Plot Twist Turned Plot Hole in 'House of the Dragon' Episode 5

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for 'House of the Dragon ' episode 5

Sunday's new episode of 'House of the Dragon' has officially kickstarted wedding celebrations in honor of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon... and effectively wrapped them up and turned them into horror and sadness. However, the way it happened is still quite unclear to fans — to the point they think that the main plot twist of the episode was in fact a plot hole.

Let's get back to the start. The pre-wedding celebrations gather pretty much everyone in King Viserys' place, including Sir Criston Cole (Rhaenyra's compromised sworn protector), Laenor and his secret boyfriend Joffrey (who clearly loved gossiping more than he should have), and Daemon Targaryen (we won't even be saying anything at this point).

Things start to get tense as Laenor and Joffrey conclude that Sir Criston Cole is the one who compromised Rhaenyra's virtue; at some point, Joffrey approaches Criston and offers that the two "guard" the secrets of Rhaenyra and Laenor so that no one is harmed. Criston is visibly irritated but he does not seem aggressive. Meanwhile, Daemon and Rhaenyra are dancing in the center of the room, with Rhaenyra teasing Daemon and saying that if he wants her, then he should stab her guardian, take her to Dragonstone and marry her before it's too late.

And then, all hell breaks loose. It's unclear what exactly is happening and how it started, but Joffrey and Sir Criston Cole start fighting — with the latter ending up as a winner, smashing Joffrey's face and leaving him dead on the floor. Laenor is devastated; and Criston simply leaves the building to try and commit suicide later.

And it seems that fans cannot quite understand just how it all started. Things did seem tense, but not tenser than they usually are in 'House of the Dragon'. Now, fans are just trying to figure it out online on their own, since the show apparently did a poor job explaining how the fight started and why.

"I can't imagine Criston going in there after Daemon since he doesnt know what happened between D&R. Going back to his talk with Alicent, he was willing to die for it, so my guess is that he just went for Joffrey for taunting him," Twitter user victortg95 commented.

Some people are not in the mood for over-analyzing; according to them, it was the showrunner's task to make sure everything is understandable and compelling enough.

"It was such a forced plot twist that was so poorly told through the writing, directing and editing. This show just isn't a quarter as good as GOT was," Twitter user MarisaVictoria admitted.

Another thing that remains a mystery is why Daemon just left Rhaenyra in the middle of the fight so that someone else had to carry her on their shoulders out of the heat. Was it just Daemon being Daemon, or something else happened that we are yet to see?

With the show now half-way through the story, it looks like the Dance of the Dragons is nearing. It was said that episode 5 would be the last one where the young actors for Rhaenyra and Alicent appear; so it's quite likely that the next episode starts with a time jump, especially now that we saw King Viserys collapsing on the floor as Rhaenyra and Laenor were taking their wedding oaths.

'House of the Dragon' is streaming on HBO Max. Next episode will premiere on Sunday.