Two Key House of the Dragon Characters Killed in Heartbreaking Duel

Both sides of the war lost someone in Sunday's House of the Dragon.

By Charlie Ridgely

With a full-on civil war brewing in Westeros, don't expect the already deadly second season of House of the Dragon to slow down any time soon. Coming off a Season 1 finale that featured the death of Lucerys at the hands of Aemond, the Season 2 premiere ended with the brutal murder of Aegon's young son, Jaehaerys. On Sunday night, in the second episode of Season 2, blood continued to spill, this time claiming the lives of two key characters. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for House of the Dragon! Continue reading at your own risk...

House of the Dragon's latest episode saw Criston Cole try his hand at plotting, and hit ideas have been as half-baked as you'd expect. His big plan here was to have Arryk Cargyll travel to Dragonstone and pretend to be his identical twin, Erryk, in order to assassinate Rhaenyra.

Arryk and Erryk were both members of the Kingsguard during King Viserys' reign, but they chose different sides after his death. Arryk stayed in King's Landing to work for Cole, guarding Aegon and his family. Erryke took up a position with Rhaenyra, acting as one of her most trusted allies and protectors. Both Cargyll men have been massively important to their respective sides, but Cole's bright idea caused both of them their lives.

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(Photo: HBO)

Near the end of the episode, Arryk had seemingly infiltrated Dragonstone and made it all the way to Rhaenyra's quarters without raising suspicion. But he was spotted by Mysaria while walking in, and she tipped off Erryk, who came rushing in to stop his twin. The two clearly didn't want to fight one another, but stayed loyal to their respective sides.

The heartbreaking conflict concluded with one of the brothers killing the other (it appeared Arryk killed Erryk, but it's nearly impossible to tell). The surviving brother (probably Arryk) was broken by the death of his twin, and took his own life as soon as the fight had ended.

The Dance of the Dragons is filled with tales of family killing family, but much of that death hovers over the Targaryens. In this episode, thanks to Cole's meddling and bad ideas, House Cargyll lost its two favorite sons.

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Based on George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood" book, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Westeros is on the brink of a bloody civil war with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra, respectively. New episodes of House of the Dragon premiere every Sunday on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.

The cast for House of the Dragon includes Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower, Emma D'Arcy as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Ewan Mitchell as Prince Aemond Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower.

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