WiC Predicts: Exactly what happens in each episode of House of the Dragon season 2
By Dan Selcke
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 4: “A Dance Of Dragons”
We’re actually not guessing at this episode title: as far as we can tell, it’ll be called “A Dance Of Dragons” and directed by Alan Taylor, who famously directed the execution of Ned Stark back in the first season of Game of Thrones.
This will be a massive battle episode. Here’s the set-up: Criston Cole leads an army of greens to Rook’s Rest, a castle outside King’s Landing. The lord of Rook’s Rest, Lord Staunton, is a black, meaning he’s loyal to Queen Rhaenyra rather than King Aegon. Lord Staunton appeals to Rhaenyra for help. Responsive, Rhaenyra dispatches Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon Meleys to help out.
But Criston was ready. He brought along two dragonriders: Aemond Targaryen on his dragon Vhagar and King Aegon himself, mounted on his dragon Sunfyre. While armies fight on the ground, dragons fight in the air. By the end of it, Rhaenys and Meleys are both dead. Aegon and Sunfyre are injured. (Aemond and Vhagar are fine.)
The cast and crew filmed much of this battle in public, so we have a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of what went down. It should be pretty spectacular. We’re talking armies charging, a huge crater where Meleys crashes into the ground, extras being set on fire, epic war speeches…this seems like the first big battle that House of the Dragon is hoping will compare to some of the huge action sequences from Game of Thrones.
We might check in on a few other things, like Jace leaving the North after formalizing his pact with Cregan Stark (Jace may also get into a bit of romance with a woman named Sara Snow, depending on how much of the rumors in Fire & Blood the show wants to adopt as true), but the Battle at Rook’s Rest will undoubtedly take up the majority of screentime.
Ending moment: Aemond decides to immolate the body of his relative Rhaenys Targaryen in a sign of respect for his vanquished foe. (That doesn’t happen in the book, I’m just trying to make up something interesting.)