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S02E02

Rhaenyra the Cruel

Full screenplay script and 653-line transcript across 41 scenes for House of the Dragon S02E02: Rhaenyra the Cruel.

41 Scenes653 Lines

Scene 1:Scene 1

15 lines
(Muffled chaos)
(Dog barking)
(screaming) I'll kill them!
I'll kill them all!
Traitors and villains!
They dare strike at me!
Your Grace.
I am the king!
Your Grace! Yes, yes.
I am the king!
Yes, Your Grace. Uh, please, Your Grace.
(heavy breathing) Traitors and villains!
Fire from the sky.
This is war! I declare war!
I declare war!

Scene 2:Scene 2

11 lines
Otto
The gates have been shut.
The search progresses.
The villain will be found.
We mustn't be shaken by this.
This act.
The child.
The child is dead.
His pain is ended.
But what they've done (sobbing) to-to-to my girl.
Yes.
(Alicent sniffles, cries)

Scene 3:Scene 3

25 lines
And they will pay for this.
Who will pay?
Whosever hand did this or caused it to be done.
And what if the hand that's done it is not who must be blamed?
The gods punish us. They punish me. (cries) For what sin?
Daughter, listen to me.
We will mourn as we must, but... some good may yet come of this.
And where were the members of this council while the murderer threatened their king?
Were you also threatened, Your Grace?
AEGON TARGARYEN (screams); I could have been!
My son is my legacy!
My son is heir to the Iron Throne!
And where were you, the Lord Commander of my Kingsguard?
I was abed, Your Grace, having ordered the Night's Watch.
Abed.
Abed!
Instead of safeguarding the sanctity of my family!
Otto
This is not the time for blind accusations, Your Grace.
We'll know who did this soon enough.
Who did this? Who d... What?!
Is there any question who did this?!
Who would do this save the bitch queen of bastards, the smug cunt of Dragonstone?
There she sits across the bay, on her rock, laughing at me.
She's fucking laughing at me!
(Shatters)

Scene 4:Scene 4

19 lines
You wished her life to be spared.
If I may, Your Grace.
My Lords.
The guard has detained someone.
The man we apprehended is known to us.
He's a gold cloak.
Noted for his brutal nature.
We caught him, fleeing the Gate of the Gods with the child's head in a sack.
I'll kill him myself.
We'd do well to get what information we can from the blackguard.
I trust in the mastery of your trade, Lord Larys.
Oh, always studying, always protocol.
We know our enemy!
Ironrod
A king may have
more than one enemy, Your Grace.
We would do well to ascertain if this is your sister's hand... or if there is a serpent nestled closer to our bosoms.
I suppose you're right, Ironrod.
Could be anyone.
It could be any one of you in this room.

Scene 5:Scene 5

47 lines
Lord Jasper is correct.
In one sense, we must determine what happened and... if we in the Keep are still in peril.
In another sense, of course... it doesn't matter.
You mean to blame Rhaenyra.
Tell the realm she has done this.
Aegon
I'll have the realm told nothing.
We were assaulted within our own walls.
Within our own beds.
I will not be seen as weak.
You're already seen as weak, Aegon.
(muttering) You fucking...
(Shatters)
A hasty coronation, a dragon escaping the pit.
The people see an omen.
They whisper in the streets.
They say, perhaps Rhaenyra should be queen.
And so, you would name her; monster.
Slayer of infants.
Otto
I would do more than that.
A funeral progress. Let them see the child.
Let them look upon the works of this pretender to the throne.
Father.
My king...
No.
I will not have my little son's body dragged through the street like a dead dog.
Otto
Not dragged! Honored!
Escorted to the dragon pit to be burned as a Targaryen prince.
Your Grace.
No. (crying)
Let no one say I do not grieve.
Jaehaerys was my grandson.
I loved him.
I will not have him die in vain.
Those who declared for Rhaenyra, will they still support her when they hear of her depravity?
Or will they rather not renounce her?
Jaehaerys will do more for us now than a thousand knights in battle.
You will have your war, Your Grace.
But if you wait a short time, you may yet double your strength.
Mother.
The Hand sets on a difficult path, my darling, but it, it might be the right one.
Let the Silent Sisters ready the prince for his final journey.
And riding behind him, his mother the Queen, and with her, the Queen Dowager.
No, I do not wish to be a spectacle.
The realm must see the sorrow of the crown, a sorrow best expressed through its most gentle souls.
I think you'll all agree the king himself must be spared.
(Waves lapping, birds cawing)
(Footsteps approach)

Scene 6:Scene 6

15 lines
Alicent
There's to be a funeral for Jaehaerys.
We've been asked to ride on a wagon behind his body.
I don't want to.
Neither do I.
But when a thing like this happens... a blow to the king is a blow to the realm.
When the people share our grief, they draw closer to us.
I don't want them closer.
I don't know them.
Sometimes, we have to pretend.
Why?
We are representatives of the throne. We have a duty.
Helaena, what you saw last night when you came to my room... This is for my boy.
(Drumming)
(Bell tolling)
(Torture devices clink)

Scene 7:Scene 7

13 lines
I was, I was hired by Daemon Targaryen.
He paid us. Half now, half when the job is done.
Who is "us"?
Blood
A-A ratcatcher.
Employed by the household.
I don't know his right name.
(shouting) Behold the works of Rhaenyra Targaryen!
Pretender to the throne!
Kinslayer!
Deepest sympathies, my Queen.
Gods be with you, my Queen.
We support you, Queen Helaena.
Herald
Defiler of the innocent!

Scene 8:Scene 8

10 lines
Behold the works of Rhaenyra, the cruel!
Blood
Are you gonna hurt me?
No.
But I cannot vouch for His Grace.
(Blood breathing quickly)
HERALD (shouting); Behold the works of Rhaenyra Targaryen!
Townsperson
Our Queen!
Herald
Pretender to the throne!
(Crowd murmuring in sympathy)
Kinslayer!

Scene 9:Scene 9

35 lines
Townsperson
Queen Helaena!
(Horse neighs)
Kingsguard
What's happening there?
Kingsguard
What's going on? Move it, then!
CROWD (shouting); Queen Helaena!
Helaena.
Queen Helaena!
(Crowd clamoring, helaena panicking)
Helaena.
Heave! Heave!
A curse, a curse on Rhaenyra, the monstrous!
Gerardys
It is yet unclear how the Keep itself was breached.
The boy's head was severed from his body.
Thousands witnessed the procession.
And they are accusing me of having a hand in this.
Gerardys
It appears so.
There have been messages sent to that effect throughout the realm.
We must send our own messages, denying this vile allegation.
Gerardys
I will do so at once, but I'm not sure they will be received in good faith.
And we must double our guard, here and in Driftmark.
There will be swift retribution in one form or another... I have seen to it, Your Grace.
Jacaerys
Let me fly out on Vermax.
Rhaenys is needed in the Gullet and I can watch for movements
from King's Landing.
No.
It must be said that the damage to our position is immeasurable, at a time when we most need loyalty to our cause.
B-But it's a lie.
Having lost my own son, that I would inflict such a thing on Helaena, of all people... an innocent.
Alfred
The death of Prince Lucerys was a shock and an insult.
A mother so aggrieved might, naturally,
seek relief in retribution.
Are you suggesting, Ser Alfred,
that my grief drove me to order the decapitation of a child?
I merely thought, perhaps, an action taken in haste.
Mind yourself.

Scene 10:Scene 10

20 lines
Did you send assassins to murder children in their beds?
I sent the queen's vengeance for her son.
What did you tell this "vengeance"?
What did you say to him, Daemon, that a boy lies dead and I am accused
of killing it?
Mysaria provided me with names
and a subterfuge.
I was clear in my instructions; Aemond, the brother of Aegon the Usurper.
I cannot be responsible for a mistake.
Cannot be responsible?
If Aemond was not to be found, what were your instructions then?
(sighs) They did not concern, in any way,
that of a little child.
You said that it was your aim
to spill Hightower blood, and if not Aemond, then anyone would do.
No.
You have wounded me.
Weakened my claim to the throne, my ability to raise an army, my standing among my own council.
I said no.
I don't believe you.

Scene 11:Scene 11

10 lines
And so we come to it, at long last.
Cannot trust you, Daemon.
I've never trusted you, wholly... much though I wished to, willed myself to.
But now I have seen that your heart belongs only to you.
And when I was a child, I took this as a challenge.
But I am older now. I have challenges enough.
I have served you faithfully.
Have you?
Or have you used me as a tool with which to grasp at your stolen inheritance?
(Clatters)

Scene 12:Scene 12

13 lines
When Ser Erryk brought you the crown... did I myself not place it upon your brow?
Yes, but before that, you sought to lead a council of war while I labored alone in my bedchamber.
And afterward, when I thought it meet to consider
the terms our foes put before us...
A folly! A folly!
To give up my brother's throne to the traitorous lies
of Otto Hightower!
My throne, Daemon,
mine!
I think you used my words as an excuse to take your own revenge... to indulge the darkness you keep sheathed within you like a blade.
You think me some kind of monster... Oh, I don't know what to think of you.
I don't know what you are, or who it is you serve.
(stammers) Am I not on my way, even now, to Harrenhal to raise an army in your name, Rhaenyra?! Yours!

Scene 13:Scene 13

23 lines
Do you accept me as your queen and ruler?
Or do you cling, even now, to what you think you lost?
What I think I lost?
You did not lose it.
You gave it away... because you thought ever and only of your own glory, and not of my father in his grief
who needed you.
Your father was a coward
who knew I was the stronger son, that I was the leader of men and he was afraid to be seen in my shadow.
Is that what you understand of your own brother?
Oh, you know him better than I do, who was raised at his side?
Do you believe he made you heir because of your great wisdom?
Because of your virtue?
How dare you...
Or did he merely use you as a tool
to put me in my place because he was afraid of me?
Because he knew your legacy, unlike mine, would never outshine his own.
He was not afraid of you, Daemon!
He could not trust you... any more than I can trust you.
He was a fool... who sought greatness but shrank from spilling blood to achieve it.
And I see you will suffer the same fate.
You struck down a child.
It was a mistake.
(sighs) You're pathetic.

Scene 14:Scene 14

8 lines
Father?
You wish to see me, Your Grace?
When morning comes, take Moondancer and keep a watch on King's Landing.
I must know which course they take next.
I will be vigilant.
I depend on you, Baela.
Stay high and keep your distance.
We can afford no further mistakes.

Scene 15:Scene 15

8 lines
My father?
He must follow his own path.
(Caraxes screeching)
(Grumbling)
(Screeching)
(Birds chirping)
If you please, m'lord.
(Softly chattering)

Scene 16:Scene 16

17 lines
Have you told anyone?
(softly) What do you take me for?
One who seeks absolution.
There is none for what I've done.
(Bell tolling)
What is this?
It's a reminder of yesterday, I think.
The procession was muddy.
I'll replace it hence.
Do it now.
The night was long, Ser Criston,
and I had not eaten...
You defy my authority, Ser Arryk.
I do not.
The white cloak is a symbol of our purity... our fidelity.
Kingsguard are a sacred trust.
Will you so easily sully our ancient honor?

Scene 17:Scene 17

9 lines
I have erred, my lord.
I'll remedy the error.
Where were you when Jaehaerys was murdered?
With King Aegon.
And you were not in the private quarters where you might have prevented the crime.
His Grace wished to entertain his companions in the throne room.
But if you had thought to go upstairs... Where were you, Lord Commander?
And why has Helaena the queen been granted no sworn protector?
Surely once she ascended, she... Your brother is a thief and a traitor to the crown!

Scene 18:Scene 18

15 lines
You well know how it pains me.
How are we to know that you do not secretly share
his sentiments?
I denounced him before the king.
We were one soul in two bodies, yes.
If I'd shared his sentiments, I would've fled with him.
First, your brother betrays us.
(laughs) And then the young prince... is murdered... on your watch.
You are mad, Ser.
Mad! You cannot think that I did this!
What I think...
has no relevance!
You have brought disgrace upon our ranks... and now you must restore it.
How am I to do that?
(Metal clatters)

Scene 19:Scene 19

13 lines
You will go to Dragonstone and strike down Rhaenyra in her own halls.
The way she sought to do with Aemond.
We will pay the princess back in her own bloody coin.
Alone?
Does your courage fail you, Ser Arryk?
It's not a matter of courage.
The castle is defended against all enemies, now especially.
How would I enter?
Your twin serves there
at the pleasure of the so-called queen.
They will mistake you for him if you play the part.
We are sworn to serve forthrightly, not to traffic in deception.
Put down the pretender and you will end a war before it begins.

Scene 20:Scene 20

9 lines
If they see the two of us...
You must not let that happen.
You would send me to my death.
Or to triumph.
(softly) And glory.
Now, will you go?
Or must I question your loyalty to the king?
As you command... my lord.
(Baela shoots arrow)

Scene 21:Scene 21

20 lines
You missed supper.
I wasn't hungry.
I don't think anyone was, really.
Too many empty seats.
Do you know where he went?
(Shoots arrow)
Harrenhal, I would think.
Sometimes I think I hate him.
It's hard... with fathers.
Baela
What do you remember of my uncle?
Jacaerys
He taught us to catch fish... and sing sailors' shanties.
He had a weakness for cake.
And... Ser Harwin Strong?
He was gentle, and fierce.
They called him "Breakbones".
He loved us... I think.
Of course, he did.
(Deep breath)
I miss Luke.
(Laughter)

Scene 22:Scene 22

10 lines
Daemon sent them to kill me.
I was out.
You were with me.
In truth, I am proud... that he considers me such a foe.
And that he seeks to murder me in my bed.
He's afraid of me.
As well he should be.
The boy is grown into a man.
Mm. No. Not here.
Hm.

Scene 23:Scene 23

11 lines
I do regret that business with Luke.
I lost my temper that day.
I am sorry for it.
Sylvi
I am glad to hear it.
They used to tease me, you know?
Because I was different.
I would remind you only that when princes lose their temper, it is often others who suffer.
The smallfolk... Like me.
Hugh
How is she?
Kat
Much the same.
(Metal clanking)

Scene 24:Scene 24

11 lines
The markets have been running low since the blockade.
Surely the city cannot yet be short of food.
I think not, but people are afraid.
Those with means are hoarding everything they can.
I walked two hours today to find a chicken for the pot and paid three times as much as I should have.
The selfishness of people.
I cannot blame anyone for doing what I myself would do if I could.
I don't think you'd let children go hungry while you filled your own cellars.
Lucky we don't have enough coin to find out.
The king has promised us some relief.
Did he say when?

Scene 25:Scene 25

54 lines
I'm afraid, Hugh.
I see all your great adventures have done nothing for your looks.
Well met, brother, after many months away.
I missed you.
(chuckles) Did you slay many pirates?
Alyn
Oh, more than you, to be sure.
Addam
Ha, a jest.
One you may regret as you're supping alone tonight.
I regret it already.
I've broken my teeth on hard tack, Addam.
Say you have a pot of your goat stew simmering at home.
You're in luck.
In more ways than one.
I hear Lord Corlys himself commended you for your service to him.
He did.
Will you sail with him
when his ship has been repaired?
I am one of a dozen shipwrights now called from Hull to attend with all speed to your fleet.
He made no offer.
And I would rather he didn't, truth be told.
Addam
Do not be foolish, Alyn.
To serve with the Sea Snake is to make your fortune.
Had I such a chance, I would leap at it.
That's because you haven't seen what I've seen.
There is a war brewing, Addam.
A real one.
Another opportunity to distinguish yourself.
Remind him of your worth.
Oh, I need no favors.
But, brother, he owes you, he owes us.
Does the stew have carrots in it?
(Birds cawing)
I mistrust this silence.
Daemon flies when we most need his hand at the oar.
Devotion has never sat well with him.
Where he goes, he wishes to be his own master.
Well, he is the king consort.
But he is not the king.
Neither am I, but I manage.
I too have felt the crown pass over me.
It is a hard thing to accept.
And now Viserys is dead and all claims are in doubt.
You do not think... Daemon will challenge her?
Not as such.
But neither can he allow her to command him.
Pity.
I have, on occasion, found that to be... quite enjoyable.
Let us take him at his word.
If he can take Harrenhal, all may well be forgiven.
In the meantime, I am here.
And Meleys.
(Deep breath)
We will not let the queen falter.
(Footsteps approach)

Scene 26:Scene 26

11 lines
The lady Mysaria, Your Grace.
You're aware of yesterday's events in King's Landing?
I am.
Tell me what part you played in their unfolding.
I had nothing to do with it.
I know you are entwined with the usurpers, that you aided them in denying me my birthright.
I took profits from an inevitability.
I regret it now.
I'm sure you do.
Who are you?
A prisoner.

Scene 27:Scene 27

8 lines
I gave Daemon two names. That is the extent of it.
And I did not wish to do that much.
He said it was the price of my freedom.
Does he say otherwise?
Rhaenyra
He is gone.
For how long?
A week, or forever. I do not know.
He does do that... doesn't he?

Scene 28:Scene 28

13 lines
You remember me now.
He said he would marry you.
He said you carried his child.
Not everyone found the jest funny.
And now it seems he's done it again, made a promise and then slipped away.
You trade in the secrets of the Red Keep.
Your web runs unseen through King's Landing.
And now... when my enemy coils himself to strike at me... I can do nothing now but ask you to honor your husband's words.
It would not serve me to set you free.
At best, I lose an asset to my cause.
At worst, you betray me in some foul way.
I have no interest in betraying you, Your Grace.
So you say.

Scene 29:Scene 29

23 lines
I was brought to Westeros with nothing.
I toiled in service, I stole.
I sold my own body for coin or bread.
And I listened.
I collected confidences. I made myself valuable to powerful men.
Bit by bit, I earned my living.
A house, a household, a home.
Then they set it all aflame.
Who did?
The Hightowers, I can only assume.
The Hand... did not like it when I showed my teeth.
But I thank him for it.
For too long, I made it my aim to be of consequence.
But now, I see that was the wish of a child.
Daemon. Otto Hightower.
Makes no difference.
They will never accept me.
(chuckling) I might as well have remained a whore.
How did you get that scar?
(Birds cawing)
(Dragon screeches)
(Screeches)
(Smallfolk chattering, smallfolk weeping)

Scene 30:Scene 30

20 lines
Oh no.
My son.
(Woman weeping, wailing)
Who are they?
Ratcatchers.
In the king's employ.
What'd they do?
What have you done?
The ratcatchers!
Oh... I had them hanged.
The maggot who took my son confessed to an accomplice.
He could not say for certain which man it was, so...
Idiot!
Beware how you speak to your king, my lord.
The king is my grandson and my grandson is a fool!
He's worse than a fool! He's murdered innocent men!
And one guilty one.
And hanged them from the walls of the city for all to see!
Plot against the king, and I will pay it back a hun... They are fathers and brothers and sons!
And their wives and children gather now at our gates to weep and curse your name!

Scene 31:Scene 31

15 lines
With your child's blood, we bought their approval.
With your mother's tears, we made a bitter sacrifice against the deprivations to come.
And you've thrown it away.
After all I've done for you.
Thoughtless, feckless... self-indulgent.
At least I did something.
I have not answered injury to the crown with, what?
Wailing and currying favor with the fishwives?
I will not be thought weak.
Even now, news of Rhaenyra's monstrous crime spreads through the realm.
The great houses falter.
They cannot but come to our side.
I wish to spill blood, not ink!
We must act.
Ser Criston Cole has acted.

Scene 32:Scene 32

9 lines
And what... has Ser Criston Cole done?
He has sent Ser Arryk to slay Rhaenyra.
Alone?
He's pretending to be his own twin. Brilliant.
Gods help us all.
It's time the bitch queen paid a price.
And you acceded to this, this prank without consulting me or the council?
Instead of judgment, you display impetuousness, and diminish us in the eyes of our enemy!
Ill-considered, trifling!

Scene 33:Scene 33

10 lines
Do you never think of your father?
His... forbearance, his... judiciousness, his... his... dignity.
Fuck dignity! I want revenge.
My father is dead.
He is.
And we are the poorer for it.
He was right about you.
He made me king.
Is that what you think?
Aegon
Remove your badge, Ser Otto.

Scene 34:Scene 34

13 lines
You were my father's Hand.
Not mine.
Take it off.
You wouldn't dare.
I have dared... and I find it stimulating.
Insolent pup.
You think yourself clever, but without a strong Hand at your side... to guide?
Give it to Cole.
Your Grace?
In this hour, you have proven yourself of more worth than a hundred old men.
My new Hand will be a steel fist.
You will regret this.
Give it to him.

Scene 35:Scene 35

17 lines
You are dismissed.
(Footsteps passing, birds chirping)
(Door closes)
Rhaenyra
I do not know if I trust you.
And I sense that there is danger in you yet.
But I will keep the word of my house if you say that it was given.
You may go.
(deep breath) Your Grace.
Rhaenyra
There's a Velaryon ship in the harbor bound for Myr by way of Pentos.
I will see that you are given passage.
I'm not so unworldly as to let you fly free.
I am... Thank you.
Ser Erryk, Mysaria will be leaving us.
Let her collect her things.
Then have someone take her down and secure her berth on the "Corwyn".
Your Grace.
(Birds cawing)

Scene 36:Scene 36

8 lines
A moment.
Guard
Ser Erryk...
I thought you were within.
A sorry lack of vigilance.
The enemy is about, good ser.
(Door closes)
Elinda
Please try and lay down, Your Grace.
Rhaenyra
Thank you, Elinda.

Scene 37:Scene 37

8 lines
Ser Erryk.
It's been a strange day.
I'm restless. I will stand this evening's duty.
Elinda
You must sleep tonight, Your Grace.
Let me ask the maester for a draught.
Perhaps that would be best.
Thank you, Elinda.
(Door opening)

Scene 38:Scene 38

8 lines
Ser Erryk?
Believe me... I had no choice.
I don't understand.
(Door opens)
(shouts) Brother!
Do not do this.
I beg you.
You were the one who betrayed us, Erryk.

Scene 39:Scene 39

12 lines
Run, Elinda! Run and find Ser Lorent!
(Slices)
Your Grace!
Ser Lorent!
Lorent
With me, Your Grace!
(Jiggling doorknob)
Which?! Which is Erryk?!
We were born together.
You parted us!
But I still love you, brother.
(Body thuds)
(Footsteps approach)

Scene 40:Scene 40

29 lines
Your Grace.
Erryk.
Forgive me.
No!
No!
Otto
It is ignorance and vanity.
You know as well as I do that Aegon must be kept in check.
As does Ser Criston. The two of them together... Ser Criston is not temperate... but his devotion cannot be questioned.
If it does come to war...
He's ensured it.
He's young and unschooled.
His faith is in steel and bone.
He has not the long view.
None of them do.
They wish now not for the good of the realm, but for the petty satisfaction of vengeance.
Aegon is still malleable.
It is the death of the child that has unstrung him.
I can't stay here.
Exiled from the council.
Witness to the blundering of our plans.
I'll return to Oldtown.
The Hightowers still have strength, and you have a son there who will take more kindly to instruction.
Daeron may yet help us in weeks to come.
Go rather to Highgarden.
The Tyrells must be taken in hand.
Their bannermen are wavering.
While you're gone, I'll speak sense to him.
His blood will cool.
In time, you may yet return.

Scene 41:Scene 41

8 lines
The young are peacocks... all shrieking and feathers.
But we will yet prevail and bring forth peace, I still believe it.
As long as you and I hold fast.
(Choking breaths)
I have sinned.
I do not wish to hear of it.
(Crickets chirping)
(Quiet moaning)

House of the Dragon Season 2 Scripts

Jump directly to any episode script in Season 2 or browse another season

All House of the Dragon Seasons (26 Episodes)
S02E01
A Son for a Son
S02E02
Rhaenyra the Cruel
S02E03
The Burning Mill
S02E04
The Red Dragon and the Gold
S02E05
Regent
S02E06
Smallfolk
S02E07
The Red Sowing
S02E08
The Queen Who Ever Was