Nothing tells you you're watching a Game of Thrones show like a good old-fashioned riot in King's Landing. This week, the sixth episode of House of the Dragon season 2 featured a chaotic riot, showing that all's not well in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. The smallfolk of King's Landing are starving thanks to the Sea Snake's blockade of the stretch of ocean connecting the city to the wider world, known as the Gullet. And while regent Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) doesn't seem too concerned about it, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her advisor Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) are quick to capitalize on the people's discontent by sending them boatloads of food in secret.
The result was a riot which surged through the streets as people fought to fill their starving bellies. They also descended in force on the Great Sept, where Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and her daughter Helaena (Phia Saban) were praying for the recovery of King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). Alicent and Helaena's escape is a fraught affair; I can't be the only person who got chills when they finally made it into their carriage, while screams of "Queen Rhaenyra" echoed in the streets outside.
The riot may have been more than just a flashy scene, though. Amidst the chaos, a man grabs Alicent Hightower, only for a member of her Kingsguard to slice straight through his arm in order to free the queen dowager. It's this bloody act which pushes the riot into outright violence.
In Fire & Blood, the book by George R.R. Martin upon which House of the Dragon is based, there is a one-armed peasant in King's Landing known only as the Shepherd who plays a major role in the downfall of House Targaryen. While there's no confirmation that the man in this riot is indeed the Shepherd, his circumstances and look align well enough with the book that we'd be remiss not to discuss it. SPOILERS after the break.
The Shepherd? 🤔👀 #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/aWL41UIkuO
— westerosies (@westerosies) July 22, 2024
Who is the Shepherd in House of the Dragon?
The Shepherd is a character from Fire & Blood who rises to prominence later in the Dance of the Dragons, after Rhaenyra Targaryen has seized King's Landing from the Greens. In essence, he's House of the Dragon's version of the High Sparrow, the ambitious zealot who was played by Jonathan Pryce in Game of Thrones. And his actions will have similarly dire consequences.
The Shepherd is a bedraggled beggar with one arm, a deep-seeded hatred for House Targaryen and a past shrouded in mystery. Fire & Blood posits that he may have been a member of the Poor Fellows, part of the Faith Militant which had long been outlawed by the time of the Dance. He may have been a thief, since he's missing his right hand and the punishment for thievery is to have that appendage chopped off. Some called him "the Dead Shepherd," on account of the fact that he was "pale and foul as a corpse fresh-risen from its grave."
While Rhaenyra reasserts power in the Red Keep, the Shepherd begins preaching against the Queen and House Targaryen in the slums of the city. By this point, the smallfolk are disillusioned by the war and scared after the Blacks suffer a major defeat in the Reach. The Shepherd's words catch them at just the right moment to turn the city into a tinder box. By the end of his first night of preaching, so many people have turned out to listen that the gold cloaks are unable to disperse the crowd.
The Shepherd continues to stoke the anger of his flock until it reaches a terrible breaking point with an event known as the Storming of the Dragonpit, where multiple dragons are killed as the smallfolk rise in one of the deadliest riots of King's Landing's history. Afterward, he continues to preach from the Dragonpit itself, with the heads of the slain dragons displayed around him like trophies of war. The Shepherd does eventually get a deadly comeuppance, but by the time it happens his actions have done immeasurable damage to House Targaryen.
The Shepherd is going to be a crucial character whenever he's properly introduced on House of the Dragon. If the show chooses to use the food riot and the attack of Alicent Hightower's Kingsguard as his origin story, it'll make him even more compelling since we'll have seen the event which altered his life first-hand, when he was starving and desperate and the only mercy the crown showed him was to chop off his hand instead of his head. And because it was Rhaenyra's manipulations which started the riot, it could make his eventual turn against her even more powerful.
Of course, there are no guarantees that this man is the Shepherd, though he looks enough like the images from Fire & Blood that I'd be willing to bet on it. This man is played by stunt performer Terry Cade; it's likely that whenever House of the Dragon does actually introduce the Shepherd, he'll be played by a different actor.
We'll probably find out when House of the Dragon returns for season 3! But until then, we've still got two more episodes of season 2 to go. They air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
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