The vibeweaving is happening again. The House of the Dragon title sequence tapestry is changing its shape. Do you remember the rosters for Teams Black and Green? Now they’re hitting us with that stirring theme music from the Game of Thrones universe. Got your flashcards for High Valyrian? Tabs on all your Targaryens? It’s been nearly two years since HOTD left us on the cusp of open war. Season 3 of the series dives right back in, like a dragon off a cliff. Time to hang on.

While House of the Dragon was away from television,  A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms took a delightful detour into the future of Westeros. But inside this world, no time has really passed. At Dragonstone, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) weighs the offer Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) brought to her in secret. King’s Landing as an open city, available for capturing, and, as was agreed, the head of throne-usurper Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) on a plate. Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) is in his mother’s ear about this. How can she trust Alicent and the Greens, after what they did to Lucerys and Arrax?

But the real problem with this plan is the stale intel on which it is based. We rejoin Aegon himself, burned and shriveled, as he reigns over a kingdom of bird shit. Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) did indeed smuggle the scalded throne-taker out of the Red Keep in a livestock cart full of ravens (Westeros’s version of emails), with a plan to wait out the war and return in triumph. But they are stopped on the road by soldiers loyal to Rhaenyra, and nearly murdered before Larys reveals their identities. She does not know it yet, but Aegon II will be hand-delivered to Dragonstone as a hostage.

And there are still more immediate developments. The alliance Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) struck with Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) of the Triarchy — you know, via mud wrestling — now sails in force into the narrow inlet known as the Gullet. Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), sailing on The Queen Who Never Was with his estranged son/first mate Alyn (Abubakar Salim), leads Rhaenyra’s fleet. They are outnumbered until the flame monsters appear: Jace on Vermax and Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) on Moondancer. “Dracarys!” is the call for fire in High Valyrian, and Triarchy ships become floating matchstick infernos.      

It was supposed to be Rhaenyra herself on dragonback, protecting the blockade with Syrax. “Bring me my riding leathers!” (How does one disobey one of the coolest-ever direct orders?) But Jace countermanded his mother and had her locked in her chambers with Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno). Rhaenyra’s agency, her capabilities, her wish to lead from the front, forever being throttled by the men who surround their ruler. In frustration, she shreds her formal gown with a dagger. Rhaenyra should just wear her riding leathers all the time.

As The Battle of the Gullet rages across the sea surface, House of the Dragon also makes up for some of the stop-start aimlessness of Season 2. This cannot not be definitive; there will be lasting consequences. Corlys knew Lohar would target him personally, because they have a beef that goes back years. He personally steers his ship through a narrow, rock-strewn route, but Lohar follows on her own vessel, known as Bitchfist, and they collide in a destructive mess of rigging, timber, bloodshed, and flaming arrows. Corlys and Lohar fight with blades and axes, but when they fall overboard, it’s Alyn who steps in. While Corlys disappears under the water, Alyn runs a blade through Admiral Lohar’s belly. 

Here’s the thing about bringing ancient raging flame monsters into conventional human warfare: the beasts don’t always obey those raps in High Valyrian. (Remember the histories: “When dragons flew to war, everything burned.”) At the end of last season, we finally saw Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) make contact with Sheepstealer, the wild dragon of the Vale, and that was where we met her again. But Rhaena’s bond was too tough, her Valyrian swag too different. Sheepstealer turned for Dragonstone with Rhaena onboard, but matched bloodlust with the Gullet battle burning on the horizon. Sheepstealer is too bad, and despite Rhaena’s pleading orders, pours gouts of dragonfire onto friendly ships in the Sea Snake fleet. Sheepstealer even goes after Moondancer and Vermax. This chaos in the sky, and a well-placed grappling harpoon fired from a Triarchy vessel, brings Jacaerys and his mount down.

Rhaenyra has lost another son to this terrible civil war, this Dance of the Dragons. And in King’s Landing, Alicent is trying to salvage what she can from her mission to Dragonstone. While she doesn’t know where Aegon is, she can play to the insecurities that rage inside of her son Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). “You should have been king,” she tells him. She says he should be protected from any dragons Rhaenyra would send. Alicent begs Aemond to take Vhagar to the Riverlands, attack the forces of Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), and then fly to Harrenhal, where he will be safe. And whether it’s a part of his fears over the deathly premonitions of Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban), or a toxic cocktail of oedipal impulse and his thirst for power and control, Aemond Targaryen kisses his mother. As suggested by the look on her face and single tear she sheds, Alicent is repulsed. But she understands it is all strategic. The war continues.  

Hot D’s for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 1:

• We think there are legs to Aegon II and Larys as a comedic duo in the GOT universe. The sequence where they are captured is full of Matthew Needham mugging for the camera and Tom Glynn-Carney bringing out more of his fun, weird tragic-comic portrayal of the damaged would-be king.

• Daemon is covered in other people’s blood when we briefly see him in the Riverlands. We will assume he was like this the whole time HOTD was away. Daemon also meets a cracking new character, perfectly cast: it’s Tommy Flanagan as the warrior Roddy the Ruin, aka Ser Roderick Dustin, “pledged to die for the Dragon Queen,” who throws severed heads around like party favors.

• And now that war is here, there is another warrior making trouble. James Norton joins House of the Dragon as Ormund Hightower, who as Alicent’s first cousin leads a host against Team Black.

• And what of the dragonseed? Rhaenyra’s crew of riders with random Valyrian blood – including Ulf (Tom Bennett) and Alyn’s brother Addam (Clinton Liberty) – are in a holding pattern search for Vhagar when Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) appears. Her “I’m a witch” is a simple retort. But it’s full of the sense of humor that keeps this TV universe steady, even as everything burns.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.