House of the Dragon: What Do The Gray Rats Have To Do With It And What Is Larys Strong’s Plan?
House of the Dragon also has his Little Finger (with a touch of Lord Varys) and his name is Larys Strong. Larys is the eldest son of Lyonel Strong, the current Hand of the King, and is the brother of Hawin (who is rumored to be the father of Rhaenyra’s children and dies violently at the end of chapter 6), but, as he has a disability physically, he was not chosen to be the heir to his family’s lands and titles.
Larys Strong doesn’t care much about that, since that same disability is what allows him to go unnoticed everywhere and listen to all kinds of rumors and conversations without being detected, and that helps him get closer to Queen Alicent Hightower. It is Larys who reveals to Alicent that Rhaenyra had tea one night and that she lied to him when she said she had not been with Daemon, thus becoming a powerful ally and confidant to the queen.
House of the Dragon: What Do The Gray Rats Have To Do With It And What Is Larys Strong’s Plan?
It is evident that Larys is not only interested in having the ear of the queen in House of the Dragon, as with Little Finger, but he also wants to pull certain strings in the kingdom and is willing to go to the most unimaginable extremes to get what he wants. wants. All this is connected, first of all, with the gray rats that appear everywhere in the castle. Some internet theories say that these rats represent the fact that the walls have ears and that there are people in the castle who are interested in taking down Viserys and his dynasty.
It is said that these rats also represent the Maesters, who actually come from Old Town (the home of the Hightowers) and who are secretly playing their cards to put an end to the dragon house, and this could be connected to the mysterious disease that is slowly killing Viserys I. Rats are also a symbol of espionage, and they connect with Larys because he has shown that he knows everything and uses information as a means to gain power, which he does not have within his own house.
In addition to having spies, Larys Strong also creates a small army of mercenaries, who are criminals sentenced to death whom he saved from prison in exchange for them agreeing to cut out their tongues and do his dirty work (apparently they are the ones who burned down the house of the Strongs and cause Harwin’s death). Larys knows very well that he has no chance of being king and that he is not exactly his father’s favourite, but he also knows that in this game information is power and it can open many doors for him.
In this case, he decides to become an ally of Alicent. He understands that, although Rhaenyra is the official heiress, Aegon II is the favorite of many because he is male and bears the name of a conqueror. The plan is to get on the right side of the battle to come and guarantee his place in court. Spreading rumors about Rhaenyra’s children, causing division between the old friends (Rhaenyra and Alicent) and killing her brother is part of Larys’s greater plan and although it is not clear where she wants to go, it is clear that she intends to become a key figure. at court, especially now that Rhaenyra has gone to Dragonstone.
