House Of The Dragon Kills [Spoiler] In Stomach-Turning Episode 6 — Read Recap

In last week's "House of the Dragon," Ser Criston Cole made a speech invoking The Seven. And The Stranger must've heard him, because the reaper-like new god came for the knight in this Sunday's episode.

Cole dies during the hour, an event you might've guessed was coming given how much he seemed to invite it at the end of the previous installment. But how does it happen? And what else is going on in Westeros? Read on for the highlights of Episode 6, then make sure to hear what Benjamin Evan Ainsworth had to tell me about the disgusting moment Daeron witnesses near the end of the episode.

Cole and his remaining men happen upon a desolate military camp, which is filled with the dead bodies of slaughtered rivermen. But Cole knows something isn't quite right, and his hunch bears out when some of the corpses suddenly spring into life and start slaughtering the Green army. (Side note: I know this is the "Game of Thrones"verse, where dead bodies can reanimate with murderous intent. But for clarity's sake: These soldiers were just playing possum.)

I'll say this for Ser Criston: His fatalistic mission seems to have made him sword-, dagger-, and mace-proof; the man slides through that field, killing at will, like a knife through fresh-from-the-oven lemon cake. But once he and his men have felled everyone they see, they realize that the pretend-dead were just a ruse: Cole is surrounded by Rhaenyra-loyal forces.

Oscar Tully and Roderick Dustin approach and vow to end Cole and his forces. Ser Criston points out that some of the Tully army also won't survive the skirmish. "What better way to die than blade in hand?" Dustin shouts back. So Cole retrieves Alicent's handkerchief from his sleeve, wraps it around the hilt of his sword, and challenges Dustin and Tully to a two-on-one fight. But before anything else can happen, a sniper puts an arrow into Cole's torso, then another, then a final one through his face. Ser Criston falls, dead, as the Green army rushes in to finish off what's left of the Black.

R.I.P., Ser Criston. You were a sulky hypocrite and pretty useless overall, but I did love how Fabien Frankel played you. 

At a small council meeting the morning after the previous episode, an angry Daemon reports what we saw at the end of that hour: 25 City Watch members are dead, killed in Daeron's name. Everyone present knows Ormund is behind the killing, but there are several trains of thought on what to do next. Daemon wants to ride Caraxes to Tumbleton and burn Hightower and his men out of existence. Mysaria says that'll hurt too many innocent people who are also Rhaenyra's loyal subjects. When Lady Frey and Torrhen Manderly also mock the dragon suggestion, Daemon throws a cup at the master of coin's head. "I'll hear no more from those whose greatest battle has been with their own indigestion," he warns.

Rhaenyra tasks her husband/uncle with rooting out the rebellion in King's Landing. But later, we see that Daemon is having a hard time rallying the Gold Cloaks around finding the traitorous element that killed their brethren: One man resigns, saying that he can't leave his family fatherless, and then the others follow.

So a solo Daemon walks King's Landing relatively incognito — in armor, with a helmet covering his hair — but a would-be assassin follows, knife in hand. The king consort gets the upper hand, though, and demands to know how many others are gunning for Rhaenyra. "You'll never find us. We're the people of the seven kingdoms. We have no sign or sigil, and when you strike us, you only drive more to our cause," the man says, defiant right up until Daemon kills him, right there in the alley.

Ulf then bumps into Daemon, who quickly susses out that the knight shouldn't be out and about in town. "Set foot in the city again, and I'll put out your eyes," Daemon says after punching Ulf and putting a foot on his back. 

Elsewhere in Knights Going Against Orders, Hugh stops a man with a cart who's heading into Tumbleton, beats him, and takes the man's place so he can ride past the gates, unnoticed. Hugh quietly finds his wife, Cat, hanging wash in the city. "I thought you were dead," she says before nearly collapsing in tears. She's like, I'm alone, my brother's dead, everything is awful. He's like, but I'm a dragon rider now! Whee! He wonders if something happened to her while he was gone. "Many things happened while you were on Dragonstone, seeking out your own glory," she spits back. He argues that he did it for her, but she didn't want it: "I needed you here, on the ground!" He apologizes, then asks her to come with him. When she says no, he tries to force her. "Who are you?" she yells, pulling away from him.

Guards discover Alicent and Helaena in the secret passage, which leads an irate Rhaenyra to storm into their room. Nearly instantly, Alicent blurts out that her daughter is pregnant, and they were trying to flee to save the baby's — and Helaena's — life. Rhaenyra seems insulted that her old friend would assume she'd slaughter Helaena and the baby to protect her rule; instead, she more strictly confines the queen and queen dowager to the castle and doubles their guards. Alicent balks at the loss of even that restricted freedom. "She cannot be seen. If she is seen to be carrying Aegon's heir, I will be forced to do what you fear," the Black queen says.

After Rhaenyra leaves, she confides the pregnancy to Mysaria, then wonders if the Mistress of Whisperers had any clue. "No," she lies smoothly. She then arranges for the maid who helped Alicent and Helaena to be punished.

Helaena hasn't eaten or spoken much since their aborted escape. Finally, she asks Alicent if the plan really included little Jaehaera meeting them further down the road. Of course it didn't, and Helaena accuses her mother of only caring about herself. After she storms away, Alicent notices that the younger woman has been embroidering a naked Aemond, lying in a pool of blood.

So Alicent appears before Rhaenyra, asking for her freedom and Helaena's in exchange for intel on Aemond's whereabouts. "There are times when Helaena sees things," the Green queen says, and since there's precedent in Targaryen history, Rhaenyra takes the idea seriously. Alicent tells her about Harrenhal, which gets Rhaenyra thinking: The only way to assure success in killing the prince will be to send someone he'd never suspect might kill him. Alicent instantly knows what's up, and she Does. Not. Like. It. "I will be no part of this," she says, adding that she can't leave Helaena. "I will keep watch over her until you return," Rhaenyra says coolly. And that's that.

That night, Helaena points out that Alicent could say no to Rhaenyra, but Alicent says Aemond will die either way. Then the queen asks why she was married to Aegon instead of another lord. "It was my father's wish," Alicent whispers. "I did not begrudge it. Better here with me, I thought, than a man you did not know in a place far away." Alicent begs her to be OK so Alicent can go; Helaena starts eating in response, which pleases her mom. "I will return to you as soon as I'm able, I give you my word," she says — careful, Alicent: The girl knows exactly how much your promises are worth.

Alyn finds his father in the field, where — if the strung-up corpses all over the place are any indication — he and his forces are doing a good job of eradicating the Triarchy raiders. Alyn wants Corlys to come back and help with the trouble in King's Landing, but the Sea Snake is irked that his son is helping the woman who won't even allow him to take the Velaryon name. But after Alyn pointedly reminds Corlys that it took quite a long time for him to acknowledge his illegitimate sons, himself, Papa Velaryon is chagrined. He softens a bit and passes along some intel he's learned: that Tyland Lannister survived and is heading toward Rook's Rest.

Speaking of the resurrected Lannister, he digs a shallow grave for Janos, then gets into an argument with Larys: Larys has found them passage on a merchant ship to Braavos, but Tyland wants Aegon to set up at Casterly Rock and establish a court of those still loyal to him. Put that all aside for a moment, lads, because Ageon's stuck on something: "Do you think I am a terrible man?" he asks Tyland. Tyland hilariously ties himself in knots trying to tell the truth without offending his king. "We sail for Essos, then," Aegon decides, after he's done. (Ha!)

Oh, and before we leave Alyn and Baela for the time being, please note that they bond over having emotionally distant fathers who are difficult to please, and then they kiss.

Aemond wants to leave Harrenhal and find Vhagar, but Alys advises him to "mend your wounds, gather your strength, let the world think you dead until the spring thaw." He's like nah. She brings up the bounty on his head, and how a ton of people are looking for him, and the fact that Vhagar might've flown away so that the beast isn't not a dragon-sized neon sign over Harrenhal that screams "AEMOND IS INSIDE, GUYS!" Not to mention: Rhaenyra has six dragons, and he's only got the one; his leaving the castle essentially means flying to his certain death. "You'll fall alone, and to what end?" she asks.

As Alys predicted, Aemond is recognized instantly by the stable boy; she stabs the kid, which seems to make Aemond realize for the first time that she could've killed him and claimed the bounty at any point during his convalescence. "What is this game you play?" he wonders. "It's yours to learn, if your spirit is willing," she says, dragging out a crate and revealing that it holds five dragon eggs.

"Dreamfyre," he breathes, referencing the dragon belonging to his ancestor, Rhaena. Rhaena grew old and died at Harrenhal, Alys explains and Dreamfyre laid some eggs right before her death.

"I do not know the ways of dragons, but I have long envisaged the return of the Targaryens to this ancient seat," she adds. She sings him a seductive song of ending his isolation. He notes that at least one of the eggs feels warm. "Let the gods turn their backs on us. We will make our own fortune. I will be the lady of the water, and you, the dragon lord by my side," she purrs — and it's working. When she kisses him, the egg pressed between them and visions of little Targaryen princes dancing in his head, he kisses her back.

After leaving Ser Criston's utterly doomed military campaign, Gwayne goes to Ormund, who is displeased that he left the army. Gwayne notes that everything had gone to hell — and by the way, where's all the noble support that Ormund is so sure will show up to buttress their cause? — but Ormund waves him off and makes a few homophobic jokes as he sends Daeron to show his uncle to his room. When the teen is alone with Gwayne, Gwayne is incensed that his nephew has taken the tack of being a fawning toady to the peacocking Hightower. "You left me alone with him," Daeron counters, arguing that he had no other means of survival. Still, "I hate what I am when I'm with him. A puppet... a child."

Poor, lonely Daeron begs Gwayne not to leave again, but Gwayne's planning on going to Oldtown as soon as possible. "You're his little treasure now. You'll be fine," Gwayne assures him. It doesn't work. And in case you weren't already feeling bad enough for this kid, he asks his uncle this: "When you were in King's Landing, did you see my mother?" My heart!

Ormund, Daeron, and Gwayne are dining in the makeshift Hightower headquarters when an envoy from House Baratheon shows up, ready to back Daeron. Ormund's glee at their arrival quickly gives way to his being nearly done in by the stink of the men, who've been on the road for a while. But when the riders ask to see Daeron in person so they can swear fealty, Gwayne jumps into action. He draws his weapon and goes for the leader, yelling to Ormund that the men actually are assassins sent to take out Ormund and Daeron.

Ormund's guards jump in, and in a few moments, the entire envoy is dead. Gwayne points out that the real Aerion Baratheon looks nothing like the man who claimed to be him, and that's how he knew something hinky was afoot. Ormund angrily vows to destroy Rhaenyra... a promise that loses its bite when the room's combined smells do him in and he vomits copiously on the table. Gross.

Later, Ormund apologizes to Gwayne, who saved his bacon — big time — and gives him permission to return to Oldtown. But Gwayne, perhaps with Daeron's pleas in mind, asks to hear Ormund's plan for Westerosi domination instead.

And later than that, Grand Maester Orwyle finds Rhaenyra that evening with a message that just arrived from Tumbleton: "Kick this dog, and it will bite you," written on a piece of clothing bearing the House Baratheon sigil. At the same time, in the field, Corlys releases his men from their current mission so they can return to King's Landing. "And I have been too long away," he says... just before getting jumped by some (other) men under the direction of Ser Jon Roxton, who looks on.

Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Will you miss Ser Criston? Hit the comments with your thoughts!