Jul 13, 2026 11:16am IST
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Episode 4 Review: ‘Tumbleton’ Offers a Delicious New Villain and a Major Detour From Canon
HBO’s “House of the Dragon” Season 3 continues to wear its defiance of George R.R. Martin’s writing on its sleeve. In fact, as its latest episode, “Tumbleton”, would indicate, the Ryan Condal series takes a free hand with the “open to interpretation” format of Martin’s “Fire & Blood.” It arrives at the major canon events by taking several detours, leaving readers (and quite a few non-readers too) baffled by its writing choices. The one choice no one’s complaining about, though, is fleshing out Lord Ormund Hightower beyond the pages and casting the fantastic James Norton to play him.
Episode 4 begins at Tumbleton, a town loyal to Queen Rhaenyra, now caught between hell and a Hightower host barging into their homes. The promos have hinted at Norton’s Ormund Hightower playing a major role this season. And what we get is a true drama queen who infuses the simplest of gestures, like his sensitivities to odors and constant sniffing of herbs, with flair and terrifying style. Ormund is clearly a detour—this is still very much a Rhaenyra v/s Aegon II shindig. But Norton makes it a mildly amusing one.
In his opening scene itself, Ormund pulls a “Daenerys Targaryen in the bathtub” (you’ll know when you see it) as an intimidation tactic. And in the next, he throws a royal hissy fit that could win the "Biggest manchild in Westeros" title. The series leans into the Oldtown Hightower connection, making Ormund a deeply religious man, as set up for later events where the faith militants play a major role in the shakedown of Rhaenyra’s (Emma D'Arcy) reign.
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Ormund is also Prince Daeron Targaryen’s foster daddy. The episode finally acknowledges Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Daeron and his bond with the young, blue dragon, Tessarion. Through a series of well-crafted scenes, the episode establishes that abusive fathers are a Hightower generational trauma. First spotted in Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) relationship with her father, Ser Otto Hightower, the parallel lives on through her son, Daeron’s relationship with Lord Ormund.
That said, Daeron’s own temperament remains unclear. At one point, he longs for his Uncle Gwayne’s (Freddie Fox) return, possibly his one sane family member, and even saves a cupbearer from becoming collateral damage in Ormund’s temper tantrum. But in a scene much later in the episode, when forced by Ormund into violence, he flashes a hint of something dark too.
At this point, to say "House of the Dragon" deviates from canon is to say the sun rises in the east. Having already exchanged the dragonseed Nettles for Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) as Sheepstealer’s rider, the episode gives us a father-daughter reunion when Daemon (Matt Smith) flies to the Vale to get some gold from Lady Jeyne (Amanda Collin). This is the most Daemon might’ve spoken to any of his children, biological or otherwise, combined, really. And while Rhaena’s claims of being "lesser than" and the whole emotional appeal of this interaction is absent, it does give us some fun Daemon and Dragon moments with lots of High Valyrian. Matt Smith’s face when Caraxes defies his command, possibly for the first time, is one for the books. But then, he shushes him with just a finger, earning Daemon more aura points.
Daemon's major face-off with Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Vhagar is still impending as the latter recuperates in Harrenhal. Even as Sers Gwayne Hightower and Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) arrive at Harrenhal, Alys Rivers offers them two truths and a lie—King's Landing has fallen to Rhaenyra. Aemond was here and slew the Strongs. And now he is no longer at Harrenhal.
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With so many major action moments and battles lined up for this season, it seems to be pacing itself between them, moving the chess pieces slowly across the board, giving us a day at the office in King’s Landing. Miffed by Rhaenyra’s refusal to legitimise his bastards, Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Touissant) leaves, deferring his Hand of the Queen role to Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim). Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egiyawan) lives to keep his job another day by being useful to his new boss, and Lady Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) plays HR, urging Rhaenyra to hire a new Master of Coin. It turns out to be a personality hire—Dan Folger, delightful in his two-minute screen time as Lord Torrhen Manderly.
Even the dragonseeds Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) get face time with Rhaenyra, who won’t give them their knightly appraisals but is rather curt, sowing the seeds for what’s to come. She does dispatch them to Tumbleton, where Hugh’s wife and in-laws are being harassed by the Hightower soldiers. Sad to report that there’s yet another almost-sexual-assault scene. And while it is a horrific reality of war, as a plot device to further the "bad guy" agenda, it is getting overdone.
The biggest plot twist of the episode, which leaves a dragon-sized question mark on this show’s intentions, arrives with a revelation about Helaena (Phia Saban) and in Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Lord Larys Strong’s (Matthew Needham) road trip adventures. Aegon is in Rook’s Rest, with Larys trying really hard to keep his kingly ego down so they can continue incognito. However, the sight of Sunfyre’s lifeless body is definitely brewing something in the broken Aegon II. Now, the book readers know that Sunfyre simply cannot die. He cannot. But knowing “House of the Dragon,” it’s merely taking the long road home. It is probably about to pull another Daenerys Targaryen move and awaken a dragon from stone-cold death.
We’re halfway through the season, with more battles to come; in the very next episode, even, as the teaser suggests. Episode 4 could’ve been a lull for fans who don’t enjoy talking and want to just get to the killing and dragon fire. However, for those who do love decoding the game of thrones and its players, this is a decent entry.
“House of the Dragon” Season 3 is currently streaming on JioHotstar, with new episodes every Monday.
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