*Warning: Contains spoilers for House of the Dragon.*
’s first season is nearing its big finale, with just two episodes left – and fans are already in bits before they’ve even seen them.
Episode eight, entitled The Lord of the Tides, saw several shocking events take place in King’s Landing as the Driftmark succession was challenged.
Daemon (Matt Smith) swiftly removed the head of Vaemond Velaryon (Wil Johnson), there was a bittersweet family meal, and King Viserys (Paddy Considine) finally surrendered to his years of illness.
Many fans called it the best episode yet and were on tenterhooks waiting for episode nine, but promotional photos have got fans worried.
The photos for Monday’s upcoming penultimate episode, entitled The Green Council, have fans worried that two popular characters won’t be appearing.
Where are Daemon and Rhaenyra?
We already know that King Viserys won’t be appearing (apart from as a corpse) after his tragic death in episode eight, but fans weren’t expecting his daughter Rhaenyra and brother Daemon to be absent this week as well.
Of the eight images released ahead of the new episode, none of them contain Rhaenyra or Daemon, who returned to Dragonstone at the end of The Lord of the Tides. They were supposed to come back to King’s Landing, but Viserys’ death appears to have changed things.
Fans are now convinced that two of the biggest names in House of The Dragon won’t be appearing next week, and social media is (of course) in a proper tizz, with one fan saying: ‘The lack of Rhaenyra and Daemon in the episode stills sadden me.’
Another viewer said on Reddit: ‘100% missing Daemyra family here’ (which is a handy portmanteau that we here at Metro.co.uk will be using in the future, so thank you very much for that one).
Of course, the photos might be lulling us into a false sense of security. Perhaps Daemon and Rhaenyra will be involved, but with a moment so decisive that to feature them in promotional material at all would spoil the entire episode?
The Small Council’s big players
The Small Council has seen numerous faces come and go across the last eight episodes. Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) and Grandmaester Mellos (David Horovitch) have both perished, Daemon lost his seat early on, and now King Viserys himself will no longer feature at the table.
Two people who have been mainstays of the royal inner circle are Ser Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish) and Lyman Beesbury (Bill Paterson).
They weren’t featured in every episode this season, but they made notable returns last week, proving that they still have a role to play.
And they both feature prominently in the promotional photos for The Green Council, with neither of them looking particularly happy with what’s happening in front of them. Alicent now believes that her son with the king, Aegon II, should be the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms – will Harrold, friend of Rhaenyra, be happy with that?
Praying for people who don’t use subtitles…
Perhaps Daemon and Rhaenyra will be missing from this upcoming events after all because, if the photos are anything to go by, we’re going to be properly introduced to two new faces in episode nine. And as if that wasn’t enough, they both have the exact same face.
Say hello to the Cargyll twins! Erryk and Arryk! They will be played by real-life twins Elliot and Luke Tittensor. I’m praying for people who don’t use subtitles. This is an instruction to get those subtitles up if you can, because you might find yourself feeling a little lost when the brothers are on screen.
We met Erryk very, very briefly last week. He was the knight who told Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) about Prince Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) attacking the maid, Dyana. We’ll be meeting his brother this week, so keep your eyes peeled for literally anything that might help you tell them apart.
Aemond wants to copy his uncle
Last week, fans spotted that, while they might stand on opposite sides of the upcoming civil war, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Daemon seem to have something of a mutual respect for each other.
When Daemon removed (half of) Vaemond Velaryon’s head in the throne room last week, Aemond looked at his uncle and seemed to smirk. When the family dinner grew tense, it was Daemon who quietly stopped Aemond from escalating the fight any further.
And now it appears Aemond has let Daemon influence his wardrobe, donning a ‘crime hoodie’ that’s very, very similar to Daemon’s own. We’ve seen Daemon’s crime hoodie whenever he’s up to no good, whether it’s grooming his niece, murdering his wife, or sending his niece’s husband away to live a secret life.
I wonder what’ll happen one day when they’re both up to no good and end up bumping into each other. Will they do the Spider-Man pointing meme in their big hooded cloaks?
Watch House of the Dragon on Sky Atlantic and Now.
