House of the Dragon: The Book's Blood and Cheese Scene Is the Franchise's Most Horrifying Moment Yet

House of the Dragon has already given us deaths during childbirth, a woman begging her dragon to kill her, and children fighting in pits, but there is a moment still to come in the books that tops all of it. This article spoils an upcoming chapter, so consider this your warning before reading on.

To set up why this moment happens, I have to go back to one of the major deaths early in the Dance of the Dragons. Lucerys and Aemond are both sent to Storm's End to try to win the Baratheons over to their side, since having that major house on board could swing the civil war. Aemond arrives first and agrees to marry one of Lord Borros's daughters to strengthen his side. Lucerys shows up soon after, but since he's already betrothed to his cousin, he can't do the same. Aemond demands he cut out his own eye, Lucerys refuses, and Aemond eventually gets his revenge anyway, following him out and killing him on the back of Vhagar. When Daemon learns of this, he promises Rhaenyra there will be a son for a son, and that is where things really start to go bad.

Daemon Turns to Mysaria to Recruit the Assassins Blood and Cheese

Daemon goes to Mysaria, who by this point has carved out a foothold in the underworld of King's Landing, running almost every part of it outside of the higher profile elements like the fighting pits. Daemon asks her to become his instrument to inflict pain on the Hightowers, and she hires two assassins known as Blood and Cheese. According to the books, one was a sergeant in the City Watch who had been removed from his post for beating a prostitute to death.

The other was a rat catcher who had worked in the Red Keep, known as Cheese for his use of, well, cheese. He had mastered all the ins and outs of the keep while hunting vermin, which meant he had intimate knowledge of the back passages, hidden doorways, and secret tunnels devised by Maegor the Cruel that could lead someone anywhere in the castle. These passages could often be spotted by candles flickering from a draft coming under a doorway.

Blood and Cheese Sneak Through a Forgotten Passageway Into the Heart of the Keep

The book tells us they used a once forgotten passageway to get into the heart of the keep. They hadn't been told who to kill, only that there should be a son for a son. After Viserys's death, Queen Alicent had moved into residency in the Tower of the Hand, and that is where they headed. They crept through the passageways and popped up in Alicent's room, where they gagged the queen and strangled her bedmate.

They then waited, aware that Helaena used to bring her children in to see the queen every night before bed. In the darkness, they leapt out and killed her guards. Cheese grabbed Maelor with a knife to his neck and, after introducing himself as a debt collector, began laying out his terms.

Blood and Cheese Force Helaena to Choose Which of Her Children Dies

I've talked before about how this whole scheme is very much an eye for an eye mentality that started all the way back in Aemond's childhood, after Alicent demanded Lucerys lose an eye too when he lost one. That mindset gets carried right through to this moment. Cheese actually says the line, "an eye for an eye, a son for a son, we only want the one to square things, won't let the rest of your fine folks, not one little hair, which one you want to lose your grace."

Horror crept over Helaena's face as she realized what he meant. As most parents would, she offered her own life in place of her children's, but Blood chillingly added that a wife's not a son, it has to be a boy. From this point Helaena was in an impossible situation with no chance of escape, forced to choose which of her children would die. It's a similar setup to the film Sophie's Choice, a terrifying prospect for any parent, meaning life for one child but the guilt and grief of knowing another died.

Helaena pleaded on her knees for them to stop, but Blood told her that if she didn't choose soon, they would assault her little girl Jaehaera. With time running out, Helaena picked her youngest son, Maelor. In her mind he was too young to understand what was happening, and she also carried the idea of succession, since her oldest son Jaehaerys was Aegon's firstborn and next in line for the throne.

Cheese and Blood Kill Jaehaerys Instead, in a Ruse to See Who She Loved Most

Cheese whispered in Maelor's ear, "hear that little boy your mama wants you dead." According to the source material, Cheese then grinned at Blood, who instantly turned and cut off Jaehaerys's head instead. It had all been a ruse to see which child she cared about most. Jaehaerys was killed then and there, and Maelor would spend the rest of his life knowing his mother chose him to die over his brother.

Blood and Cheese kept their word and did not harm Alicent, Helaena, or any of the other children. Instead they snuck back through the passages and fled into the night, carrying Jaehaerys's head with them.

The Aftermath Leaves Helaena Broken and Costs the Greens a Dragon

This night of terror completely changed Helaena for the rest of her life, and she would eventually go insane. The book says she wouldn't eat, bathe, or leave her chambers, and she couldn't look at her surviving son Maelor, knowing she had chosen him to die. Eventually this got so bad that Aegon had the child taken away from her and given to Alicent to raise as her own.

It completely rocked the royal family. This was really the moment Rhaenyra's side showed they weren't messing around and would stoop to real depravity to win the war. Helaena was knocked out of the fight entirely, and because of that, the greens lost a dragon rider on their side.

Otto's Search Catches Blood, But Cheese and Mysaria Are Never Found

Given the scale of the crime, Otto immediately sent out a search party for the two assassins. Blood was caught trying to flee King's Landing with Jaehaerys's head, and under torture he confessed he was taking it to Daemon at Harrenhal. While being cut apart, he also gave up who had given him the job, a woman named Mysaria. Blood was tortured for thirteen days before he was finally allowed to die.

Alicent then went to Larys and asked him to find Mysaria's real name so she could have her entire family murdered, but whether this actually happened or not is something the book doesn't tell us. The King's Guard searched the streets of King's Landing looking for both Cheese and Mysaria, but neither could be found. King Aegon demanded that all rat catchers in the city be hanged, and after that was carried out, a hundred cats were brought in to hunt the rats instead.

Why This Cycle of Revenge Made the Dance of the Dragons So Costly

This is safely the last handful of paragraphs in that chapter of the book, and what a devastatingly brutal one to close on. I think this is the point where the greens start to realize the kind of war they'd brought on themselves by robbing Rhaenyra of her crown and her son. Up until here they had pretty much been winning, having planted Aegon on the throne and taken out Lucerys, but this moment shows an eye for an eye mentality where both sides lose their sight, all stoked by Aemond's need for revenge.

That need was put in him by his mother, Alicent, who tried to strike out one of Lucerys's eyes when they were younger and walked away from that moment without consequence, even though it would have major ramifications felt decades later. Aemond would kill Lucerys eventually, which would lead to the death of Jaehaerys, starting a war of escalation in which both sides tried to constantly outdo the other. This story is a perfect illustration of why the Dance of the Dragons was so costly and how it could have all been avoided without the poisoning and plotting that came from the parents. I think when this finally makes it to the screen, it will be an unforgettable scene, one that sticks with people who watch it for a long time.

What other moment from the Dance of the Dragons do you think is the most disturbing?