Warning! Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon season 1 episode 6House of the Dragon fans revolt against Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) after his shocking actions in episode 6. Acting as a prequel to the wildly successful Game of Thrones, HBO’s newest fantasy series chronicles the onset of the Targaryen civil war, nearly 200 years before the birth of Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys. House of the Dragon has been a hit with audiences and critics alike thus far, and boasts the highest premiere episode viewership for any HBO series. After the first five episodes of House of the Dragon explore the immediate fallout from King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) decision to name Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) heir to the Iron Throne, episode 6 features a big, 10-year time jump.
With episode 6 seeing Alcock and Emily Carey hand over the roles of Rhaenyra and Alicent to Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, respectively, episode 6 makes clear to viewers that the rift between the two characters has only grown over the unseen decade. Alicent, angry at Viserys’ ignorance to the fact that Rhaenyra’s children are clearly born from a secret union with Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), shares her frustrations with Larys. Although presented as a somewhat harmless outsider in earlier episodes of House of the Dragon, Larys shows his true colors in episode 6 when he proceeds to orchestrate the deaths of brother, Harwin, and his father, Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes).
House of the Dragon fans have now taken to social media to revolt against Larys after his shocking actions, with many particularly upset about his killing of Harwin, who had become a popular character. One fan compares the devious schemer to Game of Thrones’ Petyr Baelish (Aiden Gillen), a.k.a. Little Finger, while others just express their hatred for Larys and his actions. Check out some of the tweets below:
Why Fans Hate House Of The Dragon’s Larys Strong
Game of Thrones had no shortage of devious characters who put dark plans into motion behind the scenes, but Larys’ casual killing of two members of his own family evidently has House of the Dragon fans fearing what he might do next. Alicent, by association, has also become an unfavorable character for many fans, since not only is she allied with Larys, but she’s also close with Ser Criston Cole, who fans turned on after his own shocking outburst in episode 5. Larys actions also suggest that he can be unpredictable and ruthless seemingly on a whim, meaning he is now a character to be feared moving forward.
Larys doesn’t carry out the killings of Harwin and Lyonel himself, of course, but uses a small group of former death-row prisoners he’s converted into his shadowy agents of chaos. This new group of murderous allies only makes Larys more dangerous, suggesting he will play a much bigger role in the House of the Dragon episodes to come. While Larys is allied with Alicent for now, the ever-shifting political alliances in House of the Dragon mean he could very well put plans into motion to usurp the power of Alicent and Rhaenyra to put his own figure on the Iron Throne.
