HBO MaxIt can be easy to forget amid all the battles and intrigue, but the world of Game of Thrones is full of magic, from smoke monster assassins to literal resurrections. But so far in House of the Dragon, the prequel set at the height of the Targaryens’ reign, there’s barely been any magic mentioned, just the odd prophecy passed down from generations or mumbled by Helaena, who has prophetic dreams.The big exceptions have occurred at Harrenhal, the supposedly haunted castle where Daemon spent most of Season 2 confronting eerie visions. Now, in an action-packed Season 3 premiere, one of the seemingly most mundane storylines actually contains a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by a mysterious character with ties to Harrenhal and a forgotten element of Game of Thrones.The barely-seen antlered man in House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 1. | HBOHouse of the Dragon’s Season 3 debut will go down as the episode that finally showed the Battle of the Gullet, but a few key characters were missing from the struggle. While Alyn of Hull and his father, the Sea Snake, were fighting for their lives against the Triarchy, his brother Addam was stuck near Harrenhal, waiting with his fellow dragonseeds Ulf and Hugh for Aemond and Vhagar to show up. While the trio discusses whether their mission was in vain, they get a rude awakening from Alys Rivers, the self-described witch who warns them they’re missing the battle. But before she shows up, Addam and Hugh notice a strange antlered figure atop a hill, who watches them for a moment before walking away.We only see him for a few seconds, but that was enough for fans to recognize him as one of the Green Men, a religious group who worship the Old Gods. The Green Men are the guardians of the Isle of Faces, the island in the middle of the large Gods Eye lake near Harrenhal. They’re closely related to the Children of the Forest, the mystical creatures Bran encountered beyond the wall in Game of Thrones. This storyline was introduced and promptly dropped soon after, but the ancient race has a long history in George R.R. Martin’s larger lore. The Green Men were founded after the Children of the Forest made peace with the First Men. | HBOOver 10,000 years before Aegon’s Conquest, the First Men made a pact with the Children of the Forest on the island in the middle of the Gods Eye. It was agreed that all open lands would be the domain of the Men, all forests would be the domain of the Children, and the First Men would never cut down another weirwood. This ended a millennia-long conflict between the groups, and the Isle of Faces was established as a memorial. In kind, the Green Men were founded to protect the area. In the Song of Ice and Fire books, the Green Men pop up in A Storm of Swords as a fascination of Bran’s. He makes Meera tell him the story of the crannogman who ventures out to the Isle of Faces to meet the Green Men, and later, when Gilly and Samwell tell him about the mysterious Coldhands, who saved them from White Walkers, Bran mentions a story Old Nan used to tell him, saying, “The green men ride on elks, Old Nan used to say. Sometimes they have antlers too.”It appears as though Old Nan had good intel — this Green Man does have antlers, although it’s unclear if they’re actual antlers or just a headdress. Hopefully, we’ll find out more soon — with Aemond on his way to Harrenhal and on a collision course with Alys Rivers, we’re sure to get more Spooky Harrenhal Visions and, hopefully for the sake of variety, more Green Men. House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max.