Farewell to House of the Dragon’s Best Hang

Team Black? Team Green? Or just Team Dragon? Join forces and sign up for our subscriber-exclusive newsletter dissecting House of the Dragon season three.

Spoilers for “Queens Landing,” the second episode of House of the Dragon’s third season.

Rest in peace, Ser Simon Strong, castellan of Harrenhal, drip king, stealth diva, keeper of the best vibes on House of the Dragon. Given the blast radius of the Targaryen civil war, it was always unlikely the aged knight was going to last very long through the events covered in the show, but at least he went out as he was introduced: interrupted mid-meal. He may have talked Daemon out of sticking him with the pointy end, but alas, Aemond, who’s nobody’s idea of a good hang, proved far less persuadable.

Before his untimely death, Ser Simon represented the highest aspiration available to any sensible person in Westeros: finding a decent enough place to sit down and staying there. He was an old knight who’d been through too much nonsense to not know that ambition is overrated and that it’s way better to lie low, keep things chill, and try not to die. Could you blame him? His nephew Lyonel, a Ned Stark–esque fool of honor and former Hand of the King, burned alive in one of Harrenhal’s famously OSHA-noncompliant towers. The likely architect of that plot was Lyonel’s own scheming son, Larys, whom Simon openly despised. The remaining Strongs seem barely capable of doing much of anything. Plus it sure seems like it sucks to be the castellan of Harrenhal. It may be the largest castle in the Seven Kingdoms, but that distinction is also a liability; as anybody who owns a McMansion knows, it takes a crap-ton of money to sustain real estate of that size. So if you were Simon, you probably got the sense you live a cursed existence. 

Yet despite all that, my guy still insisted on hospitality. Even under threat of violence! When Daemon stormed into his dining room to seize Harrenhal under Rhaenyra’s name, Ser Simon was super polite about the whole thing. “I’m claiming Harrenhal,” Daemon threatened, a little confused by the lack of resistance. The room of silly Strongs scattered, and Simon just sat there and went, “Apparently so.” It’s one of the funniest line readings in the series, helped enormously by the fact that Simon is played by Sir Simon Russell Beale, one of Britain’s greatest stage actors. The Thrones franchise has always had an absurd ability to recruit from a deep pool of British performers with shelves full of Oliviers, Tonys, and BAFTAs for a tiny gig, and Beale makes every second count. Much like the man himself, there’s a pleasant roundness to his voice that coats “Apparently so” with a little sauce. Ser Simon immediately pledged fealty to Rhaenyra, ’cuz he knew the game, and offered a meal. “Supper is venison, black cabbage, and peas,” he said. “No red currant, sorry about that.” What a gent.

Being a gent or a supplicant wasn’t the same as being a fool, though. The pleasure of Simon’s scenes was watching him sprinkle sass between lines to give you a sense that, as much as he was showing respect, he didn’t really have respect to give. Consider that first encounter between Simon and Daemon, where the former was somehow all of the following at once: contrite, sharp, and fully aware he was dealt a bad hand and was in no physical shape to do much about it yet still insistent enough on his own agency to be just the right touch of passive-aggressive. (“King … consort.“) Simon spent most of Daemon’s Harrenhal arc knowing when to flatter, when to deflect, and when to send a discreet raven to Rhaenyra informing her that Ser Alfred Broome is basically encouraging Daemon to stage a coup. That’s elite boss shit.

The thing about House of the Dragon is that everything really is quite stupid. This entire civil war runs on misunderstandings, miscommunications, Disney-esque failures in succession planning, and compounding grievances — “Sin begets sin begets sin,” as Simon himself put it, explaining the ancient feud between the Brackens and the Blackwoods and helpfully spelling out the show’s thesis in case you missed it. Most of the people with the dragons are either unstable or idiots, or both. So there’s a genuine relatability to how Simon embodied just how much it sucks to be reasonably smart but improperly positioned in a world that’s collateral damage to very powerful people and families working out their problems.

At least he went out well, relative to the other folks who were dragged back for one episode this season to get offed. Good ol’ Jace died pathetically by arrow after locking up his mom and crash-landing his dragon during the Battle of the Gullet, thwip thwip. Otto Hightower, who was already stuffed in a dungeon for Lord knows how long, had the worst way to go: inexperienced beheading. I’d take getting stabbed on a full stomach any day over that.

Ah, well. At least Harrenhal’s back on the market. Alys seems interested. 

Sign up for House of the Dragon Club

Watch and dissect House of the Dragon season three alongside New York’s writers and editors.

Become a Subscriber

Already a subscriber? Sign in

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.