 The rogue prince takes place about six months after the death of Queen Emma and Prince Bailon. Pressure on the capital of Westeros continues to rise, with Viserys Targaryen facing two critical decisions. First, there's the Crabfeeder, whose violent actions and the stepstones are causing direct harm to Lord Corlys Valyrian and his fleet. The Sea Snake wants the Crabfeeder dealt with as soon as possible, but the King isn't so sure. If the Crabfeeder's operation is funded by the Free Cities east of King's Landing, an escalation of conflict could lead to open war. With Viserys and Corlys unable to reach an agreement, newly named heir Rannra proposes her own plan, flying to the stepstones on Dragonback as a show of force. Despite her direct line to the Iron Throne, Rannra's proposal is dismissed flatly, the first of many indications of her low standing among the small council. It's not the only proposal that falls on deaf ears with the King. Again, we turn to Corlys, who approaches Viserys about something entirely different, the King's second marriage. In less than a year since the death of Queen Emma, expectations and overtures for Viserys next Queen have begun to rise. Corlys nominates his own daughter Lina for the position. The Targaryens and Velaryns share Valyrian ancestry. They control two of Westeros' most powerful forces and their union would signal the Crown's strongest days are ahead. On paper, it appears to be a good match. Viserys finds it more difficult to swallow. Lina Valyrian, after all, is only 12 years old. I would give you many children of pure Valyrian blood, so that we might strengthen the royal line and the realm. Lina promises the King in one of the series' most disturbing scenes. Viserys is concerned, but not so much that he doesn't seriously consider the match. As he discusses with his advisor Lionel Strong, marrying Lina would strengthen two of Westeros' most powerful families and go a long way toward resolving any lingering resentments about Viserys' ascension to the throne over Lina's mother, Rhaenys, the Queen who never was. Viserys and Lady Allison Hightower have been meeting in private for the past six months, a match made in the shadows. Unbeknownst to Viserys, Allison's father and Viserys' closest counsel, Otto, has been quietly working to bring the two together. For the time being, no one else, including the Princess Rhaenry, is aware of the King and Allison. You do not mention our talks to Rhaenys, do you? A worried Viserys inquires of his daughter's best friend. I fear that she wouldn't understand them. It is clearly burdened by the secret, torn between competing loyalties to her father, king, best friend, and even herself. It's a much easier one to keep for Viserys, who hasn't spoken to his daughter in months since the Queen's death. Rhaenry is preoccupied with other things, enough to overlook her father and friends growing closeness. For starters, Rhaenry is learning to accept her role as the heir to the Iron Throne. Rhaenry takes on another important task, filling a vacancy in the Kingsguard, after the small council ignores her advice on the crab feeder situation. Ser Kristen Cole, the only candidate with real combat experience, most recently demonstrated during his joust against Prince Demon, is quickly chosen. She has no other reasons for choosing Kristen. Late in the episode, Rhaenry faces another challenge, a duel with her exiled uncle, Demon. Since his exile from King's Landing, the titular rogue prince has been stationed at Dragonstone, boasting about the ancestral Targaryen residence. His most daring act was sneaking into King's Landing and stealing a dragon egg to put in the crib of his unborn son, the same egg that had been set aside for Rhaenry's late brother Baelin, the heir for a day. Viserys, enraged, intends to confront Demon directly. Otto talks him down, saying it would be far too dangerous for the King, especially with only one heir. So the hand goes straight to Dragonstone, confronting the prince on the castle's bridge in a beautifully tense, cinematic encounter. The sun is low in the sky, and the threat of steel is right there with it, as Demon and Otto's conflict reaches a bloody climax. The only thing stopping the violence is Demon's snarling dragon, Korax's The Blood Worm, and the unexpected arrival of Princess Rhaenry on her own dragon, Syrax. Looking up into Demon's cold, Valyrian eyes. If words are wind, these are positively gale-forced, capable of knocking Demon down a notch or two. He returns the dragon egg, and Rhaenry returns home, expecting to be greeted as a hero. Instead, her father, who is furious at her unauthorized flight to Dragonstone, chestizes her. But, as is typical when dragons are involved, the frostiness melts quickly. Viserys and Rhaenry have their first honest conversation in months, finally seeing eye to eye, not just on their shared grief over Rhaenry's mother's death, but also on Viserys' need to marry again in order to secure the family line. These words turn out to be rather windy in and of themselves. Later, in broad daylight, Viserys declares his intention to marry Allison Hightower, shocking everyone in his life, his daughter, Lord Corliss, the rest of the small council, and possibly Allison herself. The cost of a choice made for love, if that's what this is, is high for Viserys. It ensures separation from Lord Corliss, but also from his daughter. Worse, it separates Rhaenry and Allison, a decision that will prove as deadly as any in the Game of Thrones universe. To put it another way, if Viserys choosing Rhaenry as his heir is the pivotal decision on which the House of the Dragon is built, then his surprise engagement to Allison is only slightly off-center, but crucial enough to define everything that follows. In the final scenes of the Rogue Prince, the rejected sea snake, nursing his wounded pride after the king's rejection, seeks an unlikely ally in his crusade against Kroghastra Har, Viserys's brother, Demon. Corliss pitches the prince on a completely different alliance, one that will bind them both in a bloody battle against the stepstones' scourge. House of the Dragon has matched Game of Thrones in terms of violence and political intrigue in just two episodes. We'll see how it handles its depiction of all-out war in its next act, as the Rogue Prince takes flight and fights his way to the crab feeder. All rages like a snake and dragon scorned.