Full spoilers follow for House of the Dragon season 2.
House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 2 is out now – and the latest chapter of the hit show all but answers one of the source material’s biggest lingering mysteries.
The Max Show’s latest entry, titled ‘Rhaenyra the Cruel’, follows the gruesome finale of its predecessor, with Houses Targaryen and Hightower dealing with the consequences of the gruesome act committed in the final scene of Episode 1. Unsurprisingly, this event leads to further escalations between the warring families – all of which comes to a new blood-soaked headline in the final minutes of Episode 2.
I cannot emphasize this enough: I’m about to get into heavy spoiler territory for House of the Dragon the second episode of season 2 right after this paragraph. Do not go beyond this point if you are not overtaken.
The downfall of Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk
Born together. #ErrykandArryk pic.twitter.com/GzmwLTamSnJune 24, 2024
Following the death of Prince Jaehaerys at the hands of the Daemon-funded duo known as Blood and Cheese, Ser Arryk Cargyll – one of the two Cargyll Twins – is sent to kill Rhaenyra Targaryen. He is tasked with this task by a vengeful Ser Criston, who not only feels guilty about his failure to protect Jaehaerys, but also wants Arryk to prove his loyalty to House Hightower by assassinating their enemy’s commander-in-chief.
As mentioned, Arryk has an identical twin brother: Ser Erryk, who, despite his brother swearing allegiance to the Hightowers, swore allegiance to Rhaenyra in season 1. Taking advantage of the pair’s indistinguishable similarity, Arryk infiltrates Dragonstone with the aim of killing Rhaenyra. Unfortunately for Arryk, Erryk is warned by Mysaria of his brother’s betrayal, leading to the twins fighting to the death in Rhaenyra’s bedroom as the usurped Queen of Westeros watches in horror.
Considering that House of the Dragonalso known as one of the best Max shows, takes place Game of Thrones‘(Got) barbaric universe, it won’t be a surprise to hear that plenty of blood is shed during The Battle of the Cargyll Twins. In short: both men die – Erryk eventually kills Arryk, before killing himself in front of a stunned Rhaenyra; a decision that probably stemmed from his grief at having to kill his twin brother.
How House of the Dragon answers a long-standing question about fire and blood
Aside from the identity of each twin – there has been confusion over who wins the battle online – the above is pretty easy to follow, right? Well, it’s anything but that in ‘Fire & Blood’, George RR Martin’s novel that covers the Targaryen civil war.
You see, in the source material there is no canonical version of how the fatal confrontation plays out. There are indeed three different accounts written by different individuals. The first simply states that the duo killed each other. The second suggests that they professed their brotherly love for each other, fought for an hour, mortally wounded each other, and died in each other’s arms. The latest account suggests that both called each other a traitor, that the fight lasted only seconds, and saw a mortally wounded Erryk kill Arryk, while the former died of his wounds four days later.
With three stories that give different interpretations of how events happened, and how House of the Dragon co-creator Ryan Condal decides on what basis the TV adaptation’s battle should be based? As Condal revealed to me ahead of the launch of Season 2 on Max (in the US), aka one of the top streaming services, all three were surprisingly used to create the series’ take on the soul-crushing incident.
“Your grace, forgive me.” #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/m5DyDLDDt3June 24, 2024
“I was fascinated by a version of the duel between the Cargylls that was honorable, but also brutal and very unromantic,” Condal explained. “I thought, ‘How can we take these two characters who we’ve come to know a little bit and who are brothers who love each other, who have been on different sides of this conflict, and make it a satisfying and honorable conclusion for both of them ? theirs?’
“I remembered inside Thronesthat Sansa (Stark) often romanticized knights and chivalry before things went south for her, but I wanted to show it (The Battle of the Cargyll Twins) in a way that doesn’t romanticize the event, knowing that history will tell later romanticize .
“So this felt like a good kind of meeting amid the different stories that are given in history and then the way that Sansa and other characters remember it 150 years later. This felt like a beautiful synthesis of everything that gives you those things and also literally puts it in Rhaenyra’s space so that you feel the danger for the character, i.e. the target of this assassination attempt at the center of this.
You can expect even more House of the Dragon report from me in the coming weeks. In the meantime, read my review of House of the Dragon season 2 to get spoiler-free insight into episodes 3 and 4, or find out what Condal had to say about it House of the Dragon the development of Season 3 before the high-fantasy show’s third season was greenlit.
House of the Dragon season 2 is available now on Max (US), Sky/Now TV (UK) and Foxtel/Binge (Australia).
