House of the Dragon: Rhaenyra’s Young Suitor Is More Important to the Story Thank You Think
House of the Dragon’s fourth episode continues one of the season’s most important storylines, following Rhaenyra on the excursion to choose a husband, something she has been adamant about not wanting to do. One of the potential suitors arrives at the start of the episode in a young knight, with whom Rhaenyra clearly has next to no interest. That knight obviously won’t turn into her husband, yet he does have a major part to play later in her story. He’ll be coming around again.
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the fourth episode of House of the Dragon! Keep reading at your own risk…
At the start of the episode, Rhaenyra is listening to the offers of several suitors, part of a matchmaking tour that her father set up. One of those suitors is a kid a lot younger than Rhaenyra named Samwell Blackwood. Rhaenyra doesn’t want to marry the kid, obviously, and dismisses him. Another one of the suitors is bugging Samwell, causing him to draw his sword on the a lot greater man. As Rhanerya leaves the structure, Samwell can be seen chopping down the greater competitor, surprising the audience and telling us there may be something more to him. Eventually, we will figure out that there is.
Who Is Samwell Blackwood?
House Blackwood descends from the First Men and has a history of force in the Riverlands. At one time they assisted the Targaryens in battle. That’s something the house will do again under the leadership of Samwell. While Rhaenyra doesn’t choose the young Blackwell as her suitor, he does pledge his allegiance to her later throughout everyday life.
One of the most pivotal points in Targaryen history is the Dance of Dragons, a nationwide conflict among Rhaenyra and her younger brother, Aegon II. This war forces houses to pick sides, as the award of the confrontation is the Iron Privileged position. Samwell takes the side of Rhaenyra and leads his forces to battle in her name.
Despite the fact that there seems to be no warm regards among Rhaenyra and Samwell in this new episode of House of the Dragon, he does become important to her later in their lives. It’ll be interesting to see assuming he pops back up later this season, considering how fast the timetable is moving.
What did you think of the latest episode of House of the Dragon?