is well under way now, and the touchpaper for the first season has officially been lit.
The prequel series posted record viewing figures on opening night, with almost 10 million people tuning in to watch the first episode – with more views coming in after premiere night on streaming services such as Now TV.
The massive viewing figures meant that the series was midway through last week, just days after the premiere.
In its second episode, we were introduced to a new member of the show’s massive cast who’s already made a serious enemy of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint).
Let’s find out who he is…
Who is The Crabfeeder?
Much like its parent show Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon has so far ensured that none of its characters are obvious heroes or villains – but that might be about to change.
First mentioned in the series premiere The Heirs of the Dragon, and provided with his big introduction in last night’s second episode The Rogue Prince, Craghas Drahar (Daniel Scott-Smith) – better known as the ‘Crabfeeder’ – has officially arrived.
The Crabfeeder gets his name from his chosen method of torture – tying pirates down on numerous beaches so that they cannot escape, leaving them to be drowned by the rising tides while crabs feast on their skin.
What happened to him before House of the Dragon?
Before the events of the series, Craghas made an enemy of the Targaryens by seizing the Stepstone islands with his army, The Triarchy, and charging high tolls on trade routes leading to Westeros.
This hurt Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) financially and, as we saw in the first episode, he attempted to raise the matter in the Small Council meeting with King Viserys (Paddy Considine), only to be ignored.
Corlys’ patience snapped when his 12-year-old daughter Laena Velaryon (Nova Foueillis-Mosé) was passed over by the king for Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey) – he left King’s Landing immediately.
With Corlys seeking military action in order to confront the Crabfeeder, the episode ends as he teams up with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), the king’s brother who has set up camp at Dragonstone.
Does the same thing happen in Fire & Blood?
The timing of the conflict between Daemon, Corlys, and the Crabfeeder has been changed from George RR Martin’s source material so that it occurs almost simultaneously with events such as Queen Aemma’s death and Viserys’ betrothal to Alicent.
Crabfeeder has also greatly been expanded as a character in the TV series, with many fans noticing that his role in the show is already much bigger than they anticipated based on his role in the books.
On Twitter, one fan said: ‘We got our bad guy finally, the Crabfeeder. Can’t wait to see what they are gonna do with him since we don’t know much about him in the books.’
Watch House of the Dragon on Sky Atlantic and Now TV.
