This is the first episode script which Ti Mikkel has specifically received credit for: Mikkel is George R.R. Martin's writing assistant and representative in the House of the Dragon writers' room, to keep track of book lore. Mikkel was actively involved in official meetings of the writers' room during Season 1 but wasn't credited with a specific script. Similarly, Season 2's third episode "The Burning Mill" was the first script officially credited to David Hancock, though technically he had been "in the writer's room" during Season 1 as an assistant and script continuity editor.
Fitting Mikkel's status as Martin's representative and book lore keeper in the writers' room, this episode contains many specific easter eggs from the novels. For example, the numerous geographic locations namedropped during the council scenes in King's Landing, Dragonstone, and particularly Harrenhal are all established locations from the books, some of them relatively obscure ("Lambswold" and "Riverbend").
This is the first episode of House of the Dragon in which no one dies on-screen, as the Blackwoods' attack on the Brackens is only mentioned in dialogue. The only other episodes in which no named characters died were "The Rogue Prince," featuring Craghas Drahar nailing several sailors to stakes at low tide, and "Driftmark," in which Daemon snapped the neck of a Velaryon servant to pass off as Laenor's corpse. Thus, it is the third episode in which no named character died.
Criston Cole remarks that the dragon Sunfyre was taking a long time to die, so he left with his army, and Rhaenyra similarly thinks Sunfyre is dead.
This is the first episode of House of the Dragon to feature up to six different locations across Westeros, breaking the previous high of five locations set earlier in Season 2.
In contrast, Season 1 rarely featured more than three different locations within a single episode (usually the core trio of King's Landing, Dragonstone, and Driftmark, which are all near each other on Blackwater Bay).
"A Son for a Son" set a new high of five locations due to Jace's visit to the Wall and Rhaenyra's brief time at Shipbreaker Bay searching for confirmation of Luke's death.
"The Burning Mill" then introduced Harrenhal as a fourth major recurring location (and arguably showed five locations if the Burning Mill is considered more than an outlier of the Harrenhal subplot).
"The Red Dragon and the Gold" showed the four core locations, as well as Rook's Rest (arguably six as Criston Cole's army sacks Duskendale before arriving at Rook's Rest, but Cole's army were the same set of characters).
Now in this episode, there are prominent storylines set in the core locations of King's Landing, Dragonstone, Driftmark, and Harrenhal (four), as well as substantial scenes introducing the Eyrie and the Twins, for a total of six (arguably seven, if Daemon treating with the Brackens while their castle Stone Hedge can be seen in the distance is considered more than an extension of the Harrenhal storyline).
Enough time has passed in Season 2 that the ratcatchers Aegon had hanged in the second episode have now rotted to skeletons. Decomposition rates are extremely variable depending on moisture and temperature, but it seems roughly two to four weeks may have passed since then. In the fourth episode Simon Strong said that Cole's army, which left King's Landing in the third episode, had been marching to Rook's Rest for a fortnight (two weeks). Combined with the statements that roughly two weeks passed between the Season 1 finale and Season 2 premiere, and the second episode happened right after the first, it seems that roughly four to six weeks have passed since the death of King Viserys. Also factor into this that in the second episode it was shown that food supplies in King's Landing were already running low due to the blockade and panicked hoarding by those who could, and now in this episode it is shown that the markets are down to their last moldy bread. If food was already running low in the second episode, it would be implausible if something like a full two or three months had passed between the second and fifth episodes.
Filming locations[]
The large procession of the dragon Meleys's head through the streets of King's Landing was filmed in Spain, using a combination of streets in Caceres and nearby Trujillo edited together.
The grassy hills near Stone Hedge where Daemon treats with the Brackens in the Riverlands was filmed in Wales, which became a new filming region for the series in Season 2.
As explained in the behind-the-scenes video, most of the Hall of Nine where Corlys appears on the Driftwood throne in this episode was actually filmed on a bluescreen set. While the Hall of Nine was a fully realized physical set built for Season 1, when the production team reviewed the Season 2 outline they determined that it didn't appear frequently enough in these episodes to justify the cost of unpacking and rebuilding it (most of the pieces were put into cold storage). Instead the choice was made that the most efficient use would be to devote those resources to building the new, fully realized Driftmarks dock set (apparently in Spicetown). The logic was that Corlys spends most of the season at the docks overseeing the repairs to his ship, so other characters such as Rhaenys or Baela could just go talk to him there.
Jeyne Arryn's statement that the Eyrie is impregnable (unless it is attacked by dragons) is perhaps a callback to Tyrion's words "The Eyrie. They say it's impregnable" ("The Wolf and the Lion").
In King's Landing[]
A pair of Silent Sisters are waiting at the door of Aegon's royal chamber when Maester Orwyle and the other healers initially bring him in. They are the monastic order of the Faith of the Seven specifically devoted to caring for the bodies of the dead. Their presence emphasizes just how close to the brink of death Aegon's physicians thought he was: a loose real-life equivalent would be if a Catholic priest was explicitly shown administering last rites.
As explained in the behind-the-scenes video, Aegon survived a direct blast from Vhagar's dragonfire because he was wearing a full suit of Valyrian steel armor: this rare and possibly magical metal is fireproof, so it mostly withstood the blast where regular steel armor would have completely melted and killed him. What the Valyrian steel could not protect against was the sheer amount of heat from convection, so while the metal didn't melt it still became red hot, essentially like pressing Aegon's flesh against the inside of an oven. In designing the specific design of Aegon's burns, prosthetics artist Waldo Mason explained that they are contact burns from where his flesh was pressed against the heated metal, which has a different appearance compared to burns caused by open flames. Aegon happened to be pressing closer against the left side of his armor, so that side was burned more severely. If he had simply been engulfed in a fireball the burns would have been even across his body. Another result is that for the most part Aegon's hair did not catch fire, because it was under his helmet. Only a few patches around the edge of his helmet were burned off, or on the left side where his flesh was outright seared by the metal.
In the book, Aegon didn't have a suit of Valyrian steel armor, but he also didn't receive a direct blast of dragonfire from Vhagar. He was still badly burned but may not have received a direct hit. The book does describe that the worst damage was to his left arm, where the steel outright melted into his flesh.
Aegon's burns caused by convection instead of open flame are comparable to how Anakin Skywalker was horrifically burned in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith: technically Anakin wasn't "thrown into lava," but was left maimed on the stone next to an active lava flow, which was still heated burning hot through convection. In both Aegon and Anakin's cases, the worst burns were not from open flames but from the points where their bodies were directly pressed against a superheated object. Similarly, Alicent was originally convinced that Aegon was the Prince That Was Promised, a "chosen one" who was prophesied to restore peace and stability.
In Game of Thrones Season 6, Daenerys is shown to be totally unharmed from burning the tent the Dothraki khals were in, and in the behind the scenes videos the cast and crew claimed that Daenerys is simply "fireproof". George R.R. Martin had already stated years before that Targaryens are not "immune to fire" and there are historical examples of several of them being burned. Martin also specifically stated that Daenerys surviving Drogo's funeral pyre was a one-time magical event associated with the blood sacrifice spell to hatch her dragon eggs. It's unclear if the TV writers thought all Targaryens are inherently fireproof (Jon Snow severely burns his hand in "The Pointy End" as in the book), or only Daenerys due to that hatching spell - but Martin made it clear the effect wore off after the spell finished so she isn't fireproof afterwards. Apparently the Game of Thrones showrunners simply invented Daenerys burning the khals this way and it doesn't match the outline they were given of the future books. In contrast, House of the Dragon has consistently shown that Targaryens are not immune to fire: Daemon was burned by a flaming arrow in "King of the Narrow Sea", and Laena Velaryon (whose mother was a Targaryen) self-immolated with dragonfire from Vhagar herself to avoid a drawn-out death by childbirth.
Actor Eddie Eyre previously appeared in Game of Thrones as Ser Gerold Hightower, in the flashback vision of the final battle with the Targaryen Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy. In this episode he prominently appears as the lead Hightower knight who announces that the "traitor dragon" Meleys is dead as they parade her severed head through the streets. Despite having prominent speaking lines he isn't credited as a specific Hightower ancestor and is only listed as a "Knight" in the credits.
The numbers given for the size of the Greens' army in the Battle at Rook's Rest are unclear, in both the book and TV series:
No numbers are given for the initial force that left King's Landing. As it advanced through the Crownlands it added the levies from Rosby and Stokeworth, so it "tripled" in size. When they first appeared from the tree line at Rook's Rest, the Staunton garrison commander said there were "at least" 1,400 to 1,500 - though he couldn't see the whole force, and Criston held the core Hightower force in reserve behind the tree line while sending the vassal Houses in first. In this episode, Criston says they lost 900 men.
In the book, the situation is reversed: numbers were given for the initial force that left King's Landing, but not for the levies from Rosby and Stokeworth that joined them. It is said that the initial force consisted of 100 knights, 500 men-at-arms, and "thrice as many" sellswords (1,800), so the total force that left King's Landing was 2,400. It's never specified that the levies from the Crownlands outright "tripled" their numbers by the time they reached Rook's Rest. The Green losses at Rook's Rest were said to be 800 men in the book; another hundred perished not long after, when Aemond and Criston took Rook's Rest and put its garrison to death.
Criston Cole cleans his sword with a sliced lemon coated in salt: because citric acid is a mild bleaching agent this is a non-abrasive practice for cleaning swords in real-life.[6] This seems symbolically paired with the opening scene at the market, where Hugh's wife Kat was searching through the last rotten lemons - showing how the smallfolk are running out of food due to the blockade. When Hugh was first introduced making a petition to Aegon, the petitioner before him was a merchant who warned that the city was starting to run out of salt due to the Velaryon blockade (which is needed to preserve food). In contrast, the Red Keep still has enough lemons and salt that Criston can use them to clean his weapons.
The Greens make a serious mistake by parading Meleys's head through the streets of King's Landing, in attempt to influence the public opinion: the people are not impressed by the "glorious victory" over the Blacks, but regard that as a bad omen, an abomination, and fear that Rhaenyra will retaliate. The fact that dragons can be killed only has made it clear that the Greens' dragons can be killed too.
In the Riverlands[]
Alyssa Targaryen, Viserys and Daemon's mother, appears on-screen for the first time, by means of a dream sequence. Her appearance doesn't match her distinctive features in the book, in which she had heterochromia (mismatching colors in each eye), and as a rough and tumble tomboy her nose was slightly crooked after breaking it in the training yard at a young age. Also in this episode, Rhaenyra and Baela discuss that Alyssa was actually the rider of Meleys before Rhaenys. She claimed the dragon of Daemon's mother, though Daemon himself would claim Caraxes, the prior mount of Rhaenys's own father Aemon.
It is the third episode in a row that Daemon has strange dreams at Harrenhal about his kin. It is uncertain whether the dreams have anything to do with the drink Alys Rivers gave him in the former episode.
Of all the dreams Daemon has at Harrenhal, the scene in this episode has disgusted and angered viewers the most. Even if viewers could somehow get used to (though not approve of) the Targaryens' tradition of incestuous relationships, like brother-sister, uncle-niece, and aunt-nephew - Daemon's dream about his mother has crossed the line. The facts that Daemon barely knew his mother (she died when he was three years old), and both actors are about the same age, have made the scene even more disturbing in the eyes of many viewers.[7]
Simon Strong tells Daemon that Harrenhal's roof has been in disrepair "since the reign of Aenys": this marks the first time that King Aenys Targaryen has been mentioned by name in a live-action TV episode.
Aenys was the elder son of Aegon the Conqueror through his sister-wife Rhaenys, thus "Ae-nys" (pronounced "A" like the letter and "niece" like a sibling's daughter).
Aenys was the second Targaryen king, and father of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Daemon is himself a younger grandson of Jaehaerys, so Simon is essentially saying "the roof has been in disrepair since your great-grandfather was on the throne" (about 90 years ago).
House Blackwood is one of the only major houses outside of the North who still follow the religion of the Old Gods and never converted to the Faith of the Seven. This is why Amos Bracken calls Willem Blackwood a "heathen" during their parley. The books state, however, that the Blackwood-Bracken feud started long before the Andals brought the Faith of the Seven to Westeros (their religious differences are a symptom of their feud, not a cause of it). Later, the angered other Riverlords complain to Daemon that the Blackwoods looted and burned sacred septs in Bracken lands: this similarly occurred in the book, and the in-universe historian specifically noted the Blackwoods weren't ashamed to commit such sacrilege because they follow a different religion (though no Riverlords complained to Daemon or to anyone else about that).
The Freys' demand of Harrenhal echoes what their descendant Walder Frey would demand many years later in return for his assistance ("And Now His Watch Is Ended"). In the books, the Freys never demanded Harrenhal, neither at the Targaryen era nor in the Baratheon era, perhaps due to its alleged curse.
Daemon makes a serious mistake by prompting Lord Blackwood to raid the Brackens' lands: rather than make an example of the Brackens to those who do not support the Blacks, the savagery of the raids, combined with the violation of septs, greatly anger the riverlords, and may cause them to support the Greens.
While not identified in dialogue and not wearing any heraldry, according to the credits the delegation of four River lords who confront Daemon consist of Lord Darry (John-Paul Hurley), Lady Mallister of Seagard (Anna Francolini), Lord Walys Mooton (Turlough Convery), and Lord Petyr Piper (Antonio Magro). "Lord Darry" didn't receive a first name in the book; House Mallister was said to have been led by Lord Jorah Mallister, but other than providing his name he was a minor background character nothing else is known about: the TV show apparently gender-swapped him to be "Lady Mallister".
Map of the Riverlands
House Mooton rules Maidenpool, a major port town on the east coast at the mouth of the Trident River, not too far north from Rook's Rest. Showing how the different fronts in the war overlap, in her storyline Rhaenyra urges that they should send swords and supplies to Maidenpool and Crackclaw Point by sea in case Criston Cole's army continues onward (though they instead withdrew back to King's Landing).
Meanwhile, on the western front of the war, in this episode Tyland again says that his brother Jason Lannister is massing the combined armies of the Westerlands at Golden Tooth: the seat of House Lefford which defends the mountain pass into the Riverlands. Golden Tooth borders the lands of House Piper, whose castle Pinkmaiden is on the opposite eastern side of the upper Red Fork of the Trident.
Daemon instructs Simon Strong to search for workers and supplies "from Antlers to High Heart": Antlers is located east from Harrenhal bordering the lands of House Mooton to the northeast, and High Heart is west of Harrenhal bordering the Bracken lands to the north. Antlers, ruled by House Buckwell, is actually the northwesternmost castle in the Crownlands: the border between the northern Crownlands and southeastern Riverlands is between Antlers and Maidenpool.
By this point in Season 2, nine different Houses from the Riverlands have been introduced on-screen: House Blackwood of Raventree Hall, House Bracken of Stone Hedge, and the rest of House Strong at Harrenhal in "The Burning Mill", Oscar Tully the heir to House Tully of Riverrun in "The Red Dragon and the Gold", and now this delegation of four lords to Harrenhal plus Jace meeting with the Freys at the Twins. It's a plot point that with old Lord Grover Tully incapacitated his vassals have become very fractious and have to be won over individually. In contrast, Cregan Stark and Jeyne Arryn have a firm hold over the vassals of the North and the Vale respectively: Cregan as one man could declare all of the North for Rhaenyra, but Oscar Tully cannot do so with the Riverlands in their current state.
At Dragonstone and Driftmark[]
Mysaria remarks to Rhaenyra that "a thousand thousand" people live in the shadow of the Red Keep: population numbers aren't given in the book for this prequel era, but by the time of the War of the Five Kings the actual population of King's Landing is said to be roughly half a million. Of course, Mysaria was probably just speaking loosely.
Rhaenyra laments that she didn't receive the instruction in military topics growing up that a male heir would have, so that she practically doesn't know the difference between "a hilt and a foible;" the term "foible" actually refers to the tip of a sword. In Middle French this word literally meant "feeble," and was used to refer to the top third of a sword where it tapers to a point. The tip of a sword is only meant to be used in thrusting attacks, while slashing attacks are only meant to be performed with the main broad section of the sword: intentionally slashing with the weaker tip section of a sword might break it. While the word "foible" originally meant "weakness" (either the weak point of a sword or a deficiency in a person's character), later over the centuries the meaning expanded so that "foible" is now more broadly used to refer to "quirks, idiosyncrasies."
This is the first episode to mention by name that on some of his many famous voyages, Corlys Velaryon sailed directly to Yi Ti and Asshai. Yi Ti is located in the far east of Essos along the Jade Sea, loosely about as far east of Qarth as Slaver's Bay is east of it, and it is their Fantasy world's analog of Imperial China. Corlys was actually the first man from Westeros to ever sail directly to Yi Ti, where he loaded up his ships with rare silks and spices and brought them back along with other treasures to become the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms (by cutting out the middleman merchants from Qarth and the Free Cities he saved a fortune).
Another prequel spinoff about the voyages of young Corlys is in development, titled Nine Voyages after the famous nine voyages of exploration he made around the world. George R.R. Martin announced in December 2023 that due to the very high logistical cost of the pitch, it was shifted to be a high-budget animated project (as he admitted, if it was live-action they would have to build a new set for each port he visits and they wouldn't be re-used).
Similarly, yet another spinoff which was specifically pitched as an animated project is set in Yi Ti itself, titled The Golden Empire.
↑In "A Son for a Son," Daemon Targaryen and Otto Hightower mention that days have passed since Viserys Targaryen and Lucerys Velaryon's deaths. Unlike the first season, no major time jumps are expected; therefore, House of the Dragon: Season 2 takes place in 132 AC.
