This post contains spoilers for Sunday’s “House of the Dragon.” Proceed accordingly.
In this week’s ‘House of the Dragon,” both Ormund’s potpourri and his common sense were in short supply when they were urgently and desperately needed.
Sunday’s episode spent several scenes in Tumbleton with the Hightower leader (played by James Norton) and his ward, Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), who welcomed returning knight Gwayne (Freddie Fox) with varying degrees of enthusiasm. While Ormund taunted his cousin for ditching his military duty — and cast aspersions on his sexuality in the meantime — young Daeron begged his uncle to stay so he didn’t have to be alone with Ormund and his delusional plan for ruling the seven kingdoms.
And then a group of men claiming to represent House Baratheon arrived, ostensibly to back Daeron as king. Despite their combined bodily stench from so much riding, Ormund welcomed them in. But Gwayne’s instant suspicion — and quick work with a blade — helped reveal the visit as an ambush. After all of the fighting, killing, and entrail-spilling was done, an overcome Ormund threw up all over the dinner table.
I spoke with Ainsworth, whose TV work includes “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Son of a Critch,” about the absolutely disgusting scene and what it might herald for Daeron’s relationship with his teenage ward. Read on to hear what he had to say.
‘He feels like he has to be these two different people at once’
TVLINE | This episode feels like the first time we’re really understanding what Daeron may be thinking and feeling. He’s been playing it so close to the vest. Talk to me a little bit about conversations you had with Ryan [Condal, showrunner] or the director about like what we’re starting to see of your character in this episode.
BENJAMIN EVAN AINSWORTH | We had discussions early on with like Ryan and Freddie Fox and James Norton, too, just speaking a bit about the differences between my relationship with those two uncles, one being more of like a fatherly and domineering relationship that Ormond has with Daeron. And then Gwayne’s feels much more almost brotherly, like we can talk eye-to-eye with each other, and I can be more myself with him. And I suppose, then, the stakes have escalated the last time Gwayne has been here. I’ve been styled king. I’m on a coin that’s somewhere. I don’t know what Ormund’s plans are. So [Daeron is] almost trying to keep things together, while also maintaining a certain image of how he has to be around Ormund, out of survival. really.
So when Gwayne comes back, it’s almost like there’s a weight lifted off his shoulders, but [there’s] also a desperation for someone to stay, for someone to connect with. There’s so much that has been going on in his own mind that he just wants to talk [about] with somebody. So when Gwayne is almost, like, war-hardened and almost beat in many ways, it’s like, “Well what, do I have?” Which I guess comes through in that final moment about his mother. Gwayne’s the closest connection he’s had to his mother. He was sent to ward in Oldtown. So just the the tension he has with himself: He’s half Hightower, half Targaryen, and he feels like he has to be these two different people at once, especially with the way Ormund has manipulated and controlled him.
[Laughs] Sorry, I feel like I’m saying loads of stuff all at once. But I suppose all of that is coming together in this episode.
‘His only true friend is Tessarion’
TVLINE | When he asks about Alicent, I was thinking about whether she’s more of an idea to him than an actual person — they’ve spent almost no time together over the course of his life. Tell me how he’s thinking about her, especially in how it relates to the Hightower-vs.-Targaryen aspect of his makeup.
He has a hope and an imagination that has to do with his family. He’s been very isolated from them by being in Oldtown… Really, his only true friend is Tessarion through that. I mean, she’s a dragon! [Laughs] She is the symbol of Targaryen families, the symbol of the house in many ways. And so with him having this great connection to to Tessarion but being told that the Targaryens and the dragons are obscenities by Ormund, he doesn’t quite believe that all the way, because of this connection he has, which is deep rooted within this partner he’s had since birth. And with that comes a hope, I suppose, for the rest of his family.
TVLINE | In this world, where so many characters are conniving and have desired endgames, Daeron seems to be very earnest. Do you think he’s maybe not as manipulative as other characters?
Yeah. He’s had to become hyper-aware of manipulation and of that kind of behavior in his life. I suppose, like human behavior, that tends to either mean that you’ll become manipulative or that you’ll become so against that that you’ll push that out of your life in any capacity.
‘This is the guy who’s kept me trapped?’
TVLINE | How afraid do you think Daeron is of Ormund? Obviously, he’s seen the tantrums. But how deep does his fear go?
It’s funny, because Episode 6 makes him question it all. But I think he’s very, very afraid. But it’s somewhere deep down. He knows how to cover it. And he also understands [Ormund’s] weaknesses. He’s sort of had to create a character study of Ormund in order to manage his life, right? And so he understands his narcissistic traits and qualities and things like that. As much as he can’t help but be drawn in, because he wants this affection in his life, which he doesn’t get really anywhere else.
But then you see [Ormund] throwing up in Episode 6, and he’s completely debilitated. There’s this frustration of, “This is the guy who’s kept me trapped?” [Laughs] … So that’s another thing, where it’s like the power dynamics of their relationship have gradually been shifting. And this episode — and that scene in particular — feels like a real tense point where things are balancing out. I don’t think that will go down well. [Laughs] It’s fun to explore, but uncomfortable.
TVLINE | That vomit scene was so disgusting. There’s so much puke! Tell me about shooting it.
It was the most “Game of Thrones” day I’ve ever had. There was fake, like, viscera and stuff on the floor, which was like made by crumbled digestives in hot water. [Laughs] There you go: The tricks of the trade. But yeah, [Norton] literally took a mouthful of this, like, soup and then had to do it. And then we then reset; do another one and have to throw it up. Yeah, I wasn’t jealous.
TVLINE | Are you someone who’s sensitive to watching that happen, even if it’s fake?
I’m not too bad with it, to be honest. Throwing up is fine. When [Fox] lifted up the head, that one was hard to watch. ‘Cause even though you know it’s clearly fake, and the actor who was playing fake Baratheon between takes was really lovely… you know it’s fake, but there’s something about your body reacting that you just can’t help, you know?
