Chaos and panic grips the Red Keep as the fog of morning
mingles with the fog of uncertainty.
The music is dominant at first, much in the manner of season
six, episode 10 of Game of Thrones The Winds of Winter.
The one with the haunting piano music.
This time we've got haunting strings instead, and there's
dialogue, but it can't be made out over the music.
It's only been a few hours at most since the bloody murder of
Prince J Harris, but the fall has just begun.
Welcome to another history of Westeros, House of the Dragon
breakdown. All the details, callbacks,
themes, and points of interest that we caught are here, and let
us know in the comments if we missed anything.
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these explainers as soon as they drop.
The gates to the city are closed.
We see guards rounding up servants, a dog given a piece of
cloth to get a scent, and eventually a familiar face in
Sir Kristen Cole, who carries a look of guilt and shame, as is
proper and in this case somewhat deserved given his role in the
incident. Or perhaps lack of role is more
accurate. Allison as well believes her
relationship with Cole is partly to blame, that this is a
punishment for their sins. This was Damon, not the seven.
The music ends suddenly as we panned to King Aegon, lost to
grief and fury as he smashes his father's Valyrian models.
He shouts of traitors and villains that I declare war and
curiously fire from the sky. He screams I am the king.
A call back to win. Tywin Lannister told Joffrey any
man who must say I am the King King is no true king at all.
But he didn't say it, he screamed it.
The destruction of his father's beloved display represents how
Aegon views his father's legacy. It doesn't bode well, but it's
fitting that he's destroying the thing Viserys spent all his time
on. Instead of being a father or a
king, Aegon wants revenge and he wants it now.
He also does not want to play the political propaganda games
that Otto and the council believe will lend great support
to their cause. The claim that Jaris's blood
could do more for them than 1000 nights is made, and though it is
a cruel thing to say to a father, it is good advice to a
king. Politics must come before
sentiment is the message here, and given the enduring message
of Game of Thrones, you win or you die.
There's truth to this as well. If they don't play politics,
they will all be joining the young Prince in the grave.
Otto says they must investigate in case there is still danger or
a second enemy, but they will blame Rainier regardless and
capitalizing the consequences to her reputation.
Agons earlier rage vanishes into a wash of grief as he gives up
the argument. His sons body will be a
spectacle and his mother and sister wife the Queen will be
too. A lack of love and sympathy for
one another is on display here, and not for the first time with
the Greens. Egon and Helena pass each other
in the hall and Elena looks to him for something, anything, but
he cannot bring himself to speak to her.
This is how he was raised. His own mother stopped short of
comforting him and leaves him in tears without a word.
Elaine, of course, does not wish to share her grief with a bunch
of random strangers, but Allison talks her into it as she did her
son. Allison allows her father Otto
to see her grief, but not her children.
The first words of episode one are Duty is Sacrifice, remember?
And we know from A Song of Ice and Fire that it is often love
to get sacrificed to the altar of duty as it is here in episode
2 when it is most needed. The procession leaves
immediately without even a change of location.
In fact, we stay at the Red Key for about 15 full minutes to
start the episode of what is approximately a 69 minute
episode. Nice, but the procession is not
nice at all. Helena can barely contain her
discomfort as the crowd gathers and the words of a priest ring
out. Behold the works of Rainier, a
pretender to the throne, Defiler of the innocent and Kinslayer.
The crowd shouts out terms that will later be associated with
characters yet to be born. Rainier the Monstrous and
another name. Rainier or the Cruel, the name
of the episode and meant to remind the realm of Megor, the
worst Targaryen king to date in this era.
Rainier's initial reaction is confusion, especially when
confronted with the idea that even some of her own people
believe her capable of issuing such a foul command.
There's argument and clamor with Lord Celtagard declaring that
this has done immeasurable damage to our 'cause.
It's only when Rainier realizes Damon has said nothing at all
during the meeting that she understands that he is the
guilty one. When Rainier confronts Damon
about the murder, she accuses him of putting his grievances
before their claim to the throne.
Before her claim to the throne, it must be said.
Now weakened, she points out Damon claims Viserys feared him,
but Ranira corrects that notion, saying no, he wasn't afraid of
you, he couldn't trust you. She declares that she cannot
trust him either and believes his former ambitions are still
in play. He angrily denies this and
storms off to Caraxis. Leaving the island, Raney's and
Carly's have another of their bedroom chats where they wonder
about Damon's ability to be a follower, but suggest winning
Harren Hall would make up for a lot.
Baylor also believes he's headed for Harren Hall and has a
conversation with Jace. After a brief chat with Ranira
while showing her skill with the crossbow, they discussed their
fathers, says she has a love hate relationship with Damon,
and asks about her uncle Lenor and then Sir Harwin Strong.
It's clear she knows and that Jace knows she knows.
Rainier orders Bela to take her dragon and watch King's Landing
from a distance. She'll be able to see ships,
armies or Dragons coming and or going, though ships can't go
very far with the blockade. Tightening The blockade is
referenced as well by Hugh Hammer and his wife Kat, who we
see watching the funeral procession earlier.
As food is growing more expensive every day and those
with means begin to hoard, they also worry that Aegon will not
fulfill his promise to pay The Smiths in advance.
Allen of Hollows reunited with his brother Adam, a shipwright.
They also discuss food, but as they are working for the
perpetrators of the blockade, they're not wanting.
Adam encourages Allen to serve directly with Lord Corliss
because it's a means to fortune and because the Sea Snake owes
them something. The plot thickens when a later
scene shows a dragon that appears to be sea smoke circling
high above Adam. He watches in awe as we wonder
what's on his mind. And I do mean both of them.
Earlier, Prince Damon returned to his quarters to find the
secret passage open and the coins he left in the map missing
except for one that was dropped. He studies it and for a moment
the coin covers his eye. A golden dragon, the sigil of
the greens, covering his one good eye.
That symbolism, my friends. He quickly learns he was the
target of the assassins, but rather than it making him
frightful, it puffs up his ego. Like Damon's belief that Viserys
feared him, Amon in turn believes Damon fears him.
They're both wrong. He was in a brothel the night of
the murderer. The same one we see Cole and
Amon visit in season one episode so 9.
While looking for Aegon, Eamon tells the Madam that he regrets
quote that business with Luke confirming that it wasn't his
intention to kill, only that he lost his temper.
She reminds him that it is the small folk who suffer when
Princess lose their temper. A call back to virus is lined to
Ned. Why is it always the innocents
who suffer most when you high Lords play your Game of Thrones?
A topic Eamon does not raises whether or not he considers
himself heir to the throne over his knees, Jahara.
This is a consequence of Jahara's death that has yet to
be fully explored. Some of the houses supporting
the Greens want only men on the throne.
Might withhold their support if Jahara is named Aegon's heir.
Another consequence is more apparent.
Laris informs the council that they've caught a gold cloak in
possession of the prince's head. The prisoner quickly admits
Damon hired him before the king takes his revenge personally.
Part of it anyway. As he continues to drink, the
King's rage turns to excitement as a plan is given to him by Sir
Kristen Cole, who is eager to wipe out his own shame but not
eager to take responsibility for it.
He throws the blame at Sir Arek in what was likely a false
display of anger designed to guilt the knight into taking
direct. Or maybe Sir Kristen really is
that big of a hypocrite. After first shaming him over a
literal stain on his cloak, he refers to the bigger
metaphorical stain of a Prince dying on his watch.
This is clearly projection on Cole's part, and Sir Ark knows
it. He points out that Sir Kristen
is the Lord Commander, not him, that he was where he was
supposed to be with the King. And why exactly didn't Sir
Kristen have any guards posted at Queen Helena's chambers,
where the heir and his young sister slept every night?
But as is well established, Sir Ark is a man of duty and the
guilt trip works well enough despite the hypocrisy.
The Lord Commander orders Sir Ark to go to Dragonstone to kill
Ranira, expecting that the guards will mistake him for his
twin brother. Otto learns of this and is
stunned that this prank, as he calls it, was put into action
without consulting the council. He learns this just after he
discovers that Egon has hanged the city rat catchers.
The guilty man was indeed hanged, but so were 99 innocent
ones. This is a call back to Megor the
Cruel, who had all the builders executed after having the Red
Keeps tunnels built. This scene is also the first
time we see Off the White, though his role is yet to come.
Otto, a man who always thinks of politics first, who chooses his
words carefully, doesn't do either and loses his temper.
He compounds his unwise yet understandable diatribe by
bringing up King Viserys legacy, but as we pointed out earlier,
Aegon isn't a fan of his father's legacy and doesn't want
to be like him. Just as Aegon and Cole can't
help themselves in their pursuit of immediate violent
gratification, Otto can't seem to help himself in thinking of
Aegon as his grandson instead of as the King.
He goes too far and remembering the recent advice by Laurice,
Aegon fires him, replacing him with Sir Kristen.
The security failure is apparently forgiven by way of an
assassination plot. He says that his new hand will
be a steel fist. Fresh off is firing.
Otto speaks with Allison in private about how they can get
back in control of their family. The script has been flipped
here. Otto and Allison were constantly
in odds in season one, now they're working directly
together. Meanwhile it is the reverse for
the Blacks. Ranira and Damon were in
cooperation on most things in season one, but now their trust
is in question and they are not currently working in concert.
Damon and Otto both scoring their sovereign on the way out
while pointing to how little King Viserus thought of them.
Damon tells Renira she wouldn't have been queen if not for
Viserys needing a way to push him aside, while Otto scorns
Aegons belief that Viseros wanted him to be king at all.
Damon is discussed. Seemed to be heading for
Harrenhal, while Otto says he'll go to Old Town, where Allison's
other son Daron is a Squire and a dragon rider and obedient.
Allison still believes she can steer her son, the King, in the
right direction, but her feelings of guilt related to her
sin remains strong, which Otto tells her to keep to herself.
She returns almost immediately to that very same sin upon
finding Sir Kristen waiting in her bed chamber.
A hot guy who took a vow of chastity.
A hot woman who was married to a much older, not to mention sick,
man as a teenager. There's no temptation here
whatsoever. Let's not forget this was once
Rainier his bed chamber, but Cole has now gotten more action
in that room than either of them.
Rainier his portion of the episode will also have a climax
in her bedroom. But before that there's a scene
with her that takes place in Dragon Sons library.
Look at all those books and scrolls.
It is lore porn. Or would be if we could see the
pages. We only get like two.
She reads a book about Visenya and ancestors she seems to have
some interest in. Recall back in season one
episode one that while her father wanted a boy to be named
Bailon, Rainiera wanted the newborn to be a sister named
Asenia. Last episodes of Blockade picked
up the White Worm fleeing King's Landing.
Mazzaria believes the Hightower's burned her home and
is partly right. She also believes men like Otto
and Damon will never accept her. And she's completely right.
She told Sir Eric, last time we met there were two of you, and
this turned out to be foreshadowing of sorts.
Mazzaria is skilled at mixing deeply held truths with
fabrications, and she wins enough of Rainiera's trust to be
given the freedom that Damon promised her.
Despite her complicity in Blood and Cheese.
She might gain even more than trust after the event at the end
of the episode, we'll see. But it's a big deal to save a
Queen's life, and it's strongly implied that's what's happened,
that she rushed back to the castle to inform Sir Eric that
his brother was masquerading as him.
Sir Eric is able to evade his brother by hiding around a
corner, but everyone else he simply walks past.
Much of it is quite similar to Blood, and she's simply walking
past everyone like they belonged.
Sir Eric strolls past the Painted Table, not unlike how
they walked through the throne room past Sir Arik.
Then he takes Sir Laurent Marbrand away from his post at
Rainier Chambers and waits a bit longer, presumably for Sir
Laurent to get further away. Then he makes his move.
He enters slowly, showing some hesitation, and indeed he had
earlier expressed grave reservations about a night of
the Kingsguard, quote trafficking in deception.
Once again, however, his sense of duty takes hold, but not
before his brother was warned and manages to interrupt him
just in time. The two brothers clash in a
moment that will reverberate through the ages.
I wonder if the onlookers had any clue they were watching a
legend play out before their eyes, but that's exactly what
happened. This duel is mentioned not only
in the historical sources Fire and Blood and The World of Ice
and Fire, but in Brands second chapter of A Game of Thrones
book one. He grew up wanting to be a King
Transguard himself and recalls their tragic duel as one of the
most famous events in White Sword history.
In fact, they're mentioned before Rainier and Egon ever
are. House of the Dragon combined
elements from the histories to give us a thrilling and tragic
fight. They expressed love for each
other that differing views on duty tore them apart, all while
sending identical blows at one another.
The BTS makes it clear that each brother received an identical
wound in the leg and in the arm, and they didn't want people to
even know that much. The onlookers in the room, as
well as all of us watching, had little idea which brother was
which until Sir Eric fell on his sword in grief, believing
himself to be responsible for the threat.
It's confirmed that that was him and that Ranira understood it as
soon as he called her Your Grace.
Even though he defeated that deadly threat and in doing so
performed the highest duty possible for a Kings Guard or
Queens Guard, he felt the most pain he had ever felt in slaying
his twin. Episode one had a theme of duty,
but episode 2 saw duty cast aside for revenge and all the
accompanying consequences to both perpetrator and victims.
The escalation towards All at War with Dragons continues.
Make sure to catch History of Westeros full podcast episode
where everything here and much more is discussed in greater
detail. And check out our preview
episodes filled with predictions and guesses and theories but
never leaks. Until next time, Valari Ritas.