House of the Dragon Stars Break Down Season 3’s Battle of the Gullet

This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 3 episode 1.

So-named for the narrow stretch of ocean between Driftmark and Dragonstone upon which it’s fought, the Battle of the Gullet is the biggest engagement in the Dance of the Dragons Targaryen civil war and remains one of the bloodiest sea battles ever fought in Westeros. And House of the Dragon has never been shy about making sure we all know it’s coming.

The second season finale of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel put all the relevant players for the battle in motion. The Triarchy ships, led by flamboyant Lyseni commander Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) and the reserved Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall), were en route to Westeros to break the Velaryon fleet’s blockade of King’s Landing. That, combined with plenty of between-seasons teases, made it clear that conflict was imminent. Little did we know, however, just how imminent it would be.

The House of the Dragon season 3 premiere concludes with the Battle of the Gullet and it’s every bit as bloody and chaotic and promised. During a press table junket with a handful of other outlets, Den of Geek spoke to some of the skirmish’s key players about bringing a naval spectacle to life. Here is what we learned.

As one might expect, the Battle of the Gullet was a big logistical undertaking for the series. Showrunner Ryan Condal previously revealed that the shoot took multiple weeks and involved the creation of a full-scale model of Corlys Velaryon’s ship The Queen Who Never Was and a massive water tank. That attention to detail extended to lessons in the history of naval warfare for the actors.

“There was a gentleman there who I guess was an expert in historical nautical stuff. He would give us all these phrases to say. And yet my one disappointment actually was that there wasn’t a [steering] wheel. It’s just a stick that you have to sort of do that with,” Corlys Velaryon actor Steve Toussaint says, miming the pulling of a whipstaff.

While the experts were helpful in teaching Toussaint and his sailors about “starboard,” “larboard,” and various masts and knots, it turns out that a lot of that training immediately goes out the window in the heat of battle.

“You forget everything,” Alyn of Hull actor Abubakar Salim says. “It is literally just about survival. Is that person trying to kill me? I’ve got to kill them before they kill me. So that was a real fascinating thing to experience to – especially the way it was filmed and choreographed. It showed a very human side and a very ugly side to what battle is, no matter where it is.”

To further illustrate the point about the brutality of war – whether in land or sea – Salim expounds upon the experience of Alyn killing Sharako Lohar.

“Abigail is a force of nature. She was so great and so fantastic work with. But it was dark, man, like we went into a dark place. Originally we had choreographed this really cool fight. What ended up happening though was it just turned into this primal exhaustion. I drown her to her last breath and rather than have her last breath be snatched by the sea, I stab her in the neck. It was cruel.”

Of course, the Battle of the Gullet isn’t just naval warfare as both sides in the Dance of the Dragons have flying dragons and are eager to use them. Queen Rhaenyra’s eldest son and heir Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) enters the fray on the back of his dragon Vermax and is joined by his cousin/bride-to-be Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) and her dragon Moondancer. If the presence of two dragons circling around battling ships weren’t chaotic enough, a third dragon arrives – the untamed Sheepstealer ridden by Baela’s sister and novice dragonrider Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell).

While the presence of Rhaena at the Gullet represents a diversion from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood source material (something George famously loves), it does help explain how Jace’s dragon is taken down by the Triarchy’s ships. It’s not only that their sailors are particularly adept with Scorpion crossbows, it’s that Jace is understandably distracted by the introduction of an unfamiliar dragon who seems to be a foe. Rhaena’s inability to control Sheepstealer leads to Vermax and his rider being dragged down to the watery depths and killed. This makes Jacaerys actor Harry Collett the only Gullet combatant to experience the battle from both the air and the water. That combination led to a funny misunderstanding on set.

“I was wearing Jace’s dragonriding gloves in the scene and they reacted with the water and made my hands blue,” he says. “When I came out of the water tank, the medic ran over to me because my hands were so blue she thought I had hypothermia. But it was just the dye from the gloves.”

In the end, the Battle of the Gullet claims countless lives including some big name characters like Jacaerys, Lohar, and Tyland. With two more seasons of war to come, those at the bottom of the Gullet might consider themselves the lucky ones.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 3 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, culminating in the finale on August 9.

The post House of the Dragon Stars Break Down Season 3’s Battle of the Gullet appeared first on Den of Geek.