Unfortunately for Ser Gwayne Hightower, George R.R. Martin’s source material for House of the Dragon is titled Fire & Blood, not Coming to a Mutually Agreeable Solution to Avoid a Mass Slaughter. But you can’t blame a guy for trying, as the character played by Freddie Fox did in “The Treasons at Tumbleton,” the season three finale of the HBO series.
As he watched Rhaenyra’s much larger army assemble just outside the city—and deprived of the knowledge that Ormund Hightower had successfully convinced one of the queen’s dragonriders to defect to Team Green—Gwayne came up with a desperate plan to head off certain destruction. With the Hightower hostage Lord Corlys Velaryon in tow, he met with Daemon Targaryen and, going behind Ormund’s back, attempted to negotiate. Of course, Daemon, who’s just as bloodthirsty as Ormund, won’t entertain any nonsense about dividing up the Seven Kingdoms and making Queen Rhaenyra share control of the realm with “King Daeron.” He also rejected Corlys’ spontaneous suggestion that Daeron could wed Daemon’s daughter, Rhaena—a tidy way of healing the rift between the families—and be made “Lord Paramount of the Reach.” Nope. Daemon wants heads on spikes. Sorry, Gwayne. But thank you for trying. Fox talked to the Hollywood Reporter about that scene and what it was like going toe-to-toe with the formidable Matt Smith, who plays Daemon.
