The Noble Houses in Game of Thrones command nearly every ounce of power in the Realm. Fans can recall the iconic names. The Starks, Lannisters, Targaryens, Baratheons, and their allies dominate the narrative. While a handful of genetic lines wield power beyond the imagination of millions, most barely manage to eat day-to-day. Vassal families like House Hightower are between the struggling civilians and the privileged few, leading to a strange place in the franchise.
The massive ensemble cast of characters in Game of Thrones can be daunting for newcomers. It’s a gateway fantasy franchise for many fans, though not for its simplicity. Every central member of House Stark or Lannister is so richly layered with history and personality that cataloging them feels slightly less challenging than remembering classmates or coworkers. Other families make do with less characterization.
House Hightower in House of the Dragon
House of the Dragons takes place centuries before Game of Thrones. The series shines a light on lesser-known families, events, and characters to give some context to the first show. House Hightower appears early in House of the Dragon. House Hightower is close to the Iron Throne but barely connected to the major events. Ser Otto Hightower, brother of the family patriarch, is the Hand of the King to Viserys I Targaryen. He took the role two generations earlier under Jaehaerys I Targaryen. The show opens nine years into Viserys’ reign. The king and his wife struggled to produce an heir. The queen dies in childbirth, followed swiftly by the newborn prince. Otto marries his daughter, Alicent Hightower, off to Viserys. She gives him a son, Aegon II, and Otto spends most of his time angling to give his grandson a clear path to the throne. He’s often under the thumb of his older brother and family head, Lord Hobert Hightower. His efforts to discredit Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys’ firstborn who struggles to be queen, eventually loses him his station. He becomes the Hand of the King again after deaths in Viserys’ court, but his role is tainted.
House Hightower is seen as powerful and influential throughout House of the Dragon. They’re one of many noble houses that vie for power and authority. Otto’s position as the Hand of the King places him inches from the Iron Throne. The strategic marriage between Alicent and Viserys prepares them to command the Seven Kingdoms, delayed only by Aegon II’s age. Otto is a strange personality. He consistently crafts policy across Westeros by standing in for whichever royal he’s ostensibly serving. He wants power and station for his family, but his arrogant, imperious personality makes his political strategy obvious enough to enrage his employers. He conducts ceremonies and looks for mystical signs while genuinely suggesting that Viserys marry off his daughter to her two-year-old brother. House Hightower isn’t notably morally inferior. Every noble house under the Targaryens wants to tear off a piece of their prestige for themselves. They reach for the Iron Throne through a strategic marriage and almost succeed, but their duplicity is equally efficient and self-destructive.
Where was House Hightower during Game of Thrones?
Though House Hightower climbed near the highest echelon in Westeros, they’re almost absent from Game of Thrones. Fans who only watched the shows would likely only learn the name in House of the Dragon. House Hightower does nothing of note in Game of Thrones. They’re isolationists who held fealty to House Tyrell for 300 years. Here’s a brief list of every mentioned member of House Hightower in Game of Thrones,
- Lord Leyton Hightower is the family’s patriarch, but he hasn’t left his castle in decades.
- Lady Alerie Hightower, Leyton’s eldest daughter, married Mace Tyrell and gave birth to Margaery and Loras Tyrell.
- Lynesse Hightower, Alerie’s younger sister, married Ser Jorah Mormont. Her expensive tastes drove him to sell poachers into slavery, earning him an exile. She became a concubine to a merchant lord.
- Ser Gerold Hightower appears in Bran Stark’s vision of events at the Tower of Joy. Gerold was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard in charge of protecting Aerys II Targaryen. He served the Mad King with such loyalty that he and Ser Arthur Dayne led a skirmish against Eddard Stark after Robert’s forces took King’s Landing. Stark killed Hightower first, slitting his throat before a spirited duel with Dayne.
In many ways, House Hightower never recovered from losing the Dance of the Dragons. Book fans know everyone lost that particular conflict, but the Hightowers never reached their peak again. Their name, based on the massive lighthouse they call home, is the most appropriate aspect of their branding. They ran off to their Hightower and stayed there for most of the story’s events. The books mention their unimaginable wealth and impossibly numerous armies, but they never do anything with their resources. They’re happy doing whatever their higher-ups tell them to do despite the gifts at their fingertips. House Hightower tried to win through politics once, lost, and spent the following centuries taking orders. In the show, they’re technically under the heel of Bronn of the Blackwater. It’s a fitting end for a dull family to be dominated by a fan favorite. Maybe they should have tried doing something.
