House of the Dragon: A Son For a Son

The season two premiere kicks off where the last season ended. Aemond has killed Lucerys and his dragon, and Aegon has control of King’s Landing. The Velaryons have a blockade against the city, and both Daemon and Otto try to rally Houses to their respective sides. That is the setup you need to know. Now on to some of my thoughts that will contain spoilers…

-Loved the meeting between Jace and Cregan Stark at The Wall. The episode begins with this, and with Cregan explaining how House Stark has always pledged a man to the Night’s Watch (the Stark bannermen are shown drawing stones from a bag). Jace wants Cregan to support his mother, and Lord Stark agrees, but says he can only send 2000 graybeards to help out because he needs his army to defend the North since Winter is Coming. He also has a great line when Jace jokes about protecting the North from Wildlings and snow. Cregan responds “do you think my ancestors built a 700 foot wall to stop savages and weather?” Jace then asks what else is out there, and Cregan says “death.” 

-I have to stick with Cregan for a minute. He recounts the story of when Jaehaerys and Alysanne visited The Wall, their dragons would not fly over them. He says that they were afraid of whatever was beyond The Wall. That is one of my favorite tidbits in the book because during the account, it is mentioned that the dragons (I think Alysanne’s dragon in particular) seemed unable to fly over The Wall, like there was a magical barrier…

-We better see more of Cregan this season. I feel like in the book, Jace and Cregan become good friends (rumor that Jace’s dragon laid a clutch of eggs, which Jace gave to Lord Cregan). 

-I think Daemon has the right idea, if he and Rhaenys attack quickly, they might be able to defeat Vhagar and Aemond. 

-It is interesting how both sides blame members of their own side for not killing quickly enough. Otto and the council (and definitely Aemond) believe Alicent should have killed Rhaenyra and her family when they had the chance. Daemon is pissed that Rhaenys did not kill Aegon (nor the Kingsguard…whichever twin is on their side). Both Alicent and Rhaenyra believed there could be a peaceful way to settle this, but Lucerys death proves there can be no peaceful transfer of power.

-Aegon is almost likeable when he is listening to the petitioning smallfolk. Otto is a complete dick. Practical, and honest, but still a dick. I enjoy that he is similar to Tywin, but still quite different. It would be easy to make Otto a carbon copy. Otto seems to enjoy wielding this power, and wants to manipulate things for his gain. Tywin only cares about furthering his House, and his line. I think if Tywin knew Jaime would be able to take over the family business and be completely competent (or that one of this grandkids ended up being a strong, powerful king), Tywin would retire back to Casterly Rock in order to do some flyfishing and hunting. Unfortunately, he does not feel like he can leave his family to their own devices. They prove him right on multiple occasions. Otto just wants to be in control, even when there are more capable people around to wield said power. He manipulates the king, he manipulates his daughter. Tywin was not a manipulator, more of a “dominate you through sheer will” which is definitely not Otto’s way of things. 

-Okay, now comes the horrifying part of the episode. I knew it was coming this season. I assumed it would be quite early, but I was not ready for it to happen in episode one. I actually thought when Rhaenyra returns to Dragonstone and says that she wants Aemond dead, that the episode would there. But no. Daemon sneaks off to King’s Landing, and pays one of his old guards to sneak into the Red Keep and kill the prince. Blood and Cheese (as they are known in the book) sneak through the tunnels until they reach Aemond’s room, but he is not there. Daemon told them to return with the head of a prince. The two assassins find Helaena and her children. The scene plays out differently in the show. They ask her which one is the prince, she points to Jaehaerys, and the guardsman thinks she is lying, but the ratcatcher realizes she is telling the truth. In the book, the force Helaena to choose which child should die. She picks the youngest one, but in a cruel twist the two men cut off Jaehaery’s head in a single stroke (I cannot remember which one kills him). Instead, in the show, we can hear them cutting off the prince’s head (it does not sound very pleasant), while Helaena runs away with her other child to Alicent’s room (where she is banging Ser Criston).

-Remember, Helaena tried to warn everyone about her prophecy of the beast under the boards. There are multiple interpretations, but I think her family should start listening to her crazy dreams. 

-The war is truly kicked off, the Greens will need to avenge this assassination. The Blacks will have to counter whatever they do, while trying to gain support of the noble houses of Westeros. The thing to remember is that there are no good guys or bad guys in this story. Both sides do awful things. But that being said, I am still rooting for Team Black.