One thing that fans of House of the Dragon have become used to is time jumps between episodes, and sometimes large ones. There has been a two-year time jump already between episodes. The writers of the show have a lot of time to cover, as it takes place more than 100 years before Game of Thrones. How long did the writers of House of the Dragon have in between episodes four and five?
To answer your question…
Unlike many of the prior episodes, there was no time jump between episodes…this time.
Episode four ended with Princess Rhaenyra agreeing with her father that she needs to marry and help the royal family. Episode five starts out with King Viserys and Princess Rhaenyra asking for the hand of Ser Laenor in marriage.
Lord Corlys agrees to this proposal after some negotiating with King Viserys. It is clear in this episode that King Viserys is not healthy at all and does not have a lot of time left. Princess Rhaenyra recognized this and realized that she needed to continue on with her royal duties, as she is about to become Queen.
There have been rumors circulating that there is going to be a massive time jump between episodes five and six. Some are even suggesting that it might be up to 15 years having taken place between the two episodes. This would be a massive risk, as episode five left off with a lot of unanswered questions that have fans wanting the answers.
One of those questions is, what is going to happen with Ser Criston after his fight and apparent attempt to take his own life? He ended up not doing so, only after Lady Alicent came and stopped him. Another question that fans have is, what happened to King Viserys? It is clear that he will not be alive much longer, so watching Princess Rhaenyra start her Queen duties will be an interesting topic.
Fans are also wanting to know what will happen with Daemon now that he does not have a wife. He clearly still has his eyes on Rhaenyra, as he went after her during the royal festivities. The writers of House of the Dragon will have to answer a lot of questions. However, they have done a very good job up until this point of covering the time jumps thus far.