Considering House of the Dragon is a prequel to Game of Thrones, there were bound to be similarities. And there’s a character who’s as manipulative as Littlefinger – but much more evil… Spoiler alert: the following article contains major spoilers for both House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones.
The latest episode of House of the Dragon once again proved that the prequel series is just as good as Game of Thrones (GOT).
But it also proved that hundreds of years before the events of GOT and long before Lord Petyr Baelish AKA Littlefinger was manipulating the people of Westeros, there was someone even more manipulative – Lord Larys Strong.
If you’re a GOT fan, you’ll remember Littlefinger was constantly scheming and masterfully manipulating people; we mean, he’s the one who instigated the War of the Five Kings after all.
So when House of the Dragon first started, many thought Otto Hightower was going to be the Littlefinger counterpart, as his calculated instruction for his daughter, Alicent to comfort King Viserys right after his wife died led to Alicent becoming Queen, and subsequently, her child – his grandchild – becoming a strong contender for the Iron Throne.
But it’s now clear, thanks to Episode 6 – The Princess and the Queen, that while Otto is clearly Machiavellian, Larys is even more so. Queen Alicent confided in Larys that she wanted her father to be the Hand of the King. And so, Larys of his own accord used his guile to make it happen. How?
Larys promised desperate prisoners, who were to be hanged, their freedom – only if they were willing to make a sacrifice and then carry out a deed for him. That sacrifice? Getting their tongues cut out so they can’t implicate or expose Larys in the future.
The deed? Killing the current Hand of the King so the position would be open for Otto to fill. Of course, this is extremely twisted but what makes it truly – for lack of a better word – f*cked up, is that the current Hand of the King was Lord Lyonel Strong, Larys’ own father!
Larys then confesses what he did to Alicent and essentially says (or rather, lies) he thought she had requested it. While Alicent’s horrified, it’s clear that she’s now indebted to Larys because her father will most likely become the Hand of the King. Larys even says he knows that Alicent will “reward him”; if that’s not manipulative, we don’t know what is.
It’s also worth mentioning that not only did Larys gain favour with the Queen by killing his father, but he also now becomes Lord of Harrenhal – because he had his older brother, Ser Harwin Strong killed too.
We’d argue this entire scheme is definitely darker than anything Littlefinger ever did during GOT’s run. And considering Larys has done something so drastic, so early on in House of the Dragon, we’re excited but frightened to see what he’ll do next…
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