SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot details for HBO’s ‘A Dance of Dragons’, Season 2, Episode 4 of ‘House of the Dragon’,” now streaming on Max.
The war had already begun in earnest, but with Sunday’s episode of ‘House of the Dragon’ the Dance of the Dragons has officially begun. “The Red Dragon and the Gold” culminates in the battle for Rook’s Rest, a small and nondescript castle on the rocky coast of Westeros. But while the prize may be small, the fighters certainly aren’t. Rook’s Rest is the conflict’s first skirmish that pits dragon against dragon—not the impulsive, chance encounter that killed Prince Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) in the season 1 finale, but a planned confrontation with deadly consequences.
When an army led by Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel) appears at the castle gates, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) offers to fly her dragon Meleys on behalf of her daughter-in-law Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). leader of the so-called black faction. There she is ambushed by Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) of the Greens, who is joined at the last minute by his usurper brother, King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). What follows is a victory for no one. Riding Vhagar, the oldest and largest living dragon, Aemond takes down Rhaenys and takes control of the castle. He also takes the opportunity to act on his long-standing grudge against the weak, incompetent Aegon, reducing his own brother – and Aegon’s dragon Sunfyre – to a pile of smoking ashes.
The consequences of Rook’s Rest will become clear in future episodes. For now, “The Red Dragon and the Gold” culminates the tragic arc of Rhaenys, a woman who was passed over for the Iron Throne at the start of the series in favor of her cousin and Rhaenyra’s father Viserys (Paddy Considine). Since that original insult, Rhaenys has endured more than her fair share of humiliation and loss, including the deaths of both of her children at the hands of her loving husband Corlys (Steven Toussaint). Rhaenys has reluctantly joined Rhaenyra, but she is certainly not an outspoken party member. The elder stateswoman has been both critical of her younger counterpart and a consistent voice against further escalation. Last season, she and Meleys escaped the Dragonpit in King’s Landing. While Rhaenys could have taken out the entire Green faction with a single “Dracarys,” she chose not to fire the opening shot of the war.
Thanks to HBO
For Best, the transition from her character maintaining peace by any means necessary to volunteering as tribute is memorable, with the use of dragons being likened to nuclear war. “The point is ultimately, no matter what we feel… the bigger picture is that we shouldn’t send dragons into war, we shouldn’t go nuclear at all costs,” the actor says. Variety. “So when she says, ‘I’m going to be the one to do this,’ she knows there’s no life after that.”
Over Zoom, Best spoke about the practical realities of filming a dragon fight, how Rhaenys resembles a samurai – and the possibility of her character’s posthumous return.
I read something about the armor setup the actors use when dragon riding. Can you tell me a little bit about the practical filming of that last sequence?
What you see – cut together, of course – is the absolute opposite of what actually happens. First of all, we are all on our own. We all do it individually. Because this particular sequence was so long, the boys each had about a week to shoot their stuff. Mine was two weeks, because she went through the whole struggle, she’s here.
It was a very complicated series. And I was on it alone for two weeks – it’s actually the size of a small house – this big, electronic, moving thing. I’m told it looks a bit like a bucking bronco. I’ve never been on a bucking bronco, but I’m told it’s similar. There is a saddle on top and you have to climb some stairs to get to it. Then you are strapped into the saddle and the house starts moving. When we did it in Season 1, it was quite moving, but it never got really, really violent. But this time there were some complicated moves. It was quite a complicated choreography to set out – all those twists, and she was upside down. So you move around, my legs crushed beneath me as it goes around and around. I’m telling you, it was a very good workout for my thighs and for my core strength. Pilates, eat your heart out!
Right!
I felt extremely out of my comfort zone. I definitely kept asking for more pillows, needing more padding on my knees and feeling very ill-equipped to handle it all. And as it moves, they have four guys with huge leaf blowers blowing the wind in your face. You can barely hear anything because there’s all this wind noise, and then somewhere in the distance you have a director shouting into a microphone. “Look up! There’s Vhagar! Aemond is coming in!” And you can barely think straight. You think, “I’m having a really intense moment for Rhaenys, and I need to concentrate,” but in some cases you’re just clinging on for dear life.
There was one moment that was a particularly elaborate move. It was when the dragons spiraled. It was supposed to look like she was doing this 360 turn with Vhagar, and she was hanging upside down for quite a bit. In screen time I think it was a minuscule moment, but in practice it was an entire afternoon getting this machine to make a 180 degree turn. I started and stood vertical to the ground, and then they turned it 180 degrees to the other side. God, my thighs and my core were really working to the max. Then it stopped and they said cut, and the machine should right itself right away. There was a delay, so I was left hanging on the seat! Everyone had gotten up to drink coffee while I clung to this thing for dear life. “Let me fall! Someone has abandoned me! Don’t forget me!” There was only a few seconds of delay, but it felt like a year. My abs were very proud of themselves that day.
In addition to the physical practicality of doing it, through all of this you also have to communicate Rhaenys’ emotional state.
That was a very, very intense journey for her. That was a challenge, to maintain that. I spoke with [episode director] Alan Taylor. We had had a session where we talked about what was going on with her emotions, because I felt very strongly that there were very important beats that we needed to highlight. In particular, the knowledge that it is most likely a kamikaze mission. She has to be, because she’s basically starting a nuclear war, and she’s been the only character who has done everything she can to stop it. Because she’s the one who knows from bitter experience, and the whole younger generation is running around saying, “Send the dragons!” She and Corlys are actually the only adults in the room who know, who have been there and seen – what they are dealing with.
The context of nuclear war was very helpful because it’s the same for us. And I knew that when she introduced herself, she knew that she had to take that responsibility, if someone was going to gain that weight. It couldn’t be Rhaenyra. She had to do it. I think she knows she has to sacrifice herself for the team. Another journalist described her in many ways as Lancelot, Rhaenyra’s Lancelot. I felt like that was very appropriate. There is such a deep reluctance. At the end of season 1, she makes that conscious decision not start a war, not to destroy everyone. Since then everyone’s been like, “Why didn’t you destroy them?” Everyone takes it personally, and she is constantly looking at the bigger picture. Standing up all the time, putting the personal aside and rising above it.
The point is, ultimately, no matter what we feel, no matter how attached, no matter how devastated we are, the bigger picture is that we should not send dragons into war, that we should not go nuclear at all costs. So when she says, “I’m going to be the one to do this,” she knows there’s no life after that. The choice to go, that second return to engage with Vhagar – that is an absolute kamikaze mission. For me, that was the moment where she felt very samurai. It was the last stand of the noble warrior. She could have just about escaped, and maybe they could have left it to everyone else. But she turns around because she knows this is what she has to do, morally and spiritually.
Thanks to HBO
You’ve previously described Rhaenys and Corlys as the only healthy relationship on the show. But in their final conversation we also learn that Alyn the sailor is Corlys’ illegitimate son. How does that change your view of their marriage?
It’s an absolute pain, and it’s a secret between them. We talked, Steven and I, and we really felt like they had done that never, it had never been talked about. And yet it is absolutely the greatest sword in her heart, of course. Until now, he really was her rock, the ground beneath our feet. And the feeling that that was suddenly unstable, the feeling that this relationship suddenly resurfaced because of Alyn and Adam’s presence, because they were buried so deeply by her, which he had never talked about. He completely denies it, and it’s a huge pain for her. I really felt like her heart was breaking.
The difference between season 1 and season 2 was that in season 1 they had definitely been one team. Loss after loss, the grief for their children, living through these devastating, devastating events, and yet they always faced it together. This time a rift opened between them. And with that, she hides it again. I wanted to scream at her. ‘Just talk to him! Have the conversation! Please tell him how you feel!” Because again, despite the fact that it absolutely tears her apart, to be reminded and see this – as she imagines – presence of another woman through the illegitimate children, she once again puts that aside and tells Corlys: ‘ You must recognize and you must accept that he could be your heir – and that you must treat him well.’
And that’s a classic example of her once again putting aside her personal sadness and feelings. I think she is broken and devastated inside. But always do the right thing. I don’t let anyone, except Meleys, see her insides.
This season we’ve seen actors who previously left the show, like Milly Alcock, reappear in flashbacks and visions. Obviously Rhaenys is no longer alive on the show, but is there any chance she could return in a similar context?
I would like that from her. I think she must be chasing him like crazy. She should show up everywhere he goes and give him all kinds of advice and some of her thoughts. We will see. Who knows?
Rhaenys begins the series as a potential candidate for the Iron Throne, and then sacrifices her life as part of this larger battle. Do you think that at the end of her life she will feel at peace with missing out on that opportunity?
I don’t think it gives her peace, but I felt like the trajectory of season 2 was a kind of increasing detachment, letting go and letting go and letting go. She just felt like she was getting lighter and lighter until that last moment on Meleys’ back. I think this is the one moment where she suddenly finds peace. Literally: let go. She’s carrying all her own stuff, and pretty much everyone else’s stuff, especially for Season 2. The weight of this unimaginable burden, and just letting it go.
It was really peaceful. Whatever it is, whatever you call it. It is bliss, or connection.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Update: An earlier version of this piece misstated the episode title.