Otto Hightower seizes power in ‘House of the Dragon’ episode 8 promo clip

Now that the Hightowers and the Targaryens have picked their allies, the preview clip for next week’s House of the Dragon episode shows a realm on the brink of war.

If there was any doubt whether Alicent’s children and Rhaenyra would contend for the Iron Throne on the occasion of the king’s death, last night’s episode smothered those uncertainties when the two, in all actuality, came to blows in front of everyone.

Now, as you can see above, the preview teaser for next week’s eighth episode, titled “The Lord of the Tides,” reveals that with the king’s declining health, Otto Hightower has taken up ruling King’s Landing in Viserys’ stead. This causes Rhaenyra and Daemon to return to the capital, and the Velaryons are also stirring after their recent losses in the Stepstones.

The most staggering revelation of all, however, is the fact that House is taking another jarring time jump. The next time you see Rhaenyra or Alicent’s children, they will essentially be grownups. And if there’s another scuffle, like the one we witnessed in Driftmark, it’ll no longer end with the old, old scenario of an eye for an eye.

House of the Dragon is building towards the infamous Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of Dragons at an unexpected and unrelenting pace. If we have the right of it based on all of these time jumps, the show will conclude in only three seasons, unless HBO is planning to go beyond Dance and depict the downfall of the Targaryen dynasty in earnest.