Guys, I hate to say it, but I think House of the Dragon‘s Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) is going to be a bad queen.
No, it’s not because of how she keeps alienating allies like Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), or how she springs to execute her detractors among the smallfolk of King’s Landing. And no, it’s not because of the crises she inherited, like a depleted treasury or a starving, restless city.
Instead, it’s because she dares disrespect the Targaryens’ most fun tradition. Don’t worry, it’s not incest. It’s the Small Council’s marbles.
First seen in House of the Dragon‘s Season 1 premiere, these multi-colored balls serve as a way for the members of the Small Council to clock into work. Once you put your marble in your dish, you’re punched in and ready to help rule the realm.
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The marbles are an aesthetically pleasing world-building detail, but they’re also versatile: In Season 1, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) kills Lord Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson) by smashing his skull into his own marble. In Season 2, King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) fiddles with his own ball during a meeting, even letting his son Jaehaerys give it a spin. Forget their potential as a bureaucratic tool or murder weapon; these marbles just seem fun to play with.
Which brings me to my beef with Rhaenyra. In House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 4, she tells Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) that he is welcome to stay on her Small Council so long as he remains loyal. When he goes to clock in with his marble, she stops him, calling them “relics of a dead regime.”
Respectfully, Rhaenyra, how dare you? The Small Council balls have been a delightful way for members to announce their presence. They allow every member to have some colorful flair, they sound great when they plunk into place, and they look so fun to play with. Would you deny your team the satisfaction of a little ball to fidget with? Ruling the realm is a stressful task, Rhaenyra! Maybe you’ll find that playing with a big old marble is a much better way to decompress than taking your worries out on the smallfolk.
But what worries me most about Rhaenyra’s statement isn’t her clear hatred of a fun time. It’s the fact that she declares the marbles a relic of a dead regime, meaning Aegon’s. Yet the marbles were in place during her father Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) reign, and likely during the reigns of many of the Targaryens who came before. Is she so blinded by hatred of Aegon that she would dismiss her father’s relatively peaceful rule? Is she over prior Targaryen patriarchal regimes in general and hoping to have her own Daenerys Targaryen “break-the-wheel”-style moment? Or did she just forget the marbles even existed during her many years away from the Red Keep? (I know, who could forget them?) Whatever the reason, Rhaenyra’s on thin ice post-marble gate. Let the Small Council play with their balls!
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HBO
House of the Dragon
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