We were already eagerly counting down the days until House of the Dragon season 2, but that excitement has only become more intense since we saw the first trailer. And with it, we got a glimpse of a scene so notorious and brutal that it rivals the Red Wedding. To fans, it’s known simply as Blood and Cheese. If you really don’t want to know, stop reading now as there are spoilers ahead.
Game of Thrones viewers have already had to watch more horrific violence against children than most TV audiences, but House of the Dragon season 2 is going to push things even further. After all, the Dance of Dragons is starting and nobody in the House of the Dragon cast is safe. Lucerys’ blood has been shed, and Daemon Targaryen is out for revenge. That’s where Blood and Cheese come in.
In George RR Martin’s book Fire and Blood, which tells the history of the Targaryen family tree, Daemon hires the lowborn assassins Blood and Cheese for a violent task. This involves Queen Helaena Targaryen, the daughter of Alicent Hightower, and her three children. You’ve probably worked out by now that it’s bad news for them.
Cheese is a King’s Landing rat-catcher and his intimate knowledge of the castle tunnels allows him and Blood to capture Helaena and her kids. They order her to choose one to be killed, to which she eventually agrees that two-year-old Maelor should be the one. Blood and Cheese tell young Maelor about this decision, then kill the eldest of three boys instead. We say eldest, but the soon-to-be-headless Prince Jaeherys is six years old.
It’s fair to say that these two men are disgusting, even in the bloody history of the most violent Game of Thrones characters. So we got a chill down our spine when we spotted Cheese (Mark Stobbart) and Helaena (Phia Saban) in the new trailer.
We even have a good idea of exactly when one of the best TV series of recent years will spring this surprise on unsuspecting viewers. Based on leaked House of the Dragon season 2 episode titles, we know that the first episode is called ‘A Son For A Son’. That’s the same name as the book chapter in which Blood and Cheese’s horrific story plays out.
So we think House of the Dragon season 2 will be kicking things off with an almighty shock. The murder of Jaeherys is one of the most horrifying events in the history of Westeros, causing the war between the Greens and Blacks to heat up even further.
As we hear in the trailer, “there is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin, and no war so bloody as a war between dragons”. With more Game of Thrones dragons in the sky than ever before, there will be blood… and cheese. Roll on that summer 2024 premiere date.
For more tidbits from Westeros, find out why House of the Dragon season 2 may have cut the best character and learn from GRRM himself about how House of the Dragon season 3 is already in the works. Or you can refresh your memory on the past with our House of the Dragon season 1 episode 10 recap.
Alternatively, look back through the key members of the Game of Thrones cast and see where the show ranks in our list of the best fantasy series ever made.