The Dance of the Dragons civil war is heating up on House of the Dragon, but when the armies finally take to the field, it will be without the twin knights Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk Cargyll. This past weekend's episode, "Rhaenyra the Cruel," saw the machinations of the Greens escalate as they sought reprisal for the death of young prince Jaehaerys, who was murdered by the seedy mercenaries Blood and Cheese on the command of Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) in the season premiere.
The response was swift. In King's Landing, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) set in motion a plan to drag Rhaenyra's name through the mud and pin the crime on her. Meanwhile, the bitter knight Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) set his own vengeance in motion by sending his fellow Kingsguard knight Ser Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor) on a mad assassination attempt to Dragonstone. There, Ser Arryk infiltrated the island stronghold by pretending to be his twin brother, Ser Erryk Cargyll (Elliot Tittensor), one of Rhaenyra's own sworn Queensguard and the very first man to swear fealty to her as queen after bringing her the crown of her grandfather, King Jaehaerys the Conciliator, in the season 1 finale.
This plan was so outrageous that Otto Hightower's disdain for it produced one of the funniest moments in a very heavy episode of television. Yet despite Otto's skepticism, Arryk comes shockingly close to succeeding in his bloody task. Only the intervention of his brother Erryk, who was warned of Arryk's subterfuge by the spymaster Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), saved Rhaenyra's life.
If that description of events was a little confusing due to the similar sounding names of the twin brothers, that's kind of the point. House of the Dragon pulled a fascinating trick on both its characters and the audience with its Cargyll twin duel, using deft camerawork, direction, and costuming to make it nigh impossible to keep track of which twin is which during the fatal clash. By the time one of them kills the other, only to fall on his own sword after begging forgiveness of Rhaenyra, it's easy to find yourself breathless and unsure of which twin exactly came out on top.
Well, neither of them did actually, because this is the Dance of the Dragons and tragedy is the name of the game. But still, which Cargyll slew his brother? Which ended his own life? Let's break down the gory details, and then we'll refer to the official word from the actors and showrunner Ryan Condal.
Ser Arryk or Ser Erryk: Who won the fight on Dragonstone?
The duel between Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk is staged so as to make it hard to tell which twin is which. On first watch, I was certain that Ser Arryk Cargyll had slain his brother, only to then decide he couldn't go through with attacking Rhaenyra and taking his own life instead.
The primary reason I thought this is because of the wounds that the Cargyll twins each suffer in battle. Early on, we see Erryk Cargyll take a slash across his right leg — we know that it's Erryk, because right after he's punched to the ground following the wound, his brother lunges for Rhaenyra. Erryk struggles back to his feet and trips his brother, smashing him into a stone vase while the queen cowers against the wall just out of harm's way.
The next blow falls as the two struggle on the ground, with the twin I believe is Ser Arryk kicking Erryk in the face to send him careening off of him. We then get a 180 degree shot where the twins circle one another, and Erryk has a gouge on the right side of his face where he was kicked. He also has a more open expression, while his brother Arryk's face is closed off in what I can only describe as a homicidal visage.
At last, Ser Lorent Marbrand (Max Wrottesley) arrives to intervene, pulling Rhaenyra away from the danger while the Cargylls duke it out. Just like the audience, he's unable to tell which Cargyll is which when they're in the thick of fighting, and can only stand and watch in horror as they fight to the death.
There's a key detail that happens when Ser Lorent bursts into the room: the other Cargyll twin, Arryk, also takes a slash across his leg. Arryk's wound is on his left leg rather than his right.
The duel eventually degrades to brute force, with one brother pinning the other down and punching him repeatedly before starting to strangle him and shouting, "You parted us!" That sounds like something Arryk would say, since it was his brother Erryk who abandoned King's Landing to go serve Rhaenyra rather than go along with the Green Council coup. But here's where things get really tricky. The Cargyll being strangled reaches up and grabs the wound of his brother — a wound on his right leg — and squeezes his gauntleted fingers into it, buying enough time to force his brother off of him.
On first watch, I assumed the brother whose wound was just exploited was Erryk Cargyll, since it matched the wound we saw him get onscreen. He then crawls across the floor, grabs his fallen blade, and rushes his brother...only to be impaled. As that Cargyll falls dead to the floor, the other approaches Rhaenyra, begging her forgiveness before falling onto his own sword. And Rhaenyra calls him Erryk.
So which Cargyll actually died first? We could debate all day, but fortunately the actors and showrunner have given a solid answer.
Ser Erryk Cargyll actor confirms he's the one who fell on his sword
Speaking to USA Today, Elliot and Luke Tittensor recalled their experience filming their climactic duel and shed light on some of the details of this dramatic scene. These real-life twins acted out almost the entirety of the fight choreography themselves. "It was knackering," said Elliot, who plays Erryk. "That costume is hot in the best of times, never mind when you're swinging a sword. But we threw ourselves into it."
There was only one moment which used a stunt double, when Arryk is thrown into the vase as he tries to get to Rhaenyra. "I was glad that it wasn't me because my stunt guy hit that vase so hard he almost froze time," Luke said of that brutal moment.
Elliot then discussed his final seconds onscreen, confirming that it was his Kingsguard twin who killed his brother and then subsequently took his own life. "The pain Erryk felt when he kills his brother is the most intense feeling he's ever felt," he explained. "When he says, 'Forgive me' he's saying it to Rhaenyra because he's about to sacrifice himself in front of her. But it's also directed towards his brother."
Showrunner Ryan Condal also confirmed it was Erryk to Decider's Meghan O'Keefe, who asked point blank for clarification on which Cargyll won the duel. "That is Erryk at the end, who’s the last survivor, who falls,” Condal said. "So, you know, Arryk is dead. The infiltrator is dead and then Erryk falls on the sword. So when he says, 'Your Grace,' to the queen, that's when she knows who it is."
Condal also had glowing words for Luke and Elliot Tittensor's performances. “Look, they’re amazing actors and performers. They did that entire thing themselves. They studied that choreography. They learned it from Rowley , the stunt coordinator. They did that whole fight on their own and it’s so incredible and moving.”
The fight between Erryk and Arryk is purposefully confusing
So on the one hand we have confirmation from the creatives behind the show that Ser Erryk is the one who defeated his brother and then committed the Westerosi equivalent of seppuku. On the other, we have choreography and direction that hints it could have been Arryk. What gives?
There are two possible answers. The first is that the various leg wounds of the Cargylls are a continuity error. On a show like House of the Dragon with a high attention to detail and with an episode director as skilled as Clare Kilner, I don't buy that.
The other, more fun explanation is that House of the Dragon's Cargyll twin duel is filmed in such a way to make it purposely misleading for viewers and keep them on the back foot, showing some wounds which may be relevant and leaving others offscreen. After all, there's quite a lot of scuffling happening in the periphery as Rhaenyra scrambles for safety, and it's impossible to keep track of every bit of damage each Cargyll suffers in those moments. By using this method, the episode puts you directly into Rhaenyra's shoes: unsure of which Cargyll prevailed until Erryk utters his final, tortured plea before ending his life.
But there is one other very cool tell in the choreography: Erryk Cargyll mostly defends, while Arryk is always on the offensive. Keeping that in mind, it's easy to see that the final charge which leads to Arryk Cargyll being impaled fits with his style of swordplay in the scene. Erryk didn't want to kill him. But in that moment, he didn't have a choice.
The duel to the death between Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk Cargyll is a metaphor for the larger Dance of the Dragons civil war as a whole, which brutally pits brother against brother and family member against family member until they can hardly remember what they were fighting for in the first place. This story is a tragedy, and the fate of the Cargyll twins foreshadows the horrible events to come.
Rest assured, there's plenty more heartbreak on the way in House of the Dragon. New episodes air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
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