‘House of the Dragon’ Episode 2 Recap: “The Rogue Prince”

Before we get into the weeds of House of the Dragon Episode 2, with its Crabfeeder crucifixions, dragon egg thefts, and the continued question of available heirs to strengthen the Targaryen line, let’s resolve the worries of a social media faction that has wondered whether “the song” would return. These people, who must have greeted the Game of Thrones theme each Sunday night like a fix from their favorite illicit drug, will be over their moon charts to learn that its surging sing-song melody is back in House of the Dragon, playing in salvo form at the outset of “The Rogue Prince” before the Targaryen crest gives way to sand crabs picking at the remaining flesh of Westerosi sailors bolted to pikes by Triarchy warrior Craghas “Crabfeeder” Drahar, out there in the washes of the Narrow Sea.  

Lord Corlys Velaryon, the “Sea Snake,” is furious about this latest incursion. “I want to seize the Stepstones by force and burn out this ‘Crabfeeder,’” he blusters before the Small Council. But King Viserys, ever even-handed, says he’s not prepared to start a war with the Free Cities of Essos. It’s been six months since the death of the queen and her infant son, and Princess Rhaenyra still pours wine into council cups despite her standing as the king’s designated heir. And when she offers her services as a dragonrider to quell the Stepstones uprising, she’s hustled out of the room and sent to choose a new member of the King’s Guard. Ser Criston Cole, the Dornishman who bested Prince Daemon in the tourney joust in Episode 1, is the son of a steward of the Lord of Blackhaven, and his standard is fashioned simply from wood. But he’s also the only knight with combat experience. The princess shuts up Hand of the King Otto Hightower’s patronizing blather. “Let us plan Ser Criston’s investiture then.”

King Viserys has been receiving regular treatments of maggots to remove the dead flesh on his pinky and stop the advance of the rot that we’ve also observed festering on his back. Are these lesions and the like merely the price for ten years spent sitting on the sharp blades of the Iron Throne? Or is it something more sinister? We’ll see. But in the meantime, the king has also been receiving regular visits in his chambers from Ser Otto’s daughter, Lady Alicent. They speak about histories as he pores over his stone model of the realm – “The glory of Old Valyria will never be seen again” – and Alicent gets the stonemasons to fix the king’s cracked dragon figurine. They have become closer over these six months. 

In a quiet audience among the beautiful slender trees of King’s Landing, Corlys, along with Princess Rhaenyras, puts forth their daughter Laena (here played by Nova Foueillis-Mose). “Join our families,” the Master of Ships says to Viserys. “Unite the two great surviving Valyrian houses. With the Targaryen dragons and the Velaryon fleet bound in blood, you can show the realm that the crown’s strongest days are ahead, not behind.” And it’s a match the council’s Master of Laws, Lord Lyonel Strong of Harrenhal (Gavin Spokes), endorses. “She’s 12,” the king says, incredulous. Lynoel’s gross answer? “She’ll mature.” 

As Princess Rhaenyra watches the king walk with the child, Rhaenyras tells her she just doesn’t understand the order of things. “When I’m queen, I will create a new order.” But the “Queen Who Never Was” reminds the princess that men in Westeros would rather watch the entire realm burn than ever see a woman ascend to the Iron Throne.

And what of the rogue prince? Daemon, ensconced with Mysaria and his personal army of Gold Cloaks amid the foggy mists of Castle Dragonstone, which marks the ancestral island home of House Targaryen, has conducted the brazen theft of a dragon’s egg. But just as a tense standoff with Ser Otto Hightower on the bridge to the castle leads to steel being drawn and the dragon Bloodwyrm taking up station on the rocks above, Rhaenyra arrives with her mount Syrax to face her uncle’s treachery. “I’m right here,” she challenges him. “The object of your ire. The reason that you were disinherited. If you wish to be restored as heir, you need to kill me. So do it, and be done with all this bother.” Daemon relents, and tosses her the dragon’s egg in disgust.

(Let’s pause here to praise the richly-imagined sound editing of House of the Dragon. We all know dragons as the most terrifying weapon in the realm. But that reputation is solidified in this sequence by the sheer horror of the noises they emit, a shivering blend of snapping, chittering, vestiges of prehistoric bird call, and the audible slap of their enormous wings pushing the creatures airborne. The more we learn about and listen for the dragons, the more fearsome they become.)

Daemon not only stole a dragon’s egg. He fabricated a story about his plans to wed a (not) pregnant Mysaria, seemingly just to aggravate his brother and the council. But Mysaria is angry with him. “You swore to protect me,” she says. “I have been sold as property more times than I can count.” She says she doesn’t want power, or gold, or standing. She just wants to be liberated from the grip of constant fear. Daemon can truck with the king all he wants – he’s a Targaryen. But what does she have to fall back on? Her multifarious accent?

After fretting about remarrying for the entire episode, King Viserys says he’s made a decision. It’s not one Rhaenyra or Lord Corlys saw coming, but Ser Otto lets slip a gestural gloat. “I intend to marry Lady Alicent Hightower before spring’s end,” he announces to the council. Rhaenyra storms out, and Corlys steps to his king’s “absurd” notion. (Lord Lyonel predicted that the Sea Snake wouldn’t take rejection well.) Later, back at Driftmark, the head of House Velaryon reveals just how pissed he is that Viserys refused his daughter’s hand. “We’ve been passed over too often,” he tells his unlikely guest. “We are the realm’s second sons – our worth is not given, it must be made.” And as Prince Daemon Targaryen gazes into the fire, he considers this offer of an alliance with Corlys, and the opportunity to prove his value – or at least reinforce his position – by attacking the Stepstones, reasserting control over the continental shipping lanes, and quelling the Crabfeeder’s uprising for good.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges