The episode title gave it away.
The season two premiere of House of the Dragon was ominously called Son for a Son, and if you remember what happened at the end of the first season, one son had already been killed. Now, another was doomed.
In a season opener relatively light on action, House of the Dragon saved the most dramatic moment for the end, the famous “Blood and Cheese” scene from George R.R. Martin’s book.
For those in the know, the story beat was notorious for its brutality. And that’s in a narrative universe famed for its willingness to inflict violence and cruelty on everyone — no one is spared.
Except, did the Game of Thrones TV spin-off actually spare the audience? Did it pull its punches?
The series is based on Martin’s prequel book detailing the vicious civil war between different branches of the dragon-riding Targaryen family (ancestors to Game of Thrones’ Daenerys) which fractured after the death of King Viserys.
One faction was led by Rhaenyra, Visery’s first-born child, a daughter, who he had anointed as his successor. In the novel and the show, Rhaenyra and her supporters are Team Black. The other group, Team Green, is lead by Aegon, Visery’s second-born, and a son, who claimed the crown on his father’s death – primogeniture and all that.
At the end of the first season, Aegon’s younger brother Aemond accidentally killed Rhaenyra’s son, Lucerys. The death of a child is not uncommon in the world of Westeros, but when it’s a prince in the middle of a battle for the throne, it will be avenged.
