Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4.

The Big Picture

In the latest episode of
House of the Dragon
, Aemond and Criston’s battle strategy is revealed to target the seat of House Staunton in Rook’s Rest. This leaves Aegon shaken and struggling to come up with a better plan.
At Dragonstone, Rhaenys volunteers herself and Meleys to fight at Rook’s Rest, where they initially have the upper hand against the Greens’ army. However, Aemond arrives on Vhagar, and a fierce battle ensues.
Aegon, on Sunfyre, hastily joins the fray in Rook’s Rest, leading to an unexpected betrayal between brothers, serious injuries, and a devastating loss.

It’s almost difficult to conceive of the fact that we’re already at the halfway point for House of the Dragon’s second season, and yet the fourth episode, written by Ryan Condal and directed by Alan Taylor, certainly ups the ante in terms of the scale of the conflict between those who have pledged their allegiance to King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and those who remain loyal to Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) — even if it means the latter losing their heads to a swift blade from Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) in the process.

This week’s episode also makes it even more evident that, despite their relatively opposing temperaments, Aegon and Rhaenyra are in a surprisingly similar position when it comes to their power. On Dragonstone, Rhaenyra’s brief leave of absence to sneak into King’s Landing and visit Alicent (Olivia Cooke) for a last-ditch effort at peace last week has left her on an even shakier footing with her council, with many advisors believing her reluctance to enter the fray of war to be a sign of weakness. Meanwhile, in the Red Keep, Aegon has also been feeling relatively impotent as king in terms of his ability to make decisions people will listen to, with Alicent delivering a big wake-up call along the lines of how few council members even respect him as a leader. Episode 4 marks the point at which these opposing rulers make the firm decision to engage, one more impulsively than the other — but, as both sides meet for battle at Rook’s Rest, it’s unclear whether the Blacks or Greens will suffer more as a result of the decisive blows delivered.

House of the Dragon The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.Release Date August 21, 2022 Creator Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin Main Genre Drama Seasons 4 Distributor HBO Expand

The Greens Launch a Decisive Attack in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 4

In King’s Landing, Alicent has requested a brew of moon tea from Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) under the illusion that she is helping an unnamed young woman end a pregnancy, or at least prevent one — but what goes unspoken, and therefore unaddressed between them, is that the moon tea is actually for Alicent herself. Such detail might escape the notice of the Grand Maester, but it isn’t overlooked by Ser Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) sometime later when the new Master of Whisperers pays a visit to the dowager queen. Larys doesn’t have to say anything at all for Alicent to know she’s left the evidence sitting out in plain sight, especially since she’s pressing a cloth-wrapped hot stone against her abdomen (likely for the cramping) and barely has enough strength to get herself into a chair for their conversation. Apparently, since her talk with Rhaenyra, Alicent has been poring over books relating to the history of Valyria. Perhaps she’d been looking for anything that might have better explained Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) final words — or, even less likely, some form of confirmation that she hadn’t misheard him after all. Ultimately, as she says to Larys, “The significance of Viserys’ intentions died with him,” which seems to be more about Alicent trying to convince herself of that fact than anyone else.

Meanwhile, Criston Cole, accompanied by Alicent’s brother Gwayne (Freddie Fox) and a growing army loyal to their cause, has been cutting a swath through the Crownlands, forcing the occupants of any sieged castles to either swear fealty to Aegon or be put to the sword. A raven’s message received in the aftermath of the latest takeover strikes Gwayne as somewhat confusing, particularly because it informs Criston and the company to travel in the opposite direction from Harrenhal. Who’s responsible for these new marching orders? That becomes apparent very quickly during Aegon’s latest small council meeting: Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) has taken steps to enact that secret battle strategy he’s been working out with Criston, revealing that the new plan doesn’t involve targeting Harrenhal, but instead the seat of House Staunton in Rook’s Rest. It seems a measly prize, but as Aemond points out: it’s small, weakly defended, and once taken, will result in Dragonstone being completely cut off by land.

It’s a wartime strategy that makes every ounce of sense — but it leaves Aegon shaken, particularly as Aemond moves to dress him down in front of the rest of the council in a complete role reversal of last week, condescending to his brother’s antics (like naming a bunch of his friends as Kingsguard) before challenging him to come up with a better plan. Aegon stumbles and stammers his way through an answer in broken High Valyrian, but can’t summon up anything else in reply. Later, when he finds Alicent in his quarters, rummaging around for any remnant of Viserys’ library, their conversation quickly turns to Aegon venting about the lack of respect he’s been shown as king. Alicent clearly seems to have expected this conversation to a degree, pointing out that simply wearing a crown won’t give Aegon the necessary wisdom. What Aegon should be doing is shutting up, more or less, and learning from the smarter minds around him; in lieu of that, nothing else is needed from him at all. It’s a conversation that will have intense ripple effects for the remainder of the episode, as Aegon, not content to remain on the sidelines this time around, impetuously decides to ride into battle himself.

The Blacks Suffer a Devastating Blow in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2, Episode 4

In Harrenhal, Daemon is still having ominous dreams, the first this week culminating in yet another appearance of a younger Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) sitting on the Iron Throne, addressing him in High Valyrian and accusing him of creating the thing he now wants to destroy — her — before Daemon beheads her with his sword. “This is what you always wanted, is it not?” Rhaenyra’s head challenges. Another dream finds Daemon brandishing a sword and pursuing a man through the darkened halls of the castle, one who looks suspiciously like Aemond from behind, until he turns and reveals himself to be Daemon, wearing an eyepatch. When the dream becomes reality, Daemon’s standing, sword drawn, in what looks to be an alchemist’s lab of sorts, where the dark-haired woman (Gayle Rankin) he’s seen before introduces herself to him as Alys Rivers. The very witchy Alys gives Daemon a crash course in the lesser-known history of Harrenhal, including the fact that the very bed he sleeps in was constructed from felled weirwood trees, but she’s also astute enough to point out his divide from Rhaenyra, as well as the secret pleasure he might carry over her inheritance being called in question.

Drinking something Alys has concocted for him feels like the exact wrong idea, and yet that’s precisely what Daemon does. After that, he starts losing time, he is suddenly propelled ahead to his meeting with the Blackwoods, and hallucinates his late wife Laena (Nanna Blondell) in place of a Strong serving girl. Meanwhile, the situation isn’t looking too good in the Riverlands — Criston’s army is now three times stronger than before, overtaking houses and convincing all men within to swear allegiance to Aegon. Apparently, word of the Blacks’ role in Jaeherys’ death has spread to negative effect, meaning that more are turning away from Rhaenyra — and putting Daemon in a position where he may be forced to ally himself with whoever might be left.

Back at Dragonstone, Rhaenyra’s small council has been meeting in her absence to discuss possible next steps, with the Greens’ forces marching in earnest. The queen’s advisors are growing restless, feeling “rudderless” in her absence, and Rhaenys (Eve Best) does her best to temper their rising anxieties, but it’s clear no one has a better voice of authority than Corlys (Steve Toussaint) when the Sea Snake strides into the room. More telling is that everyone else accepts his tongue-lashing, ceding to Corlys in the interim — at least, until Rhaenyra finally makes it back, still wearing her Septa disguise. Her admission that she met with Alicent in secret is received incredulously by Jace (Harry Collett), but Rhaenyra insists that she has learned all she needs to and understands there is only one way forward from here on out: “Either I win my claim, or die.”

Once it becomes clear that Criston’s army is heading to Rook’s Rest, the question becomes which dragon to send. Rhaenyra volunteers herself and Syrax, but her survival is paramount at this stage, to give her followers someone to fight for. Jace suggests he and Vermax go, but he’s still young and has less fighting experience. The only option, Rhaenys insists, is to send her and Meleys — the Red Queen is the largest dragon in the Blacks’ arsenal and no stranger to battle. As both sides make their preparations, Rhaenyra divulges the truth of the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy to Jace, as well as Viserys’ enduring intent to make her his heir. She can’t involve dragons for a crown alone; her purpose must be something much larger than that. Meleys and Rhaenys descend on Rook’s Rest and, for a moment, seem to have the upper hand against the Greens’ army, but a much more sizable opponent waits inside the forest: Vhagar. Aemond isn’t immediately riding in to fight, however, especially not once he sees Aegon, on his dragon Sunfyre, hastily joining the fray.

Image via HBO

Aegon’s presence is the last thing either Criston or Aemond expected or wanted, but the Hand of the King uses it to motivate his men to advance. Meanwhile, above, Meleys and Sunfyre clash for the first time, and Rhaenys clearly has the advantage in the size of her dragon, with Meleys clawing brutal tears into Sunfyre’s chest that send blood pouring onto the battlefield. As Vhagar heaves herself out of the treeline and into the sky, however, she’s a sight big enough to make every man down below fall silent and distracting enough to Rhaenys that Sunfyre gets in a bite of Meleys. But with the two dragons tangled up together, it means that Aegon gets caught in the crossfire — literally — as Aemond issues a definitive “dracarys.” Disbelief turns to horror on Aegon’s face seconds before he and Sunfyre are immolated by a breath from Vhagar, with both dragon and rider plunging helplessly to the ground.

As Criston rides toward the billowing smoke, Rhaenys briefly seizes advantage of the chaos to fly away from the battle — but the realization that this might be their only chance to take out the Greens’ greatest asset in Vhagar leads the Queen Who Never Was to turn back and bid Meleys to attack yet again, definitively strapping herself into the saddle. If Rhaenys is going down, she’s going to aim to take out Vhagar and Aemond with her. It’s a fiery, bloody exchange, with both dragons delivering sizable injuries to each other, and once the smoke initially clears, Rhaenys and Meleys are in flight again, battered and bruised but still alive, drifting over the field for any sign of Vhagar’s survival. The brief respite they earn is too good to be true when the older, bigger dragon attacks from the cover of Rook’s Rest, powerful jaws snapping around Meleys’ neck. Rhaenys holds on helplessly as Vhagar squeezes the life out of Meleys, with dragon and rider sharing one last look before they both plummet to the ground, Meleys’ body bursting into flames.

As for Aegon and Sunfyre, the two have somehow survived, but barely; we don’t earn more than a glimpse of the injured king, but given the look on Criston’s face, Aegon will likely never be the same after this. There have been losses before, bloody exchanges in pursuit of succession, but Rook’s Rest is the first of its kind — a brutal clash that puts all of Rhaenyra’s previous caution about using her most dangerous assets into perspective. Now that all the dragons have been loosed to war, there’s no telling how destructive this dance will become before it finally ends.

House of the Dragon House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 leads to a significant loss for the Blacks when the Greens launch a decisive attack at Rook’s Rest.ProsThe Rook’s Rest battle between dragons was worth waiting for, as brutal and thrilling as a sequence like that should be.Eve Best goes out on a high note as Rhaenys Targaryen, but her absence in the series from this point forward will be deeply felt.The tension between Aegon and Aemond reaches a breaking point with Aemond’s dragonfire betrayal.

New episodes of House of the Dragon Season 2 premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.

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