SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 3 of “House of the Dragon,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Rhaenyra Targaryen has taken her (rightful, if you’re on the “Blacks” side) place on the Iron Throne and is now faced the realities of ruling — and cleaning up the mess left behind by her half-brother, Aegon II.
On this week’s episode of “House of the Dragon,” Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is dealing with rats in the Red Keep, a starving population, trivial demands (like ordering more candlesticks for the palace), trying to balance the freedoms given to her prisoners of war, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Helaena (Phia Saban), a very consequential case of mistaken identity and, ultimately, the choice of whether to battle her enemies in a location that will harm many innocent people.
As if that weren’t enough, Queen Rhaenyra is put in a position no king in Westeros has ever faced when she begins menstruating unexpectedly before taking on her first day on the job.
“I love that amid a broader battle and desire for legitimacy, you get to see a person on the first day of the job, coming in as the equivalent of the CEO finally getting to have a look at the balance sheet,” D’Arcy tells Variety. “I like the pragmatism of that detail that [Episode 3 writer] Sarah Hess wrote in there.”
