House Of The Dragon Season 2: How Sequel's First Murder Was More Horrific In The Books; Read

House of the Dragon season 2 explores the violent power struggle within House Targaryen, featuring gruesome events like the murder orchestrated by Blood and Cheese.

By Shovan Roy

Published on Jun 21, 2024 | 12:11 AM IST | 40.7K

House of the Dragon Season 2 (Image via IMDb)

Trigger warning: This article contains spoilers from the show.

House of the Dragon Season 2 has two powerful taglines ‘Blood for Blood’ and ‘Fire to Fire.’ Team Green and Team Black are fighting a vicious war against each other this season to take over the Iron Throne. However, unlike stories in Game of Thrones, chaos and infighting now pervade House Targaryen as it once again splits into warring factions. The dragon monarchs have ruled the Seven Kingdoms for centuries but their reign is being threatened and the entire realm suffers the consequences.

War affects all

Westeros never spares anyone, be they paupers or aristocrats; when there is a war. Horror often comes from fear, hate, or greed. From that moment on, everything has been building up since Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) murdered his young cousin Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault), thus igniting this civil conflict. Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) wants revenge while her husband Daemon (Matt Smith) takes violence to another level.

One of the most heinous killings ever seen happened this season. Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and her young son are both brutally slain. It might be shocking but readers who know the original material may even feel somewhat relieved here because this particular scene was even more horrifying in the book.

Introducing Blood and Cheese

Some of George R.R. Martin's narratives remind us of dark times we have experienced throughout history. Game of Thrones had its version of such an incident when readers waited eagerly for something like the Red Wedding which was one of the bloodiest affairs within this series. House of Dragon introduces its own calamity in the form of Blood and Cheese which is comparable to horror brought forth by those characters’ performances on screen.

The book tells about Daemon’s revenge story both in the TV roundup Game of Thrones and in the source material. He manages to get Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) who was previously his lover on board together with Blood, an officer of the City Watch, and Cheese a rat-catcher. They aim to kill King Aegon’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) family by infiltrating the Red Keep. Daemon’s orders are carried out through a gruesome act of violence that has fulfilled his heartless eye for an eye policy.

A tragedy worse in the books

This event is consistent with the House of Dragon’s portrayal even if it involves some changes from the book. So in that book, Blood and Cheese kidnap Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke), leaving her daughter Helaena with only one child but two swords hanging over their heads. Helaena names Maelor and, instead, Cheese kills Jaehaerys. Although the scene is softened slightly, it remains equally brutal on screen.

In the show version, Blood and Cheese still makes Helaena choose. As she speaks she is telling them truthfully who her son is and they murder him just as he’s named. This scene is quite disturbing and can be seen as setting up for more vengeance.

The consequences of Blood and Cheese’s actions will likely follow the books’ storylines. His son having been murdered will make King Aegon furious hence he will seek revenge. It shows that often war's victims are those we care about most deeply; this act of brutality serves as a grim reminder of that fact.

Thus as this TV series advances further viewers will come across a number of ramifications associated with such ruthless House Targaryen’s internal conflict characterized by violence throughout war episodes.

ALSO READ: House of Dragon Season 2: Major Deaths To Expect In This Season