One House of the Dragon Character's Death Hurt The Crew As Much As It Hurt the Audience

This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon.

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Summary

House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4, “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” received the highest IMDb score.
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen’s heroic death in the Battle at Rooks Rest shocked the crew.
Alan Taylor, the director, revealed the emotional impact of Eve Best’s final scene.

Everyone’s favorite heartbreaking scene in House of the Dragon Season 2, the Battle at Rooks Rest, left a scar not only on the audience, but according to new word from the director, on the crew themselves.

Of House of the Dragon Season 2’s eight episodes, Episode 4, titled “The Red Dragon and the Gold” stands out with the highest IMDb score and remains one of the most positively reviewed episodes in the entire Game of Thrones franchise. The episode reportedly featured the most VFX shots of the season, with much of the budget going toward the jaw-dropping aerial clash over Rooks Rest. It’s a battle that saw Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (played by Eve Best) and her blood-red she-dragon, Meleys — on behalf of the Blacks — take on Ser Criston Cole’s host attempting to seize the keep, before being confronted by the duo of Prince Aegon Targaryen and King Aegon II Targaryen of the Greens and their respective dragons, the mighty she-dragon Vhagar and the golden Sunfyre were below. By the time the cloud and dust cleared, Rhaenys and Meleys had plummeted to other deaths, at the mouth of Vhagar, and Aegon and his dragon badly burnt.

House of The Dragon: 9 Things Fans Should Know About Vhagar

Here is everything that fans need to know about Vhagar.

Rhaenys Targaryen’s Heroic Death Set Emotions High

“Angos Meleys” Still Hurts

Dubbed the “Queen Who Never Was,” Rhaenys Targaryen’s death remained on audiences’ lips long after the season’s conclusion — especially because she voluntarily and heroically rode to her death. Apparently, her sacrifice also left the crew stunned. In an interview with Goldderby, Alan Taylor — who directed House of the Dragon Episode 4 director and oversaw other iconic character deaths, including Ned Stark’s in Game of Thrones and Christopher Multisanti’s in The Soprano — revealed that the emotions on set were sky-high when Eve Best’s final scene was being shot:

It is emotional because she’d been there as a big part of Season 1, and knew that her time was coming. There’s a sadness there that the actor is not going to be around anymore, because they become such a part of the intense family. For many actors, and I think it was true of her, there’s a relief as well. She savored that she knew she was going to have a good death, and she got energized by that. But yeah, I saw a lot of crew crying, the people who’d been working very closely with her, like wardrobe and hair and the other cast members. There was lots of hugging and crying on her last day when we finally finished murdering her.

As devastating as Rhaenys’ death was, it was originally meant to be even darker and teary. According to Westerosies on X, a deleted scene highlighted the Princess’ past and legacy, The status of her corpse in the aftermath of the crash might have possibly been featured, as leaked set photos suggested. However, it showed a nearly intact corpse, which is at variance with the source material’s (Fire and Blood) description of her corpse. The book reads:

The three dragons fell to the earth. Sunfyre landed atop King Aegon, crushing him beneath him and breaking many of his bones. Meleys and Rhaenys were found near the base of the castle. The dragon’s body was torn open, her entrails spilling across the field. Of Rhaenys, only fragments of her armor were ever recovered; her body was never found.

Taylor’s expertise in the realm of Westeros — having directed seven episodes of Game of Thrones and honored with an Emmy nomination for “Beyond the Wall” — still won’t see him contribute to any episode of House of the Dragon as the director’s list omits him. He was initially billed to direct the ninth episode of the then ten-episode Season 2, which would have featured the Battle of the Gullet. Instead, he was moved to direct The Battle at Rooks Rest after the season’s episode count was reduced.

For anyone still squeamish about Rhaenys’ demise, prepare yourself, House of the Dragon Season 3 has officially started filming and includes more heartbreaking deaths of more beloved characters, likely with a summer 2025 release date.

House of the Dragon

Release Date: August 21, 2022
Network: HBO Max
Showrunner: George R.R. Martin
Directors: Miguel Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Alan Taylor, Greg Yaitanes, Geeta Vasant Patel, Andrij Parekh
Writers: George R.R. Martin, Ryan Condal