Warning: Spoilers ahead for “House of the Dragon” season three, episode five, and for the book “Fire & Blood.”
Alys Rivers may not be a dragonrider or a soldier, but the self-proclaimed “barn owl cursed to live in human form” is one of the most formidable figures in “House of the Dragon.”
Portrayed by Gayle Rankin, Alys is introduced in the HBO show’s second season as the unofficial maester of Harrenhal, a derelict castle in the Riverlands held by House Strong. Alys’ job is to tend to the noble men within its walls (or whatever’s left of them).
However, despite her low status, Alys is quickly revealed to be more of a puppet master than a simple servant.
Once Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) arrives with his dragon to claim Harrenhal, he finds an unlikely ally in Alys. During his time in the castle, Alys gives Daemon potions that seem to induce powerful visions. Using her mysterious influence, she guides the so-called “Rogue Prince” through his doubts, fears, and regrets, culminating in the epiphany that he’s not destined to rule. By the end of the season, Daemon has returned to his wife, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), rallied an army in her name, and vowed to help her seize the Iron Throne.
Although Daemon and Alys seem to form a bond, she keeps her true agenda obscured until season three.
“I’ve done the queen a service. I put 40,000 Rivermen at her call,” she tells Daemon in season three’s second episode, titled “Queen’s Landing.”
“Tell her I want Harrenhal,” Alys continues. “I’ve lived there all my long life, and I’ve seen it given from hand to hand. And yet none seem to cherish it. Why should it not come to me?”
Daemon scoffs at her request. Alys is a bastard with no riches, title, or noble husband, which puts her nowhere near in contention for Harrenhal, even if the castle is said to be cursed. He brushes Alys off as a mere midwife.
Daemon does promise to speak with Rhaenyra about “some other reward,” but his dismissal of Alys may someday prove dire — especially if the series follows her storyline in George R. R. Martin’s original book, “Fire & Blood.”
Here’s why Alys is a character to watch in “House of the Dragon” as the Targaryen civil war continues to unfold.
Alys is said to be a witch, and no one knows how old she is
Daemon’s hallucinations at Harrenhal are partly due to the magic of the Old Gods, which is stronger in the presence of Weirwood trees.
In the show, Alys seems to manipulate Daemon by channeling this magic. She also seems to have greensight — an ancient ability to see the future through symbolic dreams. (In “Game of Thrones,” Jojen Reed is a known greenseer, and some of the Stark children also have green dreams.) She tells Daemon in season two, “You will die in this place,” and later, “There are older things in this world than you or I, or living memory. You are not the player, but a piece on the board.” She even has intimate knowledge of Daemon’s family, including his brother, the late King Viserys.
In the book, Alys is not explicitly connected to the Old Gods, but she is widely suspected of having some kind of magic.
“Fire & Blood” is written like a history book, wherein the characterizations and narratives often contradict each other. In the case of Alys: “A serving wench who dabbled in potions and spells, says Munkun. A woods witch, claims Septon Eustace. A malign enchantress who bathed in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth, Mushroom would have us believe.”
Alys’ parentage is also unclear. Some assume that Lord Lyonel Strong was her father, which would make her the half-sister of Larys and Harwin — but no one knows when she was born.
Alys apparently served as a wet nurse for “countless babes born of other women at Harrenhal,” including, possibly, Lyonel himself. Every historian agrees that she was at least 40 when the Dance of the Dragons began, though she looked much younger.
It’s possible that Alys uses dark magic to keep a young body, much like Melisandre in “Game of Thrones.”
After Daemon leaves Harrenhal, Alys forms a bond with Aemond
In season three of “House of the Dragon,” as in the book, Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) flies on his own dragon to destroy Daemon and reclaim Harrenhal — only to find the castle deserted by his uncle.
Instead, Aemond finds the castellan of Harrenhal, Simon Strong, and his adult sons. He kills them all.
“Thus did the flower of House Strong, an ancient line of noble warriors boasting descent from the First Men, come to an ignoble end in the ward at Harrenhal,” the book reads. “No trueborn Strong was spared, nor any bastard save…oddly…Alys Rivers.”
The “Fire & Blood” historians assume that Aemond sees Alys as “a prize of war.” However, they also admit that Aemond seems unusually fond of Alys, particularly given their age gap. (Aemond is about 19 or 20 at this point in the book.) One source claims that Alys used love potions to seduce the prince.
Later, Alys becomes pregnant and says she is carrying Aemond’s child, “the dragon’s bastard.” When Daemon finally flies to face his nephew, Aemond brings Alys to the duel on dragonback.
Aemond says that Alys told him where to find Daemon — essentially leading both men to their deaths.
“She saw you in a storm cloud, in a mountain pool at dusk, in the fire we lit to cook our suppers,” Aemond tells Daemon. “She sees much and more, my Alys. You were a fool to come alone.”
Alys watches from atop Kingspyre Tower in Harrenhal as Daemon and Aemond’s dragons attack each other, and, eventually, as they all collapse into the Gods Eye lake and die.
She then disappears from the narrative until the Targaryen civil war has ended.
After Rhaenyra’s fourthborn son, Aegon the Younger, is crowned king (and Aegon II’s daughter, Jaehaera, is crowned queen consort as her cousin’s bride), rumors begin spreading that Harrenhal is ruled by “a witch queen of fearsome power.”
Flanked by hundreds of armed men and outlaws, Alys has taken over Harrenhal. She now claims her son is Aemond’s trueborn heir, “the rightful king of Westeros.” More rumors spread that she has a dragon inside the castle, and that she’s able to curse men to death.
Before any of the king’s men can decide how to end her reign Harrenhal, however, a plague ravages King’s Landing and drives Alys from their minds. Her story ends there, and she isn’t mentioned again in “Fire & Blood.”
Ayomikun Adekaiyero contributed to a previous version of this story.
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