The MVP: Rhys Ifans Brings Nuance and Realpolitik to House of the Dragon’s Otto Hightower

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By Elijah Gonzalez  |  July 11, 2024 | 11:15am
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The MVP: Rhys Ifans Brings Nuance and Realpolitik to House of the Dragon’s Otto Hightower

Editor’s Note: Welcome to The MVP, a column where we celebrate the best performances TV has to offer. Whether it be through heart-wrenching outbursts, powerful looks, or perfectly-timed comedy, TV’s most memorable moments are made by the medium’s greatest players—top-billed or otherwise. Join us as we dive deep on our favorite TV performances, past and present: 

For all of House of the Dragon’s faults, one area above reproach is its excellent ensemble cast. Much like Game of Thrones before it, this series has a deep lineup of talented performers that make us invested in all the political intrigue: Paddy Considine conveys Viserys’ affability and grief, Emma D’Arcy foregrounds Rhaenyra’s inner conflicts, Matt Smith is irreplaceable as an insufferable dirtbag uncle, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But of these many impressive performances, my favorite of the bunch doesn’t have anywhere near the most screen time (largely because he keeps getting banished), bolstering every scene as they bring to life one of this story’s best characters. Throughout this show’s run, Rhys Ifans’ performance as Otto Hightower has brought subtlety and guile to a story sometimes lacking these qualities, as this actor has rendered the nuance behind a (mostly) calm and collected statesman.

When we first meet Otto, he seems competent and loyal, a much-needed level head who grants sage advice to Viserys as the Hand of the King. Ifans grants him wisdom with a hint of hoity-toity sass in his bearing as he shields the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms from his worst impulses, such as being too accommodating to Prince Daemon, Viserys’ terrible younger brother. Early on, the interactions between Otto and Daemon are likely what endears us to this advisor the most, as the contrast between the prince’s sadism and the Hand’s disgust at these actions firmly places us on his side. For those familiar with Game of Thrones, the dignity in Ifans’ eyes helps convince us that Otto is a Ned-like figure, someone honorable who we’ll root for until, to our horror, their neck is abruptly separated from their shoulders. The early episodes delight in exacerbating this tension, making it seem like the Hand will find himself on the wrong end of Daemon’s sword.

However, it doesn’t take long for the performance to get across the sense there is something more going on here. It’s almost as though there’s something too deferential in Ifans’ intonation, that his smile comes a little too quickly, and that his words may be honeyed. Throughout the first season, Ifans leans into these mild cues, but things only begin to feel truly wrong when he urges his daughter Alicent (Emily Carey), who is a teenager, to console the grieving Viserys, a middle-aged man who just lost his wife. While this reeks of political opportunism and is also just plain gross, considering that Otto never outright states he wants his daughter to win over the king and become his new bride, some may initially perceive this as an innocent gesture meant to give his old friend a conversation partner. But then, of course, she wins over the king and becomes his new bride.

As Viserys stuns everyone by announcing he’s going to betroth Alicent instead of entering an advantageous arranged marriage, we watch Ifans’ face as he shifts ever so slightly into a triumphant smile, bringing out a buried smugness that we’ve only seen in flashes. As the Hand, Otto is supposed to guide his lord towards actions that are best for the kingdom, but here, he’s beaming as he scores a massive victory for House Hightower in the game of thrones.

After this point, the character is imbued with a dash of duplicity. Otto is still one of Viserys’ most competent advisors, and his experience as the Hand to the previous king is evident, but it’s hard not to search for self-serving motivation in every subsequent backroom meeting. There’s a glint in his eye when he looks at his grandson Aegon, as he now has a family member next in line for the throne after Princess Rhaenyra. Ifans plays this all seamlessly, bridging this figure’s two halves so gracefully that, when Otto’s deeper ambitions are revealed, it simultaneously feels shocking and natural.

Another essential element here is that many of the characters in this series are not particularly adept at playing political chess, and so Otto’s ability to do just that is essential for adding some compelling Machiavellian flourishes to this story. Frankly, audiences love watching competent people do their thing, and Ifans convinces us that this man is one of the series’ most skilled operators through confident delivery.

And while this performance is subtle for the majority of House of the Dragon, Season 2 Episode 2 delivered an unexpected explosion of emotion that contrasts brilliantly with this otherwise understated portrayal. When news reaches Otto that his cruel grandson Aegon has murdered innocent people as retribution for the assassination of his heir, the Hand launches into a spirited lambasting. Ifans’ experience with stage acting comes across in the gusto of these line readings, as his voice swells and he tears into the incompetent king. His uncharacteristically frenzied movements and wrathful tone sell a man who has completely snapped in this moment.

As Aegon tries to downplay the value of the lives he’s sniffed out, Otto retorts, “They are fathers and brothers and sons. And their wives and children gather at our gates to weep and curse your name!” The line is clever because it gets at the duality of this person: he’s genuinely livid that bystanders were killed for no reason, but he’s also miffed that Aegon completely fumbled this advantageous political situation like an idiot. This man’s guiding principles come across in the performer’s palpable rage, and more than ever, it’s clear there’s some semblance of morality underneath all his realpolitik.

On top of hammering home what Otto believes, the portrayal also rings understated comedy out of the situation. Ifans slowly turns with horror as Aegon gears up to explain Ser Criston Cole’s cartoonish plan to assassinate Rhaenyra. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as Otto described the bone-headed idea as a “prank,” Ifans capturing the character’s utter disdain. As he hurls insults at these insufferable doofuses, the performance is like a release valve for the audience, who likely also want to strangle these murderous screw-ups.

And more than anything else, this scene conveys that Otto is angry with himself. The cost of putting a Hightower on the throne finally fully dawns on him as he nostalgically recounts what a good man Viserys was compared to his inept flesh and blood, a mixture of disgust and resignation coming over Ifans’ defeated face. Deep down, he knows that Aegon’s crimes are his own.

In these petty squabbles, one of House of the Dragon’s central themes comes to the forefront: it is truly horrifying that an entire kingdom’s well-being rests in the hands of a single royal family. Here, a backroom conversation, seemingly incidental comment, or even a bad dinner can have seismic consequences that lead to mass death. In Ifans’ Otto, we see someone at the nexus of these circumstances, a person with proximity to power who can influence these royals as he sees fit. But in the end, not only is he unable to resist the temptation of using this leverage to benefit his own house, but he fails to predict how his actions will influence these fickle monarchs.

It’s no small thing to portray this kind of character while injecting nuance that makes them more than a two-bit villain, but Rhys Ifans is up for the task, using something as small as a solitary grin to capture multifaceted motivations. Now that Otto has once again been dismissed as Hand, there’s almost no one left to hold back the bloodletting. For the sake of the kingdom (and our continued gratification of watching Rhys Ifans’ dexterous performance) let’s hope that this banishment is temporary.

Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11.

 
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