What kind of game is Larys Strong playing?
From his introduction in House of the Dragon, the second son of poor old Lyonel Strong immediately comes across as a Littlefinger-type character. Played by Matthew Needham, he lurks on the fringes watching and listening, trades information, and proves he can be horribly ruthless (you know, the whole burning his own brother and father to death thing) in order to climb the power ladder.
Since then, he’s pretty much been Queen Alicent’s right-hand man, feeding the monarch information and assisting her in her own quest to advance the fortunes of House Hightower.
Or at least that seemed to be what he was doing. Episode 9 muddied the waters. But what exactly happened, and what does it say about what Larys’ might really be up to? Let’s recap.
What did Larys Strong do in episode 9?
True to his unpleasant form, Larys begins the episode by bringing about even more death. This time the victim is poor old Lord Caswell, whose attempt to flee the castle ends with him being hauled before Otto Hightower and given « the King’s justice » (hanging, in this case).
After Caswell’s been carried off, Hightower stops Larys by mentioning all the time he’s spent with the Queen lately.
« There’s no reason those hours could not, in the end, benefit you, » is Larys’ ominous response.
Later in the episode, Larys pays a late night visit to Alicent and tells her about the web of spies in King’s Landing run by the White Worm (Daemon’s former-girlfriend-turned-informant, Mysaria), which her father used to track down Aegon in King’s Landing.
« More than once it has proved advantageous to those who will to feed the weaver, » says Larys. « One of the little spiders is your lady-in-waiting. There are more like her, but even I do not know their number. There is one way to destroy his [Otto’s] advantage. It must be taken out at the head. »
Queen Alicent agrees to this, and that night we see the White Worm’s home in flames, while a hooded figure — presumably one of Larys’ recruits — walks off into the night.
What did Larys Strong’s conversation with Otto Hightower mean?
On the surface, it appears that Larys Strong was helping Queen Alicent in episode 9. She’s currently at odds with her father as she disagrees with his desire to have Rhaenyra killed (Otto wants to cut out any threat of her claiming the throne), so Larys tells her Otto’s information source before seemingly destroying it altogether.
But is he really on her side? In that earlier scene with Otto, where he mentioned how his meetings with Alicent could be of benefit to the Hand, what was said after the scene cut short? What did Larys offer Otto? We know Otto’s already aware of the spy network and the White Worm, because she fed him information about Rhaneyra and Daemon’s brothel visit way back in episode 4 — so it can’t be that.
But if it’s not that, then what? Could it be something to do with the killing of the White Worm, which Larys promises Alicent he’ll take care of? Is it possible that even though he set the fire, he tipped Otto off beforehand so that he could in turn tip off the White Worm?
Maybe, if Larys really is working for Otto, the plan could have been to lull Alicent into a false sense of security, by making her think that the web of spies watching her is no longer active — when really, it still is.
Ultimately it’s very hard to say whose team Larys is on, if anyone’s. He may be simply telling both Otto and Alicent what they want to hear so he can stay on both of their good sides. If the White Worm is still alive, though, then that might be a clue that Larys has made some sort of deal with Otto behind Alicent’s back.
