[Warning: The following post contains discussions of sexual assault.]
If you’ve been tuning into House of the Dragon Season 2 press, you may have come across the title “Blood and Cheese.” It’s not the title of a chapter in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, but it is one of the book’s most infamous moments that is guaranteed to play out in the House of the Dragon Season 2 premiere on June 16. So, what is Blood and Cheese?
Here, we break down the pivotal moment for any curious fans. For those who don’t want to know any book spoilers, turn away now!
Fire & Blood‘s Blood and Cheese explained
Rhaenyra, Jace, and Joffrey grieve Luke in House of the Dragon Season 2 (Theo Whitman / HBO)
Blood and Cheese references an event that takes place in Section 14 of Fire & Blood titled “The Dying of the Dragons – A Son for a Son.” You can imagine where this is going to go next based on that title. Blood and Cheese are the names given to the two men at the center of this violent piece of Westeros’ history. The murder they commit is comparable to the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, not in the number of deaths but in brutality.
In the House of the Dragon Season 1 finale, Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) attacked his nephew, Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) on purpose but inadvertently killed him. Luke’s mangled body (along with his dragon, Arrax) fell into the sea below after Aemond lost of control of his dragon, Vhagar. The creature took a massive bite out of Arrax and Luke was collateral carnage. This triggers the war between the two houses that comprise the late King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) family, the Targaryens and the Hightowers, now called the blacks and the greens in the conflict ahead.
The Season 2 premiere is titled “A Son for a Son,” a direct reference to a line in the book. It reads: “On Dragonstone, Queen Rhaenyra collapsed when told of Luke’s death. Luke’s young brother Joffrey (Jace was still away on his mission north) swore a terrible oath of vengeance against Prince Aemond and Lord Borros. Only the intervention of the Sea Snake and Princess Rhaenys kept the boy from mounting his dragon at once. (Mushroom would have us believe he played a part as well.) As the black council sat to consider how to strike back, a raven arrived from Harrenhal. ‘An eye for an eye, a son for a son,’ Daemon wrote. ‘Lucerys shall be avenged.’”
Theo Whitman / HBO
Daemon was away at Harrenhal (the ancestral home of Larys Strong) to recruit its presiding lord to Rhaenyra’s cause. With the help of Mysaria (played by Sonoya Mizuno in the series), Daemon hires two lowborn men to assassinate one of the sons of King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney in the show). Blood and Cheese’s actual names are no longer remembered, but the Westeros history books note that Blood was once a member of the City Watch and known for brutal violence. He left his position in disgrace and became a butcher. Cheese, meanwhile, gets his nickname from being a rat catcher in King’s Landing.
Cheese knows his way around the Red Keep well because of his job. With Blood by his side, Cheese leads them through the castle to find one of Aegon and Helaena’s sons to kill. The King and Queen are parents to twin brother and sister Jaehaerys and Jaehaerya, as well as younger son Maelor. When Blood and Cheese find Queen Helaena in the castle, they threaten her life and make her choose which of her sons to kill. She urges them to kill her instead, but they reject her offer and threaten to rape her young daughter (all three of the children are under the age of 10).
Helaena chooses Maelor, presumably to protect the heir to the Iron Throne, but Blood and Cheese flip the script on her. Jaehaerys is decapitated right in front of Helaena and they take his head with them. Helaena and Aegon never emotionally recover, and it veers them off in wildly different directions as they deal with it.
House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1 will show Blood and Cheese
HBO
Trailers for House of the Dragon Season 2 show what could be a moment from Blood and Cheese. In the photo above, a man threatens Helaena with a knife to her throat. There’s also a shot of bloody sheets in what could be the aftermath of the event. It’s worth noting that Maelor has not yet been introduced in the series, but there has been speculation that he could exist in the show’s world but we just haven’t met him yet. It’s also possible the series could eliminate the character entirely.
Blood and Cheese was confirmed to be taking place in Season 2 Episode 1, “A Son for a Son,” in Entertainment Weekly‘s preview of the season. “I’d just say, it is Game of Thrones, expect the worst,” Olivia Cooke (Alicent) told the outlet of the bleak event. “Expect the very worst possible, and then double it. I dunno what else to say without heavily spoiling it, but it is heinous.”
How House of the Dragon will adapt Blood and Cheese is the episode’s job to reveal, but it’s a pivotal inciting incident in the book that takes the war of the two families to a whole new level. Rhaenyra was much more favored before Jaehaerys’ murder as well. Rallying people to her cause becomes more difficult after people start to blame her for Jaehaerys’ murder, but it was very much Daemon who gave the order. This could make for some meaty conflict between Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith‘s Rhaenyra and Daemon in the series.
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
House of the Dragon, Season 2 Premiere, Sunday, June 16, 9/8c, HBO, Streaming on Max