House of the Dragon – Rhaenyra the Cruel

By: Kelly Kearney

Shattered by death and lies, House Green and House Black have fractured and just in time to kick off the moment everyone has been waiting for, the Dance of the Dragons—a conflict so vicious Westeros’ ancestors 200 years into the future, will shiver at the idea. After Daemon Targaryen inadvertently ordered Blood and Cheese to kill young Prince Jaehaerys, the warring families take a break to mourn their losses; the heir to the throne of King Aegon and the benevolent reputation of Queen Rhaenyra. Vengeance whispered “A son for a son” but the wrong son’s head rolled and it set off a series of events that will change the course of Westeros for generations to come. It’s Funerals, break-ups, and palace shake-ups, setting the stage for war in episode 2.

A Funeral to Sway Support

We open the hour on a chambermaid carrying a bloody cloth from presumably Prince Jaehaerys bedroom. The castle staff are all rounded up by the night’s guard to Snuff out the Killer who robbed the throne of its rightful air. King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) is no longer concerned with continuing his father’s benevolent Legacy, he’s enraged and smashing up his model of King’s landing. His grief goes deep but so is the fear that he could be next; if the castle can be breached and his son can be decapitated then there are cracks in this iron throne he wasn’t prepared for. After beating one of the accused assassins to death he orders the execution of the entire castles rat catchers and has them hanged along the city streets as a reminder to his people of what happens to anyone who dares come for him or his family. of course the people of King’s Landing are wailing at the sight of their brothers and Fathers and Sons decaying in the streets – innocent people paying the price for what Blood and Cheese did. but the assassins didn’t kill on their own, they were paid handsomely and the outcome of the prince’s death is causing Civil War ripples for the Red Keep to Dragonstone and beyond.  After he finds out about the genocide filling the streets, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) storms his grandson’s chambers screaming about the “insolent pup” and his” feckless self-indulgent” idiocy. Otto is too much of a planner for Aegon, who prefers an iron-fisted approach to revenge, and that’s why he has chosen to listen to Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel) instead of his father’s Hand. Cole took it upon himself to send Ser Arryk (Luke Tittensor) to Dragonstone to pretend to be his twin brother, Ser Erryk (Elliot Tittensor) so he could get close to the queen and enact Aegon’s revenge. The king likes this forceful plan more than Otto’s idea to allow the news of what Rhaenyra did to sway her supporters to their side. So, after his grandfather insults his intelligence, Aegon strips Otto of his title–ordering him to fork over the Hand’s brooch to Cole. Considering Cole has already broken his oath by sleeping with Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke)–something Otto doesnt know and doesn’t want to know when his daughter attempts to confess her sins later in the episode, Cole has his agenda for pushing the king to start a war and it has little to do with his grief over a decapitated child. He’s juggling a lot of secrets and lies and his thirst for power plays into those plans. Sir Arryk inclines what is going on between him and the queen, making the honorable knight a threat to Ser Criston Cole. Knowing Arryk is honorable means Cole knew he wouldn’t say no to assassinating the Black Queen.

Speaking of Queen Alicent, she just lost her grandchild and now her daughter, Queen Helaena (Phia Saban)  knows she’s been sleeping with Ser Criston Cole. Grief, her daughter’s mental instability, and this lie hanging over her head will strain the relationship between mother and daughter–not that Alicent is winning any mother-of-the-year awards anytime soon. She can’t even look at Aemond for what he did to Luke and she looks upon Aegon like he is endlessly disappointing. Helaena was the easier of the royal brood but the young Queen’s grief has clouded her already hazy mind even more. So, she doesn’t immediately jump to her father’s wishes when he tells her to prepare her daughter for an open casket funeral to show the world what the dragon Queen did to the young Prince. The people of King’s Landing will know The Dragon Queen is a brutal child killer and she will lose her support across Westeros at a time when she desperately needs it if she hopes to win this brewing civil war. Neither woman wants to be a spectacle in the streets and have their grief displayed for all to see but Alicent listens to her father and convinces Helaena to go along with the funeral procession. As the procession slowly rolls through the streets the camera focuses on the stitches holding Prince Jaehaerys head on his neck. And if that is not gruesome enough, it’s the wailing commotion from the commoners that seems to sicken the publicly grieving Queen Helaena. When the body and two queens stall, the people–many of whom had just seen their loved ones hanged by her husband, start pawing at the women threatening to topple the boy’s body into the streets. Shockingly, HotD didn’t go there–although most fans assumed they would, but the threat of it was enough for Helena to show the masses how unwell she is and it takes everything out of Alicent to keep her calm. This was all about the optics and from a commoner’s view, their queen Helaena isn’t mentally strong enough to lead. King Aegon also doesn’t seem very stable in this episode, and it’s no thanks to Alicent’s version of mothering. When she enters his chambers to check on him the young king is broken with grief. Instead of consoling him like a mother should, Alicent leaves to get her consolation from Ser Criston Cole.

Killer Queen Gets a Bad Rep

Over a Dragonstone “Rhaenyra the Cruel” (Emma D’Arcy) is irate over her name being tied to the murder of Prince Jaehaerys. She never ordered that child’s death and now everyone across the kingdom believes her to be a murderer. She tells her counsel to find out where this rumor came from and sends a message to House Green that she is not the culprit. It’s only when she catches Daemon (Matt Smith) watching her she knows why her name is now synonymous with cruelty. After dismissing her counsel the husband/wife/uncle/niece gets into a row about what he did, and Daemon admits his part in it–at least half of it. He paid off the assassins, Blood and Cheese to kill Aemond but denies ever telling them, “a son for a son.” He makes it clear that he was precise but the queen doesn’t believe him. She tells him she’s never truly trusted his loyalty to her, as he’s always had one eye on her throne. They argue back and forth with him refusing to take responsibility for a mistake two idiot killers made. Fault or not, the deed is done and it has damaged her reputation and her support across the realm. Rhaenyra asks him one final question, “do you accept me as your queen and ruler or do you cling even now to what you think you lost?” The only answer she gets is her husband storming out of the castle and flying away from Dragonstone on Caraxes. Daemon won’t be able to keep his involvement in the prince’s death a secret for long, as we see Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) dig out a royal coin from the floorboards of Jaehaerys bedroom. Later, we see him in bed with his favorite sex worker admitting he made a mistake in killing Luke but his anger clouded his judgment–something he might understand with Daemon if the two didn’t already hate each other.

After a brief check-in with Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) who sails to meet his brother, Addam (Clinton Liberty) we catch a glimpse of Laenor’s pale dragon circling overhead. Alyn tells his brother about Corlys’ rescue and how the royal offered him a job with his fleet. Addam doesn’t understand why Alyn would turn that offer down, he seems enamored with the glamor of the Sea Snake’s power. This stop-off with Alyn and Addam seems like a random moment, but we can assume Alyn, as well as Hugh (Kieran Bew), the smith who the King commissioned in the last episode, will play an integral part in this civil war. For now, their roles stay unconfirmed, as we are still in the introduction stage for many of these characters,

Back to Queen Rhaenyra and the truth she did manage to extract from her husband before he flew off in a huff. He told her the name of the person who directed him to Blood and Cheese–his ex, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) who he promised to release from prison if she could help him find a way inside the Red Keep. The queen has Ser Erryk bring Mysaria to her and after the two women find a common ground in their anger at Daemon’s lack of loyalty and lies, she agrees to let the woman go. With Daemon gone Queen Rhaenyra seems to have a firm grip on her power, as well as the support of Rhaenys (Eve Best) who has been given an important role on the Black Council. Speaking of the Queen-Who-Never-Was, Rhaenys and her husband Corlys (Steve Toussaint) have an important discussion in bed about politics and power. Corlys jokes about not having a problem with letting his wife lead in both politics and in the bedroom–something Daemon could never do. Unlike the Sea Snake, who would bow to his wife, the Prince’s ego and self-inflated importance are at least one of the reasons why this civil war is inevitable.

Twin Traps and Fights to the Death

When we next see Mysaria she is heading to a boat Rhaenyra ordered to take her away from Dragonstone. As she approaches the water’s edge she spots what appears to be Ser Erryk walking in the opposite direction towards the castle. This strikes her as strange since she just left Ser Erryk outside of the queen’s chambers. It’s enough to make her pause and we don’t know if she goes back to the castle to warn the queen or not but her reaction leads us to believe she at least tries to.

As predicted, Ser Arryk does infiltrate the castle at Dragonstone and after a few heart-pounding examples of hide and seek, he manages to slip past his brother and make his way into the queen’s bedroom. Assuming it’s Ser Erryk, Rhaenyra is surprised to see him in her room and even more so when he draws his sword. Thankfully, he doesnt get close to the queen before his brother tackles him, and the two fight sword to clashing sword in a brutal fight to the death. Erryk fulfills his duty by protecting his Queen but at the cost of sacrificing his brother. He drives his sword into Arryk’s gut, and then he turns the sword on himself knowing he could not live with the shame of what he had done.

With Daemon flying around the skies looking for revenge, both Queens suffering from the loss of their children, and everyone in Westeros choosing between Queen Rhaenyra the Cruel and King Aegon II’s mad genocide of the Red Keep’s staff, a Dance of the Dragons is coming, and hellfire will reign down from the skies.