Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD for the Season 2 premiere of House of the Dragon on HBO.
Almost two years have passed since House of the Dragon’s first season ended with war all but guaranteed within the Targaryen family tree. The premiere of House of the Dragon Season 2 involved Daemon pursuing vengeance against the Greens for the death of Lucerys, and his move was one that readers of George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood have been eagerly awaiting and/or dreading. The gruesome end of the episode delivered the expected twist, but there were some major changes from the book that are a big deal for Daemon.
I will eventually get into spoilers for Fire & Blood, but the first section below is spoiler-free for anything other than the Season 2 premiere. Let's start with the game-changing and gruesome ending!
A Son For A Son: What Happened In The Season 2 Premiere
Season 2 picked up with Rhaenyra MIA from Dragonstone looking for proof of Luke’s death while Daemon tried to rule in her absence… with limited success. Once Rhaenyra was back and declared that she wanted Aemond, Daemon had a mission and it didn’t involve the fire and blood on dragonback he originally envisioned. Instead, he recruited the help of Mysaria to sneak back to King’s Landing, where he bought the assistance of a still-loyal gold cloak and a ratcatcher.
Daemon ordered them to sneak into the Red Keep to "find and slay the prince Aemond Targaryen." The episode didn’t show Daemon’s response when they asked what to do if they couldn’t find Aemond, but they had their assignment: a son for a son. And sadly, there was a reason why the prophetic Helaena was worried about rats, as well as why I’d originally thought there might be a hidden layer to her concern about the “beast beneath the boards” in Season 1.
The ratcatcher and gold cloak found Helaena and the twins before they could track down Aemond, and made the most of the situation by forcing the young queen at knifepoint to name which of the sleeping children was the boy. There was some debate about whether she was telling the truth about which was which, but as they were short on time, they ultimately chose a twin to behead, giving Helaena the chance to grab her other child and run to her mother.
Her mother was busy in bed with Ser Criston Cole, of all people. Crumpling to the floor and holding her surviving child to her, Helaena confirmed: they’d killed the boy. The episode ended before showing the aftermath, but Aegon has lost his heir in brutal fashion, and if war wasn’t guaranteed after Lucerys, it certainly is now. A son for a son. Now, let’s get into how this incident happened quite differently in George R.R. Martin’s book.
WARNING: SPOILERS are ahead for FIre & Blood through the end of the chapter called “The Dying of the Dragons–A Son for a Son” about the death of Prince Jaehaerys and no further.
What Fire & Blood Did Differently
The murder of the little boy is undoubtedly one of the most despicable acts of House of the Dragon so far, but believe it or not, Jaehaerys' death was actually much worse in the pages of Fire & Blood. The incident is known as "Blood and Cheese," and it's so truly awful that the I've been speculating since December that some Team Black supporters might jump ship to Team Green over it.
Daemon's immediate reaction to Luke's death in Fire & Blood was iconic: "An eye for an eye, a son for a son. Lucerys shall be avenged." He proceeded to reach out to Mysaria, who arranged the "terrible vengeance" with two men: a murderous former gold cloak who was remembered to history as "Blood," and a ratcatcher remembered as "Cheese." As in the show, they used the tunnels into the Red Keep from the time of Maegor the Cruel.
George R.R. Martin writes that "some say their quarry was the king himself, but Aegon was accompanied by the Kingsguard wherever he went, and even Cheese knew of no way in and out of Maegor's Holdfast save over the drawbridge that spanned the dry moat and its formidable iron spikes." In the book, Aemond was never the target, nor was Aegon. The target on page was always Aegon's son.
Blood and Cheese crept into Alicent's room and waited for Helaena to bring her three children, at which point the servants were killed and the intruders announced that they were "Debt collectors." They only wanted "an eye for an eye, a son for a son," and wouldn't hurt any but the one boy. Helaena begged them to kill her instead, but Blood and Cheese insisted that she had to choose one of her two sons. George R.R. Martin writes:
Cheese warned the queen to make a choice soon, before Blood grew bored and raped her little girl. 'Pick,' he said, 'or we kill them all.' On her knees, weeping, Helaena named her youngest, Maelor. Perhaps she thought the boy was too young to understand, or perhaps it was because the older boy, Jaehaerys, was King Aegon's firstborn son and heir, next in line to the Iron Throne. 'You hear that, little boy?' Cheese whispered to Maelor. 'Your momma wants you dead.' Then he gave Blood a grin, and the hulking swordsman slew Prince Jaehaerys, striking off the boy's head with a single blow. The queen began to scream.
Even more awful than the Season 2 premiere, right? I won't get into spoilers about the aftermath since the show might adapt that to start Episode 3 next week, but both show and book established that Helaena and her surviving children – or child, in the case of HOTD – survived the encounter with Blood and Cheese. (Much like how Alicent's fourth child hasn't appeared yet, Maelor wasn't present.)
Jaehaerys' life was taken on Daemon's orders in retaliation for Luke's death, and Aemond was never the target. Alicent was present, not in bed with Cole. And as hard as it is to celebrate anything after Blood and Cheese, how the show changed it from the book kind of evens the field after one of my biggest issues with Season 1, which concerned the portrayals of Daemon and the Greens.
What It Changes For Daemon
My perspective on the Dance of the Dragons has always been that the Greens started it, and all the fire and blood that followed was on them for usurping the throne. And as ruthless as Daemon would become by the end, he really wasn't all that villainous (by George R.R. Martin standards) before the Dance began. So, I was quite annoyed when House of the Dragon had Daemon murdering his first wife, since he definitely wasn't responsible in the book.
And that was only one of many instances of how I felt House of the Dragon was changing from the book to make the Greens look better than the Blacks, often to Daemon's detriment. Since there was no way "Blood and Cheese" would be cut from Season 2, the first season softening the Greens' worst actions just felt unfair to me. But the Season 2 premiere evened the field somewhat.
Alicent hooking up with Criston Cole wasn't a good look for either of them, and the change of having her in bed with the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard instead of with Helaena for "Blood and Cheese" really knocked her down some moral pegs. I didn't exactly celebrate this massive departure from the book for Alicent, but... turnabout is fair play, I guess?
Plus, Daemon not telling the assassins on screen to murder Jaehaerys if they couldn't find Aemond makes him look marginally less responsible for the boy being beheaded in his bed, if we're going to split hairs. If Aemond didn't mean to kill Luke, perhaps it's fair from a story perspective if Daemon didn't mean for Jaehaerys to die?
Could Episode 3 open with Daemon announcing that it actually was his idea for Jaehaerys to die if the assassins couldn't find Aemond? Sure, and I truly hope there's a larger point to Alicent/Cole than just HOTD wanting to include some non-incestuous sex on an HBO show. But I appreciated that this was finally a change from the book that didn't make Daemon look worse while making the Greens look better, and that could mean a lot for his character as the Dance truly begins.
I'm willing to wait and see what's up with Alicent and Cole, and I'm glad I didn't have to watch GRRM's "Blood and Cheese" in live-action. Keep tuning in to HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for the remaining episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2, which will be two episodes shorter than Season 1. You can also stream the series with a Max subscription.
