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1×01: Heirs of the Dragon (63 min; all episode runtimes here exclude opening and closing credits)

Passage of time between prologue and episode: 11 years (from 101 AC to 112 AC)

“The year 101” is given as the date for the Great Council of Harrenhal by the prologue voice over. Then, according to the title card that follows, the story proper begins in the “ninth year” of Viserys I’s reign, which would point to an 11 year time jump, taking us to 112 AC, but only if Jaehaerys died two years after the council like he does in Fire & Blood. The 112 AC date is corroborated by the other title card text, “172 years before the death of the Mad King, Aerys, and the birth of his daughter, Daenerys Targaryen”, as Daenerys was born in 284 AC, and 284 minus 172 equals 112. Likewise, the year 112 AC fits Rhaenyra being 14, which actress Milly Alcock revealed in interviews; in Fire & Blood, she’s 14 and turns 15 during 112 AC.

1×02: The Rogue Prince (51 min)

Passage of time between episodes: around 6 months (to late 112 AC or early 113 AC)

According to Viserys Targaryen in “1×02: The Rogue Prince”, it “hasn’t even been half a year since Aemma passed”; according to Miguel Sapochnik in the “Inside the Episode”, episode two takes place “about 6 months since Aemma’s death”; according to Rhaenyra, it’s been “half a year since [her] mother died”; and, according to Corlys Velaryon, it’s been “over half a year” since Daemon went to Dragonstone. Two of the four quotes point to a time jump of six months; the other two point to a little over or under six months, so the time jump should be treated as spanning approximately six months. Although Rhaenyra has turned 15 between the two episodes, “The Rogue Prince” may still take place in late 112 AC, as in Fire & Blood Rhaenyra is 14 and turns 15 during 112 AC. If not, it’d be early in 113 AC.

1×03: Second of His Name (60 min)

Passage of time between episodes: nearly 3 years (to 115 AC)

According to Viserys in “1×03: Second of His Name”, Daemon has been fighting at the Stepstones for about “three years”; according to Ryan Condal in the “Inside the Episode,” it’s been “two or three years” since “The Rogue Prince”; according to Greg Yaitanes, it’s “three years later.” During “Second of His Name”, Viserys calls Rhaenyra his “daughter of seven-and-ten”, so it’s been nearly (but not quite) 3 years since “The Rogue Prince,” when she was 15. “Second of His Name” takes place during Aegon’s second name day while Alicent is visibly pregnant again, so Alicent must have married and got pregnant immediately after the betrothal, had no rest period between the two pregnancies, and then be only a few months pregnant in “Second of His Name,” even though she appears more heavily pregnant.

1×04: King of the Narrow Sea (59 min)

Passage of time between episodes: a little more than 1 year (to 116 AC)

In “1×04: King of the Narrow Sea,” Rhaenyra returns from touring the realm and being courted for several months, although two months short of what was planned, and Daemon returns having won at the Stepstones and been crowned. Alicent, who’s pregnant in “Second of His Name,” has a several months-old baby in “King of the Narrow Sea.” According to Daemon in “King of the Narrow Sea”, the last time he saw her in “The Rogue Prince” was “four years” before; as there are nearly three years between “The Rogue Prince” and “Second of His Name”, this time jump must be of a little more than a year. According to a street performer in “King of the Narrow Sea” Aegon is a “little princeling of three”; as his second name day was being celebrated during “Second of His Name,” this time jump has to be of at least a year but less than two.

1×05: We Light the Way (57 min)

Passage of time between episodes: mere days or weeks (still 116 AC)

1×05: We Light the Way” begins mere days or weeks after “1×04: King of the Narrow Sea.”

1×06: The Princess and the Queen (64 min)

Passage of time between episodes: 10 years (to 126 AC)

The teenage characters in “We Light the Way” (Rhaenyra and Alicent, 18-19; Laena, 16-17; and Laenor, who must have been around 17-18 as he was older than Laena but younger than Rhaenyra and Alicent) are recast for “The Princess and the Queen” with actors in their late twenties to mid-thirties; and the children (Aegon, 3; and Helaena, 1) with teen actors. The children born during the time jump (Aemond, Jace, Baela, Luke, and Rhaena) are all played by actors in their preadolescence to earliest teen years. In “The Princess and the Queen,” according to Laena, Rhaena has been trying to hatch her dragon egg for “eight years,” making her 8 or 9 and Baela 9 or 10 (dragon eggs are given to children in the cradle; and they don’t appear to be twins in the show, unlike in Fire and Blood); and according to Viserys, Jace and Luke are younger than Aemond (“They’re more children than he is”). According to Laenor, he’s been Rhaenyra’s husband for “ten years”; according to Alicent, Daemon left the Stepstones “a decade ago”; and according to Viserys, Lyonel has served him “ten [years] as Hand.” So, this is a time jump of 10 years.

1×07: Driftmark (55 min)

Passage of time between episodes: mere days or weeks (still 126 AC)

“1×07: Driftmark” takes place mere days or weeks after “1×06: The Princess and the Queen.”

1×08: Lord of the Tides (64 min)

Passage of time between episodes: 6 years (to 132 AC)

The teenage characters in “Driftmark” (Aegon, who was around 13; and Helaena, who was around 11) are recast for “Lord of the Tides” with actors in their mid-twenties (26 and 23 respectively at the time of filming); the child characters (Aemond, who was around 10; Baela and Jace, who were around 9; and Rhaena and Luke, who were around 8) are recast with young adult and teen actors (at the time of filming, in their 20s for Aemond and Rhaena; 23 for Baela; 17 for Jace; and 14 for Luke.) According to Rhaenys in “Lord of the Tides,” she hasn’t seen Corlys in “almost six years.” Rhaenyra is interrupted while saying she was named heir “nearly 20 years ago in this hall”; she was named heir around 112 AC, which is 20 years before 132 AC. 

That night, Viserys dies as he goes to sleep.

1×09: The Green Council (55 min)

Passage of time between episodes: a few hours (during Day 1 ADV)
Passage of time during the episode: 2 days (Days 1-2 After the Death of Viserys)

Day 1 After the Death of Viserys (Day 1 ADV):

Viserys is found dead still at night, before dawn, and the Green Council plans their coup overnight. 

In the morning, Rhaenys wakes from her bed to find herself locked, and Otto sends Ser Erryk and Arryk to look for Aegon while Alicent sends Aemond and Criston. Rhaenys asks Alicent about her “treatment here this morning.” Alicent’s men get to Aegon first. That evening, Alicent and Otto discuss their plans; they “will send terms to Rhaenyra on Dragonstone,” and Aegon “will be anointed tomorrow at dawn.” That night, Rhaenys escapes the Red Keep with Ser Erryk, hours before dawn. 

Day 2 ADV:

Rhaenys and Erryk continue their escape through the city very early in the morning. Aegon is crowned still during the early hours of the morning, as indicated by Alicent the previous day and demonstrated by the strong orange sunlight entering the door to the dragonpit strongly, apparently directly, and at a low angle, from the east.

1×10: The Black Queen (56 min)

Passage of time between episodes: a few hours (during Day 2 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 3 (and a half) days (rest of Day 2 ADV; Days 3-5 ADV)

The episode begins with Rhaenyra and Luke on Dragonstone, in the early hours of the morning, before the sun’s fully risen enough to pass through the castle’s windows (the citadel is surrounded by much taller close walls, so it shouldn’t have direct sunlight until later in the morning.) The scene ends with news of the arrival of Rhaenys on dragonback from King’s Landing; they meet a few minutes later, with sunlight now pouring through the windows. Rhaenys left King’s Landing on dragonback at the end of “1×09: The Green Council,” so this episode starts a few hours after that (however long it took her to fly on Meleys from the city; that journey by dragon always seems to be only a few hours at most.) In this scene Rhaenys says Viserys died “a day past, perhaps two;” indeed, it was around 1.5 days. This short timespan is supported Rhaenyra telling Alicent in “1×08: Lord of the Tides” she intends to return on dragonback once she’s seen her children back to Dragonstone, and she hasn’t yet done so or prepared to do so at the start of “1×10: The Black Queen”; as they had to return to Dragonstone by ship, since they were going with their entire family, they would have arrived the night before Aegon’s coronation, which took place at dawn this very same day. 

The swearing of the Kingsguards and the stillbirth of Visenya still take place during that morning; Rhaenyra taking care of the baby’s corpse and Daemon mourning on the beach takes place throughout the day until sunset.

Day 3 ADV:

The funeral and impromptu coronation of Rhaenyra takes place after dawn the next morning. Although at first glance it could still appear to take place before the sunset from the previous scene, Daemon’s scene in the beach was later during sunset, and the arrival of Ser Erryk during the funeral points to it being the following morning; he had to arrive by ship, presumably setting sail many hours after the dawn coronation in “1×09: The Green Council”, perhaps at some point during the opening day scenes of this episode, and it should take him longer than before sunrise of the same day to arrive on Dragonstone (this again corroborates the show’s contention that sailing between King’s Landing and Dragonstone takes about 1 day, more or less.) Also, the sun seems to rise slightly throughout the scene.

In the following council scene, which seems to take place relatively soon afterwards and takes place during the day, Rhaenys says Corlys is sailing from Driftmark to Dragonstone, which should take a matter of hours. The scene ends with the news that “a ship has been sighted offshore: a lone galleon, flying a banner of a three-headed green dragon.” 

Day 4 ADV:

The parley with Otto outside Dragonstone takes place with low light and the sun low in the horizon, either at sunset or sunrise. It can’t be the same morning of Visenya’s funeral and Rhaenyra’s coronation, as the sun is even lower now. The sun is in the direction opposite to where the Battle of the Gullet will happen relative to Dragonstone, as seen when Rhaena arrives to Dragonstone and sees the battle in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood”; as Driftmark is to the southwest of Dragonstone, the sun here must come from around the east, which points to this scene taking place at dawn, 1 day after Rhaenyra’s coronation. This is confirmed by the castle of Dragonstone being visibly more sunlit in the scene’s closing establishing shot than in the opening one. Rhaenyra tells Otto that “King’s Landing will have my answer on the morrow.” 

Then, a council scene takes place with low light (only faint sunlight comes from the top of the windows, so it’s either still at dawn or near sunset. As they’re discussing Otto’s terms, it must be assumed to take place only minutes later, still at dawn.

Rhaenys’s reunion with Corlys takes place in the morning, as Corlys wakes in his bed (having arrived in Dragonstone, injured, before the end of the previous day.)

Later in the morning, as the Black Council meets, Corlys swears fealty to Rhaenyra and announces the Velaryons now control the Stepstones and are blockading the Narrow Sea’s shipping lanes, and says that if they “further seal the Gullet, [they] can cut off all seaborne travel and trade to King’s Landing.” Rhaenys says she’ll patrol the Gullet on Meleys herself.

Rhaenyra sends her sons Jace and Luke to their missions during the early stages of sunset (the sun as Jace and Luke fly away is almost in the same direction as the Battle of the Gullet relative will be to Dragonstone, as seen when Rhaena arrives to Dragonstone and sees the battle in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” which would point southwest towards Driftmark.) 

Day 5 ADV:

Luke arrives on Storm’s End during a heavily stormy day, having flown there overnight; it may seem night as he arrives, but it’s just incredibly stormy, as when he flies over the clouds only minutes later it’s clearly the middle of the day. 

Rhaenyra receives the news of Luke’s death at night, presumably several hours later during that same day (this is one of the few possible gaps during which a day or several could be introduced between scenes if absolutely necessary; although there is no single indication that days pass between these scenes, there’s nothing that contradicts that they could either.)

2×01: A Son for a Son (55 min)

Passage of days between episodes/seasons: 8 days (Days 6-13 ADV)

Passage of days during the episode: 3 days (Days 14-16 ADV)

Day 14 ADV:

At the Wall, Jace comes to an agreement with Lord Cregan Stark to send 2000 old warriors south for Rhaenyra. As the dragonflight from the Wall back to Dragonstone should take around 1 full day given the distance, this likely takes place the day before the next several scenes, the last of which is Jace’s return to Dragonstone. As later established, the time jump between Rhaenyra hearing of Luke’s death and where we pick back up with her is said to be of 10 days; if this is set a day earlier, or 9 days after leaving Dragonstone, it seems like more than enough time for Jace to have flown to the Eyrie, treated with Lady Jeyne Arryn, flown to Winterfell and then the Wall (assuming he flew to the Wall after not having found Cregan in Winterfell, rather than accompanying him from Winterfell on foot, which would’ve taken many weeks.)

Day 15 ADV:

On Dragonstone, in the morning, Rhaenys returns and tells Daemon she alone has been “patrolling over a hundred miles of open sea, endlessly, to hold the blockade”, and seems exhausted. Daemon says Rhaenyra has been gone “for days.”

Rhaenyra looks at Storm’s End in the morning (she’s looking at Storm’s End from the south, as the sea is to the right, and so is the sunlight, still rising from the east.) In several BTS interviews, cast and crew claim Rhaenyra has been looking for Luke’s body after hearing of his death during the night at the end of “1×10: The Black Queen” for the last 10 days. 

At Spicetown’s port on Driftmark, during the morning, Corlys talks to Alyn, who says “it’ll be many weeks yet” before Corlys’s ship, the Sea Snake, is repaired. 

In King’s Landing, during a morning Green Council meeting (we can see the sun low to the northeast,) Otto says “critical days” have passed since Viserys died; Aemond says they’ve “wasted precious days in this war of quills and ravens.” At this point, Lord Ormund Hightower is said to be “mustering his forces to sally forth from Oldtown” and “they expect to march quickly, meeting little resistance, until they reach the Riverlands” (although the Beesburys will slow them down a bit.) The next scene of Alicent taking a bath alone flows directly from the earlier scene, so it takes place the same day. We could assume that during these King’s Landing we are rewinding to slightly earlier in the morning (as it seems natural,) or it could be the following day if we’re to interpret each scene in a strictly sequential way (which I’m not inclined to unless necessary.) 

In the Stormlands, Rhaenyra finds Luke’s remains between morning and noon (with sunlight still coming slightly from the east but also from higher in the sky.) 

In King’s Landing, Aegon II hears petitions for the first time, which takes much of the day, as Otto arrives “many hours” late to his meeting with Alicent.

As the sun is setting to the west, Mysaria’s ship is caught by Ser Erryk Cargyll in the blockade of the Gullet.

On Dragonstone, as it turns to night, Daemon interrogates Mysaria and Erryk, who sees Rhaenyra return. Rhaenyra tells her Black Council that she wants Aemond dead. Later that night, Daemon hatches a revenge plan with Mysaria’s reluctant help, and Jace returns and meets Rhaenyra in her chambers, candlelit and apparently moonlit.

Day 16 ADV:

Early at dawn, Alicent prays in the Grand Sept in King’s Landing (with sunlight entering the sept from its entrance, which looks eastward towards the Red Keep and the sea) as Luke’s funeral is held on Dragonstone. Daemon is already absent. 

At night, Daemon disembarks into King’s Landing and recruits Blood & Cheese, who kill Jaehaerys. Sailing between Dragonstone and King’s Landing takes around a day, or more specifically somewhere between half a day and a day and a half (as confirmed by Alicent’s time-sensitive travels to and from Dragonstone in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” and “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,”) so if Daemon left for King’s Landing the night he made the plan, as it appears, the night of Jaehaerys’s assassination is on the same day of Luke’s funeral, half a day later.

2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel (66 min)

Passage of time between episodes: mere minutes (between Days 16-17 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 3 days (Days 17-19 ADV)

Day 17 ADV:

Still at night, in King’s Landing, minutes after the end of “2×01: A son for a Son,” the Red Keep is locked down. Overnight, Otto plans the funeral procession to publicly blame Rhaenyra.

At dawn, Alicent tells Helaena about the procession, and it’s then held on the way to the Grand Sept in the morning. 

In the early evening, Dragonstone receives ravens about Jaehaerys’s assassination the previous night and this morning’s procession (a raven would take several hours, about half a day, to make the trip.) Rhaenyra tells Baela to scout King’s Landing on Moondancer “when morning comes” (which substantiates this taking place late in the day, not in the morning.)

In King’s Landing, in the early evening (given the yellow light and the loud bird songs in the background,) Aegon II comes across Helaena but doesn’t know what to tell her; and Criston looks at Jaehaerys’s bed being dismantled, blaming himself.

At Dragonstone, in the evening, Rhaenyra plays with little Aegon and Viserys, presumably thinking of Jaehaerys, which indicates this takes place soon after hearing of the assassination and the procession.

In King’s Landing, at night, Alicent asks Criston if he’s told anyone about them and then bathes alone the same day of the procession (given that Alicent is confronting Criston for the first time, and Ser Arryk’s words the next morning.)

Day 18 ADV:

In a scene shown earlier (sequentially between Rhaenyra charging Baela with scouting on Moondancer and Aegon II coming across Helaena,) Daemon leaves Dragonstone to fly to Harrenhal during sunrise. Sunset would seem to make the most sense, if we interpret the scene to take place sequentially with the ones around it, but the sun is in the direction opposite to where the Battle of the Gullet will happen relative to Dragonstone, as seen when Rhaena arrives to Dragonstone and sees the battle in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood”; as Driftmark is to the southwest of Dragonstone, the sun here must come from the east, which points to this scene taking place the following morning after Rhaenyra’s fight with Daemon.) This is the start of a trend for Daemon this season, as his storyline in Harrenhal is frequently shown out of sync with the rest of the story by necessity; however, it all evens out in the end, so it still makes sense.

In the morning, at breakfast, Ser Criston orders Ser Arryk to Dragonstone. This is explicitly the day after Jaehaerys’s procession, as Arryk says his white cloak “is a reminder of yesterday, I think. The procession was muddy.” 

On Dragonstone, late in the afternoon or early evening, Jace tells Baela she “missed supper,” Jace says there were “too many empty seats” in relation to Daemon, and she asks him where Daemon went, suggesting Daemon has just recently gone, having missed a single family gathering, pointing to this taking place during the early evening of the same day he flew away.

In King’s Landing, the brothel scene with Aemond and Sylvi takes place with low light outside, the same day. Hugh’s scene with his family is bathed with orange lighting, and given the context of the scene (Hugh returning home from work and Kat saying she spent two hours trying to find food) it’s around sunset, seemingly around the same time as the brothel scene. Kat says “the markets have been running low since the blockade,” which started only 13 days earlier (however, Hugh doubts the city can be short of food already, and Kat agrees the problem is actually the rich hoarding the food in fear.)

On Driftmark, the Alyn-Addam scene on the docks takes place in the afternoon. At High Tide, Corlys and Rhaenys discuss Daemon going away. The scene in bed is bathed with orange lighting, so it could take place at sunrise or sunset (seagulls can be heard; although they’re louder at dawn, they also make noise at sunset.) Given its placement, it’s around sunset.

On Dragonstone, bathed in orange lighting (in the morning or, as is more likely in context, evening,) Rhaenyra asks Mysaria if she’s “aware of yesterday’s events in King’s Landing,” indicating the nighttime assassination or the procession and Rhaenyra hearing about it must have happened 1 day earlier; depending on what she meant, it’s been 1 to 2 days since the end of “2×01: A Son for a Son.” As they discuss Daemon leaving, this probably takes place the same day he leaves for Harrenhal.

Day 19 ADV:

On Driftmark, in the morning, Addam and Seasmoke notice each other while Addam is crabbing on the shore.

In the morning, King’s Landing’s citizens (including Ulf) and then Otto find that Aegon II has hanged the ratcatchers. He tells Otto that Criston “has sent Ser Arryk to slay Rhaenyra.” Criston is made Hand in Otto’s stead, and Otto tells Alicent he’ll go to Oldtown to counsel Alicent’s youngest, Daeron, although she suggests he go to reaffirm the loyalty of the Tyrells at Highgarden. Aegon II making Ser Criston Hand must take place during the morning of the same day as Arryk’s assassination attempt, as “2×03: The Burning Mill” shows Ser Criston’s first morning as Hand in the Green Council the following day.

On Dragonstone, bathed in orange light, Rhaenyra frees Mysaria, who then notices Ser Arryk arriving. The light dims as Arryk enters the castle, suggesting it is sunset, as confirmed by Rhaenyra going to sleep and her chambers being illuminated by moonlight when Arryk attacks. The journey by ship between Dragonstone and King’s Landing has been established to take around 1 day, more or less; Ser Arryk left King’s Landing sometime between Criston ordering him to do so the next morning after the day of the procession (1.5 days earlier) and Aegon II telling Otto about it the morning after that (half a day earlier.)

2×03: The Burning Mill (63 min)

Passage of time between episodes: half a day overnight (between Days 19-20 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 15 days (Days 20-34 ADV)

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Rhaenyra charging Rhaena with her children and Ser Criston marching out of King’s Landing,) Daemon arrives in Harrenhal at night, during dinnertime. As the distance between Dragonstone and Harrenhal isn’t that much longer than between Dragonstone and King’s Landing, and it’s been shown that a dragon can travel that distance in a matter of a few hours, this scene is probably meant to take place the same day he left Dragonstone for Harrenhal, at dinner time during the second day depicted in “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel,” instead of being considered to happen sequentially at the point it’s placed. If interpreted strictly sequentially, Daemon would have taken 3 days to arrive in Harrenhal, which doesn’t make sense. Daemon orders Ser Simon Strong to summon Lord Grover Tully so he can treat with the lord himself. 

In a scene shown later (sequentially between the Black Council meeting about Criston’s movements and Rhaenyra seeking Mysaria’s help to meet Alicent), Daemon has visions of a younger Rhaenyra and finds himself in the Godswood at night, where Alys Rivers tells him he will die in this place. This is presented as his first night sleeping in Harrenhal.

—

The Battle of the Burning Mill could also be concurrent with “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel”; it doesn’t affect anything.

Day 20 ADV:

On Dragonstone, Rhaenyra buries Ser Erryk and Arryk together. This must take place the day after the assassination attempt at the end of “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel,” given the context. Judging by the sun’s position, it’s still morning. 

The same morning in King’s Landing, Ser Criston attends his first meeting as Hand of the King (which confirms it’s the day after he was made Hand and the Cargyll twins died,) where he lays out his plans to turn the rebel Crownlands houses Green, turn west, enlist the Brackens, and take Harrenhal. At this Green Council meeting, Lord Ormund Hightower and his army are said to now be on the march after mustering their forces in Oldtown. Ser Tyland says Ormund’s forces “are months away” while his brother Jason, who’s raising an army at Casterly Rock, will be able to attack the Blackwoods from the west “in a matter of weeks.” A raven would take around 1 day to reach King’s Landing from Oldtown (based on the fact that a raven has been shown to fly from Harrenhal to Dragonstone in around 12 hours, and the distance between Oldtown and King’s Landing is a little more than double,) so Lord Ormund must have begun his march at least 1 day before this scene, during the final day of “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel.” Only 5 days earlier, in “2×01: A Son for A Son,” Otto said Ormund was “mustering his forces to sally forth from Oldtown”; Ormund would have started raising levies as soon as he heard of Viserys’s death (Otto had ravens sent during the night of the king’s death, before dawn, so Ormund would have received the news by the second day depicted in “1×09: The Green Council,” the day of Aegon’s coronation), so Lord Ormund mobilized his army (perhaps only with men from in and around Oldtown) in around 17 days.

Day 21 ADV:

On Dragonstone, Mysaria pledges fealty to Rhaenyra, who accepts her into her service, either around sunset of the previous scene’s day or more likely around sunrise of the next day (the sun appears to rise throughout the scene, although it could be a continuity error, and it seems to come from the east; either way, it cannot be the same morning as the burying of the twins, as that was significantly later in its morning.) 

In Rhaenyra’s chambers, which are bathed in the orange light of that same early morning or evening, Rhaenyra commands Rhaena to take her youngest three children to the Eyrie, leave Joffrey and Tyraxes at the Eyrie so Lady Jayne Arryn sends her armies in exchange for that dragon’s protection, and then take the youngest two to Pentos.

In King’s Landing, during the morning, Ser Gwayne arrives from Oldtown “after three long months.” During this scene, it’s been 21 days since Viserys’s death in “1×08: Lord of the Tides,” which means he started the journey more than two months before that. Ser Gwayne joins Ser Criston and his host as they march out of the city, 1 whole day after he lays out the plans to do so during his first Small Council meeting (it could be more, given that they needed to muster and ready the host but, admittedly, they were only taking men who were already at hand inside the city.) 

On Dragonstone, the same day, the Black Council meets. It’s assumed Daemon must be gathering an army in Harrenhal already (further pointing to Daemon’s first scene on Harrenhal taking place a few days earlier.) 

Rhaenys goes from Dragonstone to speak with Corlys on Driftmark, still during the day. 

At some point between Day 22 and Day 32 ADV:

Early one morning (as the sun is rising from the east), which could be as soon as 1 day after Rhaena was charged with her mission, she is sent away with Rhaenyra’s youngest -Joffrey, Aegon, and Viserys- to the Eyrie by ship.

(Time jump of 9 days, between Days 23-31 ADV)

Day 32 ADV:

In King’s Landing, during the day, Alicent speaks to Helaena and Larys dissuades Aegon II from flying out with Sunfyre to meet Criston’s army, and then Aegon II’s friends convince him to instead go out that night, which we then see in the inn scene that introduces us properly to Ulf and the brothel scene in which Aegon II catches Aemond with Sylvi. 

On Dragonstone, at night, Rhaenyra reads the letter Alicent wrote to her. 

This entire day must happen approximately 11 days after Ser Criston leaves King’s Landing, as dictated by the timing of Rhaenyra’s return to Dragonstone in “2×04: The Red Dragon and the Gold”: at the start of that episode, it’s been 14 days since Criston left King’s Landing; Rhaenyra would take about 1 day to return to Dragonstone by ship, which means the majority of that fortnight happened here between scenes, not between the two episodes.)

Day 33 ADV:

In the Crownlands, Baela spots Criston’s party in the late afternoon, near the shore and two miles from the Rosby road, which links King’s Landing to Rosby and Duskendale, where they’re heading. Gwayne is looking for an inn to pass the night two miles away on the Rosby Road. It’s possible, or even likely, that they have accepted the submission of Rosby by this point.

Baela arrives on Dragonstone to warn the Black Council that same night (given the proximity between Dragonstone and the shore of the Crownlands between King’s Landing and Rosby, it should take her no longer than a few hours to return with Moondancer.) Lord Farring’s last report claims Criston’s host was seen moving northeast to Rosby. Lord Staunton says he’ll return to Rook’s Rest to fortify it, although Ser Criston is expected to head to Harrenhal (Dragonstone is quite close to Rook’s Rest, sailing directly westward by ship, so he should arrive in much less than a day.) That same night (not technically necessarily, but it’s implied by the close narrative link between Rhaenyra reading Alicent’s letter and her reaction to it by making plans with Mysaria to meet Alicent) Rhaenyra asks Mysaria for help to infiltrate King’s Landing and meet Alicent in the Grand Sept.

Day 34 ADV:

In the middle of the day, Rhaenyra and Ser Steffon Darklyn arrive in King’s Landing by ship, which should have taken her somewhere between half a day and 1 day; whether she sailed right after she hatched the plan or early before dawn the next day, it’s been more than half a day since that nighttime scene. Her reunion with Alicent is relatively brief, so Rhaenyra should probably be on the way back before the end of the day.

2×04: The Red Dragon and the Gold (52 min)

Passage of time between episodes: around half a day; an afternoon, evening, and night (during Days 34-35 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 2 days (Days 35-36 ADV)

Day 35 ADV:

In the morning at Harrenhal, Ser Simon Strong informs Daemon of a just arrived raven reporting that Ser Criston departed King’s Landing “a fortnight ago” (during “2×03: The Burning Mill,”) and he’s taken Rosby and Stokeworth without siege and added their men to his army. Ser Oscar Tully, grandson to Lord Grover Tully, has also just arrived after Daemon summoned the lord to come during “2×03: The Burning Mill” (a scene that took place 3 days before its placement.) By this point, Daemon has been at Harrenhal for 17 days (once his arrival being shown 3 days after it actually happened is considered.)

That same day on Driftmark, apparently during the morning still, Rhaenys meets Alyn and talks to Corlys about him.

In King’s Landing, Alicent talks to Orwyle about moon tea and Viserys’s wishes for the succession.

On Dragonstone, Baela informs the Black Council of Ser Criston’s movements. 

In the Crownlands, Ser Criston sacks Duskendale and executes Lord Darklyn during the afternoon, given the position of the sun to the west (towards the land rather than the sea,) and he receives a raven from Aemond regarding their secret plan (to march to Rook’s Rest to bait a dragon rather than to Harrenhal.)

In King’s Landing, Aegon II and his Green Council receive the news of the taking of Harrenhal and Aemond reveals his secret plan with Ser Criston; it’s presumably the same afternoon as the Sack of Duskendale (the event itself is reported to King’s Landing at a small council meeting the next day; here they are seemingly not yet aware of the sack.) In conversation with Larys Alicent says Viserys was alive “only weeks ago,” which fits the timeline of it happening 35 days (or around 5 weeks) earlier.

Day 36 ADV:

In the middle of the night at Harrenhal, Daemon confronts Alys Rivers (although this could be a vision); apparently the next morning, Daemon meets Ser Willem Blackwood to enlist him to fight against the Brackens, who have pledged for Aegon II.

During another morning Green Council meeting, they discuss Ser Criston’s recent victories, including at Duskendale, which points to this scene taking place at least 1 day after that (and given the timing of Rhaenyra’s return to Dragonstone, it cannot be any later than that.) Aemond is absent from the meeting, as he must have already flown to spring their trap at Rook’s Rest. Aegon II leaves the meeting to talk to Alicent, after which he becomes convinced he must act and prove himself.

Ser Criston arrives at Rook’s Rest and prepares to battle in daylight, despite Ser Gwayne advising to do so at nightfall. 

During this same morning, Rhaenya returns to Dragonstone from her secret meeting with Alicent just as the Black Council has received word of Ser Criston being near Rook’s Rest, and Jace accuses her of having been absent “these last days.” The round trip took her almost 3 days; since the end of “2×03: The Burning Mill”, 1.5 days have passed by this point; more than enough time for her to return (she probably needed a few additional hours to leave the city safely.) During this council scene, Corlys says Criston’s host was “just hours away” from Rook’s Rest when Lord Staunton sent a warning to Dragonstone, which they’ve just received as of the beginning of the scene. As ravens are slower than dragons, by this point Criston must have already arrived some time ago (as we’ve seen) or perhaps started besieging the stronghold (as we’ll see in the next scenes.)

As Criston besieges Rook’s Rest, Rhaenys arrives on Meleys. The flight from Dragonstone should take only a few hours (even less than the few hours it takes to King’s Landing,) so this place during this same day. The same applies to Aegon II’s flight on Sunfyre. These hours are communicated in a montage in which we see Aegon II leaving King’s Landing on Sunfyre, Rhaenys leaving Dragonstone on Meleys, Ser Criston starting to besiege Rook’s Rest, and Rhaenyra telling Jace about the Song of Ice and Fire. Aemond has Vhagar burn Aegon II and Sunfye, who crash in the ground, and kill Meleys, with Rhaenys falling to her death. The entire battle of Rook’s Rest takes place during this day, early in the afternoon, with the sun still high in the sky.

2×05: Regent (60 min)

Passage of time between episodes: at least 11 days (Days 37-47 ADV) — at most 14 days (Days 37-50 ADV) 

Passage of time during the episode: 2 days (Day 48-51 ADV to Day 49-52 ADV)

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Jace deciding to go to the Twins and Rhaena at the Eyrie,) near Stone Hedge, in the morning, the Brackens refuse to surrender to Daemon and the Blackwoods, so Daemon charges Willem to terrorize the Brackens’ lands and take hostages to make them submit. As the first Harrenhal scene in “2×06: Smallfolk” takes place during the first day depicted in “2×05: Regent,” this and every other Harrenhal scene in this episode must also be pushed back to take place during the approximate 11 days between “2×04: The Red Dragon and the Gold” and “2×05: Regent.” This scene is likely set at the very least 1 day after “2×04: The Red Dragon and the Gold,” when Daemon ordered the Blackwoods to help him with the Brackens, though more likely several days later.

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Rhaenyra giving Baela the hand pin for Corlys and Aemond being made regent), during the day at Harrenhal, Daemon and Simon Strong have a meal and discuss the news from Rook’s Rest. Daemon would have flown back from Stone Hedge in a matter of minutes or hours, and Daemon expects Willem Blackwood will now be “bringing House Bracken to heel,” which suggests this could take place as soon as the same day as the previous Daemon scene, still at least 1 day after he ordered the Blackwoods to help him with the Brackens in “2×04: The Red Dragon and the Gold,” though more likely it takes place several days later, closer to the start of “2×05: Regent,” as they’ve already heard of Rhaenys’s death.

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Jace at the Twins and Baela giving the pin to Corlys,) as Daemon works to put Harrenhal to order during the day, Alys confronts him about what he let loose on Bracken land, and minutes later Simon Strong arrives with news that the Blackwoods have overwhelmed Stone Hedge and the Brackens pledged to Daemon, who calls for Willem Blackwood to return. This is likely set at least 1 day after the previous Harrenhal scene.

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Rhaenyra sending Alfred Broome to Harrenhal and Rhaenyra thinking of Elinda as she arrives in King’s Landing), in Harrenhal, in the middle of the night (during “the hour of the wolf,”) the riverlords come to blame Daemon for the actions of the Blackwoods. They would need enough time to hear about the news and convene here, but they could’ve heard of it before Daemon, and they could’ve been on the way here anyway, so it still probably takes place 1.5 days after the previous Daemon scene (as also suggested by the news from Rook’s Rest, 2 days earlier,) 1 day before the first day depicted in this episode, at night before the day Daemon asks Alys for help in the aforementioned “2×06: Smallfolk” scene set 1 day before “2×05: Regent.”

—

Day 48-51 ADV:

On Driftmark and Dragonstone, Corlys and Rhaenyra reflect on Rhaenys’s death during sunrise. This could appear to be set as early as the morning after the Battle of Rook’s Rest, but the interconnected continuity between these and the King’s Landing scenes means they must have only heard of the specific outcome of the battle the same day Criston returns.

In King’s Landing, during the morning, Ser Criston enters the city with Ser Gwayne, the moribund Aegon II, at least some of their army, and the head of Meleys. Aegon II is stabilized by Orwyle and Alicent interrogates Cole about what happened. The march from King’s Landing to Duskendale took 14 days, and from there to Rook’s Rest 1 day more (it should probably have been more, but it’s impossible because of the way the scenes were interconnected). The return trip could have been much faster (given the urgency of returning Aegon II home and that this time they didn’t need to stop to accept the submission of Rosby and Stokeworth or to sack Duskendale,) but the march must still have taken several days. In lieu of any hard data, a plausible round approximation (and one that doesn’t make it unlikely that the Blacks wouldn’t have heard of exactly what happened at Rook’s Rest in the interim) could be that they returned after ten days of marching (two thirds of the original march,) starting the day after the battle. As later established in “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” however, it must have taken at least 12 days. This is the first of only two likely points in season two during which more days could have possibly passed; rather than only 11 days, it could as many as 14, but believably no more than that, given that, as explained, they should have been faster in their return, not slower.

On Dragonstone, in the Black Council chamber illuminated by the yellowish tint of the late morning, Alfred Broome bemoans the loss of Meleys and Ser Criston now marching about the Crownlands unchallenged (it makes sense for their information about Criston’s whereabouts to be outdated, as he’s just arrived in King’s Landing this same morning; alternatively, these Black scenes could be set a few days before, but that’d make synchronizing them later practically impossible.) Around the same time (as Jace was absent from the Black Council meeting,) Jace talks to Baela and decides to fly to the Twins and treat with the Freys so they let the Winter Wolves pass (which means his scene at the Twins must happen the next day.)

During the afternoon, soon before supper, Rhaena, Joffrey, Aegon and Viserys have already arrived at the Eyrie and been accommodated, although it must have happened recently, as she and Lady Jeyne are only now starting to discuss the terms of their deal (as Jeyne’s not happy with Joffrey’s dragon, Tyraxes, being so small) and Rhaena’s just heard of Rhaenys’s death. Since Rhaena and the children left Dragonstone in “2×03: The Burning Mill,” 15-to-29 days have passed (depending on whether they left Dragonstone as soon as 1 day after being charged with it or as late as 10 days after, and on whether Criston’s return to King’s Landing with the moribund Aegon II took as few as 12 days or as many as 15.) They must have sailed to the Vale’s side of the Bay of Crabs (likely to Gulltown) in around 1 or 2 days (the distance by sea is around 20% longer than between Dragonstone and King’s Landing) and then rode (likely leisurely, on a wheelhouse) all the way up to the Eyrie for the next 13-to-28 days.

That evening on Dragonstone (as Rhaenyra refers to how they spoke at her small council “today”, and Elinda Massey asks whether she wants to have her evening meal in the library), Rhaenyra talks about the council to Mysaria, who suggests using the smallfolk in King’s Landing to rise up against the Greens. At dusk, Elinda is sent on a ship to King’s Landing to foment dissent. At night, Rhaenyra talks to Baela about Rhaenys and asks her to give her grandfather Corlys the hand of the queen pin.

Day 49-52 ADV:

The morning after the day of Aegon II’s arrival in King’s Landing, Orwyle informs the Green Council of Aegon II’s state and Aemond is made regent in his stead, which suggests this is the first council meeting after Aegon II’s return. Aemond orders the closing of city gates so people don’t continue fleeing because of the blockade. Later that day, Kat convinces Hugh to leave the city as they take care of their sick daughter, the ratcatchers are cut down and taken away as Alicent confronts Criston, and Hugh and Kat and their daughter (along many other smallfolk) try to flee the city only for the City Watch to close the gates.

During the day, Jace comes to an agreement with the Freys at the Twins. Given that the Twins are about twice as far away from Dragonstone as King’s Landing is, and the dragonflight between Dragonstone and the capital only takes a few hours, the trip must have taken several hours but less than a full day; this must take place the day after the night Jace left. 

After looking for Corlys at High Tide and failing to find him there, Baela goes to Spicetown’s docks on Driftmark at night and presents Corlys with Rhaenyra’s offer to become her hand of the queen, an entire day after Rhaenyra tasked her with it.

On Dragonstone, still at night, Rhaenyra sends Alfred Broome to Harrenhal “with haste” to ascertain Daemon’s loyalty.

That night on Dragonstone, as a handmaiden takes care of Rhaenyra before bed, she misses her lady-in-waiting, Elinda. This leads into a montage that connects the following scenes chronologically by implication: in King’s Landing Elinda enters the city (which pinpoints this night as taking place 1 day after she sailed from Dragonstone, which is the established time the voyage takes); Broome and his guards ride hard through the Crownlands at night (after having just disembarked in the mainland, as a sea voyage to the closest shores could take only a few hours); Elinda makes contact with Dyana in King’s Landing; Corlys considers Rhaenyra’s offer at High Tide; in King’s Landing’s Red Keep, Helaena confronts Aemond and Alicent observes Aegon II; and Jace returns to Dragonstone. Jace tells Rhaenyra about his negotiations with the Freys, and together they come up with the idea of finding noblemen with Valyrian blood to claim the unclaimed and wild dragons on Dragonstone.

2×06: Smallfolk (64 min)

Passage of time between episodes: N/A (winding back half a day in the Golden Tooth on Day 49-52 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 2 days (Day 50-53 ADV to Day 51-54 ADV)

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Ser Steffon being offered the opportunity to claim a dragon and his death,) on Harrenhal, during the day, Daemon asks for Alys’s help with the Tullys; she tells him “in three days’ time, the winds will shift,” so this takes place 3 days before the next Daemon scene (if interpreted to happen where it’s placed sequentially, it would take place 1 single day after it, not 3.) Consequently, this scene must take place earlier, 1 day before the start of “2×05: Regent.”

—

Lord Jason’s army arrives in the Golden Tooth during the day. In “2×03: The Burning Mill,” Ser Tyland said his brother, still at Casterly Rock, would harass the Blackwoods from the west “in a matter of weeks.” This indicates it’s been a little less than that when Lord Jason arrives in the Golden Tooth (where he intends to stay until Aemond comes to escort them on Vhagar to guard them against Caraxes, except that his demand is denied, so he probably doesn’t stay for long.) A raven would take around 1 day to reach King’s Landing from the Golden Tooth (based on the fact that a raven has definitely been shown to fly from Harrenhal to Dragonstone in about 12 hours, and the distance between the Golden Tooth and King’s Landing is almost double,) so this opening Golden Tooth scene takes place 1 day before Aemond receives Lord Jason’s demand, during the final day depicted in the previous episode, “2×05: Regent,” Day 49-52 ADV, but winding back to earlier in the day, during the morning.

Day 50-53 ADV:

In King’s Landing, during the day, Aemond receives Lord Jason’s raven “summoning him with haste”, but has orders sent back telling him to continue on with his march alone, despite the danger of Caraxes. This is presented as Aemond’s first full Small Council meeting as Regent without Alicent, which means it’s taking place the day after the city gates are closed. Aemond sends Tyland to make an alliance with the Triarchy, and orders Ser Criston to march with his remaining forces to take Harrenhal, planning to join him on the march “when the time is ripe” (in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” we learn he was supposed to join them halfway through the march at the Antlers.) Aemond says Criston should arrive in Harrenhal in “a fortnight,” where Daemon and the Riverlords will be confronted on two fronts, from the east by Ser Criston and from the west by Lord Jason. 

On Dragonstone, during the day, the Black Council convenes to offer Ser Steffon Darklyn the opportunity to claim a dragon based on his distant Targaryen blood. This is clearly presented as Corlys’s first day as her hand, and she came up with this idea at night with Jace, so it makes most sense for this to take place the morning after the end of the previous episode

On the same day, minutes to hours later, Ser Steffon dies trying to claim Seasmoke, who flees the island.

Meanwhile, at Spicetown’s docks on Driftmark, Corlys talks to Alyn, who says Corlys’s ship “will sail in a few days’ time.” In “2×01: A Son for a Son,” that wouldn’t be for “many weeks”; so far, it’s been between 35 and 38 days, or around 5 weeks.

On King’s Landing, during the day, Elinda’s accomplices, Dyana and Sylvi, sow dissent against the Greens with Ulf. 

On Dragonstone, seemingly mere minutes after Ser Steffon’s death, Bartimos Celtigar chastises Rhaenyra, says Seasmoke has fled Dragonstone, and mentions the idea of enlisting Lord Walys Mooton to retake Rook’s Rest, although the plan hasn’t been put into motion yet. Rhaenyra slaps Bartimos Celtigar and then goes to Mysaria to bemoan Ser Steffon’s death and her council’s disrespect. She tells her their boats full of food are going to arrive at King’s Landing “tonight.” 

In King’s Landing, during the afternoon of this same day, the smallfolk complain about the Greens’ hoarding of food; Aemond convenes his increasingly smaller Small Council with Larys Strong and Jasper Wylde, who discuss the smallfolk’s restlessness because of the scarcity of food (explicitly tying the Green and Black storylines together to the same day); and Orwyle comes to inform them of the improvement of Aegon II, who’s woken up 2 days after arriving in King’s Landing and being tended by him, and 14-to-17 days since he fell at Rook’s Rest. Aemond then visits Aegon II to intimidate him. 

In the Vale, Rhaena discusses their situation with Joffrey on a leisurely daytime walk (implying it must be near the Eyrie,) during which she finds charred sheep corpses, indicating there’s a dragon around.

In the Eyrie, Rhaena is back in her room (which should have taken her at least several hours,) where Lady Jeyne tells her Prince Reggio has answered Rhaena’s letter positively, saying he’ll shelter Rhaena and Rhaenyra’s two youngest sons in Pentos. Rhaena confronts Jeyne about the dragon, who reportedly first appeared in the Vale “shortly after the war” began (likely more than a month earlier.) Jeyne tells Rhaena that “a merchant cog, the Gay Abandon, will take” her “to Pentos,” so presumably they are leaving soon (in “2×07: The Red Sowing” we see them go past the Bloody Gate, where Rhaena decides to go find the dragon instead, in a scene that takes place 2 days later.) 

In Spicetown the same afternoon, Alyn and Addam discuss their situation with Corlys, and on Dragonstone Jace tells Rhaenyra she “struck Lord Bartimos today,” which confirms these two scenes take place the same day, as reaffirmed by Mysaria telling Rhaenya their “gift” to the smallfolk will be arriving “tonight”, as she did earlier as well.

Day 51-54 ADV:

Soon before dawn of the following day, the boats arrive on King’s Landing’s shores.

Early in the morning, Alicent looks on Aegon II and asks Orwyle about Otto, who hasn’t replied to any of her letters she sent to Highgarden, Oldtown and later the Reach’s great houses (after he left for Highgarden or Oldtown in “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel”, 32 to 35 days earlier.) Orwyle says “there’s war in the Reach now,” as “House Beesbury has raised arms against the Hightower host” in “retribution for their lord’s demise.” 

Alicent sees off Ser Criston and Ser Gwayne, who leave King’s Landing with a host to Harrenhal (which should take “a fortnight,”) 1 day after Aemond ordered him to do so. 

Alicent takes Helaena to pray at the Grand Sept just as a riot erupts over Rhaenyra’s smuggled food, made worse by the three friends of Aegon II who were made members of the Kingsguard. One of them dies, and Alicent is cut in the scuffle. 

Meanwhile, Larys gets into Aegon II’s good graces.

On Harrenhal, in the morning, Daemon receives the news of Lord Grover Tully’s death, implied by Simon Strong to be at Alys’s hand. Alys told Daemon that “in three days’ time, the winds will shift”, so this must be 3 days after that.

Late in the morning on Driftmark, Seasmoke claims Addam on Driftmark. 

On Dragonstone, many hours later (with little sunlight coming through the windows) Mysaria informs Rhaenyra that her banners were carried up to the gates of the Red Keep by the smallfolk thankful for her gift, and as they kiss they’re interrupted by news that Seasmoke has been sighted flying over Spicetown with a rider. Rhaenyra flies towards Driftmark at dusk (with a little indirect sunlight still on the sky to the west.) These two scenes on Driftmark and Dragonstone could take place a day after the riot (or even many days later,) but a raven informing of that morning’s events could’ve reached Mysaria within the day, and crucially events in “2×07: The Red Wedding” (such as Orwyle stitching Alicent’s cut and Aemond sending the two surviving Kingsguards who are to blame to the Wall) necessitate as little time as possible to have passed.

2×07: The Red Sowing (61 min)

Passage of time between episodes: half a day, from dusk to late morning-noon (during Day 51-54 and Day 52-55 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 6 days (Day 52-55 ADV to Day 57-60 ADV)

Day 52-55 ADV:

During the day (with plenty of sunlight, although the clouds obscure the sun’s position,) Rhaenyra and Syrax face Adam and Seasmoke on Driftmark’s shores, she accepts him into her service, and they prepare to fly to Dragonstone. She left at dusk and Driftmark is mere minutes away by dragon, but she had to find Seasmoke with no sunlight and compel Addam to land the dragon, none of which we see, so she must have done all that overnight and through the early morning. The scene isn’t set at dawn or early in the morning, given the lack of orange sunlight or a sun low in the sky; it could be late in the morning or noon.

In King’s Landing, Orwyle stitches Alicent’s cut from the riots in “2×06: Smallfolk,” which means this must take place not too long after. However, she isn’t wearing the same clothes or hairstyle as she did during the riot, so some time must have passed, which fits alongside Rhaenyra and Addam’s previous scene, the morning after the day of the riot. Alicent then asks her sworn protector, Ser Rickard Thorne, to take her to the Kingswood alone. 

Meanwhile, Aemond sends the two surviving Kingsguard friends of Aegon II to the Wall for starting the riot that endangered Alicent and Helaena, and Jasper Wylde informs Larys Strong of the rumor that Seasmoke has been sighted with a rider. The chain of custody of this rumor is that a fisherman saw it, told his shipmate, who told his stablehand son, who told it to Lord Jasper’s squire, who told it to him; all of that happening in 1 day (from the morning Seasmoke claims Addam on Driftmark to the morning of the next day in King’s Landing) is plausible but stretches credulity a bit.

On Dragonstone, mere minutes after Addam accepts to serve Rhaeneyra in the opening scene (given Driftmark’s close proximity to Dragonstone,) Jace sees Syrax and Seasmoke return together, Ser Lorent and Maester Gerardys tell the Black Council about Addam and of Rhaenyra’s intentions to train him, Mysaria convinces Rhaenyra to search for other candidates not amongst noblemen with distant Targaryen blood but amongst unrecognized Targaryen bastards, and Addam asks to be relieved from Corlys’s service as shipwright now that he’s a dragonrider.

In King’s Landing, during the day, Orwyle and Larys help Aegon II in his rehabilitation without Aemond’s knowledge. 

In Spicetown’s port on Driftmark, during the day, Corlys orders Alyn to charter fishing ships with trusted armed men to take to King’s Landing (to ferry the dragonseeds once Elinda gathers them,) and tells him about Addam claiming a dragon. 

In the Vale, during the day, Rhaena and the retinue taking the princes Aegon and Viserys to Pentos by ship go through the bloody Bloody Gate as Lady Jeyne Arryn sees them off, and when no one’s looking Rhaena abandons them to find the wild dragon. Minutes or hours later, Rhaena returns to the dragon nest of charred sheep she and Joffrey found 2 days earlier. 

Early in the evening, Alicent and Ser Rickard (already anxious to return) camp in the Kingswood and she prepares to retire for the evening and go to sleep. It’d take at least several hours to enter the Kingswood from the city.

Late in the evening, Jace tries and fails to convince Rhaenyra not to follow through on her plan to recruit dragonseeds to claim dragons, and Mysaria hands Alyn the message that will inform Elinda of her new mission to recruit dragonseeds. 

Day 53-56 ADV:

At dawn the next day, on Driftmark, Alyn hands the message to one of the trusted men hired for the job.

Day 54-57 ADV:

The man with the message enters King’s Landing after sailing from Driftmark, which should’ve taken him around 1 day by ship, and hands it to Elinda Massey. Elinda reads the message and starts looking for the dragonseeds. Elinda’s recruitment of the dragonseeds is told via montage, implying it may take place across several days, which would make sense. The montage starts the day she receives the message, and goes through one night.

Day 55-58 ADV:

Elinda’s montage ends during the day after a single night shown, leading to Ulf and then Hugh hearing of Rhaenyra’s summons also still during that day, which means the recruitment must have taken at the very least 2 days (which would make sense, as Mysaria already knows the identity and whereabouts of the bastards; Elinda just needs to contact them.) This is the second of the only two likely points so far during which several more days could have passed between scenes: here, it could have taken several days rather than just 2, although likely no more than around 1 week, as Alicent’s absence from the Red Keep would’ve started being alarming rather than just an oddity had she and Ser Rickard spent weeks in the Kingswood alone (Alicent already spends almost a week in the Kingswood anyway.) However, the recruitment likely lasted only 2 days: Criston and Gwayne left King’s Landing again during “2×06: Smallfolk,” between the first possible time jump and this second one, and they were expected to reach Harrenhal in “a fortnight” (14 days). They were likely delayed for at least a few days waiting for Aemond to meet them at the Antlers as they had planned (as revealed in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,”) but they reach it during “3×04: Tumbleton,” between 16 and 21 days after starting the march, depending on whether Elinda’s recruitment of the dragonseeds lasted as few as 2 days or as many as 7. As 16 days seem much likelier than 21 days, given that they were only briefly delayed, it’s also much likelier that the recruitment of the dragonseeds only took as long as the montage shows: 2 days.

Day 56-59 ADV:

Just before dawn (with the sun starting to rise from the east,) Alyn escorts the dragonships into the boats. 

In the morning, Alicent swims on a lake in the Kingswood, at the earliest the day after her previous scene but likely where it’s shown, 4 days later. It is implied that she spends several days in the Kingswood; next time she’s seen, in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was,” she’s already in the Red Keep, having arrived that day or the previous day, one day after this scene.

Day 57-60 ADV:

The dragonseeds arrive on Dragonstone in the late morning (around 1 day after setting sail from King’s Landing.) Rhaenyra immediately puts them to the test and many of them die, but Hugh claims Vermithor and Ulf claims Silverwing. 

Hours later in King’s Landing, Aemond convenes the Green Council, in which Jasper Wylde reads a letter from Lord Ormund Hightower, whose host is making “slow progress” due to being “threatened on two fronts by armies allied with House Beesbury,” although Aemond’s youngest brother, Daeron, is riding Tessarion at last and it is expected he will join the fight soon. The meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Ulf on Silverwing flying around the city, with the sun slightly to the west indicating it’s the afternoon. Aemond rides hard to Vhagar, just outside the city, to chase Silverwing and its rider.

Hours later, in the late afternoon (with the sun firmly to the west but not yet close to sunset,) Aemond chases Silverwing to Dragonstone but turns back when he’s confronted by Rhaenyra’s four dragons.

—

In a scene shown earlier (sequentially between Addam and Corlys’s conversation and Orwyle and Larys helping Aegon II in his rehabilitation,) in Harrenhal, during the day, Lord Oscar Tully arrives with the riverlords and their men to answer Daemon’s summons, and Daemon is forced to execute Ser Willem Blackwood to gain the loyalty of Lord Oscar and the riverlords. This must take place at least 3 days after the death of Lord Grover Tully, as previously Alys needed 3 days to travel from Harrenhal to Riverrun; since Lord Oscar Tully is marching with an army, it could easily be double that time, 6 days, which makes sense, as 6 days pass in this episode. Although this scene could take place as early as this episode’s 3rd day, when Elinda receives Rhaenyra’s message in King’s Landing, it would fit best on the day of the Red Sowing. Theoretically the previous Harrenhal scene in the previous episode 3-to-6 days earlier could be the one that must happen earlier, instead of this one later, but that’d push many earlier Harrenhal scenes in episodes even before the previous one further back. Helpfully, the first Harrenhal scene in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” seems to pick up soon after Daemon has gained the loyalty of the riverlords; either way, the Harrenhal storyline is isolated enough that both versions of events could work without disturbing the overall timeline.

2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was (67 min)

Passage of time between episodes: minutes to a few hours (during Day 57-60 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 2 days (Day 58-61 ADV to Day 59-62 ADV)

In the early evening (with sunlight coming low from the Narrow Sea, to the west), Tyland arrives in Tyrosh and meets the captains of the Triarchy and their admiral, Sharako Lohar, who says she won’t fight alongside a man who can’t best her. Since Tyland left King’s Landing in “2×06: Smallfolk,” 7 days have passed. Considering that sailing from King’s Landing to Dragonstone takes about 1 day, sailing from King’s Landing to Tyrosh (around thrice the distance using the shortest route; from King’s Landing to Sharp Point and from there straight to Tyrosh) should take around 3 days, not 7. However, it makes sense that Tyland needed more days to reach Tyrosh, as he had to bypass Blackwater Bay entirely because of the blockade at the Gullet; he must have ridden to the closest allied port southeast of the Kingswood and south of Massey’s Point to evade the blockade, somewhere around the border between the Crownlands and the Stormlands (maybe at Haystack Hall,) which could easily take him as many as 5 days (in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” a single fast rider will be shown to have galloped about half this distance, from King’s Landing to the Mander, in 1 day, so perhaps this journey could be made in 2 days at top speed, but there’s no reason to think Tyland and his retinue didn’t ride leisurely through the Kingswood, likely by wheelhouse, given Tyland’s disposition.) Then, he’d have to set sail from there to Tyrosh, which should take him around 2 days (from that point in the coastal border between the Crownlands and the Stormlands, the distance to Tyrosh is about double the distance between King’s Landing and Dragonstone.)

Day 58-61 ADV:

Early in the morning, the next day after having fled Dragonstone, Aemond burns down all of Sharp Point (which is a few hours away from Dragonstone by dragon.) 

In the morning, in King’s Landing, Larys informs Aegon II of Rhaenyra having found three new dragonriders and of Aemond seeking retribution by burning Sharp Point, which means Aemond must have returned to inform them of Rhaenyra’s dragonriders and of his actions at Sharp Point. Larys convinces Aegon II to leave King’s Landing and flee to Essos before Aemond or Rhaenyra kill him. 

In the Vale, during the day, Rhaena continues looking for the wild dragon, 6 days after she started the search, which fits her raggedy state, tiredness, and desperation for water. 

On Dragonstone, Jace confronts Ulf and tells him Aemond burned Sharp Point down “this last hour.” 

In Spicetown’s port on Driftmark, during the day, Rhaenyra discuss the dragonseeds with Corlys, who urges her to act quickly with her new dragons as Aemond “will not stop at burning Sharp Point,” and then shows her that the repairs of his flagship (formerly the Sea Snake, renamed The Queen Who Ever Was) have been finished, and tells her that he and ship will “rejoin the blockade on the morrow.” In “2×01: A Son for a Son” Alyn said “it’ll be many weeks yet” before Corlys’s ship, the Sea Snake, would be repaired; between 43 and 46 days (around 6 weeks) have passed between the two scenes in 2×01 and 2×08.

In Harrenhal, during the morning, Lord Peter Pyper informs Daemon that the rivermen army will be “ready to march in two days’ time.” Daemon says that “Lannister hesitates” (confirming that Lord Jason Lannister stayed longer than expected at the Golden Tooth, although by the end of the episode he’s approaching the Red Fork.) Ser Alfred Broome arrives in Harrenhal after leaving Dragonstone during “2×05: Regent.” Criston’s march from King’s Landing to Harrenhal is expected to take “a fortnight,” and the journey from Dragonstone’s closest Crownlands shores to Harrenhal is of a similar distance, but Ser Alfred is riding hard (as we saw him do at the end of “2×05: Regent”) with just a few men, not with an entire army; it’s been 9 days, which fits a similar distance being traversed in fewer days. Simon Strong hears Daemon and Ser Alfred’s conversation (and, off-screen, sends Rhaenyra a raven warning her of Daemon’s possible treachery, sent this morning and arriving in the late evening.)

In King’s Landing, during the day, Jasper Wylde informs Aemond of the details of the Red Sowing, leading him to order the inspection of all boats coming into harbor. Alicent (returned from the Kingswood either this morning or the previous day) and Helaena discuss the riot in which they were endangered (7 days earlier), and Alicent becomes convinced she must save Helaena from this life when she says she was happier before she was queen; she’s even more convinced after Aemond comes in demanding Halaena fly Dreamfyre to battle with him. Aemond refers to them being in peril “today more than yesterday” because of Rhaenyra’s new dragons, indicating this is happening no later than 1 day after he found out, and Alicent confronts Aemond about burning Sharp Point, which also suggests this is happening the day of the attack. Fearing Aemond’s actions, Alicent seeks Orwyle’s discrete help for passage in a ship (to take her to Dragonstone; her voyage there should take 1 day, more or less.)

In the Riverlands in the late afternoon, Criston and Gwayne argue. It’s been 7 days since they started their march from King’s Landing in “2×06: Smallfolk.” It’s expected to take them “a fortnight” to reach Harrenhal, so they’re about halfway there.

On Tyrosh, in the evening, Tyland bests Lohar at mud-wrestling, so she says she’ll consider Tyland’s request after dinner. Although there is no implication this takes place 1 day after the previous Tyrosh scene, it fits perfectly well this way.

On Dragonstone that evening, Jace and Baela talk about the dragonseeds.

In the Vale during the evening, Rhaena sleeps in the rough.

On Tyrosh, after dinner, only minutes or hours after the previous Tyrosh scene, Lohar accepts Tyland’s contract and announces they’ll sail “to the Gullet on the morrow.” For Lohar to be able set sail the following morning (they are shown already at sea by the end of the episode, around 24 hours after this scene,) the Triarchy fleet must have been mobilized already, which makes sense, as only 2 months earlier they’d been at war with Corlys, to whom they lost the Stepstones again, so they were likely ready to strike back at Corlys whether or not Tyland came to them. This interpretation is substantiated in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood” by Lohar’s comments to Tyland: “Do you think I sailed across the Narrow Sea to win your king’s war for him?” and “The Sea Snake led the persecution and slaughter of my mates for more than 20 years; I sealed your contract for him.”

On Dragonstone, late in the evening, Rhaenyra, Jace, and Baela dine with the three dragonseeds. She says Corlys convinced her (this morning) to use their advantage and orders the bastards to fly in 2 days to subdue Oldtown and Lannisport. This never materializes; Alicent’s offer 1 day after this scene makes her change her plan. Instead, she’ll order them (between the end of this episode and the start of “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood”) to go to Harrenhal to ambush Aemond and Vhagar, so by the end of this episode 2 days cannot have elapsed from this night; indeed, it’s only 1 day. The dinner is interrupted by Simon’s raven warning Rhaenyra of Daemon’s possible treachery (after half a day, around 12 hours, having taken flight this morning and arriving at night,) and Rhaenyra decides to confirm Daemon’s allegiance in person, asking Addam to fly with her.

At night, Daemon is awoken by Alys, who guides him to the godswood, where he has visions of the future that change his perspective. The vision connects directly with Helaena; at the same time in King’s Landing, Aemond again tries to convince Helaena to fly with him. Helaena accuses him of burning Aegon II, refuses him, and tells him he will die in the Gods Eye.

Day 59-62 ADV:

Next morning at Harrenhal, Rhaenyra and Addam arrive on Syrax and Seasmoke; this fits, as the flight time from Dragonstone to Harrenhal by dragon has been shown to be of a matter of hours, so they must have flown there overnight. After his experiences, Daemon reaffirms his fealty to Rhaenyra, and with the army ready, Daemon prepares them to march out to war. This timing fits well enough, as the previous day Lord Peter Pyper told Daemon the riverman army would be “ready to march in two days’ time,” and they’re later shown starting to decamp by the end of this day, around 1.5 days after Piper said it’d be 2 days.

Still during the morning, on Driftmark, Corlys’s flagship is finally unmoored from the docks after being repaired for 44 to 47 days, when Alyn said “it’ll be many weeks yet” before it’s done. It’s been around 6 weeks. Their conversation suggests that it’s the morning (“Gulls are flying low today. The weather will change”) and that they’ll join the blockade later this day. 

In the Vale, with a yellowish sky indicating it’s still morning or late afternoon, Rhaena finally spots the wild dragon Sheepstealer in the sky; it’s been 1 day since we last saw her, and 7 days since she started her dragon hunt.

That early evening, on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra’s back from Dragonstone (which fits, as it’s a journey of a matter of hours by dragon) and discusses the dragonseeds with Mysaria, as they observe Syrax and Seasmoke flying together in the distance (which could indicate they’ve just recently returned.) Later in the evening, as Rhaenyra tries but fails to sleep, Alicent comes to her from King’s Landing (around 1.5 days after she asked Orwyle for passage, and probably around half a day to 1 day since she actually set sail.) Alicent tells Rhaenyra that “Aemond will soon fly to join Cole in the Riverlands” (unbeknownst to her, this will be delayed by Aegon II’s escape from King’s Landing, which will convince Aemond to stay for longer until Alicent convinces her to leave.) She promises Rhaenyra that, with Aemond gone and Helaena as the crown’s authority, Alicent will see to it that their guards throw down their arms, open the gates, and shed no blood if Rhaenyra comes to take King’s Landing, in exchange for Rhaenyra letting Alicent, Helaena, and Jaehaera escape. Rhaenyra also insists on Aegon II being executed, which Alicent reluctantly agrees to. Before she leaves, Alicent tells Rhaenyra to “fly to the Red Keep in three days’ time.” 

Then, several events are shown in a montage, all of them either minutes before sunset or during it: the dragonseeds are outfitted for battle; the Hightower army, escorted by Daeron and Tessarion above then, marches on the Rose Road by a river (they’ve left the Honeywine behind and this is the Mander further north, as revealed in “3×01 Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood”); the Winter Wolves pass through the Twins, entering the Riverlands; Jason Lannister’s army, with Humfrey Lefford and his men, march forward to the Red Fork, with Harrenhal far in the horizon (in “2×03: The Burning Mill,” Ser Tyland said his brother Lord Jason was at Casterly Rock raising a great army and would be able to attack the Blackwoods from the west “in a matter of weeks”; indeed, it’s been 39 to 42 days, or 5 and a half to 6 weeks); at Harrenhal, Daemon, armored and ready, observes the rivermen army preparing to decamp; Tyland and Sharako and her Triarchy fleet sail through the Narrow Sea (when she accepted Tyland’s contract, she announced they’d sail “on the morrow”); Corlys and Alyn are taken by boat from the docks to his ship at sea (during his conversation with Rhaenyra he told her he’d “rejoin the blockade on the morrow;” indeed, it’s the next day); Rhaena faces Sheepstealer (having first spotted him flying this morning); Otto is revealed to have been imprisoned (in the Black Cells of the Red Keep, as revealed in “3×02: Queen’s Landing”); Aegon II and Larys escape King’s Landing on a wagon (1 day after Larys convinced him of this; it’s only been 23 to 26 days since his fall at Rook’s Rest, a miraculously short timespan for him to recuperate this much, but no more time can have passed, so his quick rehabilitation must be waved away as dramatic license or as caused by any of the myriad mysterious elements in this fantastical world); and Alicent leaves Dragonstone as the sun sets.

3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood (62 min)

Passage of time between episodes: half a day overnight (during Day 59-62 and Day 60-63 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 2 days (Day 60-63 ADV to Day 61-64 ADV)

Day 60-63 ADV:

Very early in the morning in the Vale, before dawn, Rhaena faces Sheepstealer again, having lured her with a sheep tied a rock (Sheepstealer is shown arriving at this location, which is different from the one we last saw them together at; Rhaena must have lured the dragon to this new location overnight.) Rhaena mounts Sheepstealer, who flies away on its own accord.

In King’s Landing, still before dawn, Aemond wakes Orwyle from his bed, accusing him of helping Aegon II escape, until Jasper Wylde says Larys is also missing (Aegon II and Larys left King’s Landing by wagon at sunset the day before.) 

As dawn breaks in the Crownlands, Aegon II and Larys continue by wagon on the Rosby Road until Staunton men take them as hostages to be taken to Dragonstone via Duskendale, which is said to be “the nearest port” (if taken out of context, this would mean their wagon must have made a journey which should’ve taken them several days in a single night, which is impossible; however, even if the actual nearest port is King’s Landing, as it should be, Duskendale would still be the nearest port the Staunton men believe can take them to Dragonstone whilst far from the Greens’ center of power in the capital.) 

On Dragonstone, early in the morning, Rhaenyra informs Jace and then her council of Alicent’s offer, which they distrust. Rhaenyra believes Aemond and Vhagar have already flown to Harrenhal to join Cole (as Alicent knew was the plan, even though in reality, as Aemond will tell Alicent in the next scene, Aemond has decided to stay in the capital now that Aegon II is absent.) Rhaenyra has word sent to Corlys in the Gullet that she’ll need ships and soldiers to secure the city (although this plan is also undone, in this case by the Battle of the Gullet,) and says she’ll write to Daemon so he returns with haste, as they’ll “fly to King’s Landing in two days’ time” (which confirms this takes place the day after her reunion with Alicent, when it was 3 days.)

Two days earlier, Rhaenyra had ordered her dragonseeds to fly “in two days” to subdue Oldtown and Lannisport; Alicent’s offer has changed these plans, and instead, as seen in a later scene, she has ordered them off-screen (at some point during the night that transpires between the end of “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” and this episode) to go to Harrenhal and face Aemond and Vhagar while she takes King’s Landing with the help of Daemon on Caraxes and Corlys’s ships and troops.

Alicent and Ser Rickard return to King’s Landing in the morning (orange lighting bathes the scene and an unnamed Kingsguard greets them with “good morrow”), having sailed from Dragonstone a little more than half a day earlier (overnight, from sunset to the next morning some time after dawn.) Aemond interrogates Alicent (believing she could have had something to do with Aegon II’s disappearance, which she is actually shocked by,) asking her about her whereabouts, as she hasn’t “been seen in the Keep in days”; she was last there 2 days earlier (although, before the last time he saw her, she’d also been gone for 6 days in the Kingswood, which she also uses at this point to excuse this latest absence.) Although Alicent only taking a little more than half a day (sailing overnight) to reach King’s Landing from Dragonstone is cutting it a little close, it seems natural for this scene and the ones that follow to take place the same morning as the previous scenes, and it fits the few explicit and specific mentions of time passing later in the episode and in “3×02: Queen’s Landing.” Aemond tells Alicent that Aegon II’s “abdication” has left him no choice but to remain in the city, but that “Lord Ormund and 15,000 Hightower men presently march up the Mander with Daeron and his dragon” (this confirms that when we saw them in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” during the evening, half a day before this morning, they were marching by the Mander, having left the Honeywine behind them) and “the Triarchy fleet will, at any moment, ambush the blockade with a force thrice the Sea Snake’s strength” (which they do 1 day after this scene.)

In the morning, Corlys sails his newly repaired and renamed ship, The Queen Who Ever Was ship, between High Tide on Driftmark and a much smaller rock formation largely comprised of jagged rocks (through which we’ll later learn there is the “Dragonstone pass”, a narrow channel between the rocks), which seems to touch or almost touch the island of Driftmark (as seen more clearly when Baela flies back to Dragonstone at the start of “3×02: Queen’s Landing.”) The “Teeth,” jagged fang-like mounts at one end of the pass, look directly towards High Tide, on the southern shores of Driftmark.

At the Red Fork, in the early hours of the morning, Daemon and Lord Oscar Tully and their rivermen army have ambushed Lord Jason Lannister’s westermen host, whose “vanguard was smashed and the rearguard broken and fled,” so the host “has scattered” and Lord Jason “fled when the cavalry broke rank.” According to Lord Oscar’s scouts, “they may be regrouping near the Gods Eye,” so Daemon says they’ll pursue them east and fight them by the lake. Just then, from the east, Lord Roderick Dustin and his 2000 Winter Wolves arrive, having cut off Lord Jason’s retreat and killed him, offering his head to Daemon and the rivermen as a show of loyalty to Rhaenyra. With the rivermen and northmen hosts joined, Daemon announces they “have more lions to hunt,” indicating he still intends to pursue those who fled the Battle at the Red Fork. This battle takes place around a little more than an entire night after the evening in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” during which the rivermen army decamped from Harrenhal and the Winter Wolves passed through the Twins. This seems technically possible but not likely, as that’d have barely enough time to reach this unspecified crossing of the Red Fork, even moving incredibly fast, but the interconnectedness between all the storylines necessitates this to be the case.

In the Riverlands, early in the morning (defused light comes through the morning mist in the forest, and Gwayne greets Criston with “good morrow”), at some location between the Antlers and Harrenhal, Gwayne tells Criston that Aemond and Vhagar were supposed to have joined them “back at the Antlers” (which is around halfway between Harrenhal and King’s Landing.) In “2×06: Smallfolk” Aemond said Ser Criston would arrive in Harrenhal in “a fortnight”. As Aemond’s absence shouldn’t have delayed them too much (they have continued marching rather than staying put, as Gwayne says they “march ever exposed”), at this point a little less than the planned two weeks of marching must have passed; indeed, it’s been 9 days.

Near Harrenhal, by the northern shores of the Gods Eye, on a cloudy day that could be morning, noon, or afternoon, Addam, Hugh, and Ulf await the coming of Aemond and Vhagar. According to Ulf, they have been “hanging about” and “Vhagar was supposed to be here already,” as Rhaenyra’s orders didn’t mention waiting; she told them to “come here, kill Aemond.” Since she ordered them to come between the end of “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” at sunset and this episode’s opening morning, off-screen, a little more than half a day has passed; arriving in Harrenhal would’ve taken them several hours but less than half a day, so they have been waiting for Aemond to come on Vhagar at most for part of a night and part of the morning.

In the Vale, during a cloudy day, Sheepstealer lands on top of a mountain, Rhaena pleads with the dragon to take her to Dragonstone, but instead Sheepstealer flies away and leaves her on top of the mountain. There’s no explicit indication of how long after their previous scene this takes place; judging by the scenes around them, it’s been at least a few hours.

In King’s Landing, during the day, Alicent asks Helaena whether she knew Aegon II had fled, and has a message sent to Lord Ormund’s Hightower host, under the guise that it was written by Aemond, with the intention of delaying their march. She asks Ser Soren to dispatch one of his “fastest riders” and deliver the message to Ormund “with haste.”

Day 61-64 ADV:

In the Gullet, during the morning, on The Queen Who Ever Was, Corlys tells Alyn about Rhaenyra’s new orders to “pull five ships from the blockade, sail down the Blackwater, and seize King’s Landing’s port” as she “surrounds the city with her dragons and forces the surrender of Aegon and Aemond.” Rhaenyra had word sent to Corlys in the Gullet the previous day in the morning (it’s implausible it’d be the same morning, and the timing of Alicent’s message to Lord Ormund makes it impossible.) Their meeting is interrupted by the Triarchy fleet being sighted. Corlys orders that ravens be sent to Dragonstone to warn them. Tyland and the Triarchy have entered the Gullet exactly 2 days after setting sail from Tyrosh. This is consistent with the rest of the show: sailing from King’s Landing to Dragonstone takes about 1 day, so sailing from Tyrosh to Driftmark (around twice the distance, a little more -2.2 times longer- or a little less -1.7 times longer- depending on the sea route) should take around 2 days.

On the Bitchfist, Tyland suggests a strategy to Sharako: he says that “the Gullet has three inlets into the Blackwater, the largest of which opens just to the south of Driftmark.” Indeed, Blackwater Bay can be accessed through three passages: between the peninsula of Crackclaw Point and the island of Dragonstone; between the islands of Dragontone and Driftmark; and the widest aperture between the island of Driftmark and the town of Sharp Point on the peninsula of Massey’s Hook.) Tyland suggests “pressing towards the southern inlet,” between Driftmark and Sharp Point, in order to “engage the Velaryon fleet at close combat,” so that if Rhenyra’s dragonriders come they’re reluctant to use their dragons lest they “burn their own ships.” However, Sharako dismisses Tyland’s plan: instead, she orders the fleet to be divided, sending Captain Halfjaw’s detachment to penetrate the northern pass, between Crackclaw Point and Dragonstone, and sail southwest from there to Driftmark in order to catch them by surprise and sack High Tide, as a ploy to divide Corlys’s attention and distract him from the larger fleet south.

In the Vale, during the day, Sheepstealer returns to Rhaena on top of the mountain and feeds her a cooked sheep. It makes sense for Rhaena to be starving; she’s been dragon-hunting in the wilderness for 9 days.

In the Reach, by the river Mander, in the morning (judging by Lord Ormund asking Bold Jon “what is the weather to be today” and by him and the messenger greeting themselves with “Good morrow,”) Lord Ormund receives Alicent’s message. The message, written in Aemond’s name, orders the Hightower host to camp where they are and “await further word,” as Aemond will join them “in three days’ time,” which Alicent does to delay their march and ensure Rhaenyra can take King’s Landing bloodlessly. Alicent had one of Ser Soren’s “fastest riders” sent to deliver the message “with haste”; even then, it can’t possibly be the same morning she sent the message, so the messenger has taken around 1 day to find Lord Ormund’s camp. Given the distance between King’s Landing and Tumbleton (which, although said to be 60 leagues -290 km- in the “Inside the Episode” segment for “3×05: Unbowed and Unbent”, as it is also in Fire & Blood, in-universe it’s said to be fewer than 30 leagues -fewer than 145 km- by Gwayne in “3×06: Faceless Men,”) it’s perfectly fitting that a lone fast rider -rather than a much slower marching army- would make it in about 1 day (or even faster if they’re using a relay system -swapping horses- along the way as urgent messenger riders are known to do.) It also cannot be more than 1 day after Alicent sent the message, as the scenes around this one are tightly connected and take place on the same day, and Rhaenyra arrives in King’s Landing the day Alicent expected, 3 days after their meeting. 3 to 4 days from now, off-screen during “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” Lord Ormund will take Tumbleton, so at this point they must be very close to it, between 1 and 2 days away at marching pace (they won’t continue marching forward between receiving the orders to stay put now and the parlay with Daemon at the start of “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant” in 2 days.) In “2×03: The Burning Mill,” Ser Gwayne Hightower arrived in King’s Landing from Oldtown “after three long months.” Lord Ormund makes a slightly shorter journey (from Oldtown to this point in the Mander, only 1 day away from the capital for a quick rider and likely less than a week for an army) in only 43 to 47 days, or around 1.5 months, half the time as Gwayne, and marching with an army at his back at that. However, the Hightower host is textually said to be be marching “quickly” to arrive as soon as possible, while Ser Gwayne would probably take a much more leisurely approach, especially before he heard of Viserys’s death (stopping at every inn, as we see him wanting to do even while marching to war in that same episode, “2×03: The Burning Mill.”) Also, they’re still at least around a week away from King’s Landing. This timeline for Ormund’s march is strongly substantiated by the fact that Criston’s army marched from King’s Landing to Rook’s Rest in 15 days, and his march from King’s Landing to Harrenhal was expected to take 14 days (in the end it will turn out to be 16 days, likely because of their brief delay at the Antlers); Harrenhal and Rook’s Rest are at around a third of the distance Oldtown is to King’s Landing, so a simple comparison would point to Ormund’s march from Oldtown to Tumbleton taking somewhere between 42 and 45 days, which fits the timeline perfectly (admittedly, such a simple calculation doesn’t account for the resistance Ormund met from the Beesburys and other rebels, who were said to slow them down; but also doesn’t account for the differences in terrain and roads, which should heavily favor Ormund compared to Criston.) 

In King’s Landing, during the day, Alicent convinces Aemond to fly to Harrenhal.

Near Harrenhal, during the day, by the northern shores of the Gods Eye, Hugh asks Addam if it’s possible Aemond hasn’t come because he somehow knew they were waiting to ambush him in Harrenhal and so may have gone to attack Dragonstone instead. By this point, this is the 2nd day they have been waiting near Harrenhal (as confirmed by Daemon in “3×02: Queen’s Landing.”) Ulf says he’s leaving, as he’s scared and Rhaenyra never told them what to do if Aemond and Vhagar never came, but Addam insists they must stay until Alys Rivers appears and agrees with Ulf, telling them “Rhaenyra needs them at Dragonstone.” The flight to the Gullet should take them several hours to about half a day; they will arrive at some point between the end of this episode and the start of “3×02: Queen’s Landing”, at most about half a day later.

On Dragonstone, Baela reports to Rhaenyra and Jace about an enemy fleet engaging the Velaryons in battle in the Gullet. Technically, she could have received this information from one of the ravens Corlys sent as soon as the Triarchy fleet was sighted, which would have taken around a few hours, but we see Baela dismounting Moondancer on the dragonmount, which means she must have witnessed the battle herself by scouting on Moondancer (as she often does.) Considering that in the earlier scenes in the Gullet the two fleets weren’t yet engaged in battle, and per Baela’s reports and the next scene now they are, likely a few hours have passed since then anyway. Rhaenyra decides to fly to the Gullet herself, but Jace orders Ser Lorent Marbrand to confine her in her room and decides to go to battle himself, convincing Baela to follow.

In the Gullet, the Velaryon and Triarchy fleets are engaged in battle. Upon sighting the Bitchfist and realizing his enemy Sharako Lohar commands the fleet, Corlys decides to bait it so Sharako follows them, which she does, despite Tyland’s protests.

On Dragonstone, still imprisoned, Rhaenyra expresses her frustrations to Mysaria.

In the Gullet, Alyn warns Corlys that their fleet has been surrounded, but the Bitchfist is pursuing them as planned, with a small detachment. Just then, Jace and Baela arrive on Vermax and Moondancer, mere minutes after leaving Dragonstone. As they burn Triarchy ships, Corlys orders Alyn to set a course through the “Dragonstone pass”, a narrow channel of navigable water between a formation of giant jagged rocks on the easternmost tip of Driftmark (essentially a dangerous shortcut,) in order to entrap Lohar by running her ship aground. Sharako tries to bring Vermax down with grapnels, but Baela has Moondancer cut them loose with her wing, and only then Sharako continues the pursuit of The Queen Who Ever Was (which is sailing towards the Dragonstone pass) on her flagship, the Bitchfist, followed by 2 other ships. Using his superior knowledge, Corlys gets his ship through the pass (as he sails through two distinctive jagged mounts he calls “the Teeth” at the far edge of the pass in relation to the site of the battle) and orders Alyn to set sail back to the battle by going (northeasterly) around the rock formation. From a birds’ eye view looking northeastwards (mostly eastwards,) we see Dragonstone far in the distance, slightly to the left, with the battle between the fleets taking place much closer, and the “Teeth” on one end of the pass in the foreground.

Rhaena arrives on Dragonstone on Sheepstealer (several hours after leaving the Vale, as expected on dragonback) only to see the Battle of the Gullet in the distance (as well as the rocky Dragonstone pass formation, the only visible part of Driftmark, which makes sense, as it’s the part of Driftmark closest to Dragonstone,) and orders Sheepstealer to head there to help. This is the last positional data point needed to situate the exact site of the battle (which is more helpful for understanding the geography of the battle than it is to the timeline): since Halfjaw’s detachment of the larger Triarchy fleet was sent away earlier to covertly pass through the northern sea route between Crackclaw Point and Dragonstone in order to sack High Tide, this larger battle could only take place either at the central sea route into the Blackwater between Dragonstone and Driftmark or the southern one between Driftmark and Sharp Point. Considering the jagged rock formation with the Dragonstone pass is very close to High Tide (as seen in Corlys’s first scene in the episode, in which he sails away from High Tide and the “Teeth” can be clearly seen looking toward High Tide) and can be seen in the distance from Dragonstone castle (as seen here as Rhaena nears Dragonstone on Sheepstealer and sees the battle), and considering Corlys sees High Tide has been sacked only after going through the rocky pass (with the battling fleets behind the pass, and Dragonstone behind those), the bulk of both fleets are battling on the waters between Dragonstone and the northeastern shores of Driftmark, although much, much closer to Driftmark.

Meanwhile, inside the Dragonstone pass, two of the pursuing Triarchy wreck on the shallow water, while Sharako avoids the same fate for the Bitchfist by dropping weight, which includes throwing Ser Tyland and his Lannister men overboard, and resumes her pursuit of The Queen Who Ever Was out of the pass, with Driftmark visible between the Teeth. 

Between the “Teeth” and the southern shores of Driftmark, as the low sun and yellow light of the early evening sets in, Alyn gets ready to be rammed by the Bitchfist while Corlys (who can see the south of Driftmark now that they’re through the pass) is distracted by the sight of High Tide burning (sacked by Halfjaw’s detachment, who sailed into the Gullet between Crackclaw Point and Dragonstone, southwest towards Driftmark and then around the island counterclockwise to High Tide, allowing them to remain undetected while the bulk of the fleet occupied the Velaryon fleet by the northeastern shores of Driftmark, between there and Dragonstone. The Bitchfist rams and splits open The Queen Who Ever Was, which Lohar and her men then board.

A few minutes after spotting the battle from Dragonstone, Rhaena and Sheepstealer enter the fray, but the dragon disobeys her commands and burns not only Triarchy ships but at least one Velaryon ship.

On the other side of the Dragonstone pass, by the southern shores of Driftmark, on The Queen Who Ever Was, Corlys and Alyn fight Sharako’s men. The ship’s burning main yard falls to the deck and Alyn is thrown into the ship’s inundated hold.

Back on the other side of the pass, where the main battle is taking place, Baela spots Sheepstealer burning Velaryon ships, unaware that her sister Rhaena is flying the dragon and believing them to be an enemy, and orders Moondancer to pursue.

On The Queen Who Ever Was, Alyn kills a Triarchy man trapped with him in the flooded hold. In order to be able to climb up to the deck of the ship, Alyn takes off his armor.

Above the naval battle, Sheepstealer continues burning Velaryon ships despite Rhaena’s efforts as Baela has Moondancer attack them, but ends up having to evade Sheepstealer, which then starts pursuing Moondancer. Jace spots the two dragons fighting and orders Vermax to go defend Moondancer.

On The Queen Who Ever Was, Alyn climbs up onto the deck as Corlys and Sharako start fighting each other. Corlys ends up in the water. Alyn jumps from his broken half of the ship to the other to kill Sharako, and both end up in the flooded hold.

Above the naval battle, Jace flies in to defend Baela by ordering Vermax to kill Sheepstealer’s rider, but stops his dragon when he notices Rhena is the one flying it. This results in Sheepstealer now pursuing Vermax, who flies low enough to evade it that another of the Triarchy’s grapnels holds on to him, this time penetrating his belly. Vermax tries to bite the grapnel off, but can’t reach it while flying. Sheepstealer flees the battle before Rhaena can see what happens to Jace. Baela tries to dive with Moondancer to cut the grapnel off again with her dragon’s wings, but Vermax is flying too low this time.

On The Queen Who Ever Was’s flooded hold, soon before sunset, Alyn kills Sharako Lohar.

Vermax splashes down into the Gullet, unable to fly anymore, as Baela can’t approach because of Triarchy’s grapnels. Jace is forced to untie from Vermax, who sinks into the Gullet. Jace himself is shot dead by archers from a nearby Triarchy ship. 

Meanwhile, Alyn observes the result of the fight on the remains of Corlys’s flagship (a few Velaryon men have lived; Corlys is nowhere to be seen,) and Moondancer flies around above the wrecked fleets of the Velaryons and the Triarchy.

3×02: Queen’s Landing (61 min)

Passage of time between episodes: half a day overnight (during Day 61-64 ADV and Day 62-65 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: half a day, from morning to early evening (Day 62-65 ADV)

Day 62-65 ADV:

In the Gullet, the dragonseeds (at least Hugh and Ulf, as we see only Vermithor and Silverwing aside from Moondancer) mop up the remains of the Triarchy fleet and Baela flies northeast on Moondancer, from the site of the battle to Dragonstone, carrying Jace’s body. As the previous episode ended near sunset, and this takes place during the day, it must be the next morning. This fits, as the dragonseeds would have taken somewhere between several hours to about half a day to arrive.

On Dragonstone, Baela delivers Jace’s body to Rhaenyra, already free from her confinement from the day before.

On the shores of Driftmark, still during the morning, Velaryon men kill fleeing Triarchy sailors while Alyn looks for Corlys in the waters between the Teeth and High Tide.

At the Bloody Gate in the Vale, during the morning, Lady Jeyne Arryn rides hard from the Eyrie to meet Rhaena, who’s been waiting for her by the gate. Lady Jeyne tells Rhaena about Jace’s death and refuses to offer her asylum in exchange for the protection of her dragon, but she does “allow” her to stay in the Vale, with the dragon still offering implicit protection. It would take somewhere between several hours to about ⅓ of a day for Rhaena to fly from Driftmark to the Eyrie (as Harrenhal and Dragonstone are at a similar distance to each other); assuming Sheepstealer headed directly to the Eyrie when we saw Rhaena and Sheepstrealer leave the battle the previous evening, they could’ve have flown there overnight with hours still to spare during which Rhaena could wait for Lady Jeyne to come down from the Eyrie to receive her. Jeyne knows of Jace’s death; if a raven flew continuously from Driftmark as early as the previous evening, it could have arrived in the Eyrie by the next morning.

In the Riverlands, by the shore of the Gods Eye, Daemon and the army of rivermen and northmen celebrate their victory by the lakeshore against the Lannister army who retreated from the Red Fork, dubbing it the “Fishfeed.” This celebration takes place during the morning, suggesting the Battle by the Lakeshore happened early this morning (in Fire & Blood, it takes place at dawn.) This means the Battle at the Red Fork took place the morning 2 days before; marching from the Red Fork to the Gods Eye in such little time would require a remarkable pace from an army, although admittedly the Green westernmen were fleeing for their lives and their Black pursuers would have been riding hard to catch them, so it’s just about plausible. Ser Simon Strong arrives from Harrenhal to congratulate Daemon on the victory and give him a message from Rhaenyra informing him of Jace’s death and summoning him back to help her take King’s Landing and claim the Iron Throne. Daemon orders Lord Oscar Tully and Lord Roderick Dustin to march the army south towards King’s Landing whilst leaving a small garrison on Harrenhal, and tells them that once Rhaenyra has claimed the throne they will send dragons to escort their march to the capital. As Daemon prepares to fly away on Caraxes, he denies Alys Rivers’ request to give her Harrenhal. Considering that a raven could take as little as a matter of hours to make the flight from Dragonstone to Harrenhal, and that Harrenhal (located at the north of the Gods Eye) could be as close as minutes or a few hours away riding from this camp by the northwestern shore of the Gods Eye, this scene can take place at noon of the day after the Battle of the Gullet at the very earliest. Given the very tight timing involved (between the Red Fork and the Fishfeed; and between Rhaenyra learning of Jace’s death and Daemon receiving news of it from her), this scene would fit much more comfortably 1 day after Rhaenyra received Jace’s body but, in fact, later events in the episode preclude this (Rhaenyra arrives in King’s Landing the day she expects her to, 3 days after they talked.)

Baela flies back to Driftmark from Dragonstone and talks to Alyn, who’s still looking for Corlys, now on the shores between the Teeth and High Tide. Addam and Seasmoke are also searching, and they spot Corlys. Addam could’ve arrived with the other dragonseeds (as Ulf implies to Daemon later,) although Seasmoke isn’t in the opening scene the morning after the battle, but he would’ve also had time to only leave after receiving the news of the battle and Jace’s death, arriving only recently.

In the Crownlands, in the morning, Aegon II and Larys’s Staunton captors are taking them on the Rosby Road “towards the coast,” to Duskendale (so they can take a ship to Dragonstone and deliver the pretender to Rhaenyra) when Triarchy sailors who fled from the Battle of the Gullet (the day before) attack them. Aegon II and Larys escape to the forest while the Staunton and Triarchy men fight. Larys suggests continuing to Duskendale to take a ship to Essos, as per his plan, but Aegon II insists on going to Rook’s Rest, where Cole left a garrison after the Battle at Rook’s Rest, though Larys warns him “the road there is long and perilous.” Considering the presence of the Triarchy and the sea being visible on the horizon, they’d have to be close to the coast, likely close to the end of the Rosby Road at Duskendale. There is no major road between Duskendale and Rook’s Rest, so Larys’s words make sense; the journey there would be much longer and more perilous than following the Rosby Road to its end.

On the shores of Driftmark, between the Teeth to the northeast and High Tide to the southwest, presumably only minutes after Addam found Corlys by the shore, Corlys laments this pyrrhic victory as he looks at his sacked castle of High Tide, and offers to give his name (all that remains to him) to Alyn, who accepts it.

In King’s Landing, during the day, Alicent observes Aemond leaving towards Harrenhal on Vhagar, 1 day after having convinced him to do so. With the Prince Regent gone, Alicent begins to plot the bloodless surrender of the city to Rhaenyra, as Alicent expects her to arrive today (this is the third day since Alicent told her to come “in three days’ time.”) At the Gold Cloaks’ quarters, she informs their commander, Ser Luthor Largent, that Queen Helaena, who holds the authority in Aemond’s absence, intends to allow Rhaenyra, who is returning, to enter the Red Keep and take the throne; she wagers that Ser Luthor won’t consider that treason and will help her instead (presumably because of the Gold Cloaks, or perhaps Ser Luthor specifically, are suspected to still hold loyalty to Daemon, who elevated the City Watch to their current form.)

On Dragonstone, Daemon returns in the afternoon (several hours must have passed since he left the Gods Eye near Harrenhal) and is surprised to find Hugh and Ulf there, as they were supposed to stay near Harrenhal as a trap against Aemond and Vhagar. Daemon accuses them of “waiting two days only before resigning their mission,” which explicitly confirms how long the dragonseeds stayed at their post by Harrenhal. They tell Daemon that Addam has gone with Baela back to the Gullet, and ask him whether they should return to Harrenhal, but he does not reply. Outside Rhaenyra’s room, Mysaria tells Daemon that Rhaenyra “has not wished to be seen since Jace,” since this morning. Maester Gerardys informs them “Vhagar has been sighted leaving King’s Landing flying in the direction of the Riverlands,” which was around noon or early in the afternoon.

In King’s Landing, Ser Rickard Thorne chastises her for going out without his protection, which means she’s just returned from the Gold Cloaks’ quarters minutes or at most a few hours before. She asks for the small council chamber to be secured, as she will call a meeting there “presently” (presumably so the council members are all at the Keep when Rhaenyra arrives.)

On Dragonstone, Rhaenyra informs Daemon of Sheepstealer having an unknown rider and drawing Jace to his death, and orders Daemon to find them. He agrees but convinces her King’s Landing must be taken first.

In King’s Landing, Alicent is packing to escape King’s Landing as Jasper Wylde interrupts her, revealing that Ser Rickard reported her odd behavior, including her secret meeting with the City Watch, and tries to sexually assault her until Grand Maester Orwyle comes in. Lord Jasper accuses her of treason, but Orwyle has him arrested instead, to be imprisoned in the black cells.

On Dragonstone, Rhaenyra and Daemon prepare to fly to King’s Landing on Syrax and Caraxes, with Hugh and Ulf escorting them on Vermithor and Silverwing, despite Gerardys and Bartimos Celtigar’s misgivings, as the Velaryon fleet and men are scattered and can’t go with them, but Rhaenyra retorts that, while Aemond is on the way to Harrenhal, their window to take the city without facing Vhagar will shut as soon as he returns (when he doesn’t find Daemon, Caraxes or the rivermen there.) Noticing Rhaenyra’s trust on Mysaria, Daemon observes that “much has changed since [he] was away.” Daemon’s been gone from Dragonstone since “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel,” 44 to 47 days (or around 6 weeks) earlier. Daemon tells Hugh and Ulf that “today, King’s Landing receives its queen,” confirming their arrival in the city is still during the same day (as expected, given that the journey by dragonflight between Dragonstone and King’s Landing usually takes only a few hours.) Rhaenyra flies out of the dragonmount on Syrax, followed by the other three dragons, and they fly over the wreckage of the Battle of the Gullet.

In King’s Landing, in the afternoon, at the Red Keep’s godswood, Alicent tells Helaena that Rhaenyra is coming and they’ll allow her to enter. Alicent needs her authority to “stand down the sentries on the battlement and as many of the household guards as [they] are able.” Alicent says that Helaena told her “not many days ago” that she was happier before she was queen; Helaena said this in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was,” 4 days earlier. They cross the outer courtyard (directly connected to the Godswood) and, up in the battlements, they command Ser Freddryk to stand down his station manning the scorpions.

In the Riverlands, between the Antlers and Harrenhal, likely much closer to the latter (although not yet by the Gods Eye,) Criston’s army sights Vhagar flying towards Harrenhal, and Criston orders them to resume their march to Harrenhal. By this point, they left King’s Landing 11 days earlier, a few days short of the fortnight the march to Harrenhal was expected to take them.

In Harrenhal, during the day, Aemond and Vhagar arrive to find only the small garrison Daemon left there, and kills Simon Strong and his sons, though not before suffering a severe stab wound and pleading with Alys Rivers for help. Aemond left King’s Landing on Vhagar around the morning or noon, and the journey by dragon to Harrenhal would be a matter of hours.

Later in the afternoon, with yellow lighting now bathing the city, Rhaenyra arrives on King’s Landing with four of her dragons and the scorpion sentries on the battlements stand down from their stations as ordered by Alicent and Helaena. Kat can be seen still in the city; by “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” 3 days later, she’s already left the city to go to Tumbleton.

Rhaenyra and Daemon enter the Red Keep, with Daemon killing the few household guards who resist. Ser Rickard and eleven household guards block their way to the throne, until Ser Luthor Largent comes in with 50 Gold Cloaks loyal to Daemon. Ser Rickard Thorne and the Green guards are seized. Ser Luthor tells Rhaenyra that “it was Prince Daemon himself who gave [him] this gold cloak 20 years ago”, which fits perfectly; we first saw Daemon command the City Watch in “1×01: The Heirs of the Dragon,” and this episode (and every episode since “1×08: Lord of the Tides”) takes place in 132 AC, 20 years later. 

Following Rhaenyra’s order for Aegon the Usurper to be brought to her, Daemon and Ser Luthor and his men search the Keep, but Orwyle tells them Aegon II has fled. Daemon says that in his absence they must execute someone; to save himself, Orwyle points them to Jasper Wylde in the black cells as a satisfactory alternative.

Near the Red Keep, under the early evening’s orange light, Alicent tries to escape the city with Helaena and Jaehaera.

In the black cells, Daemon has all the imprisoned Black loyalists freed, finds Jasper Wylde, and a man working for Larys in the prison (in his position as Lord Confessor) offers him a “gift” left for Rhaenyra and Daemon if they took the city: it’s Otto Hightower. In “2×02: Rhaenyra the Cruel”, Otto told Alicent he’d be leaving for Oldtown (or Hightower, per her suggestion); if Larys got to him before he made it out of the Keep, as seems likely, he’s been imprisoned for 43 to 46 days, or around 6 weeks.

In the throne room, Rhaenrya offers her gratitude to Lord Merryweather and Lady Fell, who Daemon has just freed from their imprisonment holding to their oaths to her, and Ser Luthor brings Jasper Wylde to her, followed by Daemon bringing in Otto. Rhaenyra beheads Otto herself with Dark Sister, after which Daemon collects his sword and beheads Jasper Wylde.

As Rhaenyra sits the Iron Throne, loyal Gold Cloaks bring in Alicent and Helaena, who witness Otto’s corpse.

3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant (53 min)

Passage of time between episodes: a little more than half a day (between Day 62-65 ADV and Day 63-66 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 4 days (Day 63-66 ADV to Day 66-69 ADV) 

Day 63-66 ADV:

During the day, somewhere between the late morning and the late afternoon, in the Reach by the Mander (presumably at the exact same place Ormund was ordered to stall their march for 3 days in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood”, 2 days earlier), Daemon meets with Lord Ormund Hightower and forces him to pledge fealty to Rhaenrya, announce that their campaign is ended and they’re returning home, and give up Daeron as a hostage. In their conversation, Daemon tells Ormund “the war is ended, [his] allies have scattered, and [his] nephews fled,” and “there is a new queen and she sits her father’s throne.” Ormund says they “heard rumor of this.” A fast rider has been shown to be able to reach their position from King’s Landing in 1 full day, so this must take place at least 1 full day after the taking of King’s Landing at the end of “3×02: Queen’s Landing” (and given the context of the later scenes in King’s Landing, no more than that.) This would indicate the scene takes place during the late afternoon (which is supported by the loud chirping of crickets throughout the scene.) 

Day 64-67 ADV:

In King’s Landing, early in the morning, Daemon has recently returned (likely still at night as Rhaenyra slept) and informs Rhaenyra that Ormund surrendered and gave up Daeron, who he introduces her to. How long the journey by dragonflight would take between King’s Landing and the Mander would depend on how north up the Mander the Hightower host was camped in the previous scene; considering that just 3 days after ‘Daeron’ is taken Rhaenyra receives the news that Ormund has taken Tumbleton, they must have been quite close to the town. Since flying from King’s Landing to Tumbleton would be a slightly shorter distance than between King’s Landing and Harrenhal, and that’s shown to be a flight that takes several hours but less than ¼ of a day, this scene upon Daemon’s return must take place the morning following the opening late afternoon scene in the Reach.

In the small council chamber, Orwyle denies knowledge of where Tyland Lannister took the treasury after dividing it and sending it out of the city for safekeeping. Corlys (back from Driftmark) says they have enough gold to “see [her] court through a week or two,” or “a little longer if [she brings] back the gold from Dragonstone.” Despite Rhaenyra wanting a coronation to show legitimacy, Mysaria (who Rhaenyra has now officially made her Mistress of Whisperers) convinces her to forgo such an expense as it would anger the still suffering smallfolk. In “3×02: Queen’s Landing,” just before Rhaenyra flew to King’s Landing, Mysaria told her “I hope you will send for me.” As Rhaenyra took the city late that afternoon, at the very earliest Mysaria could arrive in King’s Landing the next day, and likely not in the morning, especially as she was intending to wait for Rhaenyra to send for her. Since this is an early morning scene, Mysaria must in fact have arrived on this day (as confirmed later,) around 1.5 days after we last saw her. Corlys says the Triarchy pirates who survived the Battle of the Gullet (3 days earlier) have come ashore and are sacking along the coast (as we saw with Aegon II and Larys, 2 days earlier). Mysaria suggests reopening the trade routes, as the granaries in the city are near empty, but Corlys says that “it will take time for the routes to be reestablished” and that, since the battle, they don’t have enough ships to ensure safe trade on the high sea. Rhaenyra orders them to send another raven to Casterly Rock to demand that Lady Johanna Lannister tell her if Tyland secreted part of the divided treasury there, and orders ravens be sent to all the great houses demanding tribute. Orwyle tells Rhaenyra that “it is days now since Vhagar was last seen” the day Aemond “burned Daemon’s garrison at Harrenhal and slew the castellan and his sons” and then “disappeared.” Indeed, it’s been 2 days. Rhaenyra says she wants Aemond and Vhagar and Sheepstealer and its rider found (Rhaena, unbeknownst to any of them); she orders that Baela and Moondancer go scouting, starting at Harrenhal, and to return with their reports. She offers Harrenhal to anyone who kills Aemond. In context, this would appear to be Rhaenyra’s first morning as queen the day after taking King’s Landing, as they discuss being formally crowned, the location of the treasury and other fundamental administrative matters, and the “Hightower colors” are still being removed throughout the Red Keep (a process that only ends by the end of the episode, 2 and a half days later.) However, these morning scenes must actually take place at least 1.5 days after the late afternoon she took the city, as necessitated by the timing of Ormund having heard “rumor” of Rhaenyra taking King’s Landing, Mysaria’s presence in the small council in the morning, “days” having passed since Aemond attacked Harrenhal (if this was the morning after Rhaenyra took the city, 1 day would have passed, not “days”), and later the High Septon referring to the regime change happening “in the last few days” (again, if this was the morning after the taking of King’s Landing, it’d be only 1 day.)

Directly after the small council meeting, Ser Luthor, acting as Rhaenyra’s protector, suggests appointing a Queensguard “urgency,” which she delegates to Daemon (by “3×04: Tumbleton,” only 3 days later, Daemon will have already appointed at least one knight to her Queensguard, Ser Adrian Redfort.) She then talks to Alicent and Helaena, asking Alicent about the whereabouts of the treasury, Vhagar and Aegon II, and about Sheepstealer’s rider, but she denies knowledge of any of it and suggests declaring Aegon II dead and dismissing him as an impostor if Larys tries to raise him up. Rhaenyra agrees to free Alicent, Helaena, and Jaehaera, as they had agreed, but only once Aemond is found and the challenge to her rule “removed.” As she leaves them, Rhaenyra tells Ser Luthor Largent that she wants it proclaimed that Aegon II was discovered there upon their arrival, and that Joffrey, now her heir after Jace’s death, must be brought back from the Vale. Mysaria tells Rhaenyra she’d never seen the Red Keep’s interior “before today,” which confirms Mysaria has arrived in King’s Landing this very morning. They discuss whether to kill Daeron, as he’s an heir to Aegon and a threat to her, or not, as he’s also her half-brother and hasn’t committed the crimes Aegon and Aemond have. She then asks Mysaria to send for Elinda Massey (her lady-in-waiting, who’s still in the city after having helped them foment dissent against the Greens; she’s been in King’s Landing for 15 days,) and to question the staff.

In the throne room, Rhaenyra is met (seemingly by surprise) by the High Septon. It’s still the morning (as it should be, as for now we’ve been following Rhaenyra in near-real time), as the High Septon greets her with a “good morrow.” He refuses to anoint Rhaenyra in the absence of proof of Aegon II’s death and warns her not to make an enemy of the Faith. The High Septon tells Rhaenyra that “much has changed in the last few days,” indicating she took the city “in the last few days” (it’s been 2 days.) He also says he anointed Aegon II “some months ago,” which indicates his coronation at the end of “1×09: The Green Council” was “some months ago.” Specifically, it happened around 2 months (between 62 and 65 days) before this scene.

That night, Rhaenyra dines with Corlys, as well as Alyn and Addam, who he reveals to be his bastard sons. He intends not only to acknowledge them but asks Rhaenyra to legitimize them as Velaryons by royal decree. Rhaenyra is reluctant.

After the dinner, Rhaenyra comes across Baela in the halls, observes her father’s bed, and in the middle of the night goes to sleep with Daemon, who was already asleep. In the early morning of this same day, Rhaenyra had ordered Baela to go out scouting on Moondancer, starting with Harrenhal. It’s not clear whether, this many hours later, Baela has not yet flown away or whether she’s back from her first day of scouting (as explained later, either option works.)

Day 65-68 ADV:

The following morning, Rhaenyra is getting ready to hear the people’s petitions on the Iron Throne by Elinda Massey, her lady-in-waiting, who was summoned from the city the day before. Rhaenyra realizes she’s menstruating.

For the next several hours, Rhaenyra hears petitions in the throne room. Sylvi refers to “what the commonfolk have suffered these long months” not only because of the blockade but the rich who reacted by hoarding everything. Previously, there were two possible points so far during which more or less days could have passed (as every other day and episode is much more tightly interconnected): between “2×04: The Red Dragon and the Gold” and “2×05: Regent” (as many as 15 days could have passed between Criston leaving Rook’s Rest and returning to King’s Landing,) and during Elinda Massey’s recruitment of the dragonseeds in “2×07: The Red Sowing” (which could have taken several days rather than just 2, although likely no more than around 1 week, as discussed.) For the blockade to have started “months” (at least 60 days) before this scene, these two more nebulous points do require a minimum of time to have passed inside them; as previously established, it’s much more likely that the dragonseeds recruitment montage lasted only 2 days, which means that Criston’s return from Rook’s Rest took at least 12 days. The blockade started 5 days after Viserys’s death, which means this must take place on Day 65 ADV at the earliest.

In a small council meeting soon after, Rhaenyra discusses Sylvi’s petition. Elinda gives her tea for her cramps, as Rhaenyra realized in Elinda’s presence this morning that she’d begun menstruating. Rhaenyra ask if Baela “has returned” and Daemon reports on her findings (which means that when Rhaenyra saw Baela the previous day she could’ve been back from a first scouting mission before embarking or another, or that Baela hadn’t yet left, as she would still have enough time to fly starting that night, scout Harrenhal and Rook’s Rest, and return before this meeting, which takes place at some point in the afternoon, hours after she started hearing petitions in the morning.) According to Daemon, Baela did not see Vhagar but saw Sunfyre’s corpse, “long dead and decaying” (at this point, it’s been between 29 and 32 days since Sunfyre fell in the Battle at Rook’s Rest.) 

He says Baela is flying to scout on Moondancer again this evening; Rhaenyra orders Addam to be sent with her on Seasmoke. On the matter of the smallfolk, Rhaenyra comes up with the idea of addressing it with a banquet with the city’s nobles.

After the meeting, Rhaenyra has Daemon knight Ulf the White, Hugh the Hammer, and Addam of Hull; as in her dinner with Corlys the night before she was reluctant to legitimize them but didn’t refuse him, this makes Addam realize she will not do it.

After the knighting, Rhaenyra asks Ser Luthor to help her identify various city nobles for a banquet. Hugh follows her from the courtyard he was just knighted in and asks about where he’s supposed to live in King’s Landing, and reveals that he went into the city to find her “only to hear that she’s gone to live with her brother in Tumbleton.” 3 days have passed since Rhaenyra took King’s Landing, during which we saw Kat still in the city; she must have left between that day and the day before this scene (much more likely the very day Rhaenyra took King’s Landing, as will be addressed in “2×04: Tumbleton.”)

Late in the afternoon, Rhaenyra receives Alicent in her chambers, who requests Otto’s remains be sent to Oldtown. Rhaenyra agrees and asks Alicent, who reigned for years in Viserys’s stead, for counsel on how to bear petitions and not let the throne change her. She tells Alicent she “heard petitions today,” confirming this takes place near the end of that same day.

In the evening, Rhaenyra holds a banquet for the city’s merchants and minor nobles, serving them rats and other things “the commonfolk of [her] city ate, this and worse, while [them] and those like [them] hid provisions away in [their] storehouses,” while her Gold Cloaks search their storerooms for all their hoarded away so she can distribute it to the needy. Ser Torrhen Manderly, who doesn’t seem to care that his own house in the city will be searched as well, is impressed by her bold move, and says the smallfolk will cheer it, perhaps even making them forget her blockade is what made them starve in the first place.

At night, on the balcony over the Red Keep’s outer courtyard, Rhaenyra and Daemon observe the Gold Cloaks bringing the minor lords’ confiscated provisions into the Keep. Daemon describes Rhaenyra’s plan as a mere gesture of goodwill for the smallfolk, as it’ll only feed some people for “a certain number of weeks” while also angering the merchants and minor nobles. Rhaenyra agrees it’s no lasting solution. For that, they need money, so she orders Daemon to fly to the Vale; as Lady Jeyne Arryn never sent the men she promised, “she may pay her debt in coin.” While Daemon does this task to return “with gold or pledges of gold,” Rhaenyra will summon the other Great Houses to King’s Landing. Daemon urges her to be more brutal and to kill Daeron. 

That night, Rhaenyra observes the boy she believes to be Daeron sleeping in his bed, contemplating her options.

Day 66-69 ADV:

The next morning, Rhaenyra and Mysaria ride on the royal carriage to the Grand Sept, where they distribute the food she had confiscated the previous evening to the needy in the city.

Back in the Red Keep, Corlys confronts Rhaenyra about her styling Addam as Hull rather than Velaryon the day before, which made him realize she doesn’t actually intend to legitimize Alyn and Addam as he asked. Rhaenyra says one her first actions cannot be to legitimize bastards, given the stories told about her sons by Laenor, as she must think about Joffrey, but perhaps she could do it when there’s not so much scrutiny. Corlys plainly says, and loudly, that Joffrey is a bastard, as Jace and Luke were, and challenges her to say aloud to him the reason her children deserve what his are denied.

That afternoon, Rhaenyra tells Alicent that Daeron is in the Red Keep, “delivered to [her] two days ago as part of the terms under which [her] cousin surrendered,” confirming the scene in which Rhaenyra first meets the boy took place 2 days earlier. Rhaenyra has decided not to kill Daeron and send him to the Wall instead, and Alicent asks to see him. When Alicent is presented with his supposed son, Rhaenyra immediately realizes she doesn’t know the boy. The boy admits Lord Ormund Hightower bleached his hair and told him to play the part of Daeron or else her mother would be hanged.

Late that evening, Rhaenyra is informed that the “Hightower colors” have all been removed in the Red Keep, 2 and a half days after we saw the process begin and 4 days since Rhaenyra took the city. She then goes to a dragonkeeper waiting for her at the gate, who tells her “the Hightower host have taken Tumbleton,” and its people are now hostages; if Rhaenyra attacks the Hightowers in Tumbleton with dragons, with them she would burn her own innocent people. Rhaenyra asks about Daeron’s dragon, Tessarion (who the dragonkeepers were presumably charged with chaperoning after Daeron was taken hostage); he says she was taken “inside the gates,” and that he alone amongst the dragonkeeper escaped. She wonders what Ormund’s plan is. Daemon left Ormund, expecting him to retreat as the boy they believed to be Daeron was their hostage, 3 days before this scene; the Hightowers had to already be quite close to Tumbleton by that point, as they reached it from their position by the Mander in 2 days at most, considering the dragonkeeper needed at least 1 day to reach King’s Landing (which has been shown to be possible from even further down the Mander, by the messenger Alicent sent in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood.”) In “2×03: The Burning Mill,” Lord Ormund Hightower and his army were said to now be on the march after mustering their forces in Oldtown, but still “months away” (or at least they are dismissed as such by Tyland, who favors his brother Lord Jason’s army instead.) Although the Hightower host isn’t in King’s Landing by the end of this episode, they have reached and taken Tumbleton, the closest Black stronghold in the border between the Reach and the Crownlands, which has been shown to be at less than a day’s ride for a single fast rider. By the time Lord Omurnd took Tumbleton, likely 2 days before this scene (around the same time as Rhaenyra’s dinner with Corlys and his sons,) it’d been 45 to 48 days since King’s Landing had heard that the Hightower host had left Oldtown at the start of “2×03: The Burning Mill,” so at least 46 to 49 days since they began their march.

3×04: Tumbleton (58 min)

Passage of time between episodes: half a day overnight (during Day 66-69 ADV and Day 67-70 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: half a day (Day 67-70 ADV)

Day 67-70 ADV:

At Tumbleton, in the morning, the Hightower host prepares to strengthen the town’s defenses while they forcibly house their 15,000 men in the homes of its inhabitants, including that of Kat’s brother Leo and his family, with whom Kat’s now living. 

At House Footly’s manor house, Lord Glendon and Lady Sharis Footly appeal to Lord Ormund about “the lodging situation,” as he’s occupying their bedchamber. He implies he could have them executed as traitors and tells them his men will behave as long as they do as well. Ser Jon Roxton brings a raven from Storm’s End, in which Lord Borros Baratheon makes “more excuses” for not mobilizing his forces despite the marriage pact he sealed with Aemond to marry him to one of his daughters. Ormund orders another raven be sent to remind him of his oaths. Bold Jon tells him there’s been no word from Harrenhal, even though, as Ser Jon points out, they need Vhagar to defend Tumbleton, but Lord Ormund tells Daeron not to lose heart, as his brother will come. Considering the Hightower host are only now starting to fortify the town and allocating the town’s homes to their soldiers, and Lord Ormund appears to have slept in the Footly’s bedchamber for only this past night, these opening Tumbleton scenes could instead happen the morning after they took Tumbleton, the morning of the final day depicted in “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant” (at a similar time as Rhaenyra feeding the smallfolk of King’s Landing) rather than the morning after, as they are shown sequentially. Even if that was the case, however, these opening scenes wouldn’t be out of place sequentially by that much, as they would be set during the same day as the final scenes of episode that preceded them, “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” merely winding back to earlier in the day. Also, the way Garrick’s story with Kat’s family develops the rest of the episode implies he’s still just arrived to live with them and hasn’t even spent a night there (judging by Garrick’s comment that this night “will be better than Honeyholt.”) As for Hugh’s wife, Kat, she was last seen in King’s Landing when Rhaenyra took it in “3×02: Queen’s Landing” 5 days earlier; later, 2 days before this opening, in “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” Hugh had confirmed she wasn’t in the city anymore, having left to Tumbleton to live with her brother at some point between 5 and 3 days before this scene of Kat at Tumbleton. As Kat herself confirms in “3×06: Faceless Men,” she left King’s Landing as soon as she saw Rhaenyra come with her dragons, and walked the road to Tumbleton for days, so she must have arrived recently, within the last few days, as walking the less than 30 leagues (145 km) between the two locations (according to Gwayne in “3×06: Faceless Men”) would’ve taken Kat several days, somewhere between 3 and the entire 4.5 days that are available depending on her pace.

In King’s Landing, in a morning small council meeting, Rhaenyra wonders why Lord Ormund would seize Tumbleton, a poorly defended market town, suspecting he’s daring her to set her dragons loose on the town, leading to the realm raising up in rebellion against her. Orwyle suggests not sending dragons but rather Daemon’s host of rivermen and northmen, who are already marching on King’s Landing (ever since Daemon left them after the Fishfeed in “2×02: Queen’s Landing,” 5 days earlier.) As Tumbleton is “not much further” away (fewer than 30 leagues away, according to Gwayne in “3×06: Faceless Men”,) they could take the town for her with fewer dangers of setting it on fire. Rhaenyra agrees, and has Orwyle send her new orders to Lord Oscar Tully, although she says that, since “it will take the rivermen weeks to reach Tumbleton,” they should “send a dragon to keep vigil” at Tumbleton at a distance, to make sure Ormund does not leave the town. This march would probably take the rivermen around 2 weeks (given that the march between King’s Landing and Harrenhal takes a fortnight and that the rivermen army already started marching towards King’s Landing 4 or 5 days earlier), but Criston’s guerrilla tactics, conceived later this same morning and put into effect throughout “2×05: Unbowed and Unbent”, will delay them significantly. Rhaenyra also decides to let Orwyle retain his title as Grand Maester and position in the small council, as long as he remains loyal; although the castle’s ravens remain his charge, Mysaria will inspect all correspondence in or out. Rhaenyra notes Corlys’s absence and the smallness of her council. Mysaria suggests appointing a Master of Coin; if nothing else, the people can blame him when they discover their lacking resources, despite their gesture to feed the poor with food confiscated from merchants and minor lords the day before. Rhaenyra suggests Ser Torrhen Manderly, asking Mysaria to investigate him; if he’s fit, he can be made the new Master of Coin. By this point, Daemon has already appointed at least 1 new knight to her Queensguard, Ser Adrian Redfort (seen as Rhaenyra’s protector in the background,) after she charged him with the task 3 days earlier; he must have done it 2 to 3 days before this, as Rhaenyra sent him to the Vale the night of the second day after tasking him with forming a Queensguard, and he wasn’t in King’s Landing by the following day, the day before this scene.

In the Red Keep’s Godswood, still in the morning, Alicent tells Rhaenyra the little she knows of Ormund Hightower, although she does point out his strong sensitivity to odors.

At the Dragon Gate in the northeast of the city, still in the morning, as Corlys prepares to depart with several Velaryon knights, Alyn comes to tell him that Rhaenyra has requested his presence at her small council (earlier in the morning,) but he refuses, saying he intends to serve her “more effectively” and names Alyn to attend the council in his stead, before riding away.

In the forest near Rook’s Rest, during the morning, Aegon II and Larys arrive at the site Sunfyre fell during the Battle at Rook’s Rest; the dragon has been lying there for 31 to 34 days. Aegon II caresses his fallen dragon, who he starts to believe is alive despite all appearances, until Larys tells him he’s dead and convinces him to move onwards to Rook’s Rest.

During the morning, Criston and Gwayne arrive with their army at Harrenhal, only to find it deserted except for Alys, who claims Aemond did seize the castle but fled on Vhagar when he learned that Rhaenyra took King’s Landing; Criston and Gwayne had not heard of the fall of King’s Landing, so both of these news shock and dismay them (also, between scenes, Alys must have also told them that Ormund has taken Tumbleton.) Then, Gwayne advocates for writing to his cousin Lord Ormund in Tumbleton to tell him about Aemond fleeing Harrenhal and their intent to join the strength of their “meager army” to his 15,000 men. However, Criston instead plans to keep the river army from reaching King’s Landing and give Ormund time to swell his army. As the rivermen outnumber them 20 to 1 (Tully is said to have 20,000-40,000 men at his command, plus 2000 Winter Wolves, so Criston must only have around 1000-2000 men,) his plan is to ambush the rivermen using stealth. As Gwayne points out, such tactics will only delay them, not change their course, but Criston says it’ll give Ormund more time to strengthen his already strong host.

Criston and Gwayne left King’s Landing during “2×06: Smallfolk,” between 16 and 21 days earlier (depending on whether Elinda’s recruitment of the dragonseeds lasted as few as 2 days or as many as 7.) The march was expected to only take a fortnight (14 days) according to Aemond; although they were likely delayed by a few days at most waiting for Aemond to meet them at the Antlers as they had planned (as revealed in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,”) an entire week of delay seems like too much, which points to the minimum of 16 days having passed being much more likely, which in turn would indicate the recruitment of the dragonseeds only took as long as the montage showed (2 days separated by 1 night,) as it’s already been previously established.

In King’s Landing, during the day, minutes or at most a few hours after Alyn saw Corlys off at the Dragon Gate, Rhaenyra receives Alyn as she observes her father Viserys’s model of Old Valyria. Alyn informs Rhaenyra that Corlys has “ridden out by the Dragon Gate to hunt the Triarchy raiders that plague our trade.” 3 days earlier, Corlys had informed her of this issue, caused by those pirates who survived the Battle of the Gullet, which by this point was fought 6 days earlier. When she notices rats in her father’s model and notes Aegon II killed all the ratcatchers, Alyn suggests using cats to take care of her rat problem.

In Rook’s Rest, during the day, Aegon II and Larys approach the castle, minutes after their previous scene at the site of Sunfyre’s body (which was in the forest, but not far away from the castle.) Although Aegon II wants to unveil himself, as Criston left this garrison at Rook’s Rest, Larys convinces him that they’re not to be trusted and that it’s wiser to keep their anonymity while Larys furtively asks about where they can hire a ship. Aegon II and Larys’s journey from King’s Landing to Rook’s Rest, mostly by wheelhouse on the Rosby road, has taken them 8 days; the same journey took Criston Cole’s army 15 days, which makes sense, as armies march at a slower pace, and on the way they had to stop to coerce Rosby and Stokeworth into submission and conscript their men and then to sack Duskendale and conscript the survivors. At Rook’s Rest, the man in charge of the garrison, Janos, who wears the colors of House Darklyn (who Criston conscripted after sacking Duskendale), puts them to work doing humiliating labor. Criston’s garrison has been there since the Battle at Rook’s Rest 31 to 34 days earlier. 

During the day at Tumbleton, in Leo’s home, Garrick, a Hightower soldier, says this night “will be better than Honeyholt.” He assaults Kat, and when her sister-in-law tries to defend her he breaks her arm. Leo punches him in the nose, resulting in his arrest. Honeyholt is the seat of House Beesbury; in “2×06: Smallfolk,” 16 days before this scene, Orwyle told Alicent that “there’s war in the Reach now,” as “House Beesbury has raised arms against the Hightower host” in “retribution for their lord’s demise.” In “2×07: Red Sowing”, 10 days before this scene, Jasper Wylde told Aemond that, according to Lord Ormund’s letter, the Hightower host was making “slow progress” due to being “threatened on two fronts by armies allied with House Beesbury,” although Aemond’s youngest brother, Daeron, was riding Tessarion at last and was expected to join the fight soon. It would seem the Beesburies must have been defeated (presumably with Daeron’s help, as in Fire & Blood, in the Battle of the Honeywine,) and Honeyholt taken 10 days before this scene at the earliest, in which case the Hightower host would have had to have marched from Honeyholt by the Honeywine to the Mander (at a point only about 2 days south of Tumbleton) in only 4 days, which is impossible. However, it must be remembered that these dates are when King’s Landing heard of Ormund’s movements, not when they happened; the delay would be significant while they were on the march and not at a stronghold with ravens. Consequently, it’s likely that by the time Orwyle and Jasper had heard about the Beesbury threat they’d already been defeated long ago.

In King’s Landing, during the day, Rhaenyra observes her map, with the occupied Tumbleton so close to the capital, when Ser Hugh Hammer comes to ask to take Ulf’s watch at Tumbleton, because Hugh’s wife is there. Rhaenyra had decided they should “send a dragon to keep vigil” at Tumbleton earlier this day, in the morning. Rhaenyra agrees, ordering that Ulf and Hugh take the watch over Tumbleton in turns, and keep watch on each other as well; Hugh can take the first watch in Ulf’s stead.

In the streets of King’s Landing, during the day, Ulf sees graffiti naming Rhaenyra “Queen of bastards” and then visits his tavern friends. He’s coerced into paying for beers for everyone in the tavern, now that he’s a knight and a dragonrider.

In Tumbleton, Kat, her brother Leo and her sister-in-law are appealing to Lord and Lady Footly about Kat’s assault, seemingly minutes after it happened, when Lord Ormund intervenes. He orders Garrick be gelded and his arm broken; next time he will be hanged. He tells Daeron they must keep a firm grip, as tensions are high and with that comes lawlessness and disorder.

In King’s Landing, during the day, Rhaenyra asks Orwyle to find all correspondence with Lord Ormund since Viserys died, and asks him to explain how much control the Hightowers have over the Faith, as the High Septon refused to anoint her; Orwyle says it’s more of a symbiotic relationship, not control, and the High Septon refused her because “the Faith clings tightly to its separate powers.” Rhaenyra considers removing the High Septon; Orwyle says kings have influenced the appointment, but never removed one. Rhaenyra also asks about Daemon’s progress, but there has been no word from him yet.

In the Eyrie, during the day, Daemon deals with Lady Jeyne Arryn, who didn’t want to see him in the Vale again after the death of his first wife, Rhea Royce (for which he was correctly suspected as the culprit.) She says she’s received “raven after raven from [her] bannermen informing [her] of [his] progress throughout [her] domain.” Daemon reminds her of the pledge she made to Jace of sending men in return for a dragon, but Lady Jeyne reminds him Tyraxes is years away from being large enough to defend the Vale, and she doesn’t even have that anymore. Still, Jeyne agrees to give Daemon gold. In “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” in the morning 3 days earlier, Rhaenyra recalled Joffrey back to King’s Landing, and with him his dragon Tyraxes; a raven sent that morning could’ve arrived at the Eyrie by the end of the day (in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was,” a raven was shown to make the distance between Dragonstone and Harrenhal in about 12 hours; the distance between King’s Landing and the Eyrie is around 90% of that, so it could arrive in around 11 hours), and Lady Jeyne could’ve had Joffrey and Tyraxes sent on the way back as soon as the following morning, on the third day of “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” 2 days before this scene. Meanwhile, Daemon left for the Eyrie between the evening 2 days earlier (when Rhaenyra ordered him to go) and the next morning (as he was absent from King’s Landing by then,) and the flight from King’s Landing to the Eyrie should take him several hours but less than half a day (the dragonflight between the capital and Dragonstone takes only a few hours, and the distance between King’s Landing and the Eyrie is only around 30% longer); so, Daemon has been flying through the Vale (perhaps making a few stops to rest, giving time for Jeyne’s bannermen to warn her via raven) for around 1 and a half days.

As Daemon leaves the Eyrie with the gold in the afternoon, Caraxes flies on his own volition to a cave in the mountains, presumably having sensed the presence of another dragon. Daemon enters it and finds not only Sheepstealer but Rhaena, whose long hair has been singed off and whose clothes are even more disheveled than when we last saw her 5 days earlier asking Lady Jeyne for asylum in “3×02: Queen’s Landing.” Rhaena’s been living in the wild for 15 days, since she started hunting for her dragon. Daemon tells her Rhaenyra believes Sheepstealer and his rider are the reason Jace is dead, and that she was meant to accompany his sons to Pentos as their guardian. He tells her to leave Sheepstealer behind and go to Pentos now, so that Rhaenyra never knows what happened, but she refuses to leave the dragon and accuses him of not having ever considered her. Daemon says she can instead return with him to King’s Landing, speak to Rhaenyra together and tell her it was a mistake, but she feels too guilty to ever return. Daemon warns that Rhaenyra is hunting her down. Rhaena asks him to not tell Rhaenyra, before flying away on Sheepstealer. Daemon looks at a nearby goatherder and comes up with a solution to the problem.

In Tumbleton, in the evening, a raven “just arrived” from Harrenhal, sent by Ser Gwayne (seemingly without Criston’s approval.) The news of Aemond’s disappearance enrages Ormund; he tells Jon that, without Vhagar, they must alter their plans. In “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was,” Ser Simon’s raven to Dragonstone was sent in the morning and arrived late in the evening (with no possible days in between), around 12 hours later; the distance between Harrenhal and Tumbleton is about 84% of the distance between Harrenhal and Dragonstone, so Gwayne’s raven could arrive within the same day in around 10 hours.

In King’s Landing, in the evening, Orwyle reports to Rhaenyra on Otto’s correspondence to Ormund, which she tasked her to look into earlier in the day. Reportedly, Ormund never answered Otto’s letters, which Orwyle interprets as meaning that “Lord Ormund ruled Oldtown as a kingdom unto itself.” (Interestingly, Otto reported on Ormund’s movements and intentions in “2×01: A Son for a Son,” which seems to contradict Orwyle’s assertion.) Ulf then comes asking for favors for his tavern friends. Rhaenyra tells him he cannot put himself in danger now that he’s a dragonrider in her service; she orders him to remain in the Red Keep except when escorted to the Dragonpit for duty at Tumbleton. Ulf tells her about the “queen of bastards” graffiti, so Rhaenyra has word sent to Ser Luthor so his gold cloaks find such “seditious markings”, remove them, and find those responsible.

In Rook’s Rest, early in the evening, after one work day, Larys informs Aegon II of “a Braavosi cog sailing from Duskendale in a few days,” for which they’ll need fresh horses. At some point earlier this day, they must have learned Rhaenyra took King’s Landing, as they are already aware of it now. Larys tells Aegon II that he’s learned Rhaenyra has declared him dead, slain by Aemond (she did so 3 days earlier, first in person to the High Septon and then ordering it to be proclaimed to the entire realm.) Aegon II confronts the garrison captain for not giving them food for their work, who forces him to lick his boot or be killed.

Late in the evening in King’s Landing, Ser Torrhen Manderly sits at the small council as Rhaenyra’s new Master of Coin (she asked Mysaria to vet Ser Torrhen and see if he’d be fit to be Master of Coin during their morning meeting this same day.) Ser Torrhen assures Rhaenyra that none of the crown’s treasury remains in the city. Just then, Daemon arrives with the burned head of the goatherder he saw in the Vale, claiming it was Sheepstealer’s rider, as well as with “10,000 golden dragons from Lady Jeyne Arryn” (flying between the Eyrie and King’s Landing should have taken Daemon several hours but less than half a day, which indicates this is the same day.) Mysaria says the gold must go to the smallfolk; Daemon that it must go to the Gold Cloaks. They must be paid and more recruited, or else chaos will ensue; Mysaria replies chaos will ensue if the smallfolk feel ignored. Ser Torrhen proposes a new tax. Rhaenyra ignores them, clears the room, and asks Daemon about Sheepstealer’s rider, who Daemon claims he couldn’t get anything out of before Caraxes burned him to death and Sheepstealer fled. Rhaenyra decides the 10,000 golden dragons will go to the smallfolk, as the City Watch trusts Daemon and he can convince them to be patient. Daemon confronts Mysaria about her approach with the smallfolk, while Mysaria asks whose head it is that he brought.

Later in the evening, as Alicent and Helaena are getting ready to go to bed, Rhaenyra comes to tell Alicent Otto’s remains are on the way to Oldtown. After Rhaenyra leaves them, Alicent realizes Helaena is pregnant. It’s been 31 to 34 days since the Battle of Rook’s Rest, so Aegon II could have easily impregnated her before then; in fact, as she’s starting to show, she’s probably into her second trimester, so she likely got pregnant the month before the events of “1×08: Lord of the Tides.”

Right after sunset, as a curfew is put into effect, Hugh flies over Tumbleton on Vermithor, and lands near it, starting his watch he was sent to earlier in the day (Tumbleton cannot be more than 1 or 2 hours away from King’s Landing by dragon.)

At night, the City Watch storms through the streets in force to remove the seditious graffiti and find its perpetrators, interrogating suspects violently, as ordered by Rhaenyra only a few hours earlier, in the evening.

That night in Tumbleton, only hours after Garrick was sentenced, Daeron spends time with Tessarion, hidden inside Tumbleton’s sept. Lord Ormund comes, criticizes him for showing affection to the beast, and manipulates him, telling him he’s a good boy but with tainted Targaryen blood, and that the gods have a divine purpose for him: with his brothers lost, Daeron must now be king. Daeron balks at this, as he wouldn’t betray his brothers in that way, but Ormund tells him he’ll restore their ancient order. He brings in Kat’s brother and explains that a righteous king must uphold justice; earlier this day, Leo acted in defense of a woman but also laid hands on a Hightower, an extension of Daeron, the crown, and so he must be executed. Daeron appeals to mercy as a kingly virtue, which infuriates Ormund, as that sounds like something Viserys would say. He tells Daeron not to disappoint him, so Daeron reluctantly executes Leo. As Tessarion burns and eats the remains, Ormund says “and now we begin.”

3×05: Unbowed and Unbent (60 min)

Passage of time between episodes: 10 days (Day 68-71 ADV to Day 77-80 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 3 days (Day 78-81 ADV to Day 80-83 ADV)

Day 78-81 ADV:

At the river army camp by a burnt bridge on the Riverlands, at night, Lord Petyr Piper complains to Lord Oscar Tully and Lord Roderick Dustin that with “another” crossing on the way to Tumbleton being burned by Ser Criston Cole they may never reach Tumbleton, and that they’ll have to find another crossing, “the long way round” (which means that Criston has been forcing them to march west rather than south by burning all the crossings in the Blackwater Rush that’d take them directly to Tumbleton.) Oscar says “the queen will abhor this delay,” which could mean they were originally expected to already be arriving at Tumbleton. Oscar orders Petyr to take 100 of his fastest riders ahead to secure the crossing at Stoney Sept, though going so far west will delay them “by a week.” Roderick asks Lord Oscar to let him and the Winter Wolves loose on Criston’s men, but Oscar suggests instead that they use Criston’s own underhanded tactics against him. Meanwhile, Criston and his men ambush the camp, assassinate Lord Petyr, kill several other unsuspecting men, and set fire to several tents before fleeing. Ser Criston tells Ser Gwayne that the river army “[will] make for Stoney Sept and we’ll once more be ahead of them.” As Criston has already burned several river crossings, several days must have passed since the end of “3×04: Tumbleton,” the day Criston decided to leave Harrenhal in order to delay the river army’s advance, which is also the day Rhaenyra had orders sent to Oscar to head to Tumbleton rather than King’s Landing, a march expected to take “weeks”; as established, it probably would’ve been around 2 weeks given that the march between King’s Landing and Harrenhal takes a fortnight and that the rivermen army had already started marching south towards King’s Landing 5 days earlier. Assuming that the river army was expected to be near Tumbleton by now if not for Criston’s delaying tactics (which is not indicated here but suggested in the later small council scene,) a few days short of 2 weeks would have passed between episodes, though that’s only a rough approximation. As later established, exactly 10 days pass between the episodes, which is plenty of time for Criston’s men (who are marching faster than Oscar’s great host) to reach the Blackwater Rush at a point south of Harrenhal, and for them to have burned several crossings up to the one in this scene (which, as later established, must be around 2 days from Stoney Sept for Lord Oscar’s marching army.)

In Harrenhal, at night, assassins come to find and kill Aemond for the promised bounty (in 3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant, 14 days earlier, Rhaenyra promised Harrenhal to anyone who killed Aemond,) but Alys Rivers scares them away. She comes to Aemond in his room, who’s dreamed of an accusatory Aegon on fire, but she soothes him as she embraces him, telling him “it’s just the dream again,” indicating this has been a regular occurrence. Alys also tells the assassins that “there’s been a horde” of men like these, indicating many days or even weeks must have passed since Rhaenyra offered Harrenhal to anyone who could kill Aemond. By this point, Aemond has been in Harrenhal recuperating from his stab wound for 16 days.

Day 79-82 ADV:

In King’s Landing, early in the morning, Orwyle comes to Alicent, dodging cats (cats can be seen all around the Keep now, suggesting some time has passed since “3×04: Tumbleton,” when Alyn suggested using cats to replace the ratcatchers.) Orwyle comes with Moon Tea to abort Helaena’s pregnancy, although he says that as he’s now under scrutiny he “can no longer offer [her] assistance after today without making the proper disclosures.” Alicent tells Helaena that if it’s a boy it’ll be a danger to Rhaenyra, to be killed or to be used as a hostage or pawn, or as a shield against Aemond, wherever he fled after Harrenhal (Helaena says she has seen he’s at Harrenhal,) but Helaena refuses to take the tea anyway, insisting on keeping the baby.

In the morning still, Rhaenryra argues with Lady Sabitha Frey, as Jace had promised Harrenhal as payment for letting the Winter Wolves cross the Twins, and now she’s offering it to anyone who kills Aemond. Rhaenyra says she’s welcome to try and kill Aemond for Harrenhal, and forces her to accept a seat in her council as recompense enough (for now.) Lady Frey was last seen in “2×05: Regent,” which would be 20 days before this scene if this episode began a single day after the previous one, which it clearly doesn’t, as discussed elsewhere; so, it’s likely been around 1 month since we saw Lady Sabitha, and she’d have had plenty of time to come to King’s Landing from the Twins, even if she didn’t leave until around 2 weeks before this scene, when she must have heard that Rhaenyra had promised Harrenhal to anyone who killed Aemond rather than keeping Jace’s promise.

Addam and Baela report to the small council that Vhagar burned a village outside Wendish Town, though they arrived two days late. Mysaria finds it a strange provocation from Aemond even if Lord Darry is loyal to Rhaenyra (as they are unaware that Vhagar is flying on her own.) Daemon reports of a skirmish at the Dragon Gate the day before, and points to Mysaria using the gold for food rather than payment for the Gold Cloaks as the cause, while Mysaria says his Gold Cloaks should use more restraint. Daemon reveals two Gold Cloaks were found dead this morning in Flea Bottom, murdered. Rhaenyra worries about Ormund, and Daemon says that, since she isn’t willing to burn Ormund out of Tumbleton, the river army will root him out “soon enough.” However, Orwyle reports that “their march has been slowed by interference from Ser Criston Cole and his men.” The river army being expected to arrive at Tumbleton “soon enough” if not for Criston suggests weeks have passed between episodes (as Rhaenyra expected their march to take “weeks”; likely around 2 weeks, as already explained,) although likely at least a few days short of that (as Daemon was expecting the river army to face Ormund at Tumbleton “soon enough,” not right at this point.) Rhaenyra orders Baela and Addam to resume their scouting but Addam protests, as they’ve just arrived and “Baela has not eaten, much less slept.” She protests she’s ready, but Rhaenyra decides to send Daemon after Aemond and Vhagar instead. Daemon says he’ll go as soon as he deals with the murders of the City Watch, and storms off the meeting. 

Rhaenyra follows him and privately accuses him of disobeying her, but he insists on first tackling the unrest against the City Watch, likely caused by her ordering them to root out the culprits behind the seditious graffiti. As Elinda interrupts, he leaves. She tells Rhaenyra that “Joffrey has returned this hour from the Vale.” Rhaenyra summoned him in “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant.” Previously, Rhaena, Joffrey, and the princes Aegon and Viserys left Dragonstone for the Vale in “2×03: The Burning Mill” and arrived in “2×05: Regent,” 15-to-29 days later (depending on whether they left Dragonstone as soon as the next day after Rhaenyra told Rhaena of her plan or as late as 10 days after, and on whether Criston’s return to King’s Landing with the moribund Aegon II took as few as 12 days or as many as 15,) presumably sailing to Gulltown for 1 or 2 days and riding by wheelhouse from there up to the Eyrie for 13-to-28 days. Joffrey’s journey from the Eyrie down to Gulltown should take fewer than 13-to-28 days (given that he’d be descending from the Mountains of the Moon to the Bay of Crabs rather than ascending in the other direction,) while sailing from Gulltown all the way to King’s Landing rather than only to Dragonstone would take around 1 additional day. Consequently, ever since Joffrey left the Eyrie as soon as the third day of “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” fewer than 15-to-30 days must have passed by this point, which on the lower end fits the estimation of this scene taking place 12 days after the end of “3×04: Tumbleton.” Joffrey traveled for 15 days; if it did take his ship 2 days to sail from Gulltown to King’s Landing, the descent from the Eyrie to Gulltown must have taken 13 days. 

Near Rook’s Rest, still in the morning (Larys says it’s “long past the [hour of the] nightingale, the hour before dawn, presumably when they were expected to begin their workday at Rook’s Rest camp), Larys follows Aegon II through the forest (as seen later, to the raven carriage they left behind before finding Sunfyre,) as he intends to go to Wendish Town, where they’ve just heard Vhagar was sighted, in order to find and kill Aemond for what he did to him. Larys says that was “two days ago,” so Aegon II decides to go to Harrenhal and ask there. Larys tries to convince him not to go, as Harrenhal is “100 leagues” (483 km) away  (although in the “Inside the Episode” segment for this episode Ryan Condal says King’s Landing and Tumbleton are “60 leagues” -290 km- away from each other, and indeed on a map this distance seems to be about 60% of that between Rook’s Rest and Harrenhal, in “3×06: Faceless Men” Gwayne says King’s Landing is “not 30 leagues away” -so fewer than 145 km away- from Tumbleton, which doesn’t fit with Larys’s 100 leagues; as Gwayne is being more specific than Larys, it’s fair to assume that Larys is more likely to be generalizing by using a round number, 100, when it’d be actually more like 60 judging by Gwayne’s words.)

In King’s Landing, during the day, Mysaria announces herself to Alicent as Rhaenyra’s new Mistress of Whisperers, and reveals she knows Orwyle delivered moon tea earlier Alicent pretends it was for her and appeals to Mysaria not to tell Rhaenyra.

In the Riverlands, during the day, as they march to Stoney Sept and Gwayne offers Criston to serve the Hightowers at Oldtown, their horses are injured by “crow’s feet” (a weapon used to slow the advance of troops,) forcing Criston to euthanize his. They realize the rivermen are now ahead of them (as Lord Oscar had planned the night before; even after Lord Petyr’s death, he must have still sent fast riders to secure the crossing at Stoney Sept, and had them use these tactics, as he later planned.)

In King’s Landing, during the day, Alicent still suffers from taking the moon tea as she observes a handmaiden.

In the city streets, during the day, Daemon admonishes Ser Luthor for his heavy hand with the seditious graffiti. Ser Luthor tells him that the two Gold Cloaks found dead had their bowels cut, and that the rest complain about their lack of wages. Daemon says he’ll address the men himself. A commotion brings them to find two more dead Gold Cloaks, both disemboweled. This is observed by a little girl spy, who informs a former Hightower guard (last seen in “3×02: Queen’s Landing,” when Alicent and Helaena ordered his captain to leave his post on the scorpions,) and he in turn sends a pigeon with a message.

At Tumbleton, during the day, likely several hours later in the afternoon, Lord Ormund receives the Hightower guard’s message informing him of the killings: “Gold blood spilled. Three marked in the tally. The account lies open.” The pigeon should have only taken a few hours to arrive (as a raven in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was” only took about half a day to fly from Harrenhal to Dragonstone, and the distance between King’s Landing and Tumbleton is about 3 times shorter.) Bold Jon tells Ormund that battlements are being raised “with haste,” but they “lack in timber, and men, and time,” so he orders the conscription of more men and the felling of trees all the way to Bitterbridge, as the walls must be secured before Rhaenyra’s host arrives. Daeron tells Ormund he’s been studying the Hightower histories for “three days” (so at least 2 days must have passed between episodes; indeed, we know from a later scene that it’s considerably more than that,) and Ormund tells him about Meria Martell of Dorne, who resisted Aegon’s conquest, swore that Dorne would ever be “unbowed, unbent,” and used all kinds of underhanded tactics to resist the occupation. He explains all the Targaryens have is strength; they, like Meria, have cunning. Ormund gets angry when Daeron apologizes for defeating him at cyvasse, as he must never apologize for victory, and shows him coins minted with Daeron’s face while assuring him that his presence will rally their allies all around them, including Borros Baratheon.

In King’s Landing, in the afternoon, at the Red Keep’s Godswood, as Jaehara is taken away from Helaena for the day, Alicent tells her they must leave this evening, as they’ll only have one guard tonight because soldiers will reinforce the City Watch. She’s sold her necklace to a maid in exchange for helping them escape, via a hidden door in Aemond’s room. Helaena asks about Jaehaera, but Alicent says that her room is guarded, the journey won’t be safe, she’ll well-cared for here as she isn’t a threat, and that one day they may even be able to send for her, but Helaena knows she’s lying and refuses to go without her daughter.

In the Riverlands, in the afternoon, Addam and Baela find another trace of Vhagar, although it’s “days” old. They were ordered to return to the Riverlands in the morning; they had plenty of time to reach it, in minutes if they are still close to the capital or a matter of hours if they flew to the other end of the Riverlands. Addam insists she rest, but she feels she must prove herself to Rhaenyra because of her guilt about Jace’s death. She says she was supposed to be Jace’s queen, and now she’ll likely be married off to some lord. Addam retorts that he’d come for her and they’d fly away to exile, but before any of that they must eat. Addam says they “have traversed the Trident 50 times in the last fortnight,” which means it’s been 14 days since Addam started scouting the Riverlands for Vhagar with Baela; this line is the linchpin to understand exactly how much time passes between the previous episode and this one, as it’s the only specific passage of time mentioned that links them both. As Addam first was sent out with Baela in “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” sent out from King’s Landing on the evening 2 days before the end of “3×04: Tumbleton,” and this scene takes place on the second day of this episode, 10 days must have passed between the episodes, which fits the other much less specific approximations (more than 3 days but less than 2 weeks or less than 13-to-28 days.)

In Harrenhal, in the early evening, Aemond wakes after dreaming of Vhagar, the day after his previous scene. Alys says Vhagar flew in the night (at some point between Aemond’s arrival on Vhagar 17 days earlier and Criston’s 12 days earlier, when she was already gone,) but Aemond insists she wouldn’t abandon him. Aemond follows the sound of a dragon roaring to a balcony, where he realizes Vhagar is nowhere to be seen. He breaks down, as he believes he is nothing without her. She tells him Rhaenyra is hunting for Vhagar, reminds him King’s Landing has fallen, and tells him Rhaenyra claims he killed Aegon. Aemond remembers how Aegon tormented him in their childhood and how Alicent loved Aegon most. Alys says that “sometimes the child that grieves her is the one a mother loves best.” Aemond asks who she is, to which she replies she’s “one that has been grieved.”

Near Rook’s Rest, in the early evening, hours after their last encounter, Larys finds Aegon II sitting at the raven carriage they left behind before finding Sunfyre. Aegon has realized the true severity of his situation and that he can’t do anything about it. He laments how Aemond was always given advantages, by Cole, by Viserys, and by Alicent, who loved Aemond more than him. Larys tries the direct approach, telling him he squandered every advantage; he is a terrible king, but worse, he’s a terrible man.

At the Grand Sept in King’s Landing, apparently in the evening (it’s unclear when exactly, but there is still daylight) Daemon finds Rhaenyra, who tells her about the six murdered Gold Cloaks; four today and “six if you count the two from yesterday,” which could mean this scene takes place the day after he told Rhaenyra of the first two men being “found dead in the street this morning,” or that he’s referring to them being killed the day before and being found dead this morning. Rhaenyra admits Daemon was right about worrying about the enemy within first, and they discuss who could be behind the attacks. She bemoans the gods abandoning her like this, but he asks if she thought there would be no opposition to her rule once she sat the throne. Rhaenyra is desperate to know where Aemond and Aegon are, what Ormund is planning at Tumbleton, where the treasury gold is, or where their delayed river army is. She feels a presence plotting against her, but Daemon tells her she’s tired and not to imagine threats where there are none. Rhaenyra tells him to live up to his reputation and root these men plotting against her.

In the Riverlands, in the early evening, Gwayne complains about the crow’s feet attack delaying them; Criston agrees, as they must have known they’d leave the road when they left their mounts. Gwayne tries to convince him to abandon his plan, as the men are tired, “talking of desertion,” and “Stoney Sept still lies far ahead.” Criston ignores his point and says they can “leave the track” and “cut straight through the lowlands toward the crossing” to perhaps “gain a day or two over Tully’s host.” As they are now discussing losing the horses, seemingly for the first time, this appears to take place only hours after their previous scene.

At Rook’s Rest, in the evening, Aegon II returns to Larys, meeker and resigned, and tells him to hire a ship to Essos as Larys wanted all along. Just then, Tyland Lannister appears, shocking them and asking about what ship they’re talking about. Ser Tyland was last seen thrown overboard in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” 18 days earlier. Although he was wearing armor, he was jettisoned from the Bitchfist on shallow water (inside the Dragonstone pass, a path between jagged rocks at the easternmost point of Driftmark, two Triarchy ships wrecked on shallow water, so Sharako avoided the same fate for her ship by dropping weight, namely Ser Tyland and his Lannister men). Although how Ser Tyland escaped Driftmark is unknown as yet, he did have time to spare, as simply sailing from Driftmark to Rook’s Rest should only take a matter of hours, giving him 17 days to actually find safe passage from Driftmark, hire sellswords (as we later learn,) and bump into Aegon and Larys at Rook’s Rest.

In King’s Landing, at night, Alicent and Helaena, dressed as maids, leave their chamber with the help of the maid she bought off, who tells them the one guard is now gone. This must happen the same day as their previous scene, in which they said Alicent told Helaena they must leave “tonight.” Helaena says Alicent told her the nurse would meet them with Jaehaera, and she says they will but “at the other end.” Mysaria catches them and realizes Helaena is the one pregnant with “an inconvenient heir.” Alicent implores her not to tell Rhaenyra, but Mysarya refuses. Alicent reasons they are prisoners already and Helaena’s pregnancy will reveal itself soon enough anyway, and says she’s heard of the White Worm and she wouldn’t expect her to “just lapdog to the queen.” She warns Mysaria that ruling will change Rhaenyra, especially with Daemon by her side, and that she may hold Mysaria in esteem now but that may change. Telling Rhaenyra about this would gain her no advantage, and saying nothing would do no harm, but she would gain favor with the Hightowers if she ever needs it. Helaena interrupts, saying she needs to go out and see the moon, but Alicent tells her the window will have to do. Mysaria leaves without offering a response.

At night, Rhaenyra goes to Joffrey’s room, where he’s sleeping. The maid tells her he tried to stay away for her.

Day 80-83 ADV:

In the Riverlands, during a cloudy day, the day after their previous scene, Criston, Gwayne and their men pass through a burned farm. Criston stops to observe the footprint of Vhagar. Minutes or hours later, under heavy rain, they traverse a bog with great difficulty, leaving behind a man who falls out of exhaustion or injury.

At Harrenhal’s Godswood, at some point during the day, more assassins come looking for Aemond and find Alys instead (they are seemingly iron islanders, given one of them mentions making her his ‘salt wife.’) Just as they grab her, Aemond comes out and kills them with Blackfyre before collapsing from the exertion. Alys observes he’s “taken a turn for the better.”

At Rook’s Rest, during the day, the next day after the evening of Tyland’s arrival, Larys and Tyland argue about what to do with Aegon: Larys argues they can secrete him in Braavos until the time is right, but Tyland retorts that the voyage would be dangerous, Essos is unfit for a king, the Bravoosi heat would be bad for him, and he isn’t “some chip for [Larys] to hold until such a time as benefits [him].” Rather, Tyland would take Aegon with his men (cheap sellswords, according to Larys) to Lannisport, and summon allies and command the war from there. Larys accuses him of taking advantage of Aegon for the sake of the Lannisters, but Tyland says the same of Larys. Just then, Janos, the camp’s captain, finds Aegon’s crown and Aegon quietly kills him for it.

In King’s Landing, at the City Watch quarters, during the day, the men complain about the killings and the lack of pay, but Daemon encourages them to do their job (1 day after he said he would) and Ser Luthor sends them out on patrol. A Gold Cloak informs them that someone involved with the killings has been apprehended.

 In the Riverlands, in the afternoon, Criston, Gwayne and their men reach the Blackwater Rush crossing at Stoney Sept, which they intended to burn before the rivermen could pass, but Lord Oscar delaying them by disabling and killing their horses means that the “the Rivermen have crossed, and burned the bridge behind them,” so their mission to delay their march is over. This takes place 3 days after Lord Oscar ordered 100 fast riders be sent ahead to secure the crossing at Stoney Sept and Criston told Gwayne that the river army would “make for Stoney Sept and [they]’ll once more be ahead of them.” Although we don’t know where the rivermen were camped that night exactly, Oscar said that having to make this diversion (following the river northwest to Stoney Sept, crossing it south and then marching southeast to reach the same easterly point at which they were then camped but on the other side of the river) would delay their march “by a week”; half of the week, more or less, could be expected to be spent on the way west, and around the other half on the way back east after crossing the river, so 2 days having passed here makes enough sense, although it may be cutting it close (it’s difficult to tell without knowing where they were camped.)

In King’s Landing, Daemon tortures the apprehended man, who admits to being paid by someone who gave him a coin bearing Daeron’s face, as “compliments of King Daeron Targaryen for killing traitors to his throne.” Luthor executes him.

In the Riverlands, camped by Stoney Sept in the evening, Gwayne tries to comfort Criston. Again he suggests going to Tumbleton, but Criston refuses, saying they’ll raft or swim across the river, and then battle the rivermen head on. Gwayne says they have “half the men” they marched out of Harrenhal with (presumably lost to death or desertion, as he warned Criston the previous day; back when they marched out, the river army was said to outnumber them 20 to 1, and Oscar is said to have 20,000-40,000 rivermen at his command, plus 2000 Winter Wolves, so Criston must have only had around 1000-2000 men; now that they have “half the men” the rivermen should outnumber them 40 to 1, 40,000 to 1000 or 20,000 to 500, but Gwayne says now “there are 200 Rivermen for every one of us,” which would point to only 100 or 200 men remaining with Criston; the latter smaller number better fits what we see on-screen.) Gwayne realizes marching towards certain death was Criston’s goal all along, and Criston admits their death was always assured. He thanks Gwayne for offering him to serve the Hightowers at Oldtown (the day before,) but he’s now done serving: he will die as the great warrior he is, unbent, on his own, and they will sing songs of his death, which Alicent will hear.

In King’s Landing, at night, Alyn updates Rhaenyra on the rebuilding of the Velaryon fleet at Driftmark, which “will take time” as their resources are diminished. Daemon comes in with Daeron’s coin and explains that Ormund has declared him king. Daemon says they should have burned them when they had the chance (17 days earlier, when instead Rhaenyra had Daemon enforce Ormund’s surrender by taking who they believed to be Daeron as a hostage.)

In the Riverlands, at night, Criston gives a somber speech to his troops and prays for them, while Gwayne leaves.

At the same time in King’s Landing’s Red Keep, as Alicent goes to bed, Helaena finds there is also a secret passage in their room, thanks to a cat, and Alicent and Helaena go through it to escape, but find the passage blocked, with no way back as the door to their room is shut. A cat eating a rat scares Helaena, who drops her lantern, leaving them in darkness.

At the same time in the City Watch’s quarters, Daemon finds a grotesque tableau: Ser Luthor and eight other Gold Cloaks, dead, disemboweled and with their eyes and throats cut, but with their bodies positioned as if sitting at the table for a feast, and a message written in blood on the wall behind them: “A Feast for Traitors.”

3×06: Faceless Men (59 min)

Passage of time between episodes: half a day overnight (during Day 80-83 ADV and Day 81-84 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: 2 and a half days (Day 81-84 ADV to Day 82-85 ADV; early hours of Day 83-86 ADV)

Day 81-84 ADV:

In the southwestern Riverlands, just south of Stoney Sept, in the morning (hours after Criston prayed for his troops at night in “3×05: Unbowed and Unbent,”) Criston and his few remaining men find a camp of dead rivermen, although strangely there’s no sign of their killers, and some of the fallen appear to have died earlier and elsewhere. The rest are actually alive and ambush Criston’s men, who defeat their foes only to realize they’ve been completely surrounded by Lord Oscar Tully’s great host. Criston realizes this is their death. Lord Roderick comes forward with Lord Oscar, who names Criston a traitor, usurper, and defiler of justice. Criston asks whether his men will be spared if he strikes his banners, but Oscar says he made a promise to the dead; “I told them I’d built a sept out of traitors’ bones. I don’t have near enough bones yet.” Criston replies some of his men will die too, but Lord Roderick says that’s why they’ve come; “What better way to die than blade in hand?” Criston challenges the two of them to single combat, but Black Aly shoots two arrows into his belly, and then another one to his cheekbone. Criston dies as the rivermen and northmen advance on the few men who remained marching with Criston.

In King’s Landing, in the morning, Alicent and Helaena are found in Maegor’s tunnels after a night trapped there.

In the small council chamber, in the morning, Daemon informs Rhaenyra and her council of the death of Ser Luthor Largent and 14 of his best men, which he found the previous night, making up for a total of 25 Gold Cloaks killed. Rhaenyra asks about her army so she can deal with Ormund’s threat, and Orwyle informs her that Criston’s delayed them, so Lord Oscar Tully’s vanguard is “still a fortnight’s march from Tumbleton” (as they have no further obstructions, when the river army arrives in Tumbleton in “3×08: The Treasons at Tumbleton,” 2 weeks must have passed since this scene; indeed, the distance between Stoney Sept and Tumbleton is similar to between King’s Landing and Harrenhal, which was also expected to take Criston’s army “a fortnight.”) Daemon insists on being sent to “burn the villains out,” but Mysaria says that’s just what Ormund wants, and Lady Frey and Ser Torrhen point out that dragonfire is indiscriminate. Alyn agrees she should wait for her army, who can discriminate in their violence. Rhaenyra decides to send assassins against Ormund, rather than just waiting for the army or sending Daemon, who she charges instead with finding the Gold Cloak killers. Alyn says the Velaryon detachment in the city, of 60 soldiers, can help secure it, and Rhaenyra sends him to petition Lord Corlys for more men. Orwyle asks who she’ll send to kill Ormund. Just then, Ser Lyonel Bentley, a new knight of her Queensguard, informs Rhaenyra of the arrival of House Baratheon’s delegation (Rhaenyra charged Daemon with the task of appointing knights for her Queensguard in the morning of day 64-67 ADV during “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” 17 days earlier; this is the second appointment after Ser Adrian Redfort, first seen 14 days earlier.)

Rhaenyra receives the delegation, “sent to represent House Baratheon in response to [her] summons” (Rhaenyra said she’d summon the Great Houses to King’s Landing the night of Day 65-68 ADV, during “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,” 16 days before this scene; riders could’ve arrived from Storm’s End in that time with days to spare.) Rhaenyra is insulted that Lord Borros didn’t come himself; his representative says Lord Borros has taken his army to the Red Mountains of Dorne to fight the Vulture King, as protecting the realm from Dornish incursions is his duty. Rhaenyra points out that he’s riding south just as Rhaenyra summoned him north, that he failed in his duty to guard Luke as a guest, and that she could brand him a traitor and hang his representative in his stead. The knight says if there was anything he could offer her, he’d give it; she demands his belt.

In Tumbleton, in the morning, Hugh arrives on Vermithor to relieve Ulf from his guard (they appear to last 2 days.) Ulf complains about Rhaenyra’s restrictions now that they are at her service before leaving Hugh.

In King’s Landing, in the morning, Rhaenyra confronts Alicent about their escape attempt the night before. Alicent admits Helaena is pregnant and they fled to preserve the baby’s life if it’s male. Despite Alicent’s plea not to confine Helaena, Rhaenyra confines them to quarters, as Helaena cannot be publicly seen carrying Aegon’s heir. She says “even today, I must answer another of [Ormund’s] murderous treasons,” confirming this all takes place the same day, and that Alicent, as a Hightower, is the enemy to her court. Alicent asks what she is to Rhaenyra, who tells her not to try her and leaves. 

Exiting Alicent’s chamber, Mysaria asks Rhaenyra what Alicent told her. Rhaenyra tells Mysaria of Helaena’s pregnancy, which she pretends not to have known anything about. Mysaria then has a Targaryen guard arrest or kill the maid who facilitated Alicent and Helaena’s escape, as she also knew that Mysaria had learned of it and not told Rhaenyra.

At the City Watch quarters, in the morning, many Gold Cloaks resign despite Daemon’s pleas and threats.

Somewhere in the Crownlands, close to King’s Landing, during the day, Alyn comes to Lord Corlys to ask for more Velaryon soldiers for the city (this is apparently still in the morning, given the scenes this one is surrounded by, although it could be later in the day; either way, this must take place close to the city, as only hours have passed since the early morning meeting during which Rhaenyra sent him out, and he’ll be back in King’s Landing with still some daylight out.) Alyn says King’s Landing has heard of Corlys’s deeds and that the Triarchy raids have dwindled (Corlys left King’s Landing to hunt down the raiders during “3×04: Tumbleton,” 14 days earlier.) Alyn tells him of Ormund’s actions and the need for more Velaryon men in the city, which Corlys reluctantly agrees to provide. Before Alyn leaves, Corlys says he’s learned from questioned Triarchy men that “Tyland Lannister survived the Gullet and is making for Rook’s Rest” (the battle was 20 days earlier, during the second day of “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” and Tyland arrived to Rook’s Rest during “3×05: Unbowed and Unbent,” 2 days before this scene.)

Near Rook’s Rest, the morning after Aegon killed Janos, Tyland is burying his body in the woods. Larys tells Aegon he’s “found passage to Braavos on a merchant cog out of Maidenpool.” They must remain incognito “for a few days” and they’ll be sailing “before the full moon.” Tyland insists on his Casterly Rock plan, but Aegon decides to follow Larys to Braavos.

In the Vale, in the morning, Rhaena sees Moondancer and Seasmoke from her cave in the Mountains of the Moon. She looks much more haggard than when we saw her last 14 days before in “3×04: Tumbleton,” wearing sheepskins on top of her dress (by this point, Rhaena’s been living in the wild for 29 days, 20 of them with Sheepstealer after the Battle of the Gullet.)

At Harrenhal, the morning after Aemond saved Alys from assassins who’d come after him, Aemond decides that, with his debt to her settled, he must leave Harrenhal to look for Vhagar, despite Alys trying to convince him it’d be certain death.

At the Eyrie, in the evening (given the orange light coming from the windows, as well as several hours having to have passed since Rhaena’s previous scene,) Rhaena is brought to Lady Jeyne Arryn, who accuses her of violating their agreement; she’d stay silent as long as Rhaena stayed hidden. Rhaena says she saw Moondancer “flying towards Ironoaks” and flew there to find Baela. Jeyne informs Rhaena that thousands witnessed Sheepstealer and maybe Rhaena, and that Rhaenyra believes Sheepstealer’s rider is dead (thanks to Daemon’s trick, 14 days earlier), so if she hears of someone riding it still Rhaena’s doomed, and Jeyne as well for harboring her. Rhaena says she’s got the dragon she wanted but lost everything else. Jeyne tells her to forget her old life and threatens to kill her if she exposes herself again. The distance between Iroanoaks and the Eyrie (which Rhaena’s cave must be very close to, as Caraxes felt or heard Sheepstealer from the Eyrie in “3×04: Tumbleton,”) is around a third of the distance between Dragonstone and King’s Landing, a journey that’s been shown to take a matter of hours by dragonflight, so Rhaena could’ve traveled to Ironoaks and back within a few hours. Also, for Jeyne to have heard of the incident she must have received a raven from Ironoaks, and that would take several more hours, as would summoning Rhaena, which indicates this must take place in the evening, and the previous Rhaena scene in the morning (exactly as they’re placed in relation to surrounding scenes, even if there’s only one scene in-between them.)

At the Dragonpit, in the evening, Alyn comes to see Baela, who’s sleeping after her most recent scouting (flying from the Eyrie would take several hours but less than half a day, so this can still be the same day.) He says he saw his father “today” (corroborating that this takes place the same day; Alyn was sent out in the morning, met Corlys in the middle of the day, and has returned with still some daylight out, which indicates Corlys was only a few hours away from the city,) and asks Baela to speak to Corlys so he can return. Baela says her father Daemon does the same thing, escaping his ghosts but also everyone else, and that she can’t help Corlys. Baela approaches Alyn and, after some clear encouragement from her, he kisses her.

Day 82-85 ADV:

At Tumbleton, in the early morning, Gwayne has arrived and reported to Ormund, who brands him a coward for leaving Criston. Gwayne was last seen near Stoney Sept in “3×05: Unbowed and Unbent”; in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” a single fast rider was shown to have galloped around 80% of this distance, from King’s Landing to Ormund’s camp by the Mander, in 1 day, so the journey from Stoney Sept to Tumbleton can be made in 1 and a half days riding fast. If this scene takes place the day after the previous scenes of this episode (which had to take place the day after the end of “3×05: Unbowed and Unbent,” contextually) it’s indeed been 1 and a half days since Gwayne left Criston’s camp near Stoney Sept (last we saw Gwayne, he didn’t have a horse, but he must’ve bought or stolen one at Stoney Sept, or else it’d have taken him around 1 week.) Gwayne is astonished Ormund intends to fight on when there’s a dragon outside (Hugh’s Vermithor) and “five more not 30 leagues away” (as he’s referring to King’s Landing, Tumbleton must be fewer than 30 leagues -or 145 km- away.) Ormund is convinced Rhaenyra won’t burn her subjects, but Gwayne retorts that, even if that’s true, Ormund’s army can’t leave Tumbleton. Gwayne says “the river army draws closer by the day,” but Ormund is sure of their superiority over the rivermen, and of his work to undermine Rhaenyra’s rule in King’s Landing. He goads Gwayne by taunting him for his homosexuality, but he retires to rest, as “it’s been weeks since [he’s] seen a feather bed” (he marched out of King’s Landing 30 days -or 4 weeks- earlier). In private, Gwayne asks Daeron how he could let Ormund make him king, but Daeron says he had to kowtow to him, and accuses Gwayne of leaving him alone with Ormund (61 days earlier, Gwayne arrived in King’s Landing after 3 months of traveling, so at this point Gwayne’s been gone from Oldtown for 5 months.) Daeron wants him to stay, but Gwayne says that, as second in line, he will return to Oldtown and “prepare to pick up the pieces.” Daeron asks him not to leave him again, and asks about her mother, Alicent.

In King’s Landing, in the early morning, Alicent says Helaena hasn’t eaten “since yesterday,” which indicates this is the day after they were freed from their escape attempt. Helaena accuses Alicent of lying about Jaehaera having been stolen away to meet them outside, as Mysaria said nothing about her even though she knew of her plan. Alicent defends her decision, in vain. Alicent looks at the tapestry Helaena was working on, depicting Aemond secreted at Harrenhal, looked over by a woman (Alys.)

At a stable below Harrenhal, in the morning, Aemond is taking a horse when a stableboy recognizes him. Alys kills him. She says she’s kept his secret and continues to do so. He tells her she could’ve killed him and claimed Rhaenyra’s bounty. She says she could’ve done many things to him, and he can learn if he’s willing. He follows her to her room in Harrenhal, where she shows him five dragon eggs hatched by Dreamfyre when his ancestor Rhaena Targaryen lived here after her daughter’s death. She says she’s foreseen “the return of the Targaryens to this ancient seat.” As Daemon touches one of the eggs, he says he’s been cursed for his sins. She says she’s cursed too, asks to share their godforsaken existence together, as the lady of the water and the dragonlord. She says he’s a Targaryen prince and his sons will be Targaryen princes as well, and kisses him.

In King’s Landing, in the morning, Rhaenyra hears petitions, protected by four knights of her Queensguard (including Ser Adrian Redfort, first seen 15 days earlier, and Ser Lyonel Bentley, first seen the previous day, which means Daemon must have recently appointed two more knights, a task he was charged with 18 days earlier.) Rhaenyra shifts the blame of the distribution of resources to Ser Torrhen Manderly (appointed Master of Coin 15 days earlier) and offers only prayers for a septa pleading for protection now that the City Watch’s been so thinned, which resulted in one of their girls being taken. A man asks who will protect them now that so many Gold Cloaks have died or resigned, which Rhaenyra blames on Ormund before saying she’s sent for more Velaryon men. As she cuts herself on the throne, she hides it and leaves in a hurry, ignoring the petitioners.

In the city streets, in the morning, Daemon patrols dressed as a Gold Cloak to lure the assassins. The former Hightower guard working for Ormund follows him to an ally, but Daemon ambushes him. He doesn’t give him any information, only telling him they’re everywhere, they’re loyal to Daeron and they will never embrace Rhaenyra, so Daemon kills him. Daemon then comes across Ulf, who Daemon says should be confined in the Red Keep when not watching over Tumbleton, so Daemon kicks him for his insolence and threatens to put out his eyes if he does this again, in view of everyone, including the little girl spy who only 3 days earlier, in “3×05: Unbowed and Unbent,” informed the Hightower guard of the latest Gold Cloak killings.

Near Tumbleton, during the morning of Hugh’s final day watching over Tumbleton before Ulf takes over, Hugh steals a merchant’s wagon and clothes to enter Tumbleton, at the same time as several riders wearing Baratheon colors. Rhaenyra received Lord Borros’s envoys in King’s Landing around 1 day before, so these men (wearing the armor of the knights who came to Rhaenyra) had enough time to ride to Tumbleton (it was established in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood” that a fast rider could make an even longer trip to a point further down the Mander in 1 day; this very episode, Gwayne has said that less than 30 leagues (or 145 km) separate King’s Landing from Tumbleton, which is a distance that a rider can traverse in around the 24-30 hours that’ve passed, or much faster if pushing the horses to their limits.)

At Footly manor, at breakfast, Lord Ormund is instructing Daeron on how to choose his Hand when Bold Jon informs him of the arrival of representatives of House Baratheon, here to see King Daeron. The men are so filthy it distracts Ormund because of his strong sensitivity to odors (about which Alicent told Rhaenyra 15 days earlier, when she was first trying to learn about her new foe.) The envoy introduces himself as Ser Arrion Baratheon, cousin to Lord Borros (which is when Gwayne notices something is afoot,) says he’s been ordered by Lord Borros to swear fealty to King Daeron, and asks to see him in person. As Ormund introduces Daeron, Gwayne sees ‘Ser Arrion’ go for his sword and quickly kills him, explaining to Ormund these are assassins sent to kill Daeron and Ormund. Gwayne, Bold Jon and other Hightower soldiers kill the rest of the assassins. Gwayne says he knows Ser Arrion Baratheon and this wasn’t him. Ormund curses Rhaenyra for this assassination attempt, and vomits.

Meanwhile, Hugh finds Kat, who’s shocked to see him alive. He says he looked for her in their home, but she had no choice, as he left him alone, so she “escaped in the chaos” (which confirms she left just after we saw her see the dragons arrive in King’s Landing in “3×02: Queen’s Landing,”) to live here with her brother, who’s now dead too (he died 15 days earlier, at the end of “3×04: Tumbleton.”) He says he’s a dragonrider and a knight now, so he can provide her with a better life, but she rebuffs him. Kat asks Hugh if he knows what can happen to a woman like her walking alone on the road to Tumbleton for days (it took her between 3 and 4 and a half days,) while Hugh was on Dragonstone seeking out his own glory. He insists he did it for her, but she screams she didn’t want it; she needed him here with her. Hugh urges her to come with her, as he’s at risk of being discovered, but she says she won’t forsake her family. He tries to force her to leave with him until she looks at him in horror and asks who he’s become. She leaves with her niece.

Minutes later, back at Footly manor, servants clean the blood of the dead assassins as Ormund and Gwayne observe Daeron ably sword sparring against three opponents at once. Ormund thanks Gwayne for saving their lives, apologizes for treating him harshly, and allows him to return to Oldtown if he wishes. Gwayne says Daeron would make a good king, though that doesn’t matter to Ormund, and asks about his real plan, as he knows Ormund would never sacrifice himself.

In King’s Landing, during the afternoon, Alicent has asked to be taken to Rhaenyra and asks her for Helaena not to be confined, given her precarious state of mind, just as she did the day before. She makes Rhaenyra promise to set both of them free, as originally agreed, if she gives her Aemond’s location, which she knows thanks to what Helaena has seen (3 days earlier, Helaena told Alicent she’d seen Aemond at Harrenhal; this morning, she saw Helaena’s tapestry of Aemond at Harrenhal.) Rhaenyra dismisses this, as her riders have repeatedly searched for Vhagar there, but Alicent says that’s where Aemond is, not Vhagar. She explains that Helaena “sees things” that come to pass, making Rhaenyra realize that Helaena is a dreamer, like Daenys who foresaw the doom of Valyria. Rhaenyra realizes that if Aemond has truly separated from Vhagar, he’s an easy target, so he must be hiding at Harrenhal; if she sends many men to kill him, he’ll flee again, so he must send a single assassin with someone he trusts, with Alicent. She immediately refuses, as she cannot leave Helaena alone; Rhaenyra says she’ll keep watch over her until Alicent returns. Alicent tells her she warned Rhaenyra that the throne would change her like this (17 days earlier in “3×03: Rhaenyra Triumphant,”) but Rhaenyra ignores her and Alicent is taken away.

That evening, Helaena tells Alicent she doesn’t want to be alone, but Alicent says Aemond would likely die even if she refused, so she must do this so they’re free. Helaena asks her why she was married off to his brother Aegon; Alicent says it was Otto’s wish, but admits she didn’t complain, as she thought at least this way Helaena would be with her rather than far away. Alicent tries to make Helaena eat before leaving (she hasn’t eaten for 2 days at this point,) and eventually Helaena does. Alicent promises she’ll be back as soon as she can, and they’ll walk out free together.

Day 83-86 ADV:

In the middle of the night, Rhaenyra watches Joffrey sleep (who she first saw upon his return 3 days earlier).

Meanwhile, Alicent rides on the Kingsroad, escorted by several men. 

Back at the Red Keep, as Rhaenyra leaves Joffrey’s chamber, Orwyle comes to tell her “there has been a rider from Tumbleton,” bringing one of the Baratheon gambesons she had her assassins wear, which reads “Kick this dog and it will bite your Hand.” In “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” a fast rider made an even longer trip to a point further down the Mander in 24 hours, and this rider traversed around half of the distance that just took Gwayne around 1 and a half days (which would point to around 18 hours.) Also, a fast rider should be able to traverse the less than 30 leagues (less than 145 km) between Tumbleton and King’s Landing in 15-to-20 hours; since the assassination attempt happened in the morning, this must take place in the middle of the night. This fits well enough, as Joffrey is sound asleep and Orwyle apologizes for the “late hour.”

In the Crownlands, in the middle of the night at Corlys’s camp (which, again, must be quite close to King’s Landing, although in an unknown direction,) Corlys congratulates his men for their work against the raiders and tells them they’re needed in the city, and he “has been too long away” (he left King’s Landing 15 and a half days earlier.) Just then, Bold Jon Roxton and several other men appear out of the shadows, kill Corlys’s men and take Corlys himself captive. Just like the rider with the warning to Rhaenyra, Bold Jon (who was last seen fighting the assassins, as he was already absent by the time the blood was being cleaned soon after) and his men had enough time to reach this camp near King’s Landing in the middle of the night.

3×07: The Dragon in Winter (60 min)

Passage of time between episodes: 10 and a half days (most of Day 83-86 ADV, and Day 84-87 ADV to Day 93-96 ADV) Passage of time during the episode: 1 day (Day 94-97 ADV, very early hours of Day 95-98 ADV) 

Day 94-97 ADV:

In King’s Landing, in the early morning, Helaena is awoken by Rhaenyra from her dreams of a gray mare. Helaena asks whether there’s been word from Alicent, but Rhaenyra says she doesn’t expect to yet (which means some time must have passed, but not enough for Alicent to go to Harrenhal and back.) Helaena warns her that the dragons change them. Rhaenyra tries to force Helaena to tell her of her dreams, and what she knows of the whereabouts of Daemon and the Winter Wolves, what’s going on in Tumbleton, whether Ormund will be defeated, or whether she will prevail, but Helaena refuses to cooperate.

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Rhaenyra being told of Sheepstealer still having a rider and Alicent, Aemond, and Alys having supper,) on the road between Rook’s Rest and Maidenpool, in the early morning (judging by the sun’s very position low in the horizon, it must be earlier in the day than where the scene is placed, although only by a matter of a few hours) Aegon, Larys, Tyland and his two sellswords ride as Tyland keeps trying to convince Aegon to sail to Casterly Rock rather than Braavos once they reach Maidenpool; he refuses. Larys tells an impatient Aegon they must ride for “some days still to the port” (which means they’ve begun their journey relatively recently but long enough ago that Aegon hoped to be closer.) They find smallfolk fleeing; one of them tells them a Mooton army is marching this way from Maidenpool. With the road obstructed by hundreds of smallfolk fleeing in the opposite direction, and an enemy army coming their way, Tyland says they must return to Rook’s Rest, where they’ll find refuge until the army has passed.

In the morning, the river army marches through the Reach, led by Oscar Tully, Black Aly, and Roderick Dustin (who’s carrying Criston’s now rotting head on the spike of his battle axe, which suggests days have passed since the Butcher’s Ball.)

In the morning, Gwayne and two other Hightower knights ride hard back to Tumbleton, where he warns Ormund that he’s seen 20,000 rivermen south of the Blackwater Rush, “a day’s march away, two at most.” Ormund dismisses Criston’s sacrifice, as the river army hasn’t been halted (which means enough time must have passed for them to have heard about the Butcher’s Ball.) Still, Ormund remains confident about their prospects, but doesn’t divulge his “piece on the board” to Gwayne. In “3×06: Faceless Men,” on Day 81-84 ADV, the river army’s vanguard was expected to arrive at Tumbleton in a fortnight; if they’re now almost 2 days away, 12 days must have passed (which means 9 and a half days have passed between episodes.)

In the morning, Daemon arrives at the Eyrie on Caraxes, barges into Lady Jayne’s throne room, and demands to see Rhaena. She says Rhaena flew “just after [Jeyne] sent to [him],” which must have happened the day before. She warns him that the rumors of a dragonrider in the Vale are spreading, as “the villagers gossip of a wild girl in the mountains living amongst nettles and sheep,” and that exposes her as well as him; she will now alert the queen. Daemon tells her this would blunt Rhaenyra’s wrath, but not evade it, and convinces her to give him a day to settle the matter before she writes to Rhaenyra. She informs him Rhaena’s been flying around “seeking news of Vhagar,” and that there’s been a Vhagar sighting near Fairmarket (a town in the northern Riverlands that should be within a matter of hours from the Eyrie by dragonflight.) Daemon leaves.

In the Riverlands, near Fairmarket, in the morning, Baela and Addam observe another farm burned by Vhagar. She says she’s “long tired of this endless searching” (she’s been hunting for Aemond and Vhagar for 30 days, 29 of them with Addam.) Addam asks Baela to help convince Rhaenyra to legitimize Alyn and him, as they’d need to be legitimate in order to marry a highborn lady, implying that he wants to marry her, but she misunderstands him and believes he’s referring to Alyn, with whom she’d had relations (starting 13 days earlier.) They are interrupted by the shocking sight of Sheepstealer with a rider.

At Tumbleton, in the morning, Ormund, accompanied by Daeron, invites his prisoner Corlys for breakfast. Although he’s been a prisoner for around 11 days, this is the first time he’s been invited to meet Ormund; he asks if this is to be his final meal, but Ormund denies it, revealing his plans: with Corlys as his hostage, he intends to dissuade the Velaryons from patrolling King’s Landing in the City Watch’s stead (as they were ordered to do 13 days earlier; later this day, Alyn says they’ll arrive “in the morrow,”) which will allow Ormund’s agents to resume their campaign of terror in the city unimpeded. Ormund asks why a man like Corlys swould ally himself with the Targaryens, but Corlys demands he be taken back to his cell when he mentions the death of Rhaenys. Ormund asks for one thing from him before he goes as he menacingly grabs a knife.

Afterwards, Daeron confides in Gwayne that Ormund seems convinced he’s “on the eve of some great victory.” Gwayne doubts whether Corlys is Ormund’s “piece on the board,” as sowing chaos in King’s Landing won’t stop the river army. He laments those who die trying to cover themselves in eternal glory, and Daeron says he’s sorry for his friend Criston. Daeron says he could order the army to surrender. Gwayne dismisses that, as the rivermen will kill them anyway, but says that Daeron could fly away. Daeron rejects that, as Ormund would continue even without him, and no one would receive a king who abandoned his men. He doesn’t fear not being remembered, and says Rhaenyra can keep her throne.

In King’s Landing, in a morning small council meeting, Ser Torrhen Manderly accuses Rhaenyra of making him her scapegoat for their money troubles. Rhaenyra ignores him and asks for word from Lord Corlys or from Alicent and Ser Adrian at Harrenhal, but there is no news. Orwyle says Daemon is absent because “he flew out of the city before dawn” on some errand (which means Daemon’s Eyrie scene must be set on the same day as this one, as flying there would only take a matter of hours.) Alyn says the river host is “but a day’s march from Tumbleton,” and the Velaryon forces will be in the city on the morrow” (the river host being “but a day’s march from Tumbleton” suggests this can take place the same day that Gwayne told Ormund that the river army is at “a day’s march, two at most,” or the next day; given Gwayne’s lack of specificity, it isn’t very helpful.) Lady Sabitha Frey asks about the fate of Harrenhal’s ownership if Ser Adrian does kill Aemond, so Rhaenyra, having ran out of patience, just gives it to her and orders her to “return to the Twins and lead the men [she has] left there to Harrenhal”; even if Aemond has fled rather than died, the Freys will occupy the castle again so that he can’t return. Just then, Addam and Baela return from the Riverlands, near Fairmarket (a flight that should take them a few hours, as flying between Dragonstone and King’s Landing —about 70% of the distance between Fairmarket and King’s Landing—takes only a few hours.) They tell Rhaenrya they’ve seen Sheepstealer with a rider “on the banks of the Blue Fork, near Fairmarket.” She suspects Daemon lied to her, a suspicion self-interestedly reinforced by Mysaria, so she decides to fly with Addam and find out the truth.

In a scene shown later (sequentially between Rhaenyra questioning Helaena and the river army marching through the Reach,) at Harrenhal, in the late afternoon, Aemond has a vision of Alicent arriving and having sex with him; as it ends, he’s actually having sex with Alys, who promises him a son. He’s spooked and runs out. Outside, he finds Alicent has in fact arrived. Comparatively, in “2×06: Smallfolk” Criston expected his army to make the same journey in a fortnight (by the time they arrived in “3×04: Tumbleton,” it’d been 16 days, likely because they were delayed, as suggested in “3×01: Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood.”) However, Criston was marching with an army, including infantry, plodding through the forests rather than traversing the Kingsroad, to avoid dragons (as he did in his march to Rook’s Rest; indeed, in this march we always see them in the forest, not on the road); they’d be much slower than a few riders traveling on the Kingsroad, as is the case with Alicent and her retinue. Meanwhile, as seen in “2×08: The Queen Who Ever Was,” Alfred Broome and a few riders traversed a similar distance to Harrenhal in 9 days, through the wild like Criston rather than on the road but, unlike him, riding hard, as Broome didn’t have to march with an army. Conversely, the fastest riders on the road have been shown to be able to travel between King’s Landing and Tumbleton (about 60% of the distance between the city and Harrenhal) in 18-to-24 hours (such as in “3×06: Faceless Men” by Rhaenyra’s assassins disguised as Baratheon envoys, Ormund’s rider with a threat back to Rhaenyra, and Jon Roxton hunting for Corlys,) so Alicent and her retinue could have theoretically arrived in 1 and a half days, although that’d be incredibly far-fetched given the pace we see Alicent and her retinue riding at (even if we didn’t, Alicent wouldn’t be expected to gallop all the way there anyway.) All of this suggests Alicent should’ve taken much more than 1 and a half days to reach Harrenhal, but considerably less than 14. Alicent would’ve taken almost 11 days to reach Harrenhal, which fits that loose approximation, although, admittedly, if anything she should have arrived sooner (perhaps the troubles on the Kingsroad she and Alys mention are the reason for the delay.) In “3×08: The Treasons at Tumbleton” we learn the Harrenhal scenes this episode can’t have taken place before the rest: Alicent doesn’t return to King’s Landing in the next episode (she’s only seen camping with her escorts, at some point between Harrenhal and King’s Landing, but much closer to the former, as they’re less than 24 hours away from Harrenhal by horse,) but, more importantly, the Harrenhal, Rook’s Rest, and King’s Landing storylines intersect next episode via Aegon, connecting them chronologically. However, the Harrenhal scenes are still slightly out of sequence with the rest of the episode, although by a matter of hours rather than days, with this and the next two Harrenhal scenes taking place later in the day, just before the third Harrenhal scene, the supper scene.

In two scenes shown later (sequentially between Baela and Addam spotting Sheepstealer and Ormund talking to Corlys,) at Harrenhal, in the late afternoon, some time after the earlier scene (Aemond is now dressed and armed, while in his previous scene he was barefoot and only in undergarments, so at least some minutes must have passed) Alicent tells Aemond she escaped the Red Keep with the help of Ser Adrian Redfort, who’s remained loyal (in fact, he’s been one of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard for 28 days.) She excuses her delay in coming here by claiming they’ve had to stay off the road (in fact, we saw her on the road, but if she’d truly left the city soon after Rhaenyra took it 32 days before, as she claims, she’d have arrived much earlier while on the road.) Then, Alicent introduces Ser Adrian to Aemond as her protector and guide. Aemond kills Ser Adrian, telling Alicent he can’t trust strangers, and Alys comes and tells them they’re just in time for supper.

At Harrenhal, in the early evening, Alicent, Aemond, and Alys have supper together. Alys questions Alicent about her journey, and Alicent about how Alys met Aemond. He says she saved his life, and that he’s decided to stay at Harrenhal with her, making it his seat; Rhaenyra making bastards dragonriders will be her undoing, and Aemond and Alys need only wait for her to fail as they raise their own dynasty here, with Alicent at their side. Alys wants Alicent to go, and Alicent says she must think of Helaena, but Aemond insists she’ll stay with them, causing an argument. In private, Alys warns Aemond about Alicent, saying “she’s come to do him some evil,” and that Alicent wasn’t part of their plans, but Aemond dismisses her. Meanwhile, after retrieving Ser Adrian’s dagger from his corpse, Alicent notices flowers of nightshade, which could offer her an alternative.

Near Rook’s Rest, in the early evening (judging by the slightly orange-tinged light,) Aegon and company find the garrison workers fleeing as well. Tom Tangletongue tells them Lord Mooton’s army is not just marching on the road through Rook’s Rest; they were commanded to Rook’s Rest, and they’re going village to village in search of Tyland, because he knows the whereabouts of the crown’s treasury. Larys tells Tyland to surrender so Aegon and Larys can escape, while Tyland says they can ride hard to escape Mooton’s army. However, Aegon decides to make his stand here and face his death rather than flee again. He permits them to leave him; Ser Tyland decides to remain with Aegon, at which point his sellswords flee, but Larys decides to abandon them, which Aegon allows. On day 82-85 ADV, in “3×06: Faceless Man,” Corlys informed Alyn that Tyland survived the Battle of the Gullet and was seen heading to Rook’s Rest. Between episodes, Rhaenyra must’ve sent a raven to Maidenpool to task Lord Walys Mooton with retaking Rook’s Rest and finding Tyland. The distance between Maidenpool and Rook’s Rest is about 60% of the distance between Tumbleton and King’s Landing; as that’s said to be less than 30 leagues and takes a fast rider 18-to-24 hours, a fast rider should be able to traverse these 15-to-18 leagues in 11-to-15 hours, but Walys Mooton is traveling with an army, including infantry, so the journey from Maidenpool to Rook’s Rest should’ve actually taken him much longer than that. Another comparison would be Criston’s march to Harrenhal, also a march with infantry, which was expected to take 14 days (in the end, it took 16.) As the distance between Maidenpool and Rook’s Rest is about ⅓ of the distance between King’s Landing and Harrenhal (going through the Antlers, as Criston’s army did,) a good approximation would be that Walys Mooton and his men would take 4-5 days to reach Rook’s Rest; unlike Mooton, Criston traveled through the forests, but Mooton was going village to village in search of Tyland, so that might even out. Yet another comparison could be Kat’s journey on the road from King’s Landing to Tumbleton, which took 3 to 4 and a half days; this would point to Walys’s army arriving at Rook’s Rest in 2-3 days (60% of Kat’s 3 to 4 and a half days.) If 10 and a half days have passed between episodes, as Tully’s army’s march points to, it’s now been 13 days since Alyn learned of Tyland heading to Rook’s Rest and presumably told Rhaenyra; this would fit well enough, assuming Walys Mooton needed somewhere between 8 and 11 days to receive Rhaenyra’s new orders and mobilize his men (which would make sense.)

In the Riverlands, near Fairmarket, in the early evening (judging by the slightly orange light on one side of the sky,) Caraxes forces Sheepstealer to land and Daemon confronts Rhaena about her breaking her oath. She explains she couldn’t keep her promise to abandon her family, so she’s tracking Vhagar to redeem herself by killing the beast, even if it means her death. Daemon tells her that, if that’s her decision, he’ll help her battle Vhagar, and apologizes for not being a better father. Just then, Syrax and Seasmoke arrive, so Daemon tells her to leave her dragon and run before Rhaenyra recognizes her (as established, flying from King’s Landing to Fairmarket should take several hours but less than ⅓ of a day, and Daemon would’ve arrived even earlier from the Eyrie, but they had to not just arrive but find Sheepstealer over a wide area, which would be difficult at night.) Rhaenyra sends Addam after Sheepstealer’s rider, and demands Daemon tell her what his agreement is with them, warning him to answer carefully. Addam returns with Rhaena, and Rhaenyra realizes she caused Jace’s death and Daemon knew about it. Sheepstealer turns violent, so the dragons fight him off, the riders mount their dragons, with Rhaenyra taking Rhaena with her. Daemon orders Addam to escort Rhaenyra and Caraxes to kill Sheepstealer. They fight, but Sheepstealer escapes alive.

In King’s Landing, in the early evening (again judging by the orange light,) Mysaria informs one of her agents, Sylvi, that Rhaenyra won’t hear anymore petitions for now (after she cut herself on the throne 12 days earlier, on Day 82-85 ADV in “3×06: Faceless Men”,) and tries to have Sylvi see her as the queen’s proxy instead. Sylvi says Mysaria’s new position has changed her, and warns her that the highborn will always see her as a whore. Mysaria sends her away.

Soon before sunset, Syrax and Seasmoke arrive at the Dragonpit (after a journey that, again, should’ve only had taken them a few hours.) Rhaenyra tells her men to find Rhaena a room; she doesn’t want to see her.

At Harrenhal, late in the evening, Alicent offers Aemond “spiced wine.” He admits he tried to kill Aegon. Alicent knew.

In the Red Keep, at night, as Elinda prepares Rhaenyra for bed, Daemon comes in. Rhaenyra asks Elinda to stay. Daemon says Rhaena implored him not to tell her, and he wished only to protect her. Rhaenyra asks what does he think she is that she’d harm Rhaena. He says Rhaena’s his daughter, one he’s long neglected, who in all this was seeking their approval. Daemon apologizes but says he didn’t scheme against her, and only did what he thought was best. Rhaenyra rebuffs him, saying it’s late. Daemon leaves and Elinda resumes preparing her for bed.

At night, Baela visits Rhaena, who apologizes. Baela shuts her up, tells her she’ll begin anew, and embraces her. Rhaena is back living under a roof after living in the wild for 42 days, 33 of them with Sheepstealer.

Day 95-98 ADV:

At the Red Keep’s gate, at night, Alyn and several Velaryon men bring “more Hightower loyalists.” A Targaryen guard brings a box left for him: it’s Corlys’s finger. In the earlier small council meeting, Alyn said the Velaryon forces would be in the city “on the morrow”; however, this doesn’t take place the following day: in “3×06: Faceless Men” Alyn said they already have a detachment of 60 men in the city (in this scene we only see a few, not hundreds,) and more importantly in “3×08: The Treasons at Tumbleton” we see the actual Velaryon reinforcements arrive the next morning. As for Ormund’s rider carrying Corlys’s finger, he would need around 18 hours to reach King’s Landing from Tumbleton while riding hard, as repeatedly established; since the Corlys scene was set early in the morning, this scene must take place in the middle of the night, already on Day 95-98 ADV.)

At Harrenhal, at night, Aemond comes stumbling into Alys’s room and collapses, having been poisoned by Alicent hours earlier. Meanwhile, Alicent escapes Harrenhal.

In King’s Landing, at night, Helaena dreams of giving birth to her child and of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard taking him away; of herself atop Dreamfyre, setting fire to hundreds of smallfolk at the Dragonpit’s entrance; and of she and her children living freely on some farm when winter comes suddenly as the moon eclipses the sun.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra, who can’t sleep, throws the goatherder’s skull into the fire and goes to Mysaria, telling her it was Rhaena that Daemon was hiding all along. Mysaria says she didn’t leave her astray in making her doubt Daemon, but Rhaenyra retorts Daemon didn’t betray her, as she claimed. Mysaria insists he’s willing to deceive her. Rhaenyra accuses her of the same, as she’s tried to turn her from him and mold her in Mysaria’s image. Mysaria says she only counseled her to act as Viserys did, like she wanted. Rhaenyra says that Viserys’s way hasn’t brought her peace, prosperity, or the gratitude of the smallfolk. Mysaria tells her not to lose faith, as she’s about to win against those who oppose her, and approaches her intimately. Rhaenyra asks Mysaria if she thinks she’s worthy; Mysaria says she’s never been more certain of her worth, and kisses her. They have sex.

Near Rook’s Rest, by the abandoned raven wagon right next to where Sunfyre fell, at night, Aegon and Tyland prepare for a final stand against Lord Walys Mooton’s army, who arrives, claims the land for Rhaenyra, and orders them to lay down their arms and swear their fealty. Aegon wavers for a short time but then refuses to surrender. Lord Walys recognizes Tyland Lannister and tells him Rhaenyra’s been looking for him; if he tells them where the gold is, he’ll “die with the ears still attached.” Aegon draws his sword, announces himself as the rightful king, Aegon, and dares them to strike him down. Just then, Sunfyre arrives behind him, although he is the last to notice him. When he does, he is jubilant, and has him breathe fire on the Mooton army. Those who don’t burn flee in terror as Aegon screams joyfully.

Outside Tumbleton, at night, Ulf is drinking ale offered to him by Ormund. He says he’s heard that, since they last spoke, Daemon hit him in the streets, for all to see. Ormund flatters Ulf and says Rhaenyra only wants to use him as a tool, while Ormund understands his worth. Ulf says that last time Ormund promised him a lordship and a castle; he suggests Honeyholt. Ormund laughs, calling it a trifle; Ormund offers Ulf Driftmark, as it’ll soon be without a master. He will be Lord of the Tides. He tells Ulf they won’t laugh at him anymore when they see him as he is. Ulf replies that they won’t, but they will burn, and smiles.

3×08: The Treasons at Tumbleton (68 min)

Passage of time between episodes: ¼ of a day overnight (during the early hours of Day 95-98 ADV)

Passage of time during the episode: half a day (Day 95-98 ADV)

Day 95-98 ADV:

In King’s Landing, at dawn (Rhaenyra’s still asleep and the servants are putting out the night candles in the corridors,) Orwyle comes into Rhaenyra’s room with urgent news. Minutes later (after dressing herself,) she goes to Daemon, who’s getting armored to fly to Tumbleton, and tells him Aegon and Sunfyre are alive and burned the Mooton host at Rook’s Rest and then flew away; his supporters have sent ravens throughout the realm announcing his return (ravens can have reached from Rook’s Rest to King’s Landing overnight,) and commonfolk have gathered outside the Grand Sept begging the Gods to proclaim whether Aegon or she are meant to rule them. He calms her down, telling her the Seven Gods have no power over them and this is the prophecy’s final test to prove herself. Rhaenyra orders a watch be set for Aegon’s dragons, having Hugh and Vermithor take watch outside the Dragonpit, and for him to fly to Tumbleton and lead the attack, killing every Hightower but being careful with the town, as her reputation is on the line (Daemon was already getting ready to fly to Tumbleton for battle, as the river army is expected to arrive there this day, which confirms this is taking place the next day after “3×07: The Dragon in Winter.”) Rhaenyra says that after Ormund and Daeron are dead she’ll find and kill Aegon herself.

Moments later, still very early in the morning (with orange light entering the holdfast courtyard,) Baela asks Rhaenyra whether there are plans for Corlys’s rescue (another indication this takes place the morning after the night scenes in “3×07: The Dragon in Winter,” during which Alys received Corlys’s finger, informing him and by extension the Blacks that Corlys is a hostage.) Rhaenyra says Daemon will look for her grandfather once he’s retaken Tumbleton. Baela asks to be sent there now; Rhaenyra refuses, as she and Addam are needed to guard King’s Landing given Sunfyre is alive, despite Baela’s reports to the contrary, and Corlys made his choice by abandoning her council. Baela accuses her of pushing Corlys away and using everyone as tools, and says Rhaenyra can’t forsake her because of her dragon. Rhaenyra calls out her insolence, saying it runs in her blood.

Outside the city calls, in the morning (with the orange sun rising from the east, and Alyn and the Velaryon captain greeting each other with “good morrow,”) Alyn receives the Velaryon reinforcements on the shore. Their captain claims they’ve “just sailed through the night from Driftmark” after learning Corlys is Ormund’s hostage (sailing from Dragonstone to King’s Landing has been shown to take somewhere between half a day and a day and a half; Driftmark is closer to King’s Landing, so this is a voyage that they could’ve made overnight.) They are reluctant to follow Rhaenyra’s orders to secure King’s Landing, as that could mean Corlys’s death, but Alyn convinces them by proclaiming himself Corlys’s eldest living son and named successor.

In the morning, at the Red Keep’s outer bailey, Hugh watches as Daemon flies to the Dragonpit.

In Tumbleton, in the morning, Ormund knights Daeron, naming him Daeron the Daring, so he can be crowned king, while outside the army mobilizes, the commonfolk are all taken into town, the gates are sealed, and ballistas are mounted. Meanwhile, outside Tumbleton, Silverwing remains on the hill, alone, as the river army starts to arrive, while back inside the town Ulf drunkenly boasts to the Footly’s servants of his upcoming victory against Daemon and his river army. In “3×04: Tumbleton,” 28 days earlier, Rhaenyra ordered Daemon’s army to march to Tumbleton, which was expected to take “weeks,” likely around 2 (the march between Harrenhal and King’s Landing takes a fortnight and Tumbleton is said to be almost 30 leagues south of the city, so it could be as much as 3 weeks if not for the fact that the rivermen had already started marching towards King’s Landing 4 or 5 days earlier in “3×02: Queen’s Landing.”) However, they were delayed by 2 weeks because Criston burned the most direct bridges across the Blackwater rush in “2×05: Unbent, Unbroken,” forcing them to march west first (at the start of “3×06: Faceless Men,” 14 days after Lord Oscar was given the orders to continue to Tumbleton rather than stop at King’s Landing, Orwyle said that Criston’s delaying tactics meant that Oscar’s vanguard would arrive at Tumbleton in a fortnight; and, indeed, the two week delay is confirmed by Lord Oscar himself later during this episode.) Since Orwyle’s report, 14 days must have now passed, which helps establish the number of days between “3×06: Faceless Men” and “3×07: The Dragon in Winter,” and confirms this episode takes place the day after the previous one (in which the river host was said to be “but a day’s march from Tumbleton.”)

In King’s Landing, still in the morning, Elinda Massey informs Rhaenyra that Helaena still refuses to eat. Rhaenyra asks her to summon Alyn; his men will escort her to the Grand Sept, where the High Septon will anoint her, ensuring her rule. She then demands another task from Elinda. Soon after, Elinda barges into Mysaria’s room with soldiers to escort her to a Velaryon ship that’ll take her to Pentos, where she’ll be provided with gold to live comfortably; Rhaenyra no longer needs her services.

Meanwhile, at the Godswood, one of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard escorts Helaena back to her quarters. At the outer bailey, she finds the grey mare of her dreams, which is to take Mysaria to her ship. Mysaria tells her not to trust Rhaenyra, informs her Aegon and his dragon have returned, and that Helaena’s child is Rhaenyra’s hostage, so she’ll never release her or the child.

At Harrenhal, in the morning, Aemond wakes. Alys tells him he survived Alicent’s poison (which she gave him the previous evening,) and that they are both alone, together. Aemond says he’s cursed as a kinslayer; she should abandon him. Alys reveals she was alive when Aegon the Conqueror burned Harrenhal and with it Lord Harren the Black, who she’s related to (likely as his wife); but a boy of his line barely survived, Alys’s son. When the maesters couldn’t save him from the dragonfire’s burns, Alys resorted to old magic and the green men, but even that failed. She failed to kill herself and realized she was cursed to live on and remain here for sharing in Lord Hoare’s avarice, stripped of her name, title and castle and sentenced to serve every lord who came to rule Harrenhal. She’s been alone all this time. Aemond embraces her and kisses her.

In the Red Keep, in the morning, Rhaenyra tries to convince Helaena to eat. She says Viserys would hate Rhaenyra for treating her like this, and  she knows Rhaenyra doesn’t actually care about her or what matters to her; all she cares about is ugly. Rhaenyra orders her to eat but she refuses, so Rhaenyra orders her men to force Helaena to eat.

At the outer bailey, Alyn is getting his men ready to escort Rhaenyra to the Grand Sept when Addam tells him Aegon’s return has set her on a dark path; she’s confined Baela. Alyn says it’s not his role to question the queen. Addam accuses him of self-interest, as Rhaenyra has raised him up while Corlys remains a hostage. Alyn insists his only ambition is to do his duty. Then, Rhaenyra comes out, armored and crowned, alongside Joffrey, and they enter the royal litter, carried by her Queensguard and the castle guard and escorted by Alyn’s Velaryon soldiers, who take them towards the Grand Sept.

In Tumbleton, later in the morning, Gwayne and Daeron are horrified by the size of the river host and Ormund positioning children on the battlements as a shield. Bold Jon informs Ormund that Ulf hasn’t reported and isn’t with Silverwing; he orders the town to be searched. Daeron and Gwayne wonder what Ormund’s secret plot may be. Daeron insists on fighting; he can only fight or flee. As they see Caraxes approach the river host, Gwayne says there may be another option.

The river host celebrates the arrival of Caraxes (as established, Tumbleton cannot be more than 1 or 2 hours away from King’s Landing by dragon, as they’re less than 30 leagues away, a fast rider can make the trip in less than a day, and the flight between King’s Landing and Dragonstone —which is about double the distance— only takes a few hours.) Daemon flies over the town as Ormund and Jon Roxton desperately look for Ulf. Meanwhile, Gwayne and Daeron go to the imprisoned Corlys. Gwayne says King Daeron offers him a richer future than the one Rhaenyra can offer, but he refuses. Gwayne says it’s the hard road then.

In King’s Landing, late in the morning (given the orange light; and Mysaria’s wagon still being between the Red Keep and the Grand Sept, much closer to the latter, and Rhaenyra’s litter only now approaching the Grand Sept, which means not a long time can have possibly passed since Mysaria or then Rhaenyra left the Red Keep), Mysaria observes the Targaryen guards clearing the way for Rhaenyra’s litter. Mysaria decides to abandon her wagon taking her out of the city and goes toward the Grand Sept. Meanwhile, in her litter, Rhaenyra tells Joffrey the true responsibilities of his future rule as heir, the Song of Ice and Fire.

Outside Tumbleton, late in the morning, Daemon dismounts his dragon, mounts his horse, and celebrates that Lord Oscar and Lord Roderick are at long last here. Lord Oscar says that if it weren’t for Cole they’d have arrived “a fortnight ago” (confirming that their march to Tumbleton took them 28 days—32 or 33 days overall from Harrenhal, as they’d already been marching to King’s Landing for 4 or 5 days when they received their new orders—, when it would’ve taken them half that time without Criston’s delaying tactics.) Gwayne approaches with Lord Corlys as his prisoner, admitting Ormund’s madness and suing for peace: Corlys will be released to them as a token of good faith, and King Daeron offers to divide the realm—Rhaenyra can rule over the Crownlands, the North, and the Vale from King’s Landing, while King Daeron rules the Reach, the Stormlands, and the Westerlands from Oldtown. Daemon refuses. Corlys offers a softer alternative, although Gwayne says that’s not what he was offering: Daeron can rule as Lord Paramount of the Reach and Warden of the South, and Rhaena can be wed to Daeron to reunite House Targaryen. Daemon reveals Aegon is alive somewhere with Sunfyre, which would put Daeron’s rule into question. Corlys says Aegon and Aemond would be enemies of this new alliance, and Daemon calls him a traitor and a craven for it. Corlys says he only seeks peace; Rhaenyra will rule the Seven Kingdoms either way, but Daemon can decide whether he wants victory or dead Hightowers. Daemon strangles Gwayne before letting him go back to Tumbleton, and takes Corlys—not freeing him, but as a prisoner. Daemon orders the army to prepare for their attack.

At Harrenhal, late in the morning (given the yellow sunlight and the sun’s position in the sky,) Aegon arrives mounted on Sunfyre (he had time to spare to fight here from the night before,) and confronts Aemond, who begs for his forgiveness. Aegon says he should kill him as a kinslayer and a usurper, but Aemond doesn’t give him the satisfaction of fighting back. Aemond says he’d be right to sentence him to die. Instead, Aegon orders him to go with him to Tumbleton. Alys says he can’t, as Vhagar abandoned him; Aemond explains Alys is his betrothed. Aegon tells Aemond that Rhaenyra declared him dead and their young brother Daeron has been declared king. Aegon says they’re going to find Vhagar, fly to Tumbleton, put Daeron and Ormund in line, march together to King’s Landing under Aegon’s banner, and kill Rhaenyra, and maybe then, when he’s back on the Iron Throne, he may forgive Aemond for trying to kill him.

Outside Tumbleton, around noon, in a war council, Lord Oscar tells Daemon and the riverlords that aside from the main gate Tumbleton has another entrance: a disused postern gate on the northeast side. The Hightowers’ battlements are wooden and incomplete, especially on the southeastern walls. Daemon says he’ll burn the battlements over the main gate, and then their vanguard will lead the attack with Caraxes covering them while Ulf and Silverwing guard the rearguard. They’ll win by nightfall. Daemon warns them to preserve the town and its people, as Rhaenyra’s reputation is on the line. A scout informs them that the enemy has positioned scores of children all along the battlements, which forces them to change their plans. Daemon orders Lord Roderick, who’s eager to die anyway, to take his Winter Wolves over the walls, overwhelm the enemy, and open the gate; Lord Oscar will lead the flank of mounted cavalry, as already planned; Ser Garibald Grey will lead the reserve; and Daemon the center.

In King’s Landing, around noon, Rhaenyra’s litter arrives at the Grand Sept, where she tries to force the High Septon to anoint her. The High Septon insists that’s impossible, especially now that Aegon’s known to be alive, and calls her princess. He says she may have six dragons, but has a seven-faced god whose will he can’t oppose. Rhaenyra names him a traitor and orders Alyn to execute him. The High Septon warns that she’d be declaring war on the Starry Sept and damning their souls. She reminds Alyn they’re of the blood of Old Valyria and they answer to higher gods than his. Alyn reluctantly executes the High Septon. Rhaenyra, with Joffrey, Grand Maester Orwyle, and Torrhen Manderly at her side, addresses the masses outside: she reaffirms Viserys named her his heir and hundreds of lords swore fealty to her, but reveals her rule was already ordained; the Targaryens alone amongst the dragonlords were spared from the Doom of Valyria, and Aegon the Conqueror was divinely summoned to unite a fractured realm under his banner and protect it from an ancient evil in the far North, against which only the might of dragons can stand; this sacred charge was passed on from king to heir until it fell on her—the Hightower line cannot fulfill this prophecy, so if the world is to survive she must light the way as the shield of the people, as Rhaenyra the Chosen, as the Prince that Was Promised. Mysaria observes her among the masses. As she speaks, in a montage, at Tumbleton, Gwayne returns to the town, Ormund continues looking for Ulf, Kat and her family look at the children on the battlements, 

Outside Tumbleton, during the day, Daemon fires up the troops before ordering them to march forward. Lord Roderick rouses his Winter Wolves. On the battlements, the children are terrified, and the Hightower archers fire at the Winter Wolves, killing only a few, and the catapults are readied. Lord Roderick leads the greybeards to the walls to climb them with ladders, although many of them are felled by the archers and catapults. Inside, Jon Roxton informs Ormund there’s no sign of Ulf. A messenger unwittingly informs Ormund that Daeron had Gwayne free Corlys and offer Daemon terms of peace. 

Gwayne searches for Daeron at the Footly manse, but he isn’t there. Outside, the Winter Wolves reach the southern walls (west of the main gate,) and try to climb them. Meanwhile, a rivermen detachment uses the greybeards’ diversion to approach the northeast postern gate with a ram, in order to open it for Lord Oscar’s flank. An archer there sends up a flaming arrow to report their approach. Daemon orders Oscar’s flank to advance on the postern gate. As his mounted cavalry rides past the south wall, towards the northeastern wall, Winter Wolves led by Lord Roderick successfully climb the south wall (east of the main gate) and overwhelm the battlements, including any children who resist. Hightower archers light the trenches along the southern and southeastern walls to deny the approach of more Winter Wolves, many of whom burn.

As Daemon awaits with the center guard, a messenger informs him Ulf can’t be found; he isn’t with Silverwing.

The northeastern ram detachment nears the postern gate as Lord Oscar and Black Aly approach with their cavalry.

Inside, Bold Jon is still looking for Ulf when he sees Lord Roderick and the Winter Wolves inside the walls, and orders his Roxton men to fight them while he continues looking for Ulf. 

Outside the main gate, Daemon sees Hugh arrive on Vermithor, despite his orders to watch over King’s Landing. He sends a man to learn why he’s here, orders the center to form on him, and tells Caraxes to approach from behind the army. 

At the northeastern walls, the rivermen try to ram the postern gate open.

At the main gate, Daemon and Caraxes approach and burn the battlements. Hightower soldiers force a group of children out of the main gate to act as a shield. Daemon tells them to get out of the way, and most of them do. He orders Caraxes to burn down the gate. Caraxes does it and sticks his head and long neck into the town while Daemon runs back to his horse and the center guard runs towards the main gate, with Hugh now among them. Daemon orders the center forward into the town. As Daemon and the Targaryen royal guards ride into town, they’re met by an overwhelming volley from archers and ballistas, and lancers, killing their horses and forcing them to fight on foot.

Meanwhile, at the postern gate to the northeast, the ram forces the gate open and the flank enters the town.

Inside the town, Lord Roderick and his Winter Wolves dispatch the last of the Roxton men as they hear a horn indicating the gates are now open, and he laments that they’re still alive. Lord Roderick orders his men to go kill Daeron; he’ll kill Ormund.

Ormund finally finds Ulf, passed out drunk at a latrine. He insults him,  kicks him, and orders him to do as he’s told.

At Kat’s family’s house, Hightower soldiers use Kat and her family as shields against the Winter Wolves.

Daemon screams out Ormund’s name, summoning him, as he kills Hightower and Roxton soldiers. He sees Hugh look for Kat, largely ignoring the battle. Bold Jon Roxton faces Daemon in battle as he names him a kinslayer, babe killer and heathen.

At the hill where the dragons have been keeping watch, Ulf returns to Silverwing escorted by Hightower soldiers, who kill Daemon’s messenger, who tries to tell Ulf that Daemon has ordered him to make certain Ulf and Silverwing are at the rearguard.

Gwayne runs into the sept, where Tessarion is being kept, knowing that’s where Daeron would go. He tells his nephew that he’ll die if he fights, as Daemon has overwhelmed the city. Daeron insists, but Gwayne puts himself in the way of Tessarion.  They are interrupted by screams of a coming dragon.

Above Tumbleton, Ulf arrives and has Silkerwing spit fire not the Hightowers in the streets but Ser Garibald’s rearguard awaiting outside. As carnage ensues and the entire rear falls into disarray, Corlys runs away. Inside the town, Daemon realizes Bold Jon was expecting Ulf, as they continue fighting. Gwayne and Daeron climb to the roof of a building next to the sept and see Ulf burning the rivermen outside. They realize this was “Ormund’s piece on the board,” and that they may not die today after all. Seeing Ulf on Silverwing, Ormund climbs the battlements to observe his handiwork, but Lord Roderick follows him there. Bold Jon overwhelms Daemon in battle. Lord Roderick loses an arm to Ormund but keeps fighting and wounds him mortally. Before Ormund dies, Ulf approaches the walls on Silverwing and burns Ormund too, in revenge for his treatment of him. He then sets Silverwing loose on the town, killing Hightowers and rivermen alike as Gwayne and Daeron try to find cover. Daemon is saved from Bold Jon killing him only by burning debris from Ulf’s attack separating them. Daemon is buried in the debris.

Likely several minutes later, Daemon regains consciousness as he sees Silverwing continuing to spit fire inside the town. Disoriented and blinded by the ashes and the smoke, he tries to find Bold Jon in vain. He sees only death, destruction and burned people all around him. As he kills some more Hightower soldiers, Corlys finds him and tells him Ulf has turned, the town is lost, and they must now leave. Above them, Caraxes spits fire at Silverwing, and Vermithor follows them.

In King’s Landing, Helaena finishes her embroidery and approaches the window of her room.

Back at Tumbleton, in the afternoon, Gwayne regains consciousness, surrounded by ashen corpses, and looks for Daeron, Bold Jon finds Ormund’s corpse, Hugh finds Kat dead, and the surviving river army retreats as the town burns.

In King’s Landing, in the evening, near sunset, Rhaenyra and Joffrey return from the Grand Sept to the Red Keep, where Elinda Massey has urgent news for her. Alicent runs to Helaena’s room and approaches the open window.

In the Riverlands (at some point between Harrenhal and King’s Landing, but much closer to the former, as Alicent and her escorts are less than 24 hours away from Harrenhal at a steady riding pace,) in the early evening, Alicent, at her camp by the road with her escorts back to King’s Landing, notices several butterflies flying away.

In King’s Landing, Helaena lays dead on the spikes below Maegor’s Holdfast, with her throat impaled. Back at her room, Rhaenyra notices Helaena’s embroidery sitting on the windowsill, depicting a crying Helaena falling from the Red Keep, and Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne, bleeding from her crown and surrounded by fire and dragons. Rhaenyra closes the window.