House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5 on HBO ends on two terrifying cliffhangers that mark huge departures from George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood.

**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5, now streaming on HBO Max**

First, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) discovers a grisly scene where several of his gold cloaks — including Head of the City Watch, Ser Luthor Largent (Tom Cullen) — have been murdered, disemboweled, and arranged at a “Feast for Traitors.”

At the same time, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Helaena (Phia Saban) have discovered the secret passageway that leads from Rhaenrya’s (Emma D’Arcy) old bedroom, where they are being kept. Desperate to escape, they follow the corridor only to come to a dead end. Helaena drops her lantern, plunging them in darkness, just as Alicent explains that they are trapped since the door latched behind them.

So who killed Ser Luthor and his men? Is that how Ser Luthor Largent dies in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood? And what’s going to happen next to Alicent and Helaena?

Here’s everything you need to know about the end of House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5 on HBO and HBO Max…

House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5 Ending Explained: Who Killed the Gold Cloaks? How Does Ser Luthor Largent Die in the Books?

One of the big reveals in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5 is that Ormund Hightower (James Norton) has been organizing the deadly attacks on Rhaenyra’s gold cloaks. He’s been paying allies in King’s Landing with newly minted gold coins that herald Prince Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as the new king of Westeros. So, yes, Ormund is behind that gruesome “Feast For Traitors,” but there’s something all together more chillingly brilliant about his plan.

You see, because Rhaenyra has become paranoid about her reputation, she’s allowed the gold cloaks to attack civilians with impunity. It creates a situation where the more the gold cloaks lash out, the more the smallfolk will resent them. The more gold cloaks who are murdered, the more Daemon and Rhaenyra will retaliate. It’s cycle of attrition that further destabilizes Rhaenyra’s reign.

Interestingly, Ser Luthor Largent does not die like this in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. Instead, he exists as Rhaenyra’s most brutal enforcer up until the smallfolk launch their own violent uprising against Rhaenyra. Legend had it that the first civilian death in the riots came when Ser Luthor trampled a little girl under his horse. Smallfolk crowded Ser Luthor, pulled him off said horse, stabbed and bludgeoned him to death.

So, Luthor’s death is different in Martin’s books, but thematically follows the same trajectory. He was extra cruel to the smallfolk on Team Black’s behalf, and the people — potentially paid by Ormund — retaliated in kind.

Do Alicent and Helaena Die Trapped in the Walls of the Red Keep?

Uh…so Alicent and Helaena do NOT die trapped in the secret passages of the Red Keep in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. Many truly terrible things will happen to them, but this particular dramatic storyline has been invented for the HBO show.

So will Alicent and Helaena be stuck in the walls of the Red Keep going forward on House of the Dragon? Our best guess is no. The door back to Rhaenyra’s old bedroom might be locked on their end, but it stands to reason that someone — perhaps Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) or Rhaenyra herself — might check in on the women after their recent, more blatant escape attempt.

There’s also the very strong possibility that Daemon will launch a full investigations into the castle’s secret passages to figure out how a group of killers managed to sneak in and attack the gold cloaks. Daemon knows all the Red Keep’s secrets better than most and might stumble upon Alicent and Helaena himself.

How Do Alicent and Helaena Die in House of the Dragon?

We don’t yet know how HBO’s House of the Dragon will handle the fates of Alicent Hightower and her daughter Helaena, but we know what happens to them in George R.R. Martin’s version of events.

In Fire & Blood, Helaena dies by suicide after she learns her youngest son, Maelor, has been brutally torn apart by a mob. It seems that the show might be setting up Helaena’s pregnancy — and her instance on keeping the child despite the situation — to have the baby be born only for Rhaenyra and her allies to kill it.

In the books, Alicent manages to survive the civil war, but eventually dies of a sickness called the Winter Fever that hit Westeros a few years later.