10 Things You Somehow Missed In House Of The Dragon
3. A Song For Nymeria
The third episode of House of the Dragon depicts Rhaenyra being sung to by a bard as she reads in the shadow of a Weirtree. The princess apparently has the poor musician on the human equivalent of repeat mode, forcing him to endlessly serenade her with the same song.
The throwaway nature of this character means there's a strong chance that audiences failed to register the singer in any great detail, let alone the subject matter of his song. The tune in question concerns Nymeria, a legendary warrior queen and the eventual founder of Dorne.
The ballad also happens to be a delightfully crafty Easter Egg. Not only is Nymeria slated to act as the lead protagonist for HBO's upcoming spin-off series 10,000 Ships, but she also inspired the name of Arya Stark's iconic direwolf from Game of Thrones. In an exemplary piece of inter-species symbolism, the human Nymeria rallied the surviving Rhoynar refugees and led them to safety in Dorne - her lupine counterpart mirrored her exploits with the Northern wolves.
It's worth noting that Nymeria was playfully discussed by Alicent and Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon's first episode. Alicent also uses a page from the book 10,000 Ships in an attempt to reconnect with the Black Queen during the season finale.