The second chapter of House of the Dragon is landing on Sky Atlantic in just a few weeks, with the Greens and Blacks – factions of a warring noble family – set to continue trying to destroy one another for eight action-packed episodes.
It’s exciting stuff: the Greens, headed by Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), and the Blacks, headed by Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) look ready for battle, with the new season’s trailers showing roaring dragons, explosions and malevolent plotting.
The series is a spin-off season of HBO’s award-winning, extraordinarily popular medieval-fantasy series, Game of Thrones, and is based on the book Fire & Blood by Game of Thrones author George RR Martin.
The basic premise of the story is easy enough to pick up: one family is split in two, fighting for the Iron Throne, aka the chance to rule Westeros. The story is set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and focuses on the drama that leads to the civil war of the Targaryens, which is known as The Dance of the Dragons.
As might be expected, a lot went down in season one. But it’s been a while. So for those wanting to join the second series, and quickly catch up with all the drama, here is our summary of what’s happened so far, explained through each of the characters.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, played by Emma D’Arcy
In the beginning of House of the Dragon, we meet Rhaenyra Targaryen as a younger girl (in the first few episodes the character is played by Australian actress, Milly Alcock). Rhaenyra is the daughter of Viserys I Targaryen, King of the Seven Kingdoms and she has a close friendship with Alicent Hightower, the daughter of Hand of the King, Otto Hightower.
Rhaenyra’s mother dies in childbirth in the very first episode, and her father is left with no male heirs. He does the right thing anyway, and appoints Rhaenyra (his only surviving child) as his heir. Factions both within the family and within the court are unhappy about the decision: some believe that the throne should go to his brother, Daemon, who is volatile and untrustworthy – but a man, others think it should go to Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Viserys’ cousin.
Over the course of season one we watch Rhaenyra grow up. She has six children (the last is stillborn) with two men: her lover Ser Harwin Strong and then her uncle/husband, Daemon – more on which, later. Her father dies, she is humiliated and betrayed, and she is made to fight for her right to the throne.
Viserys I Targaryen, played by Paddy Considine
At the beginning of the series we meet Viserys as a younger King, more sure of himself and his decisions than he is later on as he ages and becomes sick. To Rhaenyra’s surprise and disgust, her father marries Alicent when both Alicent and Rhaenyra are still young women, a match that has been orchestrated by Otto for power.
When Alicent has children with Viserys – three of whom are boys – they become the de facto heirs, challenging Rhaenyra’s rights to the throne.
Throughout the first series, Viserys becomes increasingly sick and Alicent starts to rule in his place. To her credit, whatever he’s got looks absolutely awful with seeping sores and flesh that simply peels away (he ends up wearing a mask in public) and Alicent dutifully cares for him until his dying days.
On his deathbed, Viserys, who is zoning in and out of consciousness, believing he is talking to his daughter, as he was earlier in the episode, says, “It is you. You are the one. You must do this. You must do this.” Alicent takes this to mean he wants their children to rule the kingdom.
By this time Rhaenyra and other supporters of the Black’s cause have fled to Dragonstone, a castle on a volcanic island several hundred miles north of King’s Landing. It’s from this spot that she plots her takedown of the Greens, but her distance means it is some time before she finds out that her father has died, and that Alicent has quickly filled his seat with one of her own sons, Prince Aegon.
Alicent Hightower, played by Olivia Cooke
As the show begins, Alicent seems like a sweet companion to Rhaenyra, but it quickly becomes evident that this isn’t the case: she’s power hungry, just like her father. Alicent’s just slightly better at masking her ambitions.
In total she has four children with the king, three of them we meet in season one – and they’re truly horrible human beings. As they grow up they start fighting their cousins, more on which below.
Alicent believes that her sons should be heirs to the throne. She argues that Rhaenyra’s kids are the result of an affair with Ser Harwin Strong, a handsome Knight of the Realm who Rhaenyra does indeed have an affair with (Rhaenyra also has a quick fling with knight Ser Criston Cole, who forever after harbours resentment against her, plotting with her enemies).
So is there any truth in Alicent’s argument? Well, yes: Rhaenyra is married to Laenor Velaryon at the time (the son of Lord Corlys Velaryon, the head of House Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Viserys’ cousin) and he has blonde hair. But her children all have brown, curly hair – looking exactly like mini versions of Strong. On top of this, Strong is particularly fond of the three children, teaching them how to sword-fight, and protecting them when Alicent’s children start to push them around.
Daemon Targaryen, played by Matt Smith
Ruthless, proud, capricious, Daemon isn’t exactly a model father, husband, brother or uncle, so it’s no great surprise that his brother thinks it would be dangerous if he was appointed as heir. In the show, Daemon kills his first wife, and his second wife dies in childbirth. Third time lucky perhaps? Princess Rhaenyra thinks so. The pair, who have been flirting for years, marry and have three children (the third is stillborn).
Happily, we see the character evolve over the course of the series. At the beginning, he truly is one dimensionally insufferable. But as we see him navigating life as a warrior-soldier and as a father, we start to see glimpses of a more complicated character. By the end of season one, he is a loyal husband to Rhaenyra, backing her right to the throne, and becomes, remarkably, rather likeable.
Alicent’s children: Aemond, Aegon II, Helaena, Daeron
Alicent’s boys are truly horrible specimens. They enjoy cruel jibes, act coarsely and get pleasure from fighting and frightening others. Helaena is a less malevolent character – she’s a slightly odd dreamer who, with her long white-blonde hair, might remind viewers a little of Harry Potter’s Luna Lovegood.
In the last episode, Aemond chases his cousin, Rhaenyra’s much younger son Lucerys, through a storm on his giant dragon, Vhagar. Vhagar then kills Lucerys. People on the internet still argue over Aemond’s culpability – after all, it was the dragon who killed Lucerys, not him. But it was Aemond who decided to take the fire-breathing monster and chase the young boy, who was crying, through the black skies.
Obviously Lucerys’ death is going to fuel Rhaenyra further in her quest to topple the Greens.
Ser Harwin Strong, played by Ryan Corr
We don’t get to see much of Rhaenyra’s lover, a hunky knight. Strong gets banished to his family's seat at Harrenhal by Viserys, who is attempting to squash rumours about his daughter’s affair and the legitimacy of her children.
In true Game of Thrones style, Strong could have been a major player in future series but gets swiftly killed off by his evil brother Larys, who starts a fire at Harrenhal. Their father is also killed, making Larys head of the house.
Corlys Velaryon, played by Steve Toussaint
Known as the Sea Snake for his successful years as a naval commander, Corlys is the head of the royal fleet and holds many titles including Master of Ships, Lord of the Tides, Master of Driftmark and Head of House Velaryon. He’s important in the show because of his family ties and command of the seas.
He’s married to Rhaenys Targaryen, who has genuine rights to the throne; he’s father to Laenor, who is married for a moment to Rhaenyra; and his daughter Laena is married to Daemon (Corlys had hoped that Viserys and Laena marry, but in the end Viserys choses Alicent). Laena and Daemon have two daughters before Laena dies in childbirth.
But Corlys is also powerful because he’s an experienced commander, with an extensive fleet that could be crucial in a war. In the series he is called by Viserys to King’s Landing to pledge his allegiance to Rhaenyra. Corlys obeys, despite privately preferring Daemon or his wife to succeed Viserys. Later, Daemon does not repay Corlys’ loyalty, decapitating Corlys’ brother Vaemond in the Throne Room, simply because Vaemond insults Rhaenyra.
As series one develops, Corlys and his wife support Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne.
Larys Strong, played by Matthew Needham
Ruthless and remorseless... is it really any wonder that Larys becomes one of Alicent’s close confidants? In the series he is seen sat with the Queen in King’s Landing, plotting. He becomes her eyes and ears at court, known as Master of Whisperers.
Otto Hightower, played by Rhys Ifans
Otto Hightower, Alicent’s father, is Viserys’ right-hand man. Despite having designs on the throne, never tries to take power from the king while he is alive. Instead, Otto bides his time, proposing his young daughter as a match for the king, securing his family’s future.
The animosity between Otto and Daemon is deep seated: long before the family split in two, Otto argued in court, with good reason, that Daemon was a liability and a threat to the realm.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, played by Eve Best
The Queen Who Never Was, Daemon and Viserys’ cousin has long had designs on the throne, but, knowing her ambitions are futile, throws her full weight behind supporting the Blacks. This isn’t to say that her ambitions disappear.
With her husband away at sea for long periods at a time, Princess Rhaenys is a formidable character, often taking his place, ruling Driftmark – the largest island in Blackwater Bay, which is situated right next to Dragonstone.
In the penultimate episode of season one, Rhaenys visits King’s Landing but is locked into her chambers by Alicent who campaigns for Rhaenys to join the Greens. Rhaenys refuses, and is later freed from captivity by a knight. Her exit strategy is to fly home on one of the dragons, and she does so in style: she bursts through the floors of the dragonpit, straight into the crowded Throne Room on the back of a dragon.
In that moment she has everyone at her mercy: Alicent, Alicent’s sons, Ser Criston Cole and Otto Highwater are all trapped in the hall – Rhaenys could have easily killed them. Alicent closes her eyes, accepting her fate. But Rhaenys (probably unwisely) chooses to spare her enemies. She flies straight to Dragonstone to share the news of Viserys’ death with Rhaenyra.
Laenor Velaryon, played by John MacMillan
Rhaenyra’s marriage to her first husband is one of arrangement. Neither husband nor wife are in love with the other and he is depicted as being in a relationship with a man – which perhaps explains why the pair never have children. Laenor seems to have been killed in a quarrel, but it turns out that he has faked his own death – allowing both Laenor and Rhaenyra to move on with their lives.
