What happens in Season 2, Episode 2 – ‘Rhaenyra the Cruel’
WARNING: Major spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 – ‘Rhaenyra the Cruel’ ahead.
As news of baby Jaehaerys’ death spreads through the Red Keep, King Aegon is left devastated and out for blood.
Otto Hightower suggests using the death to their advantage, and suggests parading the tot’s dead body through the town in a funeral march so citizens will turn against Queen Rhaenyra.
Despite initial pleas not to, the plan goes ahead, with a heartbroken Queen Heleana riding behind the body alongside her mother, Alicent, in the procession.
As hundreds of mourners gather, a bump in the road causes the march to stop, and an overwhelmed Heleana has a panic attack as she’s swarmed by onlookers.
Meanwhile Blood, who committed the atrocity, has been captured and is dealt with at the hands of a vengeful King Aegon, while Cheese flees.
King Aegon later loses the goodwill of the people he earned from the funeral procession by demanding every ratcatcher in King’s Landing be hanged in the streets to ensure Cheese is dead.
Feeling guilty over his secret relationship with Alicent, believing it to be the reason Jaehaerys was taken so easily, Ser Criston takes his rage out on Ser Arryk Cargyll, whose twin brother, Erryk, has defected from the Kingsguard and stands with Queen Rhaenyra.
He instructs the knight to impersonate his brother, travel to Dragonstone, and kill Queen Rhaenyra.
Impressed by his cunning plan, King Aegon begins to rely more heavily on Ser Criston, much to the fury of Ser Otto, who believes the pair are acting recklessly.
Not wanting to hear it, King Aegon relinquishes Ser Otto’s position as Hand of the King, and gives the title to Ser Criston instead.
As news of the murder reaches Dragonstone, Rhaenyra’s council convenes to figure out the true culprit – with it becoming obvious fairly quickly Daemon instructed the move.
While Daemon insists to Rhaenyra that he instructed the assassins to take out Prince Aemond, not the child, a gulf begins to widen between the pair, with Rhaenyra no longer able to trust him.
Later, she speaks with Mysaria, and despite her instinct not to, lets her go after she shares information.
Grateful for this act of mercy, Mysaria is sent to board a ship – but realises Ser Arryk has arrived. Sensing danger, she decides to return to the castle to warn Rhaenyra of upcoming danger.
Unfortunately, this happens too late, and Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk go head-to-head in a fight in Queen Rhaenyra’s chambers.
An even match, the battle finally ends with the death of Ser Arryk, with Ser Erryk falling on his own sword in front of the Queen, unable to live with killing his brother.
Aegon’s Rage
After hearing of his son’s death, Aegon takes out his rage on King Viserys’s giant model of Old Valyria, smashing it to pieces.
Actor Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays him, admits he had “pangs of guilt” at destroying the stunningly ornate piece of the set, which was recreated by the props department specially for this one destructive scene.
But arguing for the King, he said: “I think that it was exactly what was needed for us to see where Aegon’s energy was going. He didn’t have anywhere to put it and he had people around him telling him to make decisions, and be pragmatic, and ‘it’s OK it will get better’ all the time.
“[He’s like] ‘No it f**king won’t, I need to smash the c**p out of this’.”
The Propaganda Machine and The Funeral
The murder of Jaehaerys shakes both the Greens and the Blacks – but for Otto Hightower, it doesn’t take long for him to pursue an angle to benefit the Hightower faction, even if it means lying to the people.
“Otto doesn't think Rhaenyra is capable of it [the murder],” admits Rhys Ifans, who plays him. “He knows she's good, and he knows that's a weakness, and hopes to use that to his advantage.”
“It's a way of manipulating the population with fake news. And as cruel as this society is, no one likes a dead baby. So in Otto's job, it's a weapon to employ in terms of public opinion.”
Showrunner Ryan Condal adds: “Somebody once wisely said, 'Never let a crisis go to waste'. Otto is exploiting the moment to extract maximum political value, but it's a very effective political tool, because these people that are seen by some of King's Landing as the usurper are now suddenly embraced, and that's why it's diminished or near his position so badly.”
To film the funeral procession, the team transformed Caçares in Spain to become King’s Landing, with the team creating a 3D silicon print of the actor who played baby Jaehaerys to put atop the upsetting funeral pyre onlookers gawp at.
The ratcatcher hanging scene was also filmed in the city, with a mixture of rigged stunt actors and 3D printed people being used to bring the moment to life.
In some cases, members of the production team were used to create the models.
The Fall of Otto Hightower (and Rise of Ser Criston)
Despite Otto’s power plays in the political game, King Aegon ignores his orders and starts relying more on Ser Criston Cole.
After comments from Larys Strong in episode one, and a berating from his grandfather in episode two, Aegon makes the impulsive decision to strip Otto of his title as Hand Of The King, giving it to Ser Criston instead.
Speaking on the official podcast, Tom Glynn-Carney explains: “He's impulsive. I don't think he thinks things through a lot of the time, but in that situation, Otto Hightower had been keeping Aegon on a very tight leash and pushing him to his limits, and I just think Otto's lack of tact in that situation really sort of signed his own death warrant in terms of being stripped as hand.
“Also, this whole culture of sending ravens and waiting, biding time - and he was sick of waiting. He wanted to get started, especially after they had struck with the death of Jaehaerys.”
As for Aegon’s bond with Ser Criston, Tom believes it stems back to his childhood.
“I think Criston Cole has always been a positive male figure for Aegon,” he said. “He's been consistent, he's been supportive, he's been encouraging.
“It's a complicated one, because he's not squeaky clean himself, but I think maybe he sees that. Maybe Aegon sees that element in Criston Cole. Also, Criston Cole paid attention to him – Viserys never did. So he's like a big brother, sort of. That's the way I've looked at it, at least.”
Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk Cargyll
House Cargyll is a noble family who reside in the Crownlands of the Seven Kingdoms.
The twin brothers, Arryk and Erryk, joined the Kingsguard during the rule of King Viserys I.
However, when the civil war erupted between Aegon and Rhaenyra over their right to the throne, they split for the first time in their lives, picking opposite sides.
Ser Erryk opted to remain loyal to the noble family’s oath to support Rhaenyra, which occurred after King Viserys announced her as his successor.
Ser Arryk chose to side with King Aegon due to his belief that he was the rightful heir to the throne, and was crowned at the dragonpit of King’s Landing.
When the pair went their separate ways, they declared their love for each other - something they would later repeat as their bloody battle came to an end.
The showdown, performed by real-life brothers Luke and Elliot Tittensor, was nicknamed “Searching for Love” by director Claire Kilner, explaining she wanted to see the tragedy and love between the brothers despite their deadly fight.
Both men did their own stunts throughout the scene, with the team going to lengths to make sure the twins got the same injuries – meaning viewers never know which one’s which.
“We must have done over 30 hours of rehearsals on the fight scene, we wanted to put all our energy into it,” said Elliot. “And I feel like in the midst of the aggression of it, I think it should be quite a beautiful scene.
“It was super emotional as well, and hopefully, we can capture that for the audience anyway, because it'd be wicked if they could get a sense of how we felt on the date.”