How Does Otto Hightower Die in 'House of the Dragon'?

Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Episode 7 and George R.R. Martin's novel Fire & Blood.

There are more calculations done on House of the Dragon than in a high school algebra class — however, the coldest, most calculating man of all has to be Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). Not only did he successfully set up his daughter Alicent (Olivia Cooke) with his bestie Viserys I, but Otto also managed to get rehired as the hand of the king after Viserys I fired him.

Seriously Viserys, how long did it take you to realize Otto had a huge Alicent-sized conflict of interest when you married her? Anyways, now that Otto can put "Hand of the King," as his current status on Westeros LinkedIn, we wanted to know — when does his luck run out?

How does Otto Hightower die?

Given that House of the Dragon is still airing, and Otto is still very much alive, we're going to be referring to the source material for the answer.

So what is Otto's final fate in George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood? (That's like the House of the Dragon source material bible, by the way.)

Well — true to Otto's shrewd and calculating nature, he was literally able to predict his own death. Remember how he's been constantly warning Alicent to be wary of Rhaenyra's ascent to the Iron Throne?

As much as we hate to admit it, Otto was right. In Fire & Blood, Otto's head was the first to face the chopping block after the fall of King's Landing in 130 A.C. Literally.

Essentially, Rhaenyra was officially crowned queen of King's Landing during the battle that occurred in 130 A.C. Her first act as queen was to have Otto beheaded as a traitor (honestly, Otto probably would've done the same had the situations been reversed).

Given that the dance of the dragons, otherwise known as the Targaryen civil war, hasn't officially begun yet in House of the Dragon, the TV version of Otto still has some life in him yet — for now, anyway.

In House of the Dragon Episode 7, Otto clasped his hand on the tower badge like his life depended on it (well, he's not wrong). So what year are we in currently during the tumultuous events of the seventh episode?

According to A Wiki of Ice and Fire, Rhaenyra marries Daemon in the year 120 A.C., so we're going to assume that's the year that the entire span of Episode 7 takes place in, given the relative closeness of the episode's events.

Otto is very much alive and kicking in the preview for House of the Dragon Episode 8, so it'll be interesting to see if he makes it to the finale of the first season.

All we know is, he's certainly not winning father of the year anytime soon.

Catch new episodes of House of the Dragon on HBO and HBO Max on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST.