House of the Dragon Season 3 got off to a pretty chaotic start, and with all the action going on in the Gullet and King’s Landing, I totally neglected to mention the experiences of Team Black’s Dragonseeds, who spent the episode camping outside Harrenhal. And that’s a bit of an oversight, since what they experience there could well be pretty important as things progress, as well as deepening the lore of Westeros in a mysterious way that may be a little confounding to anyone not totally familiar with George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
Notably, the gang spotted what looked very much like a man with antlers, which probably deserves a bit more explanation. But there are other factors to consider as well, so here’s a brief primer.
What’s Up With Harrenhal?
Built by Harren the Black, Harrenhal is one of the most notorious castles in Westeros, in large part because it’s believed to be cursed. Every noble house that has settled there has invariably met a grim fate and had most of its line extinguished entirely, but people keep trying, since Harrenhal is also strategically compelling – it’s massive, easy to defend and nigh impossible to topple, and is surrounded by fertile lands.
The castle features in Game of Thrones quite a bit, and is also where Daemon Targaryen spent the better part of Season 2 of House of the Dragon having vision quests and bonding with the witch, Alys Rivers, who is also the place’s kind of nominal guardian.
What Are the Dragonseeds Doing?
Addam of Hull, Ulf the White, and Hugh Hammer are hanging around on Rhaenyra’s orders. In the Season 2 finale, Rhaenyra made a deal with Alicent that would allow her to take the Iron Throne relatively bloodlessly, a plan that involved Aemond going to Harrenhal to intercept Daemon’s new army and, ideally, walking into a trap to be sprung by the Dragonseeds.
However, as seen in the premiere, Aemond is delayed thanks to Aegon’s absconsion from King’s Landing with Larys Clubfoot, so the Dragonseeds are left lounging around and biding their time. They’re camped on the edge of the Gods Eye, the largest lake in the Seven Kingdoms, which also has some unusual features, not least of which being the Isle of Faces, a landmass replete with weirdwood trees in the middle of the water.
Before they’re eventually, mysteriously confronted by Alys Rivers, we catch a glimpse of a man with antlers watching the Dragonseeds, and he’s connected to the odd history of the Gods Eye.
The Green Men of Westeros
The man with antlers is one of the Green Men, an order that guards the Isle of Faces. Founded 10,000 years before Aegon’s Conquest, the Green Men are quasi-supernatural guardians of the island. Given how A Song of Ice and Fire treats its more magical elements, there’s a bit of debate whether the Green Men are actually horned and possessed of green skin, or whether they just wear green clothes and antlers for decoration.
The Isle of Faces served as the site of an ancient peace pact between the First Men – the original human inhabitants of Westeros – and the Children of the Forest – a magical, non-human native race – when they agreed to divide Westeros into its open lands and forests. The First Men would control the former, the Children the latter, and all present carved faces into the weirwood trees so that the gods could witness the agreement. The Green Men protect the Isle of Faces on this basis.
Going Off Script
The Green Men don’t factor especially heavily into Fire & Blood, the novel on which House of the Dragon is based, though they do have a brief encounter with Addam of Hull when he visits the Isle of Faces. However, it does seem like the showrunners have a plan for them, since we also got a glimpse of a Green Man in Season 2 during Daemon’s wacky hallucinations.
Alys Rivers is the constant whenever these guys show up, and given she’s the most explicitly magical character in this season, that can only be significant. The show has already proved that it isn’t afraid to make major changes to the source material, and there could be some of that coming up when Alys and the Green Men are worked more explicitly into the plot.
Since Alicent has manipulated Aemond into going to Harrenhal after all, maybe we’ll get to see the Green Men give him the just desserts he so richly deserves.
