House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 Ending Explained: Did Two Characters Just Die?

This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4.

Now that’s how you end an episode of a Game of Thrones series! House of the Dragon season 2 hasn’t started off slowly by any means. In the first three episodes alone, viewers have witnessed the beheading of a toddler, a twin brother duel to the death, and Ser Otto Hightower’s (Rhys Ifans) increasingly exasperated facial expressions. Still, this civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons has been calling out for some actual dancing. In season 2 episode 4, dance those dragons finally do.

Unlike last week’s installment, which shunted the Battle of the Burning Mill offscreen, episode 4 depicts the Battle at Rook’s Rest in its full, fiery glory. Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Rhaenys (Eve Best), and King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), along with their respective dragons Vhagar, Meleys, and Sunfyre, descend upon the small Crownloands stronghold of Black loyalist House Staunton. By the time the dust and ash has settled, at least one dragon-riding pair is dead while another’s fate remains up in the air.

Here is everything you need to know about the ending to House of the Dragon season 2 episode 4.

What Is the Battle at Rook’s Rest?

As Ser Criston Cole’s (Fabien Frankel) host in the Crownlands begins to swell with the addition of Darklyn, Rosby, and Stokeworth soldiers, his lieutenant Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) assumes that the army’s next stop will be Harrenhal in the Riverlands. Cole and his close ally Prince Aemond, however, have a different plan. Ser Criston orders his troops to maneuver northeast towards Rook’s Rest, the seat of House Staunton.

“Are you afraid, ser?” Criston asks Gwayne.
“Worse, I’m rational.” Gwayne responds.

With apologies to Ser Gwayne’s rationality, Rook’s Rest is actually a strategically-sound target. As Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) has already found out, Harrenhal is little more than a lightly-garrisoned ruin, ruled over by an ancient and ineffective Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. Rook’s Rest, on the other hand, is not only the home of House Staunton, key allies for Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), but its position on the coast can be used to repel the Velaryon navy.

Additionally, Criston and Aemond have anticipated that the Blacks will have only one viable option for dealing with the threat to Rook’s Rest: they will have to send a dragon. Once they do, Criston will signal Aemond and Vhagar, who will ascend from their hiding spot in the woods and immediately be favored in battle against whichever dragon is his opponent. While Dragonstone indeed has more dragons than King’s Landing, Vhagar remains the biggest and fiercest beast of them all. Of course, the arrival of King Aegon II on Sunfyre is an unwelcome surprise to Cole.

If the show doesn’t make clear enough that this was all part of Criston and Aemond’s master plan (sans the Aegon part), George R.R. Martin’s source material Fire & Blood confirms it as well. There are, however, some differences between the show’s Battle at Rook’s Rest and the book’s. In the book, Ser Criston’s host is much larger – consisting of around 3,000 men. They also settle in for a protected siege of the castle as word of its attack doesn’t arrive to Dragonstone immediately.

Another key difference is that King Aegon II and Sunfyre appear to have been a part of Cole’s plan the entire time as well. But perhaps the Westerosi historians who catalog the events in Fire & Blood just don’t want to believe that a Targaryen king could act so rashly and foolishly.

Did Rhaenys Die?

Yes, we’re sad to report that Rhaenys Targaryen, Queen Who Never Was and the Lady of Driftmark, has indeed died. While television frequently operates under the “no body, no death” bylaws, it’s probably safe to conclude that being lit on fire and dropped a mile out of the sky doesn’t require the visual confirmation of a body.

Like her Fire & Blood counterpart, Rhaenys perishes at the Battle at Rook’s Rest alongside her dragon Meleys. In the weeks to come, her surviving husband Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) will likely be equally furious at the Greens for killing his wife and Queen Rhaenyra for letting her fly to battle in her stead. The successful killing of both a dragon and a dragonrider marks one of the war’s first big victories.

Meleys’ death should remind both sides of this war that dragons aren’t indestructible and maybe they should be a little more careful with the Targaryen family birthright. Believe it or not, they will not heed this lesson.

Did King Aegon II Die?

While King Aegon II’s arrival on Sunfyre was believed to be part of Ser Criston’s plan in Fire & Blood, that is very clearly not the case on House of the Dragon. Drunk, miserable, and sensing that his grip on power is slipping, Aegon flies off to Rook’s Rest against his council’s wishes. And now he’s dead … or is he?

Aemond was imprecise (deliberately so) in where he had Vhagar aim her dragon fire during the battle. While the people observing on the ground may believe that Aemond was targeting Rhaenys and Meleys, he was really sending some friendly fire Aegon’s way. Sunfyre’s wing is severely damaged and he tumbles out of the sky, Aegon in tow.

The final minutes of the episode then pick up with Criston Cole as he witnesses Aemond advance on the Sunfyre crater, sword drawn. This seems to not only suggest that Aemond intended to finish the job but also that the job apparently needed finishing in the first place. Aegon is probably alive…albeit barely.

This is consistent with the storyline as presented in Fire & Blood. There Aegon suffers devastating injuries and burns during the battle of Rook’s Rest. The trauma to his body is so severe that he spends a whole year recovering, drinking milk of the poppy like its water, and sleeping most of the day. In his absence, Aemond steps up as Prince Regent and Protector of the Realm.

They say history doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme. Sure enough, the Seven Kingdoms are about to find themselves under the rule of a sickly, non-ambulatory Targaryen king once again.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

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