Yahoo Lifestyle What Will Happen on 'House of the Dragon' Season 2, According to the Books
Matt Smith in House of the Dragon
It’s been nearly two years since House of the Dragon premiered on HBO, so fans have had plenty of time to think about what’s coming next. Book readers, however, may already know.
House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, which is a history of the Targaryen family that begins around 300 years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire (which served as the inspiration for Game of Thrones). Season 1 hewed pretty closely to the events of the novel, so it’s safe to assume that Season 2 will do so as well.
Season 1 ended with the death of Rhaenyra Targaryen’s (Emma D'Darcy) son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), which in Season 2 will kick off a full-scale war between the Greens, supporters of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), and the Blacks, supporters of Rhaenyra. While Season 1 certainly expanded on the sketch provided by Fire & Blood, it’s still possible to look to the book for a general idea of where the new episodes will go. The trick is that the book’s narrator, Archmaester Gyldayn, often shares varying versions of events as laid down by different sources, so it remains to be seen which direction the show will actually take.
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Keep reading for a spoiler-y guide to what could be coming in House of the Dragon Season 2.
House of the Dragon Season 2 Book Spoilers
HBO
Blood and Cheese
Perhaps nothing in Fire & Blood is more infamous than the introduction of Blood and Cheese, two assassins that Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) hires to avenge the death of Lucerys. Blood and Cheese (played by Sam C. Wilson and Mark Stobbard, respectively) will debut in Season 2. In the book, they command Aegon II’s (Tom Glynn-Carney) sister-wife, Helaena (Phia Saban), to choose which of her two sons she wants to die—and then they kill the one she doesn’t name. They’re employed by Daemon’s spymaster, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), who hints at her unorthodox methods of combat in the latest trailer when she says, “There is more than one way to fight a war.”
“I'd just say, it is Game of Thrones, expect the worst. Expect the very worst possible, and then double it,” Olivia Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower, told Entertainment Weekly of the show’s interpretation of the incident. “I dunno what else to say without heavily spoiling it, but it is heinous.”
Erryk vs. Arryk
Fans met twins Erryk and Arryk Cargyll (Elliott Tittensor and Luke Tittensor) in Season 1 when they served in the Kingsguard of Viserys I (Paddy Considine). After Viserys’ death, however, Arryk supports Aegon II and the Greens, while Erryk sides with Rhaenyra and the Blacks. Per Fire & Blood, this is not going to end well for either of them. At one point, Arryk is sent to Dragonstone disguised as Erryk, presumably in order to assassinate Rhaenyra, but he comes upon the real Erryk. The book offers two differing accounts of what happens next: they either fight for an hour before reconciling and dying in each other’s arms, or they wound each other mortally within seconds of meeting. Either way, neither Cargyll makes it out alive.
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The Battle at Rook’s Rest
Fans who are aching for another Game of Thrones battle like Hardhome or Blackwater, fear not. “We have two of the largest sequences that we’ve ever filmed on House of the Dragon,” showrunner Ryan Condal told Den of Geek. “Both of them outstrip anything that we did in Season 1. They are episodes within episodes.”
One of these is more or less confirmed to be Rook’s Rest, which will see Aegon and his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) fighting Rhaenys (Eve Best), who—major spoiler alert—does not survive. Also of note? They’re doing the fighting on their dragons.
Rhaenys, you’ll recall, is known as the Queen Who Never Was because she was passed over as heir to the Iron Throne in favor of her first cousin Viserys. The battle also results in the death of Rhaenys’ dragon, Meleys.
Sack of Duskendale
While Rook’s Rest seems like a sure thing for Season 2, the second battle that Condal says is coming isn’t so set in stone. One possibility is the Sack of Duskendale, which sees the Greens, led by Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), completely decimating Duskendale, a town in the crownlands. In the book, this takes place before the Battle at Rook’s Rest, which is likely to serve as the season’s climax.
If it does happen, expect major fireworks. Fire & Blood has Criston leading 3,000 men to Duskendale, which is caught completely off guard and left to defend itself with just a small garrison. (One hint that it’s coming is a burning ship in the trailer—Duskendale is a port town, and the Greens made sure to set fire to the harbor.)
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Big Dragon Energy
The original Game of Thrones only featured three dragons—Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) “children” Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal—but House of the Dragon is simply swimming in them. That number should only rise in Season 2, thanks in part to the increased presence of Vermithor and the possible introduction of Moondancer, who belongs to Daemon’s daughter Baela (Bethany Antonia).
The trailer also features an ominous shot of three dragon eggs in a fire, hinting that even more dragons are yet to be born. (In March 2023, Condal teased that there would be five new dragons in Season 2.)
Harrenhal
Harrenhal, that enormous and possibly haunted castle in the riverlands, is set to play a major role in Season 2. In the book, the Assault on Harrenhal serves as the earliest battle in the Dance of the Dragons. Daemon, riding his dragon, Caraxes, successfully intimidates House Strong into giving up the castle, giving the Blacks an early victory.
House of the Dragon writer Sara Hess confirmed that the new episodes will play up the spookiness of Harrenhal, which was originally burned by Aegon the Conqueror’s dragon, Balerion the Black Dread. “We definitely were thinking of it as [The Shining's] Overlook Hotel,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “It's super fun in that it's atmospheric.”
HBO
Jace Goes to the Wall
In the book, Rhaenyra’s son Jacaerys a.k.a. Jace (Harry Collett) heads to the North to meet with Lord Cregan Stark in an attempt to convince him to support the Blacks. Per the House of the Dragon trailer, however, he’s not just going to Winterfell—he’s also going to the Wall.
Harry Collett confirmed as much to Den of Geek, saying, “Seeing The Wall in person was quite surreal. I think the fans are going to absolutely love seeing Jace in Winterfell with Cregan.”
While the Wall isn’t mentioned in this portion of Fire & Blood, Jace’s visit to the North offers plenty of potential plot points. According to the less trustworthy version of events provided by court fool Mushroom, Jace secretly wed Cregan’s half-sister Sara Snow and let his dragon, Vermax, lay a clutch of dragon eggs in the crypts beneath Winterfell. Grand Maester Munkun, meanwhile, simply claimed that Jace swore an oath of brotherhood with Cregan.
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The Dragonseeds
Before the Dance of the Dragons chapters begin in Fire & Blood, Archmaester Gyldayn outlines the way the custom of first night was ended before the events of House of the Dragon. First night customs allowed lords in Westeros to have sex with new brides before their grooms on their wedding nights. While the practice became less popular among other areas in Westeros, it remained common on Dragonstone, and bastard children born of Targaryen lords who engaged in the first night custom were known as "dragonseeds."
At least one dragonseed, Hugh Hammer, is set to appear in Season 2 of House of the Dragon, as played by Kieran Bew. In the book, Hugh comes to the aid of Rhaenyra after Jace realizes that the Blacks need more dragonriders if they have any hope of fighting the Greens. Hugh ultimately rides Vermithor, who previously belonged to Rhaenyra’s great-grandfather Jaehaerys.
