EGN NEWS DESK
This article comprises main spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of HBO’s “House of the Dragon.”
It will not be the Red Wedding. But “Blood and Cheese” — as followers of the George R.R. Martin books name the closing occasion in Sunday’s episode of “House of the Dragon” — is more likely to be a serious Westeros water cooler second. It’s stunning. It’s brutal. And it has a cool nickname (although viewers who haven’t learn the books may surprise what the heck it means).
The Season 2 premiere served up Blood and Cheese on a platter, however for these simply catching up, it could be exhausting to make sure of what simply occurred. So what simply occurred?
Who are Blood and Cheese?
Blood (performed by Sam C. Wilson) is a member of the City Watch, the safety power that Daemon as soon as headed up in King’s Landing. (Blood’s counterpart within the books is a former member who misplaced his submit for killing a prostitute.) Cheese (Mark Stobbart) is a Red Keep rat catcher who enjoys snacking on dairy merchandise as a lot as his quarry does. Blood and Cheese aren’t known as such within the Season 2 premiere. Anyway their true names are misplaced, in accordance with the historians of “Fire and Blood,” the Martin ebook on which “House of the Dragon” is (principally) primarily based. In their spare time, these two like lengthy walks via tunnels, loyal canine, and murder-for-hire.
Were there indicators this was coming?
Yes, a lot. Did you odor a rat in Season 1? The Red Keep wasn’t infested solely with rodents. It was thick with clues, too. Each time a rat scurried across the Red Keep — visiting King Viserys (Paddy Considine), crashing a marriage, nibbling a dragon cranium — it served as foreshadowing. The creatures give us a guided tour of the citadel’s hidden passageways (as do, due to this fact, their exterminators) and a method of sneaking up on the royal household at its most susceptible. See the rat lapping up blood on the wedding ceremony of younger Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Laenor (Theo Nate), one of the heavy-handed bits of rodent symbolism for the reason that finish of “The Departed.”
How did the occasion differ within the present from the ebook?
“House of the Dragon” takes nice pains to indicate that the Blacks (Team Rhaenyra) didn’t intend to homicide a small youngster of their quest for vengeance; Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) was the meant goal when Daemon (Matt Smith) secretly employed the assassins. That’s not the case in “Fire and Blood,” which depicts an assault that’s rather more strategic, brutal and devastating. How so? Picture Helaena (Phia Saban) being pressured to make a “Sophie’s Choice” between two sons, the inheritor (Jaehaerys) and the spare (Maelor, not represented within the present). Or how about Blood and Cheese threatening to rape somewhat lady, taunting somewhat boy and killing some servants — all whereas Alicent (Olivia Cooke), sure and gagged, is made to look at.
Why is that this occasion important?
Nothing says the gloves are off like beheading a child. (OK, toddler.) Even if the assassination of an harmless youngster with a bizarre factor for Small Council stones wasn’t the purpose, there’s actually no defending it, is there? It’s pointless. It’s merciless. It’s a violation of the foundations of engagement. And now the tone is about for the battle to return. An eye for a watch, a son for a son, and shortly the world of Westeros might be blind with rage.
