The event known as “Blood and Cheese” is one of the most horrifying acts in the Dance of the Dragons.

Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO /

The sophomore season of House of the Dragon is right around the corner, and believe me when I say those who haven’t read the book Fire & Blood truly aren’t ready for what’s ahead of them. While the first season is a fantastic introduction to Westeros hundreds of years before the start of Game of Thrones, so much of it is exposition and buildup for the real story: the Targaryen civil war, a.k.a. the Dance of the Dragons.

The conclusion of the first season shows us what causes the war, when Aegon II Targaryen usurps the crown from his half-sister Rhaenyra Targaryen, the real heir to the Iron Throne, and his brother Aemond Targaryen kills his nephew Lucerys Velaryon — Rhaenyra’s son — while riding the dragon Vhagar. Now, Rhaenyra is done playing nice and is ready to start a full-on war, and with that comes very upsetting and shocking moments. One of these moments will come in the season 2 premiere, which has the potential to go down in history as one of the most disturbing episodes of television ever.

The season 2 premiere is titled “A Son for a Son,” which fans of Fire & Blood know is a phrase said by Daemon Targaryen after finding out that Luke has been killed. What comes next is the murder of a 6-year-old child, which, needless to say, is terrible.

WARNING: Major spoilers for Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon season 2 follow below.

“A Son for a Son” will finally give us Blood and Cheese

If you’re into House of the Dragon but haven’t read Fire & Blood, you’ve probably at least heard of Blood and Cheese, even if you aren’t totally sure what it is. This is the nickname of an event that’ll go down in the season 2 premiere, and also the nicknames of two men who perpetrate the murder of the 6-year-old child. If you haven’t caught on yet, the Blacks want to avenge Luke’s death and are going to kill one of Alicent’s grandsons to pay for what Aemond did. Yup, brutal.

As Fire & Blood reads: “An eye for an eye, a son for a son,” Prince Daemon wrote. “Lucerys shall be avenged.” Of course, House of the Dragon could deviate from the book, but this is what we’re expecting to go down.

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 2 /

Daemon still has friends at King’s Landing, something the Greens don’t realize, and he recruits two men to carry out his dirty work: a former member of the City Watch who was removed for beating a woman of the night to death, remembered as Blood, and a ratcatcher in the Red Keep, remembered as Cheese. We do not know their real names, but they are forever memorialized for this cruel and savage event.

Blood and Cheese are able to sneak into the Red Keep and into Alicent Hightower’s bedroom, where they tie up the queen and wait for her daughter Helaena to arrive. Apparently, they know that Helaena, along with her and Aegon’s three children, says goodnight to Alicent every night. And this night is no exception. At this point in the story, as Fire & Blood tells us, Halaena and Aegon’s twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera are 6 years old, and their little one Maelor is 2. You can probably guess where this is going…

Cheese tells Halaena that he and Blood are “debt collectors,” before repeating Daemon’s words: “An eye for an eye, a son for a son.” And while Helaena begs the two men to kill her instead of any of her children, they refuse, demanding she pick which child they kill.

“On her knees, weeping, Helaena named her youngest, Maelor. Perhaps she thought the boy was too young to understand, or perhaps it was because the older boy, Jaehaerys, was King Aegon’s firstborn son and heir, next in line to the Iron Throne.”

– Fire & Blood

Though Helaena chooses her youngest son Maelor to be sacrificed for Aemond’s deed, Blood and Cheese don’t listen. Instead, Blood kills Jaehaerys, decapitating the 6-year-old with a sword. Before causing any more damage, the duo flees the scene with Jaehaerys’ head, leaving Helaena, Alicent, and the children in agony.

Photograph by Ollie Upton/HBO /

Understandably, the murder of Jaehaerys makes a major impact on Aegon and Helaena, the latter of whom is unable to work through the trauma and is said to have “[sunk] deeper into madness.” Meanwhile, Aegon seeks vengeance. Though Lucerys’ death no doubt changes things for Rhaenyra, forcing her to fight dirty, Blood and Cheese one-ups that event and sets the tone for what’s to come in the war.

Because Fire & Blood is written as a Targaryen history book, moments like Blood and Cheese are presented very casually, but it’ll likely be much different onscreen. There’s no way this moment in the season 2 premiere won’t be incredibly dramatic and even heartbreaking as Alicent loses a grandchild and Halaena a son right before their eyes. While Luke’s death in season 1 is no doubt upsetting, the fact that it’s depicted as a potential accident makes it far different from Jaehaerys’ death. I really hope the show plays up the horror of Blood and Cheese, because, truly, it’s horrific.

Seeing a 6-year-old boy get his head cut off is disturbing no matter how the scene is set up, so I have no doubt “A Son for a Son” will be one of the most memorable episodes of Game of Thrones franchise history, if not TV history in general. The only thing keeping it from reaching “The Rains of Castamere” or The Walking Dead‘s “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” levels is simply that we don’t have an emotional connection to Jaehaerys. Sorry, kid; you don’t deserve to die, but I also don’t really know you! His death will be shocking, but it likely won’t get the emotional response that other disturbing episodes like the ones I mentioned did.

In any case, House of the Dragon season 2 will definitely begin with a bang, and the premiere might just end up being the most messed up episode of the whole season depending on how it’s done. It’s one you won’t want to miss live, that’s for sure! “A Son for a Son” premieres on Sunday, June 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET, airing on HBO and streaming on Max.

Of course, we’ll be covering House of the Dragon all season long here at Winter is Coming, and that includes our Take the Black podcast and TikTok account as well!