Game of Thrones was no stranger to seeing some characters meet pretty gruesome fates, and its prequel, House of the Dragon, is following in a similar vein.
The first two seasons of the HBO series have featured many onscreen deaths, from major characters to side players and other citizens of Westeros. Fans of the book Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin know that the divided royal Targaryen family will continue to experience more loss as the conflict over whether Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) or Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne continues.
Ahead of the show’s season 2 premiere in June 2024, the House of the Dragon cast exclusively told Us Weekly how they manage to keep things light on set while filming some of the show’s darker scenes.
“I play house music on set, and if anyone gets annoyed, they tell me to turn it off — but nobody gets annoyed,” Harry Collett, who plays Jacaerys Velaryon, shared at the time. “So it’s great. In between takes, I’ll just play some music normally on a Friday and everyone gets up and dances.”
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Bethany Antonia, who plays Baela Targaryen, told Us that one time Collett “dove into” a trash bin on set to make her laugh after the two of them became “delirious” filming the same scene for several days.
Keep scrolling for a list of the most brutal House of the Dragon character deaths (spoilers ahead):
Aemma Arryn
While the show’s season 1 premiere ended on a high note with Rhaenyra being named her father Viserys Targaryen’s (Paddy Considine) heir, she got there as a result of her mother, Queen Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke), dying while giving birth to a son.
In a devastating scene, Viserys was forced to choose between saving the baby or losing his son and wife after Aemma experienced birth complications. Doctors attempted to save the child via a C-section, but the bloody moment resulted in the death of both Aemma and Viserys’ potential male heir.
The Crabfeeder
Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) put an end to the conflict in the Stepstones by pretending to surrender to the Triarchy warlord called the Crabfeeder (Daniel Scott-Smith) in season 1, episode 3. The surrender was simply a cover for an ambush, which ended with Daemon signaling victory by dragging the Crabfeeder’s cut-in-half corpse out from a cave after an offscreen fight.
Lady Rhea Royce
Also among those killed by Daemon was his first wife, Lady Rhea (Rachel Redford). He scared her horse in season 1, episode 5, resulting in her becoming paralyzed upon hitting the ground. Though Daemon was seemingly going to leave her after the fall, it was implied he finished her off with a rock after she egged him on for not going through with the kill.
Joffrey Lonmouth
Rhaenyra’s sworn protector and former romantic interest Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) was so unhappy with her marriage to Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate) that he took his aggression out on Laenor’s secret lover, Ser Joffrey (Solly McLeod). The two fought during a pre-wedding celebration after Joffrey talked about how he and Criston could continue to be romantically involved with Laenor and Rhaenyra, respectively, despite the marriage.
The season 1, episode 5, fistfight ended with Criston beating Joffrey to a pulp and Laenor crying over his lover’s body.
Laena Velaryon
After Rhea’s death, Daemon married his second wife, Lady Laena (Nanna Blondell), and the two welcomed daughters Rhaena and Baela. Much like Viserys and Aemma, Daemon was forced to choose between his wife and unborn child as Laena struggled giving birth to their third child. Before he was able to choose, Laena took matters into her own hands and commanded her dragon, Vhagar, to end her pain by burning her in season 1, episode 6.
Harwin Strong
Despite her marriage to Laenor, Rhaenyra’s first three sons were conceived as the result of her affair with the Lord Commander of the City Watch. Ser Harwin (Ryan Corr) and his father, former Hand of the King Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes), returned to their home of Harrenhal, where they died as a result of a tragic fire in season 1, episode 6. It was revealed the person behind the planned tragedy was Lyonel’s other son, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham).
Vaemond Velaryon
During a season 1, episode 8 meeting regarding who would become the Lord of Driftmark following Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), his brother, Ser Vaemond (Wil Johnson) argued it should be him instead of Rhaenyra’s second-born son, Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) because her children are illegitimate.
Viserys threatened to take Vaemond’s tongue as punishment for his comments, after which Daemon granted the king’s desires by swiftly slicing Vaemond’s head in half.
Lord Lyman Beesbury
Following news of Viserys’ death, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and the Small Council began their plans to crown Aegon as king in season 1, episode 9. Lord Lyman (Bill Paterson), however, disagreed with going against Viserys’ wishes of having Rhaenyra take over the crown. Ser Criston retaliated by slamming his head into the table and impaling him on a marble ball placed at his seat.
Lucerys Velaryon
Season 1 kicked off with Rhaenyra losing her mother and ended with her losing one of her sons. The season finale saw Lucerys travel to Storm’s End to plead with the Baratheon family to maintain their allegiance to his mother, only to be met by his cousin Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell).
Still harboring resentment toward Lucerys for stabbing his eye out as a child, Aemond chased his relative on dragonback as Lucerys attempted to leave. Though the chase was simply meant to scare Lucerys, Aemond eventually lost control of the dragon Vhagar, who attacked Lucerys and his dragon mid-air.
Jaehaerys Targaryen
Looking to grant Rhaenyra’s wish for vengeance after Lucerys’ death, Daemon hired a former Gold Cloak and ratcatcher, known as Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and Cheese (Mark Stobbart), respectively, to sneak into the Red Keep and kill Aemond in the season 2 premiere.
The assassin duo failed to find Aemond but eventually stumbled upon Queen Helaena Targaryen (Phia Saban) and her and Aegon’s twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. Blood and Cheese forced Helaena to point out which of the kids was the heir, resulting in the pair brutally killing the young child in his bed.
Arryk and Erryk Cargyll
The twin knights ended season 1 on separate sides of the Targaryen family conflict, with Ser Arryk (Luke Tittensor) siding with Aegon and Ser Erryk (Elliott Tittensor) siding with Rhaenyra. In season 2, episode 2, Ser Criston ordered Arryk to sneak into Dragonstone while pretending to be his brother and kill Rhaenyra. Though Arryk came close to completing the task, he was stopped by Erryk, and the two battled each other. The emotional fight resulted in Erryk impaling himself with his sword after ending his twin’s life.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen
In episode 4 of season 2, Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) volunteered to represent Rhaenyra and face off against Ser Criston, Aemond and his dragon Vhagar, and surprise attacker Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre at Rook’s Rest in the Crownlands.
After putting up a good fight alongside her dragon, Meleys, during the first airborne combat in the Targaryen civil war — known as the Dance of the Dragons — Rhaenys was sadly taken down by Aemond and Vhagar. In her final moments, she gave Meleys one last look of admiration before they fell to their deaths together.
