A new season of House of the Dragon brings back many familiar faces, but in Season 3, episode 1 we also seen some new players enter the mix.
Perhaps the most famous of these is Happy Valley star James Norton, who strikes an imposing, armour-clad figure as Lord Ormund Hightower. But who exactly is this new Hightower, and what role might he play in the action going forward?
We’ve broken down everything we know so far.
What happens with Ormund Hightower in episode 1?
Midway through episode 1, we get a drone shot showing what appears to be hundreds of green tents set up around a river. We go in closer and see a dragon in the ranks, growling as a messenger on horseback thunders past.
The man waiting to meet said messenger is Lord Ormund Hightower (Norton), flanked by a younger boy and a burly, no-nonsense looking soldier who appears to be his right-hand man. Hightower receives the parchment from the (fairly mud-spattered) messenger, wrinkles his nose in apparent disgust at the man’s smell, and then breaks the seal to read it.
“Aemond says we are to make camp here and await further word. He shall join us in three days time,” Hightower reads.
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“So, Aegon’s dead then?” grunts his henchman.
“One king is as good as another,” smiles Hightower.
He tells the boy next to him to see the messenger has a bath and bed, then turns on his heel and walks back to his tent.
So, who is Ormund Hightower, anyway?
Okay, so we don’t have much to go on so far. But we already know a little about Ormund from previous seasons, so let’s recap.
First of all, how is he related to the currently AWOL Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and his daughter, Alicent (Olivia Cooke)? Well, put simply, he’s Otto’s nephew and Alicent’s cousin. Ormund is the son of Hobert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), who popped up back in the first half of Season 1. By Season 2 he’s dead, though, and his son Ormund has taken his place as head of the Hightower household.
Now, as we see from his brief appearance, he commands a very large army that includes a dragon (this belongs not to him, but to his ward, Daeron Targaryen) — and he appears to be loyal to the cause of Team Green.
Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) may be struggling to figure out what to do with himself in King’s Landing, but he does still have a powerful ally marching to meet him.
