The second season of House of the Dragon is still months away. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when it airs on HBO and Max in 2024, and yet…
House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood. The first season followed the story set out in that book fairly faithfully, and we expect the second season to do more or less the same thing. Also, we have seen quite a bit of what the cast and crew have been filming behind the scenes.
So while we may not know precisely how the next eight episodes of House of the Dragon will play out, by this point we can make some pretty good guesses. Let’s do that now. Here, by my estimations, is exactly how the second season of House of the Dragon will play out, episode by episode.
Oh, and be forewarned: there will be SPOILERS in this article. Lots and lots of SPOILERS.
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 1: “The Storm Broke”
Without getting into all the details immediately — there will be time for that soon enough — the second season of House of the Dragon will have a lot going on. We’re talking betrayals, deaths, battles on the ground and in the air, heartbreak, friendship and deep unremitting despair. It’s gonna be wild.
But not just yet. House of the Dragon is a complicated show and we’re going to need a minute to reacclimate ourselves. Just who are these people again? How is Daemon related to Rhaenyra related to Jaecerys related to Baela related to Aegon to Helaena and so on? Where are we in space? We’re gonna need a minute.
I think the first episode will be a fairly slow-burning affair where we catch up with all of our main players. At the end of the first season, Rhaenyra Targareyn learned that her son Lucerys Velaryon had been killed by her half-brother Aemond Targaryen, and she was right proper pissed. We need to see Aemond explain what happened to his mother Alicent, his grandfather Otto, and the rest of the green council. (And won’t that be an awkward meeting?) And we need to see how Rhaenyra and her husband Daemon will react.
In the book, Daemon reaches out to Mysaria, his paramour from years ago, and puts a revenge plot into motion. That will happen in Episode 1. After that, he’ll mount his dragon Caraxes and head to the castle of Harrenhal, which he’ll take bloodlessly in the name of his wife and queen Rhaenyra. Harranhal is in a crucial strategic location in the Riverlands. Daemon will spend a lot of time there in season 2.
Meanwhile, Rhaenyra’s son Jacaerys will travel north on his dragon to the Vale and win the allegiance of its ruler, Lady Jeyne Arryn, as he does in Fire & Blood. And in King’s Landing, we’re going to have to spend some time with King Aegon, Rhaenyra’s half-brother and her rival for the Iron Throne, and his family: sister-wife Helaena and their two children Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, whom we briefly glimpsed in season 1. (In the book, they also have a baby named Maelor but it’s possible he’s been cut from the show as we haven’t seen anything of him.)
Oh, also, it’s past time we cut away to Oldtown and meet Daeron Targaryen, the youngest child of Alicent Hightower and King Viserys Targaryen. There’s a lot to fit in.
Ending moment: We watch Helaena Targaryen play with her children in the Red Keep, unaware that danger is coming for her. But we know someone’s watching…
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 2: “A Son for a Son”
Okay, it’s time to start the dying…but we can save that for the end of the episode. First, we’ll pick up with Jace as he travels from the Vale to the North, where he’ll meet and try to win over the young lord of Winterfell, Cregan Stark. Cregan will prove important to the latter stages of the Dance of the Dragons, so the show will want to set him up early. In Fire & Blood, he and Jace become buddies.
Meanwhile, at Harrenhal, Daemon will meet and mostly ignore a mysterious young woman named Alys Rivers, played by Gayle Rankin. She’ll be important later in the story, but at the moment, Daemon is mostly concerned with winner over the Riverlords to Rhaenyra’s cause.
In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra spends a while after the death of her son Lucerys in a depression while Daemon and Corlys Velaryon do most of the planning. I don’t know if the show will go with that angle, so she may take a more active role in plotting the war. Otto Hightower is certainly busy laying out schemes in King’s Landing, where he’s trying to court Daemon Targaryen’s old enemies the Triarchy, whom he defeated in the first season; remember that Crabfeeder guy? Otto wants to work with his bosses.
But the thing from this episode everyone will be talking about is Blood and Cheese. Mysaria, acting on Daemon’s orders, hires a pair of mercenaries known to history only as Blood and Cheese. Cheese is or was a rat-catcher in the Red Keep, so he knows the place very well, including all the back passages. His job is to get the two of them inside.
Once in, they find Alicent and Queen Helaena with the king’s children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera (and maybe Maelor if the show includes him). They bind and gag Alicent and give Helaena a choice over which of her children will die. In the book, she’s horrified but eventually chooses Maelor. Blood chops off the head of Jaehaerys, King Aegon’s heir, instead. This is the revenge that Daemon and Mysaria designed: a son for a son.
Ending moment: Helaena Targaryen, driven out of her mind with shock and grief, wails over the headless body of her son. This could be…a moment.
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 3: “Farewell, My Brother”
This episode will have to deal with the aftermath of the Blood and Cheese incident. King Aegon is in a rage. He orders the execution of all the rat-catchers in King’s Landing, something we’ve seen some evidence of. We’ve also seen the cast and crew filming what looks like a funeral procession for Prince Jaehaerys. It goes badly.
In addition to this, things don’t go well for the greens in the Riverlands, where Daemon is helping lords loyal to Rhaenyra wins fights against their neighbors. Frustrated by all of this, King Aegon will fire his grandfather Otto Hightower as Hand of the King. In his place, he will install Ser Criston Cole, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and the foremost incel in the Seven Kingdoms. Criston will act swiftly, executing lords and ladies in the black cells who still profess loyalty to Rhaenyra. He will also hatch a plan to assassinate Rhaenyra at Dragonstone.
In season 1, we met twin knights of the Kingsguard: Ser Erryk and Arryk Cargyll. At the end of season 1, Erryk was at Dragonstone working for Rhaenyra while Arryk remained in King’s Landing, working for Aegon. Criston Cole’s plan is for Erryk to infiltrate Dragonstone posing as his brother.
The plan doesn’t work, of course. Erryk and Arryk run into each other at Dragonstone and end up fighting to the death.
I also expect to check in with Jace and Cregan in this episode — perhaps this is when they bond by going to the Wall in the North — but the main event will be the duel of the Cargyll twins. This could be a powerful scene if done right, although I worry it won’t come off because we don’t really know much about Erryk and Arryk yet. But there’s quite a lot to get to this season.
Ending moment: Erryk and Arryk Cargyll die in each other’s arms on Dragonstone
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.)
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 5: “Hand of the Queen”
Yeesh, that is an intense few episodes. We need to catch our breath a bit.
Criston Cole and the victorious green army will march the head of Meleys the dragon through the streets of King’s Landing; we’ve seen evidence of this scene on set. Aegon is in enormous pain and cannot sit the Iron Throne, so his brother Aemond sits the throne while he recovers. (And won’t that go to Aemond’s head?) As for Helaena, she’s been in a deep depression ever since the murder of her son.
Meanwhile, Jace arrives back on Dragonstone just as things are melting down. Corlys Velaryon is despondent over the death of his wife Rhaenys. He blames Rhaenyra, and nearly abandons her cause. In Fire & Blood, Jace kind of takes over for his mom at this point, offering to name Corlys as Hand of the Queen, which he accepts. It’s also Jace’s idea to put out a call for people to try and mount some of the riderless dragons that live on Dragonstone, the idea being that Rhaenyra will want as many dragonriders as possible under her command if she’s going to take back King’s Landing. This is the Sowing of the Dragonseeds. I can imagine the show might make Rhaenyra a bigger part of the decision-making.
The Sowing of the Seeds will be particularly personal for Corlys, who has two bastard children living on Dragonstone: Alyn and Addam of Hull. In the book, he asks Rhaenyra to legitimize his son Addam as the heir to Driftmark, which she does.
It’s a little unclear how the show will interpret these events. In the book, all of Corlys’ natural-born kids are dead. But on the show, his son Laenor Velaryon is still alive. What’s more, we’ve seen evidence that Laenor may return in House of the Dragon season 2, which could put the whole Corlys-names-Addam-as-his-heir plot into question.
In any case, we know that Abubakar Salim is playing Alyn of Hull and we suspect that Clinton Liberty is playing Addam. It’s around this time in the story that we should get to know them, as well as the other dragonseeds, as they come to be known.
Meanwhile, although he’s no longer serving as Hand of the King, Otto Hightower is still trying to win the war for his grandson Aegon. He meets with representatives from the Triarchy, the alliance of Free Cities that Daemon and Corlys smashed in season 1, and tries to get them to come into the war on the side of the greens.
Ending moment: Silver Denys, a local Dragonstone man and hopeful Dragonseed, tries to mount the dragon Sheepstealer. He is killed horribly, and we know that the other Dragonseeds have an uphill battle ahead of them if they want to ride these beasts.
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 6: “Sowing of the Seeds”
Okay, here’s where we get to have some fun! In Fire & Blood, many try to tame the wild dragons on Dragonstone. Most fail, and many die. But a few succeed. This is the episode where we’ll watch them claim their dragons and train under Rhaenyra, Jace and Corlys. The Dragonseeds are important characters, so we should get to know them.
We’ve already talked about Addam of Hull, who claims the dragon Seasmoke. (That’s Laenor’s old dragon, so it’s possible Laenor will just ride him again if he comes back into the picture.) Then there’s Hugh Hammer, a blacksmith who claims the dragon Vermithor; that’s the dragon that Daemon sang to in the season 1 finale. Hugh will be played by Warrior star Kieran Bew. Ulf White, a man-at-arms with a drinking problem, mounts the dragon Silverwing.
And then there’s Nettles, a clever girl who doesn’t seem to be related to the Targaryen family (the rest of the Dragonseeds are probably all Targaryen bastards). She bonds with the dragon Sheepstealer by bringing it a sheep to eat every day until the dragon trusts her enough to let her ride him.
The bulk of this episode will be taken up by the Dragonseeds, but other stuff is happening. Rhaenyra sends away Rhaena Targareyn to the Vale for her own safety. Rhaenyra’s youngest son by
Harwin Strong
Laenor Velaryon, Joffrey, goes with her, along with a few dragon eggs. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra sends her two sons by Daemon Targaryen — Viserys and Aegon III — across the Narrow Sea to Pentos.
Ending moment: Led by Jace on Vermax, the four successful Dragonseeds ride through the air while Rhaenyra and Corlys watch from below.
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 7: “Battle of the Gullet”
We’ve got another big battle episode on our hands. But first, some housekeeping. Episode 7 will open with Rhaena Targaryen and Joffrey Velaryon arriving safely in the Vale; we’ve seen some evidence of this on set. Unfortunately, Viserys and Aegon III Targaryen — the two young sons of Rhaenyra and Daemon — are not so lucky. On their way to Pentos, they are set upon by a fleet of ships sent by the Triarchy to break Corlys Velaryon’s fleet in Blackwater Bay. Remember: Otto Hightower had entered into an alliance with the Triarchy. It finally bears fruit here.
Prince Viserys is taken prisoner but Aegon the Younger manages to escape by riding on his young dragon Stormcloud, who will ferry him back to Dragonstone but die in the passage. Before we see that, we cut to Aemond and Criston Cole planning an assault on Harrenhal, where Daemon Targaryen has been winning over the Riverlords all this time. They see him as the biggest threat in this war.
After Aegon gets back to Dragonstone, the Triarchy’s fleet begins to attack the island of Driftmark. Corlys Velaryon meets the Triarchy’s fleet with his own, and there is a bloody battle at sea. Jace rides in on his dragon Vermax, with the Dragonseeds following on their dragons. Together, they are able to defeat the Triarchy’s fleet. However, Vermax is pierced with a crossbow bolt and crashes into the ocean, where he dies. Jace is able to jump free but is shot full of quarrels. He dies as well. Victory is bought at an incredibly steep cost.
Final moment: In a shot that recalls the very end of season 1, Rhaenyra learns that her son Jace is dead. But this time the shot keeps going and tracks Rhaenyra as she walks over to her dragon Syrax and climbs aboard. She may have lost her son, but she’s finally ready to take back King’s Landing, and make his death count.
House of the Dragon season 2, Episode 8: “Rhaenyra Triumphant”
Near Oldtown, Daeron Targaryen rides his dragon Tessarion to help out Lord Ormund Hightower, who is beset by an army of blacks. Daeron helps turn the tide of battle, notching another victory for the greens.
Meanwhile, in the Riverlands, an army of greens led by Jason Lannister defeats several Riverlords loyal to Rhaenyra. The green victories just keep coming, don’t they?
Feeling confident, Aemond Targaryen and Criston Cole march an army of greens from King’s Landing to Harrenhal, hoping to extricate Daemon Targaryen and take back the Riverlands. But they find that Daemon has already left the castle with his host. As they try and puzzle out what this means, Aemond catches the eye of the mysterious Alys Rivers, who will become more important in season 3.
Things start to turn for the greens. After defeating the Riverlords at the Red Fork, the Lannister forces run into an army of blacks that includes the Winter Wolves, a group of northmen led by Cregan Stark (in the book Cregan doesn’t personally come down from the North until later, but given that we introduced him earlier in the season I think it’d be fun to rope him in a little sooner). The Lannister host is slaughtered in the Fishfeed, the bloodiest battle of the war.
And it’s all a prelude to Rhaenyra Targaryen’s master plan: retaking King’s Landing. She mounts Syrax and her husband mounts Caraxes. They both circle the city while Queen Regent Alicent Hightower tries to get messages to Aemond and Criston at Harrenhal. But the men of the city watch, most of whom were given their jobs by Daemon Targaryen years ago, have turned. The gold cloaks are loyal to Daemon, who is loyal to Rhaenyra. No help is coming.
The gold cloaks open the gates of the city and allow in Velaryon forces loyal to Lord Corlys Velaryon. After she sees that resistance is futile, Alicent orders her forces to surrender. The city is Rhaenyra’s.
However, her victory isn’t complete. Although Alicent Hightower and her daughter Queen Helaena become Rhaenyra’s prisoners, King Aegon, his daughter Jaehaera and his young son Maegor manage to escape King’s Landing with the help of Larys Strong, who smuggles them out using secret ways. Still, it’s a good day for the blacks.
Final moment: Rhaenyra Targaryen sits the Iron Throne.
Thank you for reading my wild guesses
Obviously, these are all educated guesses based on what we know of George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood and what we’ve seen on set. There’s no guarantee any of this will happen as we say. In fact, I’m kind of hoping some of it won’t. I’ve included a lot of big battles on this list, but I sort of hope we have a few episodes where we mostly get to just sit with the characters. That way the battles will hit harder when the come.
Also, I’m not sure it’s possible from a production standpoint to pull all of this off. I was particularly ambitious with the finale, which posits that we’ll see the Battle of the Honeywine, the Battle at the Red Fork, the Fishfeed and the fall of King’s Landing all in one episode. And this after the Battle of the Gullet and the Battle at Rook’s Rest, plus lots of scenes involving dragons in between there. House of the Dragon is an expensive show, but I don’t know if it’s got that much money, or that much time. I’d like to see this new season before the heat death of the universe.
So maybe some things will be stretched out, or maybe some battle scenes will be moved into other seasons, or just referred to rather than depicted onscreen. Still, we do know that some big events are coming. Producer Sara Hess said that fans won’t be “disappointed” when it comes to Blood and Cheese. And we’re pretty sure the Battle at Rook’s Rest is happening in Episode 4. We’ve seen a few processions through the streets of King’s Landing, a large ship set, and more.
The second season of House of the Dragon will air on HBO and Max sometime in 2024. Until then, how do you think it will go?
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