know this. However you may try to evade it, you know this. Choose. Will you shrink from what you set out to do? Or will you see it through and make your sacrifice? A son for a son. [after a long moment, Alicent nods] You are much changed.
Alicent: Let us be done with this, please.
Rhaenyra: And what do I do with you now?
Alicent: You let me go, to do what I promised. And you fly to the Red Keep in three days' time, and you take your throne. Or you take me for a liar. I have neither weapon nor armor. My life itself is forfeit. I cast myself on the mercy of a friend who once loved me.
Rhaenyra: History will paint you a villain. A cold queen grasping for power, and then defeated.
Alicent: Let them think what they must. I am at last myself with no ambition greater than to walk where I please and to breathe the open air. To die unremarked and unnoticed and be free.
Rhaenyra: You speak as if from a distant dream.
Alicent: Come with me.
Rhaenyra: My part is here, whether I will or no. It was decided for me long ago.
Larys: Take heart, my king. These are dark hours, but brighter days lie ahead.
Aegon: No. No. I'm the king of nothing. With raven shit for a throne and a cripple for a protector. Oh, I'm fucking pathetic.
Rhaenyra: I have to believe that Alicent's offer was genuine.
Jace: It is a ruse, cloaked in stale friendship!
Rhaenyra: The risk she took in coming here is beyond question...
Jace: And the risks she now asks you to take? To fly to the Greens' stronghold, based on her word alone? It is a trap, Mother, to lure you and Daemon into Vhagar's jaws!
Ser Roderick Dustin: We have come to die for the dragon queen.
Daemon: Very good. We've got more lions to hunt.
Ser Criston: Look around you, Ser Gwayne. Look to the sky; to the horizon. Doom and ruin surround us. We will all become beasts before our end.
Ser Gwayne: Only if we abandon our principles.
Ulf: What do I need with a fucking horse? I've got a dragon.
Addam of Hull: You'd be Ser Ulf, and men would have to show you respect.
Ulf: Men would have to show me respect 'cause of the big fucking dragon!
Helaena: Aemond's frightened, too. After he claimed Vhagar, he forgot what fear was. But he remembers now. He knows that if he has to face Rhaenyra's dragons, he'll die.
Corlys: I cannot fully mend the breach between us. But I do accept that it was of my making. I was fond of your mother. For... whatever we had together. I did try to provide a life for you, for your brother.
Alyn of Hull: A life, perhaps. But never a name.
Ser Lorent: My queen, I have failed you. My life must be forfeit.
Rhaenyra: And what good would that do? Will it wake my son? Will it change the truth of his folly and yours? [to Baela] And yours? All of you, who knew what Jacaerys had done and stood by. Are your lives, too, not forfeit? Have you not betrayed your queen?
