S2·E2 — Rhaenyra the Cruel
The hour retold
Grief becomes statecraft in the opening minutes, as Otto Hightower turns a murdered child's funeral into a slow procession through the streets — a dead prince paraded so that 'Rhaenyra the Cruel' can be planted on every crier's lips. It is the shrewdest thing anyone in King's Landing does all season, and it is wasted, because the king it serves has no patience for chess. Aegon, raging past his grandsire's counsel, strips Otto of the Hand's badge for the second time in the old man's life and gives it to Ser Criston Cole, trading a schemer for a soldier at the precise moment the war needs a schemer.
The hour's two halves rhyme: a city answering murder with more murder, and a family answering it with itself. Aegon hangs every ratcatcher in King's Landing, guilty and innocent alike, on the walls — twenty fathers for one prince. And on Dragonstone the war's saddest single act plays out, as Ser Arryk Cargyll is sent wearing his twin's face to kill the black queen, only to meet Ser Erryk at her door. Twin kills twin in Rhaenyra's own hall, and Erryk, having killed the brother he loved for the queen he chose, falls on his own sword for the shame of it — the Dance in miniature, a house turning its own two halves into corpses.
What happens
- Otto turns Jaehaerys's funeral into a procession through the streets — grief as statecraft, 'Rhaenyra the Cruel' on every crier's lips.
- Aegon rages past his grandsire's counsel; Otto is stripped of the Hand's badge for the second time in his life, and Criston Cole takes it.
- The ratcatcher Blood is caught and broken; Aegon hangs every ratcatcher in the city, guilty and innocent alike, on the walls.
- Ser Arryk Cargyll is sent to Dragonstone wearing his twin's face; Ser Erryk finds him at Rhaenyra's door.
- Twin kills twin in the black queen's hall — and Erryk, having slain his brother, falls on his own sword for the shame of it.
The people of the episode
Otto Hightower — Loses the badge to a king who prefers rage to chess.
Aegon II Targaryen — Answers one murdered child with twenty hanged fathers.
Criston Cole — Hand of the King now — and author of the war's stupidest gambit.
Rhaenyra Targaryen — Wakes to steel in her own chamber and two dead men who shared one face.
Alicent Hightower — Shares a bed with the Hand and a conscience with no one.
Mysaria — The White Worm, traded to Dragonstone — where her worth is finally seen.The fallen — spoilers
- Ser Arryk Cargyll — Sent in his twin's likeness to murder Rhaenyra — cut down by his own brother in her hall.
- Ser Erryk Cargyll — Slew the brother he loved for the queen he chose, then fell on his sword weeping.
- Blood — The butcher of Prince Jaehaerys, broken by the king's questioners and hanged.