Criston Cole Plans a Glorious Death as Alicent Tries to Flee King's Landing in 'House of the Dragon' Episode 5
In the fifth episode of House of the Dragon's third season, Ser Criston Cole resolves to die in a suicidal attack, while Queen Alicent attempts to flee the Red Keep with her pregnant daughter Helaena.
Criston Cole's death march
After a nighttime raid on the Black camp by the Blackwater Rush, Ser Criston Cole and Ser Gwayne Hightower find their guerrilla tactics turned against them. The rivermen, led by young Oscar Tully and the aged Lord Roderick Dustin, burn bridges and set booby traps that maim the Greens' horses. Cole, his face and clothing streaked with camouflage paint, leads his surviving men on a grim death march. He announces to a despairing Gwayne that he intends to mount a suicidal attack on the Blacks' superior forces, tired of a war where dragons overshadow any knightly valor.
They will sing songs of it, and Queen Alicent herself will hear them.
Aemond's nightmares at Harrenhal
At Harrenhal, Aemond Targaryen lies in the same weirwood bed Daemon once occupied, recovering from a wound. Alys Rivers tends him with her concoctions, but his sleep is tormented by nightmares of his brother Aegon dragging him to hell. Upon waking, he goes fetal in Alys' lap, recalling Helaena's prediction of his death and whimpering for his mother. He blames Alicent for favoring Aegon, a complaint echoed across the realm.
Alicent's desperate gambit
In the Red Keep, Alicent learns that her daughter Helaena is pregnant with a potential rival for Rhaenyra. She conspires with Grand Maester Orwyle to bring an abortifacient tea, but Helaena refuses to drink it, insisting on keeping the child. To throw the Mistress of Whisperers off the scent, Alicent drinks the sickening potion herself. The ruse fails: Mysaria personally stops Alicent and Helaena as they attempt to flee the castle disguised as maids.
Rhaenyra's paranoia
Queen Rhaenyra, meanwhile, is beginning to sound paranoid. Her council squabbles, her son locked her in her bedroom before dying, the gold is gone, and graffiti mocks her rule. She has flooded the city with cats to control rats, but the weight of power leaves her miserable. The episode underscores that nobody wins the Dance of the Dragons.
- Criston Cole and Gwayne Hightower lead a guerrilla attack on the Black camp by the Blackwater Rush.
- Cole, his face streaked with camouflage, announces to Gwayne he will mount a suicidal charge against superior forces.
- At Harrenhal, Aemond dreams of Aegon dragging him to hell, then cries in Alys Rivers' lap and blames his mother.
- Alicent tries to give Helaena moon tea; Helaena refuses, so Alicent drinks it herself to deceive Mysaria.
- Mysaria personally stops Alicent and Helaena from fleeing the Red Keep disguised as maids.
