#1.05 we light the way

[dyingroses]

Some House of the Dragon + text posts and stuff

[notalicent]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON + parallels

1.05 | "We Light the Way" 1.08 | "The Lord of the Tides"

[helaenna]

The beacon on the Hightower, do you know what color it glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war? Green?

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.05 "We Light the Way"

[sabrinaacarpenters]

SER HARWIN STRONG in 1.05 "We Light the Way" | HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2022-) (insp)

[miserystargaryen]

what the fuck was that

[daenerys-stormborn]

EMILY CAREY as ALICENT HIGHTOWER in House of the Dragon | 1.05 "We Light the Way"

[rhaenyratargaryencentral]

Rhaenyra Targaryen House of the Dragon 1.05 - “We Light the Way”

[dailyflicks]

House of the Dragon | 1.05 - “We Light the Way”

[dailyhotdgifs]

MILLY ALCOCK as RHAENYRA TARGARYEN HOUSE OF THE DRAGON — 1.05 “We Light the Way”

[dyingroses]

House of the Dragon + art parallels

[notalicent]

Alicent Hightower trying to win the idgaf war at Rhaenyra's wedding — 1.05 | "We Light the Way"

[avelera]

Man, I just put back on OFMD 1.05 (the fancy party episode), and I think one really worthwhile itemization of Stede and Ed interactions would be around how many times Stede appears horrified by Ed's actions, but actually, he might really be horrified for Ed.

And I only bring this up because one common, I think, misinterpretation of Stede was that he's horrified or put off by violence. Understandable, given the face he pulls when, for example, Ed tells Fang to skin the French captain with a snail fork.

But now that we've Season 2, albeit eps. 1-3, including that gorgeous moment where Stede immediately clocked that Ed's trying to burn down the world or die trying, thus signaling that he knows Ed better than anyone, especially Izzy, ever expected... I think we can firmly put the, "Stede doesn't really get Ed," interpretation firmly to rest. It's totally fair that it existed! His facial expressions of horror were often ambiguous and could be read either way.

But I think we can very firmly say: All those times Stede seems horrified at Ed? He's horrified for Ed.

Even in the moment where he sort of gulps when Ed wants the French captain skinned was sort of re-written in my mind as I watched it, in light of Stede getting Ed so well in S2. Suddenly it's not Stede taken aback by extreme violence, no.

Stede is realizing just how deeply hurtful the French captain's words were to Ed. He's not taken aback by the violence of Ed's orders, he's horrified to realize that the French captain's words hurt Ed so badly that this is a proportional response.

Stede doesn't give a fuck about the French captain, by the way. He doesn't lift a finger to prevent it, not because he's afraid, I'd argue, but because he legitimately does not care. The dude is more than a little bit of a sociopath himself, alright, he's adjusting to pirate life but he has also fully embraced pirate life.

And by the way, you don't have to take my word for it that Stede's reaction of horror is for Ed not at Ed, y'know why?

'Cuz of what Stede says in the very next scene, "Edward, are you alright? I could tell that captain got a bit under your skin."

(Haha, get it? Because you skinned that man alive. But I digress.)

No but seriously, Stede does not care about skinning that man alive, whether or not we believe Fang really did it. His priority #1 here, as it will be in Season 2, writ large, is to first make sure Ed is ok and then to help arm him against pain like that in the future.

And all I'm saying is, I bet if we went through each and every other instance of Stede "reacting badly" to Ed's "violence" in light of S2 and Stede getting Ed and only really caring about Ed unless reminded to do otherwise, that all of those reactions are actually Stede reacting with horror to learning what kind of pain Ed has been laboring under, or what kind of pain he's in that he would react with violence to verbal attacks like that.

Because that is something Stede can understand very well.

[daemyradaily]

House of the Dragon | 1.05 - “We Light the Way”

[alicentloyalist]

EMILY CAREY as ALICENT HIGHTOWER in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON ↳ 1.05 - “We Light The Way”

[harwin-strong]

Rhaenyra in 1.05 "We Light the Way"

[gameofthronesdaily]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.05 | We Light the Way