‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 1’s Ending Upends the Entire Season
The following contains spoilers from House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1.
The war in House of the Dragon is already out of hand. We’re only one episode into season 2 and a child is dead! Young Jaehaerys Targaryen—heir to the throne and King Aegon II’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) firstborn son, is beheaded in his sleep. Those squelching sounds? I’ll hear them in my sleep. Even worse, his murder is an act of revenge—after Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) killed Rhaenyra’s (Emma D'Arcy) son Lucerys in the season 1 finale. So far, it’s the youngest who have suffered the most on the series.
The shocking event occurs at the end of the season 2 premiere, when two hired assassins make their way through the castle and find the prince asleep in his bed. The men—a butcher named Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and a rat-catcher named Cheese (Mark Stobbart)—have been hired by Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) to take a “son for a son.” Though Rhaenyra announces that she’s seeking revenge against Aemond, the assassins are unable to locate the prince. Finding Jaehaerys instead, Blood and Cheese kill the young heir and then escape into the night.
How Is Jaehaerys Killed in the Book?
The entire sequence plays out a little differently in Fire & Blood, the George R.R. Martin novel from which House of the Dragon derives much of its story. Still, that doesn’t mean the series isn’t trying its best. As showrunner Ryan Condal told Variety, “One of the things that’s challenging about adapting Fire & Blood is that there is this intentionally conflicting narrative in the book where there are often these three different viewpoints on the history that don’t line up with one another.”
One of the most entertaining narrators in Fire & Blood is a dwarf named Mushroom. With every new episode, I await Mushroom’s arrival—I hope audiences will see the gossip hound onscreen one day. He’s the one in the book who proclaims, “Cheese knew the Red Keep better than his own cock.” Cheese says the line himself in House of the Dragon’s season 2 premiere, so it might be safe to say that Mushroom’s version of the event is mostly true.
Two of the show’s largest changes come when Rhaenrya openly calls for Aemond’s death—and when Daemon speaks directly to Blood. According to Mushroom, it’s only alleged in the book that Daemon hired the butcher and the rat-catcher. Rhaenrya, in House of the Dragon’s telling of the story, would never call for the death of a child. But Daemon, even unintentionally, is not above the more unsavory tactics of war. “It felt like Rhaenyra, despite being in grief, she’s looking for vengeance, but she would choose a target that would have some kind of strategic or military advantage,” Condal explained.
Another major change is the murder’s location. In Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys is killed in Queen Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) bedroom. She is tied and gagged, along with her maid. When Helaena (Phia Saban) arrives with Alicent’s grandchildren, Cheese asks which son they should kill. Helaena points at the youngest, Maelor, hoping that Blood and Cheese will spare the heir to the throne. The assassins kill Jaehaerys anyway.
On the show, the two arrive in Helaena’s bedroom instead. The queen also points directly at Jaehaerys, making her honesty even more heartbreaking. Plus, there’s the added sequence in which Helaena escapes into Alicent’s room—where the queen is having an affair with Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel). This romance isn’t mentioned in the books, but it provides so much more drama to the story. “It adds a level of shame and guilt that is different to anything that Alicent has ever experienced before, by being indisposed with the head of the Kingsguard who should have been on duty to make sure that the castle was on lock,” Cooke told Variety. “That’s a theme that plays throughout the season: If they hadn’t embarked on this affair, would this have happened? They hold themselves accountable completely.”
Audiences will see how the changes play out next episode, when both King Aegon II and Rhaenyra find out about the horrifying act.
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