The House of the Dragon Scene That Made Even the Director Sob
House of the Dragon Episode 8, The Lord of the Tides, depicted events that will soon change the history of Westeros and start a chain of tragic events leading to the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons.
Besides being a major turning point, the episode left many viewers in tears over powerful scenes with dying king Viserys splendidly played by Paddy Considine. Even the director of the episode, Geeta Patel, by her admission couldn't hold back tears over one particular scene.
Episode 8 shows events after another time jump. Princess Rhaenyra now has two sons, Aegon and Viserys, with her husband, Prince Daemon Targaryen, and is expecting a daughter. The whole family is forced to return to King's Landing to defend the legitimacy of her older son, Luke Velaryon, as heir to the Driftwood throne against a petition brought by Vaemond Velaryon. Rhaenyra finds her father in terrible shape, bedridden by his progressing disease, and the Iron Throne occupied by Queen Alicent and her father, the King's Hand Otto Hightower.
The disease progressing in King Viserys for many years has claimed half of his face, the ability to walk and even think clearly in a haze from the milk of the poppy. But after his daughter pleads, King Viserys makes one last attempt to protect Rhaenyra – who he still considers to be his only child – from Hightowers.
This scene of the king showing up in the Throne Room to еру surprise of everyone present is the one that drove so many viewers and even the director of the episode to tears. Paddy Considine unleashed a powerful performance, showing an extremely sick and suffering king limping toward the Iron Throne in one last attempt at power. At least we thought it was his motivation behind this superhuman effort before.
Geeta Patel explained the real emotional core behind the scene in her interview with Entertainment Weekly. The director opened that at first the eye of the king was supposed to be focused on the Iron Throne as a metaphor for one last attempt to help the realm. But at the rehearsal, Rhaenyra just happened to be standing in the middle of his path.
"I was like, 'Oh, wait a minute. He's not walking to the throne, he's walking to her," the director described. That was a powerful image of a father walking on fire for his daughter, an image to shed tears over.