There are shocking things aplenty in A Son for a Son , the first episode of the second season of House of the Dragon . This prequel to the violently popular Game of Thrones, based on George RR Martin’s series of fantasy novels, is also based on a Martin novel, 2018’s Fire and Blood . The novel tells the story of the House Targaryen and the civil war — the Dance of the Dragons — that brought the once powerful house to its knees.
Picking up immediately after the events of the season 1 finale , we join Jacaerys (Harry Collett) at his meeting with Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) in the North — the Starks are back with their warnings of the winter that is coming. Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) — who had sent her eldest sons Jacaerys and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) across the seven realms to garner support for her claim to the Iron Throne — is grieving the death of Lucerys, who in the shocking finale of Season 1, was killed by Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his dragon Vhagor. Matt Smith in a still from ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 1| Photo Credit:Max Meanwhile, Rhaenyra’s uncle-husband Daemon (Matt Smith) wants “a son for a son.
” It is this that leads to the horrific slaughter of a toddler at the end of episode 1, indicating even more reason for the friends-turned-foes Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) to go to war, however much they wish to avoid it. Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Alicent’s father and Hand to her husband, King Viserys I, has the unbridl.