House of the Dragon keeps recycling the same villain arc

If you’ve been keeping up with 'House of the Dragon', you’ll know things have finally come full circle: Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen’s on the Iron Throne at last. But if you thought the backstabbing and melodrama would calm down for a minute, you’ve clearly forgotten which sort of show we’re watching.

Ormund Hightower Throws His Toys Out the Pram

The latest episode, 'Tumbleton', is a bit of a showcase for Ormund Hightower – a brand new troublemaker who sweeps into the market town of Tumbleton with an army and more than his fair share of issues. If you’re after subtlety, look elsewhere: James Norton is having the time of his life with this character, storming round with a sword and going absolutely spare when he learns Aemond Targaryen won’t be turning up to help his war cause. There’s a sequence where Ormund has a proper strop and starts attacking the furniture – probably not what the decorators had in mind, but entertaining all the same.

For most of the episode, the writers give Norton plenty to chew on. Ormund is clearly unhinged, but he also manages a bit of performative justice. When he catches wind of one of his soldiers attacking two peasant women, he ostentatiously punishes the bloke (though, let’s be honest, he’s as concerned with looking fair in front of his new subjects as he is about doing what’s right). He even tells the local maester to help the victims and doesn’t retaliate against the injured woman’s husband, who thumped the soldier in response.

That scene very nearly fools you into thinking Ormund’s halfway reasonable – perhaps eccentric, definitely volatile, but with a nagging sense of decency. Of course, this is still 'House of the Dragon', so it’s no shock when, in the final minutes, we’re shown it’s all an act. Ormund promptly jails the husband anyway, delivers a speech about Hightower superiority, and then, just to crank up the discomfort, manipulates young Daeron Targaryen (played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) into killing the prisoner. Daeron’s clearly not on board with any of this, but Ormund will not be crossed.

Nuance? What’s That Then?

I can’t be the only one who’s noticed a tendency here for 'House of the Dragon' to flatten its characters. It’s like the writers want to ensure we always know who to cheer for by simplifying everyone into the most basic 'goodie' or 'baddie' boxes.

Take Jasper 'Ironrod' Wylde (Paul Kennedy), for example. For most of the series, he’s barely more than background furniture on the Small Council, but in the second episode of this season ('Queen’s Landing'), he makes a sudden and deeply unpleasant pivot by sexually assaulting Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). It’s jarring, comes out of absolutely nowhere, and – I have to say – it cheapens what was otherwise a solid episode. The only obvious reason for having him do something so abhorrent right before his own execution is so we all agree he deserved to die. Because, presumably, Rhaenyra has to look pure as the driven snow by comparison, and can’t be seen executing anyone who isn’t an outright villain.

The show has a real aversion to allowing anyone proper ambiguity. Alicent Hightower herself is a prime example. In Martin’s 'Fire & Blood', she’s fairly straightforward: she wants her family in power and Rhaenyra off the throne. It’s not good or bad, it’s just politics. The series, though, keeps sliding her onto the 'good' side – or, if she has to be on Team Green, at least makes sure it’s not really her fault. The whole 'misunderstanding her husband’s dying words' subplot? Feels like a stretch just so we can forgive her for going against Rhaenyra – there’s hardly a whiff of genuine double dealing.

Not everyone working against Rhaenyra gets painted with the exact same brush. Alicent’s son, Aegon, for example, is a mess, but now that he’s exiled, doing gruelling manual labour, and still sporting the burns from Rook’s Rest, you can’t help but feel a bit sympathetic. He’s wounded (literally and emotionally), so there’s complexity there. But the show won’t extend that leeway to Ormund, who is left to spiral into full-blown villainy, albeit in a pretty engaging fashion.

Cast and Key Players

• Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen – now officially on the throne
• Ormund Hightower (James Norton) – commander, table-chopper, and new antagonist
• Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) – pressured into murder
• Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) – living in exile, more complex than the scripts allow most baddies to be
• Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) – written as more virtuous and confused than her book counterpart
• Jasper 'Ironrod' Wylde (Paul Kennedy) – MeToo villain, conveniently despatched
• Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) – Rhaenyra’s supportive husband, now having visions of her destiny

The Show Wants to Hold Our Hand

'House of the Dragon' does the 'heroes vs villains' thing well enough to keep most people onboard, but it has a lingering fear of letting us be too ambivalent about any of the major players. If you’re waiting for Ormund Hightower to reveal unexpected depths, or for the writers to let a few more characters be thoroughly complicated, don’t hold your breath. And yet, you have to admit – whatever corners they’re backing themselves into, the drama is still awfully good fun to watch.