House of the Dragon's twin fight could have been great if it took more cues from the book

The latest episode of House of the Dragon, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," featured a fight between two members of the Kingsguard: twin brothers Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, played respectively by real-life twin brothers Luke and Elliot Tittensor. When the Greens installed Aegon Targaryen on the Iron Throne in the first season, the brothers split. Arryk stuck with King Aegon, but Erryk left for Dragonstone and swore allegiance to Rhaenyra Targaryen, whom he considered the true heir to King Viserys Targaryen and the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. As Erryk told Daemon Targaryen in the season 2 premiere, the Kingsguard are pledged to protect the royal family. But when the royal family is divided against itself, what are they supposed to do?

We saw this family drama come to the bloodiest possible end in "Rhaenyra the Cruel." The Lord Commander of the Kinsguard under King Aegon, Ser Criston Cole, hatched a plan to take out Rhaenyra for good: Arryk was to infiltrate Dragonstone posing as his own twin brother, find Queen Rhaenyra, and kill her. The plan almost worked, but Arryk's ruse was discovered, and he and his twin brother Erryk ended up fighting to the death. After vicious blows and declarations of love, both brothers lay dead.

I enjoyed the onscreen fight between Erryk and Arryk; the action was exciting, the actors did a great job, and there's something unavoidably tragic and sad about two twin brothers having to fight and kill each other however much it pains them. House of the Dragon is about a civil war that turns family each other, and there's no family so close as twins.

And yet, I couldn't help but wonder how much more powerful the fight could have been had the show taken more cues from George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, the source material for House of the Dragon. The show hits the main points of this story as Martin writes it, but what it leaves out makes all the difference.

How House of the Dragon could have punched up this emotional moment

The main problem with House of the Dragon's version of the Cargyll fight is that we don't know the characters very well beforehand. They're introduced in the eighth episode of season 1 as background players, they part ways in Episode 9, and the season 2 premiere makes sure to include a few lines reminding us who they are. After that, it's full speed ahead to their deadly fight.

Fire & Blood gives us a few more moments when we see how much these brothers mean to each other. After King Aegon is installed on the throne but before war breaks out, he dispatches a representative to Dragonstone to treat with Queen Rhaenyra and see if they can come to terms. At this point, Ser Erryk is already with Rhaenyra. Ser Arryk is with the party that visits her island stronghold. Here's how the book describes their final meeting before their battle:

"Long after the Dance was done, the singer Luceon of Tarth would compose a sad ballad called "Farewell, My Brother," still sung today. The song purports to relate the last meeting between Ser Arryk Cargyll and his twin, Ser Erryk, as Orwyle's party was boarding the ship that would carry them back to King's Landing. Ser Arryk had sworn his sword to Aegon, Ser Erryk to Rhaenyra. In the song, each brother tries to persuade the other to change sides; failing, they exchange declarations of love and part, knowing that when next they meet it will be as enemies. It is possible that such a farewell did indeed take place that day on Dragonstone; however, none of our sources make mention of such."

And then there's a moment the night before Ser Arryk leaves for Dragonstone:

"Ser Arryk did not undertake this mission happily. Indeed, Septon Eucstace tells us, the troubled knight visited the Red Keep's sept on the night he was to sail, to pray for forgiveness to our Mother Above. Yet as Kingsguard, sworn to obey king and commander, he had no choice in honor but to make his way to Dragonstone."

Two brothers, trying to convince each other to switch sides in a coming war, knowing that they'll have to fight each other if they don't succeed; one brother, filled with sorrow and uncertainty, beseeching the gods to help him before he must do this unthinkable thing...These are the kinds of setup scenes that could have given weight to their confrontation. I though their fight scene was emotional. But if I had known Erryk and Arryk better, had I been more invested in their relationship beforehand, I might have felt devastated. I wish the show had taken more cues from the book and turned this good scene into a great one.

History's mysteries

Fire & Blood is written as a history book, with a maester drawing from primary sources years after the fact to string together a coherent narrative. That's why those excerpts references folks like Septon Eustace or "our sources." A possible objection to my argument is that Fire & Blood openly says that the emotional final meeting between the brothers may not have happened, and therefore couldn't be included in the show. I want to head that argument off at the pass.

It's true that we don't know "for sure" whether Erryk and Arryk ever really met on Dragonstone before their fateful fight. But the producers of House of the Dragon are perfectly willing to ignore or alter the book if they feel like it. On House of the Dragon, Criston Cole kills Ser Joffrey Lonmouth during a wedding feast, even though the book is clear that Joffrey was killed during a tourney. In Fire & Blood, all sources agree that Rhaenyra's former husband Laenor Velaryon died, even if they can't agree on the specifics. On House of the Dragon, he lives, something none of the sources contemplate. And Fire & Blood makes absolutely no mention of Rhaenys Targaryen interrupting King Aegon's coronation by bursting through the floor of the Dragonpit atop her dragon Meleys. The show made up that one out of whole cloth.

Being as generous as possible, we can say that the producers are selectively faithful to the books; they include events when they like, ignore others and make up still others. And that's fine as long as we get good drama on the other end. In the case of Erryk and Arryk, adapting what the book says happened — even if it might be apocryphal within the context of this invented history, would have made for better drama than we got. The producers are choosing what this reality looks like. So choose wisely.

New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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