We break down the Red Wedding level plot twist we’ll see in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2.
Editor’s Note: The following article contains major spoilers for the Fire & Blood book and events that might occur in House of the Dragon Season 2.
The Big Picture
- The highly anticipated second season of
House of the Dragon
is expected to feature the gruesome event known as Blood and Cheese. - Blood and Cheese is a tragic event from The Dance of the Dragons, where two lowborn assassins brutally kill a member of the royal family as revenge.
- The psychological torture and murder of a small child during Blood and Cheese will have lasting impacts on the show’s characters, fueling the bitterness between the warring factions.
The success of House of the Dragon Season 1 inspired much anticipation for Season 2. Since the first season concluded, fans have been discussing what will happen in the new season, now set for June 16. As the prequel to Game of Thrones, expectations are high, and with a legacy of sudden and bloody plot twists, House of the Dragon has a lot to live up to. Game of Thrones‘ violent Red Wedding surprised viewers despite the show’s reputation, but can House of the Dragon accomplish a similar plot twist?
Luckily, the show is based on Fire & Blood, George R. R. Martin‘s in-universe historical record, so the fans know there will be plenty of blood in the upcoming episodes. Still, with fictional historical documents written in the novel by unreliable narrators, the creators must decide what direction to take the plot, and of course, as an adaption, things are bound to change. Though they played with the characters’ ages and changed a few things, the first season mostly stayed true to the book (or as close as they could with different versions of the story in the same book). Though there is sure to be some variation, fans are looking forward to certain plot points from Fire & Blood, worrying that they will be edited or forgotten for the show. One event of particular interest to fans is referred to as Blood and Cheese. For those in the know, both expectations and dread are high. But fans who haven’t read the book and don’t want to be blindsided or have forgotten the brutal details should research the events around Blood and Cheese before the unexpected tragedy can strike.
House of the Dragon
The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.
- Release Date
- August 21, 2022
- Cast
- Paddy Considine , Olivia Cooke , Rhys Ifans , Matt Smith , Eve Best , Steve Toussaint , Emma D’Arcy , Milly Alcock , Emily Carey
- Seasons
- 2
- Creator
- Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin
Will Blood and Cheese Occur in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2?
Based on where the story left off, this tragedy is poised to take place early in Season 2 and has already been the subject of much debate. But the mysteriously-named event is ominous to new fans who find themselves out of the loop. The infamy of Blood and Cheese is well deserved. As one of The Dance of the Dragon’s most tragic events, it has quickly become one of the most anticipated as well. Of course, for a while, there was the fear that it would disappoint, as it is so gruesome even the successor of Game of Thrones might hesitate to show it. However, House of the Dragon writer Sara Hess promised in an interview that Blood and Cheese would not only appear in the second season, but that the brutal plot line would not disappoint, a statement that is as worrying as it is exciting.
As more was revealed about Season 2, fans got more hints about this plot line. The Season 2 teaser trailer hints at the tragedy as well, showing flashes of Helaena (Phia Saban) in a dangerous situation and a brief image of the bloody aftermath. And, the final trailer even shows flashes of strange men in the tunnels, but these glimpses reveal little about the story or how House of the Dragon will portray it. Though they cannot say much, the cast answered questions about Blood and Cheese. Olivia Cooke, who fans know as Alicent Hightower, the matriarch of the Greens, told Entertainment Weekly, “I’d just say, it is Game of Thrones, expect the worst. Expect the very worst possible, and then double it. I dunno what else to say without heavily spoiling it, but it is heinous.” Her statement aligns with what readers already know, meaning perhaps House of the Dragon will embrace the full awfulness of the situation.
Showrunner Ryan Condal also teased Blood and Cheese to EW, saying “A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones have really conditioned people to expect the unexpected and expect the horrible. But, yeah, that one’s pretty horrific. We’ll see what people make of what’s to come.” Condal also described Blood and Cheese as a story where “George kind of outdid himself in his own George-ness,” which doesn’t bode well. These ominous comments only build the expectations for what is likely to be House of the Dragons‘ most unsettling scene.
What Causes Blood and Cheese?
Blood and Cheese is a reaction to the events of the Season 1 finale, suggesting that it will occur early in Season 2. As the Targaryen factions divide, they each look for allies. Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) sends her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) to Storm’s End, where he encounters Alicent’s second son, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). With bad blood between the two, the confrontation doesn’t go well. Aemond chases Lucerys on dragonback, until his dragon, Vhagar, swoops in for the kill, officially starting the war. In a slight departure from Fire & Blood, the show made this an accident, blaming Vhagar more so than Aemond himself. But even accidents have consequences, as the Greens will soon learn. While the Black side of the war has already lost a family member in Season 1 and are not physically in possession of the Iron Throne, the Greens seem to have an advantage. However, Blood and Cheese is proof that these circumstances will not last. In Fire & Blood, Luke’s death brings about Blood and Cheese, along with the Dance of the Dragons, and the ending of Season 1 suggests it will be the same as Rhaenyra’s approach to the conflict changes in her grief.
The book explains that when Daemon (played by Matt Smith in the show) learns of Luke’s death, he plots the revenge of “a son for a son.” Rather than focusing on Aemond, the actual offender, he seems to blame Luke’s death on Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) as the Green’s king. Unable to get an army to the castle, Daemon chooses a more subtle method of vengeance. Through his spymaster, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), he employs two lowborn assassins for the task. Their names have been lost to time, but they are referred to as Blood and Cheese, inspiring the name of this tragedy. Blood is a butcher and disgraced former sergeant of the City Watch known to be capable of great violence. And Cheese is a rat-catcher in King’s Landing. Their unique skills make them the perfect choices for Daemon’s nefarious plan.
What Do Blood and Cheese Do?
Blood and Cheese don’t balk at the idea of killing a member of the royal family. In fact, they take it upon themselves to make it as dark as possible, resulting in a story that will be hard to watch in Season 2. With Cheese’s past employment, he knows the castle’s tunnels, which allow them to get in undetected. Every evening, Helaena takes her three children, Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor, to visit their grandmother Alicent. Aware of this, Blood and Cheese hide in Alicent’s room, killing the maid and imprisoning the dowager queen until Helaena and her children arrive. They slay Helaena’s guard and block the exit before telling Helaena to choose which of her sons they will kill as retribution for Luke’s death, putting the poor queen through psychological torture before initiating the gory revenge. Helaena offered her own life, but they refused, insisting it must be a son and threatening that if she refused to choose, they would rape her daughter and then kill all three children.
With no other option, Helaena is forced to choose between her children. She names her youngest son, Maelor, who, at two years old, doesn’t fully understand what is happening. But Blood and Cheese’s torment doesn’t end there. They make sure to clearly tell Maelor that his mother chose him to die, before turning around and killing Jaehaerys instead. Without causing further physical harm to the royal family, they leave, taking Jaehaerys’ head along as proof that their mission succeeded. After the unnecessarily violent death of Aegon’s son and heir, each faction has a personal stake in the war, which becomes about revenge as well as power. As Blood and Cheese has only one death, it may be less bloody than the many battles the Dance of the Dragons will include, but the psychological torture of Helaena and the murder of a small child make it darker than anything else in the show.
Who Is Daeron, the Targaryen Who Is Missing From ‘House of the Dragon’?
Wait, Alicent has another son?
What Are the Repercussions of Blood and Cheese?
Beyond Jaehaerys’ death, Blood and Cheese leaves a lasting impact on all involved. Maelor becomes heir to the throne, but he is forced to live with the knowledge that his mother chose him to die. And Jaehaera is traumatized after seeing her twin brother’s murder. Helaena can’t bear to look at Maelor because of the choice she was forced to make and falls into a deep depression. After many more losses, Helaena kills herself. Rumors spread that she was murdered, leading the smallfolk to riot against Rhaenyra, calling for justice for Helaena and her sons. Blood and Cheese results in the first event for which the smallfolk want justice.
But the more immediate result is to make the Greens more bitter towards the Blacks. The war became personal for Rhaenyra with Luke’s death, and the same goes for Aegon and his family after Jaehaerys’ murder. The trailer has already shown Aegon’s new determination in the war, which is likely spurred by these events. Like Rhaenyra, Aegon responds to the destruction of his family with more violence, escalating the war.
The tragedy takes a toll on the family. While the franchise is no stranger to violent deaths, Blood and Cheese reaches a new level even for the notoriously dark franchise. While those involved with the show implied that Blood and Cheese will be plenty horrific, House of the Dragon may decide to make a few small changes to the story, especially considering the Jaehaerys and Jaehaera in the show are much younger than six, as they are in the book, which will only make the event worse. Maelor himself has yet to appear, but there are three descendants of Aegon and Helaena in the show’s opening sequence to confirm his existence.
Age is a minor adjustment, but there is, of course, the possibility that other things may be new, either making the tragedy easier for the audience to stomach or somehow finding a way to make it worse. Even with a handful of tweaks, Blood and Cheese will be a horrifying and heartbreaking moment, as it should be. The gruesome part of the Dance is critical to the story, and one way or another, Blood and Cheese must be the tragedy people expect. It’s just one of many shocks fans have to look forward to in Season 2, but it remains the most critical one as it sets the tone for the bloody war to come.
House of the Dragon Season 2 premieres on June 16. Season 1 is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com