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Rhaenyra understandably wanted revenge on Aemond for killing her son, but Aemond is able to steer clear of that payback in “A Son for a Son.” It’s actually Aegon II’s very young son, Jaehaerys, who is killed in retribution. Of course, that was never Rhaenyra’s intention, but Daemon taking things into his own hands clearly comes with a heavy price.
When Rhaenyra declares she wants Aemond dead, Daemon travels to King’s Landing with information about a couple of spies and killers that he received from Mysaria. He sends two men into the Red Keep with orders to find and kill Aemond Targaryen. The two men — known to George R.R. Martin readers as Blood and Cheese — focus on the idea of taking a son from Alicent and Aegon’s family since they can’t locate Aemond. They end up finding Aegon’s sister and wife, Helaena, along with her twin children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera.
Since the twins look so similar, the men force Helaena to reveal which one of them is the boy. After some contemplation about whether or not she’s telling the truth, the men slaughter the king’s young heir in his bed, while Helaena is allowed to take her daughter and leave. She confirms to Alicent in the final scene of the episode they did, in fact, kill her son.
This gruesome scene plays out a little differently in Fire & Blood, Martin’s book about the history of the Targaryens that House of the Dragon is based on. At this point in their history in the book, Aegon and Helaena had three children, not two. They had a younger son after the twins, a son that hasn’t yet been born in the TV series. In the book, Blood and Cheese force Helaena to choose which of her sons they are going to kill.
Based on George R.R. Martin‘s “Fire & Blood” book, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Westeros is on the brink of a bloody civil war with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra, respectively. New episodes of House of the Dragon premiere every Sunday on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.
The cast for House of the Dragon includes Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower.
