I love how the new episode portrays the bond between dragons and their riders. Daemon and Caraxes are so familiar with each other, Daemon smacks the saddle and tells him to shush like a friend. Though, of course we also have the continuing theme of dragons refusing to obey which is great. Daemon is an experienced rider of 30+ years, it’s not like Rhaena or Aemond where you could argue they weren’t skilled enough, it’s a blatant show that dragons could simply choose not to obey at any time and the riders are completely helpless.
Aegon and Rhaena are both really interesting in how they mirror their dragons. Aegon is injured and dying/dead, the first time we’ve seen him happy since Rook’s Rest is with Sunfyre again. It almost gives the vibe that he wishes he could curl up and die next to his dragon.
Meanwhile Rhaena has fully changed her look to match Sheepstealer’s wild nature. It’s a bond that’s clearly grown a lot stronger since Ep 1 as now he listens to her, she can fly with ease, and he’s very protective. For once, she argues back against her father, denies him, insults his ideas for how they can fix it. Completely refuses to even consider giving Sheepstealer up. Obviously there are a lot of other factors but it suggests that just being around Sheepstealer is influencing her own behavior. After all, she does claim “He is a part of me.” (He’s not in the episode but Aemond very similarly changes his whole personality after claiming Vhagar.)
Lastly, Daeron, who clearly loves Tessarion but has her locked up, a very literal metaphor for choosing his Hightower side over his Targ side. And she follows his lead into violence immediately after Daeron kills Kat’s brother, burning the corpse and notably stomping all over the candles, the symbol of his past piety and his gentleness. They’re very wordlessly in sync, possibly because she was a cradle hatchling so they’ve had that bond for years and even as he rejects his Targaryen blood, he’ll have that connection to her that can’t be broken.
