House of the Dragon is back with a vengeance, kicking off season three with the Battle of the Gullet in what series co-creator Ryan Condal called “arguably the craziest episode of television ever.”

Whether or not you thought the premiere, titled “Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood,” lived up to those claims, there’s no denying the naval battle offered a powerful showcase for two characters in particular: Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka “the Sea Snake,” played by Steve Toussaint, and Alyn of Hull, Corlys’ first mate (and illegitimate son), played by Abubakar Salim.

In House of the Dragon season two, we saw just how much hurt Alyn carried over the fact that his father, one of Westeros’ most powerful lords, had never been there for Alyn and his younger brother, Addam (Clinton Liberty).

As season three begins, Corlys is at a place where he’s able to take responsibility for the estrangement, and he expresses that to Alyn as they’re meeting in his captain’s cabin. It feels like the healing is starting to begin when the battle erupts, and both men shift into warrior mode.

It’s a thrilling sequence, punctuated by standout moments for both Corlys and Alyn. At a recent House of the Dragon press day attended by io9 and other outlets, io9 asked Salim about the moment when Alyn, at a distance, watches Corlys tumble overboard amid a fierce hand-to-hand fight with Triarchy leader Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn).

He calls out, not “Lord Corlys,” as he’s always called him, but “Father!” It’s a huge shift for the character, coming so soon after their meaningful discussion.

“I don’t think anything is going through his mind. I think it’s actually just a very primal, reactive thing that comes out of him,” Salim said. “I think where it comes from is a place of a primal pain, a primal need for a father. I think the scene before that where they’re in the cabin, and they’re having this moment, and Corlys reveals himself is beautifully performed by Steve in a very vulnerable way.”

Even as the action kicks into ferociously high gear, “I think that stays with Alyn, because it’s almost like, ‘We need to finish this conversation because we were getting somewhere.’ Obviously he goes into battle mode, begins fighting and everything, but when he sees Corlys go [overboard] I think all that comes back up, and I think that’s what triggers this almost, like, release. I guess the best [thing] I can kind of relate it to is like when you wake up from a nightmare screaming. You have no idea where it’s come from; it just comes, and I think that’s where that ‘father’ came from.”

Before Corlys and Admiral Lohar actually come face-to-face, we see the bad blood between them come to a head in a way that ties into their skills as veteran sailors. As the Battle of the Gullet rages, Corlys realizes Lohar is not really there to fight in Westeros’ war. Instead, she’s hellbent on revenge. She wants the Sea Snake to pay for all the destruction he’s wreaked on Triarchy soldiers for decades.

Corlys hits on a plan to weaken the enemy. He points his ship, the Queen Who Never Was, into the narrow Dragonstone pass, knowing Lohar will follow on her ship, the Bitchfist. The Triarchy fleet will be rudderless without its leader. And since Corlys has spent his entire life navigating these treacherous shores, he knows how to make it safely through.

At last, the viewer gets to see the Sea Snake show off the sailing skills that have made him a legend across Westeros.

“I remember [episode director Loni Peristere] saying, ‘This is when we see what the Sea Snake can do,’” Toussaint said. “He has memorized this journey. He knows where all the rock [obstacles] are, and this is where we see what he can do. It does feel massive. I mean, look, you don’t play epic; you play the moment. But there was half a mind to, ‘I think this will be impressive for people watching it,’ because it certainly felt [epic] doing it.”

It is indeed epic, but as viewers saw, Lohar is able to trace the Sea Snake’s route exactly, and her ship also emerges unscathed—leading into that up-close-and-personal confrontation involving lots of scrambling, punches, and blades.

Corlys’ fate is unknown at the end of episode one, leaving viewers wondering if he and Alyn will ever get a chance to build up their nascent father-son relationship. Fortunately, there’s a new episode of House of the Dragon season three arriving Sunday on HBO.

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