messengers are protected by law. literally no one could’ve expected such outrageous outcome. Aemond was the one who decided to chase 14 year old boy on a war dragon..

Remember guys, Aegon II and Aemond are Rhaenyra’s younger brothers, not her nephews.

Haleana muttered 2 profecies in Season 1. One was "he'll have to lose an eye" Aemond did after he finally got a dragon. Two, "there's a beast beneath the boards" then Rhaenys barged in with her dragon.

It is kind of funny how many people still think Helaena is just talking crazy nonsense. Helaena has been predicting the future the entire series. She did it a couple times in season one.

Rhaenyra had no reason to think Luke would get hurt. She had no way to know Aemond would be there. Lord Corlys and everyone else around the table co-signed it.

22:05 she is not crazy.. she has been predicting shit since 6th ep in season 1. He'd have to lose an eye( aemond lost his eye one eposode later) Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread (hightowers treason), beast beneath the boards(meleys destruction during aegon's coronation) rats in this ep. If only they listened to her more🤷‍♀️

Its a crime to kill a messenger, so the likelyhood of them dying was very low, which is why the Baratheon lord said “the boy came here as a envoy, take the prince safely back to his dragon”. And it was also a move to show respect that the 2 princes come themselves to forge the support from there kingdoms. Imo Rhynaera had no fault in the death of her son. It was all just unfortunate circumstances

Not sure how people keep missing that Helena is clairvoyant... but they do.

That’s what Daemon wanted, in the book he specifically asked for it, in the show it was subtle, when Cheese asks what they should do if they couldn’t find aemond, daemon grins at them. Also when blood says the frase “ a son for a son “ the only time we hear that is when Daemos says it to Rhaenys, so he told them the same…

You can't blame the mother for her own son's death.Are you crazy?She done what she thought was best

“Kid brother uncle son” 😂 Aegon and Aemond are Rhaenyra’s half little brothers. Her actual nephew would be Aegon’s son which the two men murdered at the end.

The princess now queen is clairvoyant, that was shown in the first season. You tended to talk a lot during her dialogue, so you missed some of her predictions that came true in season 1.

18:20 bros so dumb. Envoys are too not be attacked. Same way Otto was never harmed every time he went to Dragon Stone. Rhaenyra expected the same for her sons. It’s not her fault Aemon is a psycho and murdered him for a childhood feud

You two were the only reactors I have seen who noticed the Alicent and Aemond reflection that each said the other was “angry”

It’s funny cuz everyone thought Aegon would be just like Joffrey but he’s actually pretty chill

they did what daemon wanted

In the books Blood&Cheese is much different. First off, Aemond is never mentioned to be the target, and Rhaenyra is not the one to incite the mission. Daemon sends Rhaenyra a letter from Harrenhal (in the books he is already there) that says- “An eye for an eye, a son for a son. Lucerys will be avenged”. B&C sneak into the Tower of the Hand, which is not guarded as heavily as Maegor’s Holdfast-where Aemond was-and they head for Alicent’s chambers, who was getting ready for bed (Criston and her are not a thing in the book). Helaena and her three children (Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor, who was not present in the show version) were on the way for their nightly visit to Alicent. When they get there, they find Alicent tied to the bed and her bedmaid strangled. Blood bars the door and Cheese takes Maelor and tells Helaena to choose which son of hers will die. Helaena pleads that they kill her instead but they refuse, siting- “An eye for an eye, a son for a son. A wife is not a son.” Cheese tells her that if she does not choose then Blood will grape her daughter and they will kill everyone in the room. Eventually, Helaena chooses Maelor, her younger son. Maybe it was because she thought he would be too young to understand , or perhaps it was because the elder boy, Jaehaerys, was Aegon’s first born and heir. Cheese holds Maelor up and whispers to him- “You hear that, little one, your momma wants you dead”. Then, in one clean motion, Blood strikes of the older boys-Jaehaerys’s-head, and the two take off with it. When the guards finally burst through the door, they find Helaena grasping her son’s headless body to her, mad with grief. So yeah, Blood&Cheese is much more tame in the show.

AEMOND IS HER BROTHER NOT NEPHEW

The Queen is Rhaenyra “Rah-near-a” not Rhaenyrs. Normally I wouldn’t care but we have 3 characters with a very similar name. Rhaenyra-the queen Rhaenys “Ray-niece”- Corlys’ wife Rhaena “Ray-na”- one of Daemon’s daughters

Alicent >"we cannot....again"....while nodding her head 😅

Halaena (the Queen) isn’t just traumatized. She has severe intellectual delays (and also the power of prophecy that some Targaryens possessed). So all of this horrific shit she’s going through is through the lens of someone who is seriously developmentally delayed.

Alicent’s grief for Luke isn’t fake. She didn’t order his death. It wasn’t her idea to usurp the throne. She’s useless and just along for the ride. She sucks bc she’s sanctimonious and a hypocrite, and her weak-ass motherhood got us here. She doesn’t want any of this. She was manipulated into believing she has to do it, and allowed herself to believe it’s the right thing to do. But she didn’t want that boy dead. Just like Daemon and Rhaenyra didn’t want the baby dead. In family feuds, feelings are complex. Alicent is a twit but she is genuinely sad for all their loss.

Why do people continue to look at these shows with 2024 filters on? "I wouldn't have".... "She shouldn't have". You all have to remember that certain things that were acceptable in that world we can not fathom. Being a prince brings a certain level of expectation. Add to the fact that Luke was a dragon rider he was the best equipped to go on this mission. Especially since it was SUPPOSED to be a simple low risk one.

1) Rhaenys not burning The Greens was twofold: to tell the audience she holds more restraint than everyone and wonder if the Realm would’ve been better off if she had been named all those years ago AND because kinslaying is almost worse than death in this world. Officially no war had started and even if it had, Rhaenys hadn’t declared for anyone yet. If it were now when she’s firmly on Team Black, she WOULD do something but then it was not her usurpation or succession claim to burn the Hightowers for. 2) Rhaenyra believed her sons would be safe because of Westerosi custom. Luke was an envoy and they *cannot* be attacked, and on top of that he was a Prince and an heir to the most wealthy House in Westeros, he was too important for anyone rational to kill. Luke was 14, royal and expected to take over Driftmark, he had to be seen as a ‘young man’ serving the Realm…he had to ‘earn’ his inheritance and BE proactive. Rhaenyra also agrees to Jacaerys idea that they deliver the messages because she wanted to do better by her kids than Viserys did by her growing up: she was called heir and yet every time she tried to voice an idea her father shot her down and made her feel small and stupid, she listened to her heir’s suggestion and agreed that a mission where they COULD NOT be hurt would be the best way for them to show the Realm they take their duties seriously AND build their confidence in speaking up, that their mother even as queen will still want to BUILD her children

I want Aemond Targaryen.

It was her fault that Lucaerys got hurt because she should’ve sent Rhaenys (who’s mother is a Baratheon) to StormsEnd. Aemond would have never been stupid enough to think about attacking her. But to kill a messenger is a great sin. Even in the real world we don’t kill messengers. That’s why it’s a saying.

Been waiting on this reaction😭

Her fault that Aemond chose to terrorise Luke and Vhagar ate him?😂

Deamon and Aemond are like the same person on opposing sides. They just want to fight and kill.

18:05 Actually Aemond is her brother(and technically her nephew by marriage)😭

Hey guys! Helaena is most likely a dragon dreamer- meaning she has premonitions that sometimes sound weird to us but usually end up making sense in the long run as they did in season 1 with Aemond’s eye and Rhaenys on her dragon during the coronation. A dragon dreamer is the whole reason the Targaryens ended up coming to Westeros in the first place which is pretty cool to begin with.

one thing that everyone forgets is that rhaenys was sent to the gullet, she offered herself first and then rhaenyra decided where luke and jace would go. stormends was the shortest and safest flight. to kill an envoy AND a prince is a terrible crime in this world. and the girl is right because we see and judged this world as if it's the same we live in and it's not. rhaenyra couldn't just make her sons stay hide and don't do anything, in this world they were boys reaching adulthood (mostly jace who was 15) and expected to one day do more things like this. jace is the heir to the throne and luke heir to driftmark. so no, it's not rhaenyra's fault that luke died it's aemond's fault because what would you expect if you chase an inexperiencied little dragon with the biggest dragon and the only that has seen many wars since hatched? of course Vhagar wouldn't take it as a game, she was mad and wanted to kill them. aemond was just stupid enough to believe he could control that big and old dragon. the only thing that viserys said right: "the idea that we control the dragons is an illusion"

Watch out when you get to Season 3 Episode of 4 of Game of Thrones. There is a major spoiler relating to the House of the Dragon story.

Yall know this is 100+ years before game of thrones, Right?

I think you guys should watch it again just for clarification. Remember this is set hundreds of years before GOT so there are no technological advances. Aegon is actually a decent kid, he wants to make up for the upbringing he had by doing better for his son. Heleana is not crazy but can prophesies (season 1 with aemond and the dragon), which is why she mentioned the “rats” meaning rat catchers. She also was sewing for her son’s death because she knew. I believe she gave him up because she already knew but also to spare him because she did mention “what if he doesn’t want to be king”. She knows the violence and didn’t want him to live that. Remember Aemond Halaena and Aegon are her half brothers/sister because they all share the same father. So the kids are her nieces/nephews. Luke was never to be harmed because he was an envoy so it is Aemond to be blamed for the death no one else.

To make one side faultless and another side the entire problem does a disservice to the story

Along with messengers being protected by law she also was sending her sons out as practice in diplomacy. They are young royals eventually they could be king so yes it made sense for her to send her kids out just like Alicent sent her son out. In real life you see the Prince William’s kids out at charity events and military parades in suits waving to their subjects and doing things normal kids don’t have to. There’s a sense of duty placed on royal children from a young age because they expected to lead eventually. Rhaenyra as a mother of course will forever feel guilty but objectively speaking she didn’t do anything wrong

Targaryens have dragon dreams which are premonitions..they spew stuff that sounds crazy but it’s ends up being true..the rats…Aegons dream

A couple of extra details from the episode. When Rhaenyra found the body on the beach and was mourning for her son lucerys, her dragon syrax was the mother of arrax lucerys’s dragon so she was probablymourning her child too. Also when jacerys came back sad after hearing the news you two didn’t realize or remember that it was his idea to even go out and be the messanger so he may feel guilty for his death

i’ve never clicked so fast

Where the hell were the guards when all of this was happening to the kid???

I have nothing to add to the discussion on the show. Just wanted to say that Carianna's hair looks super pretty 🫶

It’s crazy how similar they ended the same season and episode in both series. In GOT S2E1, they ended the episode with Robert Baratheon’s children getting murdered by the Gold Cloaks because of a “rat”. In HOTD S2E1, they ended the episode with a Targaryen child getting murdered by a Gold Cloak because of a “rat”.

Always a pleasure. I thought it was fascinating how Aegon wanted to make just proclamations to the smallfolk and treated them kindly but was blocked by Otto. Even though we know he's a terrible person, it shows that he did learn something from Viserys (and maybe Alicent).

Rhaenyra sent her son to his cousin's house.... Lord Baratheon is FAMILY....She ain't know that THAT would happen.... !!!

I might be the only one in the comments but am switching team to green even if their ending won’t be one of victory just here for the disruption. Everyone criticises team green’s f*cked decisions but when it comes to black we tip towing around justifying it.

The dog was just so they wouldn't look suspicious, since it's normal for rat catchers to have a dog like that. That's what terriers were bred for I think.

“This show is cutthroat, man.” Welp! Yeah, you got a point there.

It was never Rhanys war to start. I hate that people blame her

wait, do they not realize that house of the dragon is set a hundred and something years before game of thrones?

I just wanted to point out that Helena is a dreamer if you remember in the first season when visarys was telling Rhaenyra about dreamers helana is exactly how he describes it. Like when aemond came in crying to Alicent because they gave him a pig and alicent said you'll have a dragon one day and Helena said he'll have to close an eye and that's when aemond lost his eye. Another one was when Helena told her mom there's a beast beneath the boards and then princesses Rhaenys popped up from the floor with her dragon. So just pay close attention to what Helena says because everything she says comes true!!!! Cause now when she said she was afraid of the rats and looked directly at the bed that the kid will be sleeping in. She was talking about blood and cheese the 2 guys that was coming to kill the little prince pretending to get rid of the rats and he was carrying the rats on his back. That's why she said she was afraid because she knew what was gonna happen. But yea Helena is a very important and ppl don't give her enough credit because they think she's out of her mind when in reality she can see what's going to happen before it does.

Like I said in the chat last night....earlier Helaena said to Aegon "what if he doesn't want to be king?" So I'm wondering if since she had to chose, she would sacrifice her Son & that way he wouldn't face all the pressures of growing to be King? Just a thought ..

Technically 200 years worth of dragons burning people to ash, not too surprised no one has bothered with having ingenuity

Helaena predicted Aemond's losing an eye, Rhaenys' escape last season. She sees the future but can't translate it into words that are comprehensible to others. We call people like her "dreamers", she is like her father Viserys who had visions too and who like her couldn't make other people understand but in his case it's because he interpreted it wrong. In the books, Daenerys is a dreamer too.

For me Rhaenyra shares the same amount of blame for her sons death as Aemond does Jaec didn’t have to die but she agreed to send him alone to a hostile place knowing his combat skills aren’t as good as his brothers and his dragon easily one of the weakest ones so I struggle to feel bad for her

By sending her sons as envoys she is showing respect to the houses she seeks to make allegiances with, while reminding them that they have dragons. In game of thrones (books) a lot of times lords don't take it well when the king sends random envoys to deliver important messages, it makes them feel unimportant. This world has a lot of cultural things that as a ruler you have to follow if you want others to follow you. She sent her son at Stormlands because it was supposed to be safe too. Baratheon had sworn fealty to her and she believed he would honor his oath. Unfortunately Aemond got there first and lord Baratheon betrayed Rhaenyra. Hopes that can bring some sort of sense out of all this. The children getting killed is just awful 💔

Guys, it's Winterfell, they're doing a draw for one of their own to take the black one.

It hasn't been a month, it's only been a few days

It’s not Rhaenyra’s fault at all-first of all, Lucerys was a Prince teetering on the edge of adulthood (in this universe, at least) and that comes with certain duties. as a suitable representative of the Monarch, as well as an envoy-he was supposed to be protected. both by moral code and by law. It’s not ridiculous for Rhaenyra to assume that he’d come back unharmed. now Aemond… it’s entirely his fault. first, for antagonizing an envoy who repeatedly re-iterated that he was merely a messenger. and secondly, for deliberately chasing a WAR-FORTIFIED, MONUMENTAL DRAGON after a fourteen year old boy and his junior dragon-and expecting them not to be terribly afraid?

If anyone is too blame TECHNICALLY it was Jace’s idea

Heleana is a dragon dreamer meaning she feels the past and the future meaning that she has visions of the future and her saying she’s scared of the rats was her prophecy of her son‘s death she also has other prophecies in season one that came true and will continue to in season two.they may be hard to understand at first, but you will understand eventually and honestly it get really sad because the knowledge she has of the future kinda makes her go insane.

how do we see ur descusion of the episode?

In the books, it’s worse. She has the twins plus her you gets son with her. They tell her to choose, she chooses the youngest, her thoughts being either he would be too young to know what’s happening or that the oldest son is the Kings heir. But they choose the heir instead. She then goes mad. Obviously 😅

Luke is/was aemonds nephew hes rheanyras half brother so her brother killed her son, his nephew

This show was completely untouched by the writers strike. It took two years because a show this big takes a lot of time to make.

I h8 to get on y’all but PUH-LEASE pay attention 😭😭 Yes Helaena had foresight. She also saw and hinted at things that happened in s1. Secondly, Luke wasn’t Rhaenyra’s fault. Y’all are looking at it thru a modern lens when this isn’t that. Just as Rhaenyra didn’t kill Otto when he came to send a message after the greens usurped the throne is the same respect that should’ve been given to her son seeing as though you can’t touch a messenger when war is occurring. That’s where the saying “don’t shoot the messenger” comes from 🫠 Aemond was wrong not only for chasing Luke down on a war dragon and killing him when he came in peace, but he is also guilty of kinslaying which is highly frowned upon. On top of that he and his mother are guilty of treason for questioning the validity of Rhaenyra’s heirs. They were never punished for any of that and they are hypocrites with God complexes. Nyra is not at fault for any of this. She did what she was supposed to do, team green and the hate that trickled from Otto down to Alicent down to her children is what the issue is.

Blood and cheese were dumb not to just butcher that whole room and split, Daemon would’ve tripled that little bag of gold for a dead queen and both of the offspring 😂

HoD is only 200 years before GoT. Tech advances don't usually happen as fast as they have in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Awesome reaction, as usual. The only thing I’m still mad at is how dirty they did Rhaenys! In the book, her nor Meleys didn’t break thru the dragon pit. After Aegon was coronated, he got on Sunfyre & flew to the Red Keep where he sat the Iron Throne.

Aemond and Aegon are rhaenyras brothers not nephews

"theyre killing him" 😑😑😑 clearly hearing them sawing off the childs head cmon lady lol

Blood and Cheese brief book version: Aegon and Haleena have a 3rd child. A son names Maegor. When Blood and Cheese enter the castle, they tie up Alicent after she kisses her grandchildren goodnight and force Haleena to choose between the two sons. She chooses Maegor since he is younger and Jaherys is the heir. Blood and Cheese tell Maegor that his mother chose him to die and kill Jaherys anyway.

18:10 rhaenyra sent Luke to stormlands which is like the corner shop in the street esp cos luke was traveling on a dragon all while being protected by the law. Lucerys death is NOT Rhaenyra's fault.

no the nights watch thing happened in got, jon snow, uncle benjen?? remember them lol & lucerys had a dragon, rhaenyra would be stupid not to use lucerys and arrax also she had a good relationship with boremund baratheon, in hindsight it was a great alliance aemond just beat them to it and with a marriage proposal.. so no i dont think its her fault. also your cousin saying “they’re killing him?!!” has me dead GIRL WHAT ELSE DID U THINK THEY WERE GONNA DO SING EM A LULLABY??!😂“a son for a son”😭😭😭

Haelena is a seer/dreamer. She has visions and made several prophecies last season but it sounds like riddles. She predicted the family splitting, aemond losing his eye, and rhaenys bursting out of the dragon pitt. I felt so bad for this episode because its hard for her to communicate and she knew she had no way out to avoid what she saw. In the episode she is sewing a funeral shroud as she tells Aegon shes afraid of the "rats coming" . she knew she wouldn't be able to save her son but she saved her daughter

Remember, even back then they knew about the White Walkers as their arrival was more recent in memory than in GOT. That's what Cregan is on about with regard to keeping out death from the other side.

Adison, judging Queen Milfy is crazy... 😂 There are NO safe choices in that world. It's not like she could bench her son and send Marshawn Lynch instead 🤣🤣 Even the children needs to step up when war is brewing!

I've been re-watching GoT, and the wildlings mention that the Crows used to chop down all the trees close to the wall but now they don't have the manpower anymore.

She said last season “I’ll return on dragon back”☄️

WE BACK IN WESTEROS, BABY!!

Bro its been A week since you reacted to got 😢

The Nights watch looked a lil better back then cus it was actually being taken seriously and funded by the kingdoms compared to GOT

Team Stark. I know no king, but the King in the north, who name is Stark.🐺

Don't forget that Alicent really doesn't have any power... she is just the mother of the king who has a wife that is now queen... also her father is hand of the king. As far as everyone else is concerned Alicent is just a person to be treated nicely but truly has no influence at all.

I felt terrible for the dog! And then I hear the freaking knife cutting... what happened to Cheese???

Helaena and Aegon are brother and sister and are also married. They have two children. Helaena is a dreamer she can see some parts of the future. She predicted Aemond losing his eye and Rhaenys coming up through the floor during the coronation and now she just predicting the assassins. Also Helaena gave up her son so easy is bc she knew there was nothing she could do and she said earlier “what if he doesn’t want to be king” so she let them kill the heir. But in the books the assassin make her choose who to kill out of both her sons (she actually has three but the baby isn’t in the show) so she chooses her baby son bc he won’t remember but the assassin kills jaehaerys the older son instead and in the book she watches the whole thing

In the book, they had her choose which son to die, and then killed the other. So the one she chose to die would grow up knowing his mother chose for him to die. Absolutely fucked.

What vague answer did he give, he told him what the wall keep out DEATH

Best reaction so far 😂😂😂😂😂

Hot take : Alicent isn’t nearly the evil character that she’s being pushed as lol

Her brother, Daemon’s nephew.

Aemond would have killed whatever brother he met that day since they both have history with him, that includes Baela. He's dangerous because he's controlled by his emotions and he used vhagar like a toy. Viserys said it "The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion". No one sane wants that war and all the crazies are foaming at the mouth at the idea of it.

Guys this aint modern times. Middle agaes europe, england between 900-1200 years didn't look much different either haha.

Her son was a dragon rider and sent as a messenger not a solider. It’s basically a war crime to kill a messenger.

This is a prequel to Game of Thrones. Why would HotD technology be MORE advanced than Game of Thrones? 😂

Daemon is blaming EVERYBODY else at this point because he wants/needs to take some action, ANY action, to deal with his grief (because he sees his wife in pain and he can't stop it/help with it), but he can't take any action while Rhaenyra is gone. He wants to go kill Aemond and Vhaghar to make her feel better, but he can't take on Vhagar alone and the only adult dragon and capable rider at his disposal is Rhaenys and Meleys. But Rhaenys won't go because Rhaenyra didn't sanction that. So then Daemon blames Rhaenys for not killing all the Greens when they were all there in front of her -- Otto, Alicent, and all 3 of her kids. But Rhaenys lets that roll off her instead of acting guilty/ashamed/sorry. So next is Mysaria, the White Worm, it's _her_ fault, but Mysaria won't take the blame either and she tells him he is only mad at her because his REAL enemies are out of reach. And 2 minutes later, it's Ser Erryk Cargyll's fault. He's just trying to find someone, ANYONE, to blame so he can punish them and feel better because it's been 2 weeks since Luke died and he hasn't been able to ACT on that like he always has in the past.

even if he didn’t get bit in half by Vhagar it was literally storming & they flew high enough above the clouds to where it no longer affected them the height from which Luke dropped would’ve killed him alone

Ya missed it..brother corn feet man had all her handmaids that were spies for team black killed in the last episode of season 1. He hand picked all her new handmaids but they don’t know how she likes to be cleaned. That’s why she took the rag and told them to get out.

The bookversion of the last 10 minutes (blood & cheese) is a lot more brutal! In the book Heleana has 3 children. 2 boys 1 girl. It takes place in Allicents room (details here to graphic to type out on how and why) Basically Heleana comes in with her 3 children. They force her to pick between the 2 boys. She picks Mealor (the one not in the show) to die bcz he is young and won’t remember. Then they kill Jesaerys instead and tell the survivor “hear that boy, ur mother wants you death”. < I feel like this would be even greater than the scene we got now. I’m curious how they’ll continue next episode.

Alicent is a big ol' hypocrite from the word go. She excuses Aemond killing Luke by saying Luke took Aemond's eye and (up to that point) was never punished for it. She COMPLETELY glosses over the fact that when Luke did that it was a matter of self-defense. Aemond was trying to KILL Jace, ready to bash his head in with a rock, and Luke defended him. Now, I'm not saying Team Black's kids are innocent in that fight; they DID team up against him, 4 against 1, which was totally unfair if I'm truthful about that. Rhaena rushed him, he pushed her down, and like a good older sister, Baela went to her defense and punched him for it. Naturally, he struck back. And while I never hold with the idea it's ok for boys/men to hit girls/women, she did strike first. So then Jace and Luke go into it because they are upright, chivalrous boys and naturally they want to defend their ladies, but then it because a huge brawl with all 4 of them on top of him, pummeling him. He was right to do whatever he could to get them off him, BUT...then he is enraged and is holding a boy down, choking him, and ready to bash his head with a rock, and _now we have just gone too far._ Really THIS fight is where the dance of dragons started, because it escalated into something crazy and Aemond lost his eye, but he WAS trying to kill a young child and Alicent NEVER acknowledges this. He might not have started the brawl, but he is the one who escalated it into a life or death moment.