House of the Dragon episode 5 photos: a Royal Wedding, the rise of the Strongs, Driftmark, and Alicent’s green gown!

HBO has released over sixty of Ollie Upton’s stills for “We Light the Way,” the fifth episode of House of the Dragon. There’s a lot here, from the elusive Rhea Royce and the rise in station of the Strongs to the wedding and Alicent’s historic green gown.

We’ll finally meet Lady Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) in Runestone. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ll probably recall her by the ‘charming’ epithet Daemon usually refers to her as: “Bronze Bitch.” When Daemon called her that and said she was uglier than the Vale’s sheep, I think we can all agree this is not the woman we were picturing. Daemon, what’s wrong with you? Anyway, alongside her there’s an older man in the same runic bronze armor of the Royces, who I assume is her father or some other relative. This man later shows up at the royal wedding.

Speaking of the wedding, it looks like King Viserys (Paddy Considine) will visit the Velaryon home, High Tide, on the island of Driftmark. He’s joined by his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), and his new hand (spoilers?), the Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes), escorted by Ser Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel.) I’d guess the king’s in Driftmark to convince Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Lady Rhaenys (Eve Best) to accept the match.

Presumaby also at Driftmark, we can see Princess Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) getting to know one another as they take a truly beautiful beach stroll:

What is the younger son of the new hand, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), scheming? Does he have something to tell Queen Alicent (Emily Carey)?

Speaking of schemers, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) has ominous parting words for his daughter. I’ve previously called Ser Otto ‘Plotto’ for his plots before, but now he looks more like a ‘Depressotto.’ Has he finally been defeated?

At the Red Keep: Lord Lyonel Strong, Queen Alicent and and a worried Ser Criston, who—unless it’s just me—is starting to look less dreamy than he used to…

As befits any good wedding, there’s a ton of photos! Let’s start with the hosts: the king, Viserys; the heir, Rhaenyra; the king’s Hand, Lord Lyonel; the Hand’s sons, Harwin Breakbones (Ryan Corr) and Larys; Grand Maester Mellos (David Horovitch); Lord Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson), Master of Coin; and Ser Harrold and Ser Criston of the kingsguard—neither look very happy, to be honest.

Despite Ser Otto Hightower leaving the city in disgrace, it appears that won’t stop Lord Hobert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), Otto’s older brother, from attending the wedding. He’s accompanied by his wife Lynesse (Alana Ramsey.)

As I mentioned earlier, the old Royce we saw with Lady Rhea attends the wedding, though we can’t say we know anything about the character or the actor yet:

Of course, we can’t forget the true reason for this entire affair. The Velaryons arrive all together, with Lord Corlys and Rhaenys escorting their son Laenor, the groom. With them we can see the now teen Laena Velaryon (Savannah Steyn), Corlys’s brother Vaemond (Wil Johnson), and Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod), the ginger knight sworn to the Velaryons we saw fighting at the Stepstones.

Yes, that’s Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) at one end of the royal table, attending the wedding. He’s relegated to the corner, sure, but still—he’s not only been invited but is seated at the royal table! I wonder how he’ll manage that, after last episode…

Last to arrive but certainly not least, Queen Alicent appears not in the Targaryen colors she’s publicly worn lately but in a bold green gown. This is taken straight from Fire and Blood, although she wore the famous dress at a different event:

Finally, there’s this sad photograph of Princess Rhaenyra, apparently tearing up, with Queen Alicent behind her. I suspect it’s from the very moment she’s wed:

Separately from Ollie Upton’s beautiful stills, HBO has also released this screen capture from next episode finally showing us Lady Rhaenys riding her dragon Meleys, which looks absolutely beautiful. You can see just how large the dragon is by comparing it to the younger Seasmoke at their side.

That’s many more photos than usual, but I guess that’s to be expected for a royal wedding! There are lot of details to inspect here! Anything that catches your eye?

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