In the second episode of the second season of House of the Dragon we witness one of the most violent battles of Fire and Blood, the one between the brothers Arryk and Erryk Cargyll: did you know that there is a reference to Game of Thrones and Sansa Stark? Explanation. SPOILERS
In the second episode of the second season of House of the Dragon there is a connection between the spin-off and the mother series, Game of thrones. More precisely it has to do with an anecdote told in the past A Song of Ice and Firethe literary saga of George R. R. Martin which gave rise to the entire television universe of game of Thrones. The showrunner of House of the Dragon Ryan Condal he revealed all the curiosities, the background and the differences with the book by speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. What they have in common Sansa Stark and the twins Arryk and Erryk Cargyll? The latter are among the undisputed protagonists of the episode and their heartbreaking story was already known to readers because the young girl from the Stark house talks about it in the book. Yet the differences between Sansa’s vision and what we saw in House of the Dragon they are remarkable.
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Warning: continue reading only if you have already seen episode 2 of the second season of House of the Dragon or if you are not afraid of SPOILERS.
House of the Dragon 2 and the battle of the Cargyll twins
In the episode in question (which arrived in Italy at the same time as the USA on Sky and streaming on NOW) Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) sends Ser Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor) to Dragonstone to kill Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), but Arryk finds himself facing face to face his twin brother, Ser Erryk (played again by Elliot Tittensor), who had instead sworn allegiance to King Viserys’ daughter. The two knights fight violently in Rhaenyra’s bedroom and, in the end, they both succumb.
The bond with Sansa Stark
Ryan Condal pointed out that this legendary fight between brothers (which reminds us a bit of the one between the famous “The Mountain” Gregor Clegane and Sandor Clegane in Game of thrones) neither A Song of Ice and Fire is romanticized by Sansa Stark. The version we see on screen, however, is very different from the one in the books. In particular Condal explained:
“The book describes a few different versions of that story. I was always fascinated by the story of the Cargyll twins because it was a story that Sansa Stark romanticized, going back to the books of A Song of Ice and Fire. And, of course, Sansa has this romantic, very Leim-like vision of what that fight was like and how they dueled for hours as if it were a duel for a princess. The real situation would have been much more brutal and bloody.”
Regarding the differences with the book and the fact that this duel in the series was moved directly to Rhaenyra’s bedroom, Condal added:
“There’s a version where they curse each other and call each other ‘traitors’ and that just didn’t match the characters we had created. We have these two people who are on different sides of this conflict and don’t know what to do with this oath I think it’s even more tragic than seeing these two brothers trying to keep their oath but literally finding themselves in mortal combat with each other to keep their word.”
While Rhaenyra miraculously survived the attack, she will likely become even more ruthless now that her chambers have been breached by an assassin sent to kill her. It remains to be seen what the consequences of this other bloody duel which led to the death of two other characters will be. Something tells us that more bloodshed is certainly on the horizon as the Dance of the Dragons it has just begun.
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