S2·E1 — A Son for a Son
The hour retold
The season opens by widening the board and then narrowing it to a single, unforgivable room. In the North, Jacaerys treats with Cregan Stark on the Wall itself and comes away with the Pact of Ice and Fire — the North remembers its oath, and a boy who won a kingdom with honesty rides home to find honesty is not the currency the war will be settled in. Rhaenyra, meanwhile, combs the wrack of Shipbreaker Bay for whatever Vhagar left of her son, and breaks a whole hour of silent grief with four words that set the season's course: 'I want Aemond Targaryen.'
What she gets instead is the war's true beginning. Corlys's blockade closes the Gullet and King's Landing starts to feel the first pinch of hunger, but the hour's engine is Daemon, who hires two ratcatchers the histories will remember only as Blood and Cheese and sends them into the Red Keep for 'a son for a son' — without specifying enough. Unable to find Aemond, they take the head of Helaena's small boy Jaehaerys while his mother watches and is made to choose. It is the crudest scene either telling of the Dance offers, and it does exactly what it must: the green court's grief now matches the black's, and there is no floor left beneath the war.
What happens
- Jacaerys treats with Cregan Stark on the Wall itself: the North remembers its oath, and the Pact of Ice and Fire is sworn.
- Rhaenyra combs the shores of Shipbreaker Bay until she finds a wing of Arrax — and speaks her first words in an episode of grief: 'I want Aemond Targaryen.'
- Corlys's blockade closes the Gullet; King's Landing begins to feel the first pinch of hunger.
- Daemon buys two ratcatchers — Blood and Cheese — and sends them into the Red Keep for 'a son for a son.'
- Unable to find Aemond, they take the head of Helaena's boy Jaehaerys while his mother watches: the green court's grief now matches the black's.
The people of the episode
Rhaenyra Targaryen — Searches the wreck-strewn coast for what Vhagar left of her son.
Daemon Targaryen — Buys vengeance in the city he once policed — and doesn't specify enough.
Jacaerys Velaryon — Wins the North with honesty, then hears about Luke.
Cregan Stark — The Wolf of the North shows a southern prince what oaths mean up here.
Helaena Targaryen — Asked by killers to choose which son. She pays for the war's madness first.
Aegon II Targaryen — Plays at kingship on his father's throne until grief comes to his own nursery.The fallen — spoilers
- Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen — Aegon and Helaena's small son, beheaded in his bed by Blood and Cheese — a son for a son, and a war past all mending.