Just in case it wasn’t obvious, there are spoilers ahead for “House Of The Dragon” Episode 8.
Hi, hello! How are we doing House Of The Dragon fans? I ask because that was an emotional rollercoaster of an episode and I, personally, am still trying to process everything.
From watching Daemon neatly behead Vaemond Velaryon after he dared to call Rhaenyra’s children bastards, to understanding how a single miscommunication between Viserys, who was on his deathbed, and Alicent led to the huge battle to come, a lot bloody happened, so it was easy to miss some clever and important details.
One of them, as pointed out by @inkbugfic on Twitter, directly relates to the symbolism of Viserys’ golden mask, which is used to cover his body’s deterioration from leprosy
viserys face rotting away to bone on the side where the hightowers sit and his good eye on the side where rhaenyra and daemon and their family sit, delicious symbolism
Twitter: @inkbugfic
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Paddy Considine, who plays Viserys in House Of The Dragon, confirmed that this was the king’s illness.
During the all-important supper scene in Episode 8, which featured many of the characters raising toasts to one another in an effort to honour Viserys’ wish to unite his entire family and fix things, the seating of the Hightowers and Targaryens was very important.
On Viserys’ left, which is the side of his face that is not covered by the mask, we have Rhaenyra, his first-born child, as well as his brother, Daemon, and Jacaerys and Lucerys — Rhaenyra’s children. To the House Of The Dragon fandom, they would be known as Team Black.
Meanwhile, on Viserys’ right, which is where the mask hides his rotting face, we have the Hightowers, which includes Alicent, his wife (the queen), Otto (the hand), as well as Aemond, Aegon and Helaena, who are Alicent’s children. To the House Of The Dragon fandom, they’re known as Team Green.
As @inkbugfic notes, this is “delicious symbolism” to portray the Hightowers’ history of presenting a shiny, clean and noble image, while actually being rotten to the core.
This important detail doesn’t only happen during the dinner scene though. Throughout the episode, Rhaenyra appears on her father’s left side, while Alicent is on the right.
Series like Game of Thrones and House Of The Dragon are known for their easter eggs, so this definitely feels intentional.
Another Twitter user pointed out that Viserys’ golden mask could be a reference to the Viserys we see in Game Of Thrones, who, if you’ll remember, died after Khal Drago poured molten gold on him.
@inkbugfic Not to mention his vaguely melted gold face matching his namesakes death hundreds of years down the line.
Twitter: @scrapsofsnow
Far out! I didn’t even notice these details, so shoutout to the fans who did and pointed them out for the rest of us. What other things did you notice in this week’s House Of The Dragon episode?
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ishabassi/house-of-the-dragon-episode-8-detail-viserys-mask