By Corey Plante Published Jul 19, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT Analysis Who is targeting members of the city watch?
What's happening at Xbox? Every change, rumor, and canceled game in a turbulent month Critical Role's Matthew Mercer just revealed 1 foundational rule that all Dungeon Masters should use All confirmed Marvel characters in Wolverine's PS5 game (so far) House of the Dragon’s violent new mystery is part of a much bigger plot Image: HBO House of the Dragon Sign in to your Polygon.com account Every time queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) has a council meeting with her advisors, they spend most of the meeting bickering about what the realm’s biggest problems are these days. Is it the crown’s lack of funding? The lingering threat of Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon Vhagar? Ormund Hightower (James Norton)’s hostile takeover of Tumbleton? Or civil unrest amongst the smallfolk? In House of the Dragon ’s latest episode, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) brings yet another big problem to the council, and it’s one that hits very close to home: Somebody is killing Gold Cloaks, members of the city guard. But who?
[ Ed. note: Spoilers follow for House of the Dragon season 3 episode 5 . ]
“Two of our gold cloaks were found dead in the street this morning, put to the blade by an unknown hand,” Daemon says during a council meeting early in the episode, adding that it happened in Flea Bottom. The Master of Coin, Ser Torrhen Manderly (Dan Fogler), calls Flea Bottom “a realm unto itself” that’s “full of undesirables.” Rhaenyra tries to send Daemon to deal with Criston Cole and the guerrilla warfare he’s using to delay Team Black’s troops in their march toward Tumbleton. Daemon, however, refuses to go until he’s dealt with these crimes against the city watch.
Rhaenyra and Daemon arguing outside the small council chamber. Image: HBO “They’re my men,” he says, “and we depend upon those men to secure your rule — especially because their wages have been withheld.” Outside the council chamber, the two argue over priorities: Rhaenyra wants Aemond found ASAP. Daemon says they have time to wait so they can deal with problems in King’s Landing first.
Later in the episode, Daemon patrols the streets alongside city watch commander Ser Luthor Largent (Tom Cullen). The Targaryen reproaches Ser Luthor for the city watch being too harsh against citizens when trying to root out who painted graffiti on the wall calling Rhaenyra the “queen of bastards.” Ser Luthor claims the two dead members of the city watch had their throats and their bowels cut. “Good men, dying in agony, in their own shit,” he says.
The two hear screams and quickly discover two more dead members of the city watch, also with their throats and bowels slit. Just before they reach the scene, however, a little girl peers around the corner. In the next scene, we see that same girl dashing up a set of stairs indoors. She approaches a table with three men and whispers something to one of them. The man sends a pigeon with a message.
“Gold blood spilled. Three marked in the tally. The account lies open.” And it’s none other than Ormund Hightower (James Norton) reading the message. Ormund is clearly pulling the strings from afar, but it’s unclear exactly who is doing the killing.
Ormund at the end of season 3 episode 4 urging Daeron to kill a prisoner. Image: HBO In a conversation with his ward Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), Ormund tells the story of Meria Martell, who ref…