Daemon: I would thank you for your help, but I'm not sure yet what your purpose has been.
Alys: I’ve done the queen a service. I put 40,000 rivermen at her call. Tell her I want Harrenhal. I've lived there all my long life, and I've seen it given from hand to hand. And yet none seem to cherish it. Why should it not come to me?
Daemon: You have neither name, nor title, nor noble husband. The crown is not in the habit of giving out castles to midwives.
Alys: And is midwife the sum of what you think I am?
Daemon: I will speak with her. Perhaps there is some other reward she may extend your way.
Alys: "Some other reward." I ask for food, and you offer me rubies. For all their worth, they will never satisfy my hunger. Go home, Daemon. But do not come back here! Remember what I told you.
Alicent: Rhaenyra Targaryen approaches, Ser Freddryk. She comes with Prince Daemon and more besides. The king has abdicated; the prince regent himself has fled the city. Will you fight and be burned, and King's Landing along with you, or will you suffer her to enter, and hope for peace?
Ser Rickard: You are brazen; I credit you this. Brazen or thick.
Daemon: I suppose that depends on whether I win or lose.
Daemon: [as he brings in Otto Hightower] The rats in the Black Cells have grown uncommon big!
[about the lack of proof of Aegon's death]
High Septon Balman: You understand that if there has been some kind of error...
Rhaenyra: Oh, there has been no error. I am my father's heir, and the gods themselves decree that I must rule the Seven Kingdoms. Have they not raised me up and cast the usurper into ruin?
High Septon Balman: That has happened; it is true.
Rhaenyra: How has it happened if they did not will it?
[Rhaenyra takes the High Septon's hand]
Rhaenyra: A dragon appeared to me in my greatest need.
High Septon Balman: My gods do not deal in dragons. They are a profane magic, created in darkness and pride and lust for power, for impunity. They destroy, but they do not create. There is not good that can come of them.
[Rhaenyra steps back and chuckles stiffly]
Rhaenyra: You have made your position exceedingly clear.
[Rhaenyra walks away]
High Septon Balman: With respect, I advise you - do not make an enemy of the Faith. It exhorts and comforts and binds together your people. Underestimate it at your peril.
Corlys: Will you not bring your Small Council here from Dragonstone? There is much to take in hand.
Rhaenyra: They betrayed me in their silence, if not in deed. I'm done with them.
[Rhaenyra tells Corlys she will not legitimize his sons]
Corlys: I have given all I had, everything, in service to you. My castle lies in ashes, and I have asked no favor in return but this!
Rhaenyra: You know very well the rumors that have dogged my sons from the first. My reign has just begun; I cannot in this moment be seen to raise up those... born outside of noble troth.
Corlys: And so you will insult my house; so that you may be seen to be something you are not.
Rhaenyra: I have Joffrey to think of.
Corlys: I was staunch in my defense when your own troth was... doubted.
Rhaenyra: Yes, and I thank you for this, among many other things! But all eyes look to me now. Perhaps, one day, when there is not so much scrutiny...
Corlys: You are ashamed.
Rhaenyra: Well... it is a matter of legitimacy.
Corlys: [leans in pointedly] Your son, Joffrey... is a bastard. Your son, Lucerys, whom I accepted as my heir... was a bastard.
Ser Luthor: Lord Corlys!
Corlys: [yells as Rhaenyra walks away] Your son Jacaerys lived and died a bastard! Say aloud to me the reason your children deserve what mine are denied.
Daemon: [about Vhagar and Sheepstealer] They cannot hide for long. Youwil have justice.
Rhaenyra: I will never have justice. But what crumbs of it may be snatched, I will devour.
Rhaenyra: You ruled this realm in all but name while my father lay ill.
Alicent: I did.
[slight pause]
Rhaenyra: I heard petitions today.
Alicent: [understanding] There are many of them, and their needs are many more. It's a... heavy weight.
Rhaenyra: How did you bear it?
Alicent: In truth? You may not rule and remain yourself. There are choices to be made and you may, on occasion, have to turn your face away while people suffer and die. There is in you a door that must shut. You will do things that your heart would have recoiled from before you came to the throne.
Rhaenyra: [scoffs] I acknowledge the struggle, but I dispute that I must become what I am not.
Alicent: Time will tell.
Rhaenyra: My father remained himself.
Alicent: [chuckles darkly] Your father lived in a world of his own construction. You and I have never set foot there.
Daemon: Lord Ormund surrendered - we have your little prince. Though I still say we should have incinerated them all.
Rhaenyra: [shakes her head] I must justify my father's faith in me; rule as he would have wished.
Daemon: At any rate, we must begin.
Rhaenyra: [after meeting Daeron] He's... younger than I imagined.
Daemon: He's a claimant to the throne. You're going to have to kill him.
Alicent: I bore Viserys three Targaryens. But with the last, my last, I wanted him to be a Hightower. In truth, I'm glad I waged that battle, seeing now what came of our other sons. Perhaps sending Daeron away was my truest act of motherhood. Though I do not know now what fate that choice has consigned him.
Rhaenyra: Fathers have a maddening capacity to at once inspire and incense, don't you think?
Ormund: So, you swore to her out of fear?
Sharis: We swore because she is the Queen.
Ormund: Is she? [Ormund rises slowly from his bath] Or is she a bitch with a dragon?
Hugh: I understand that Ser Ulf is to be sent to Tumbleton.
Rhaenyra: He is.
Hugh: If it pleases Your Grace, I offer to take the watch on Vermithor.
Rhaenyra: Your wife is at Tumbleton, is she not? Ser Ulf has no stake in the matter.
Hugh: Send me, because I do. I will not tire of watching when one I love is below.
