How Does Rhaenys Die in ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 4? Eve Best Explains What Happened to the Targaryen’s Iconic Whip from the Book

House of the Dragon Season 2 is officially not messing around. After a few relatively quiet episodes — if you can call infanticide, fratricide, and battlefields carpeted with corpses “quiet” — the HBO show has finally gotten to the fiery horrors of George R.R. Martin ‘s “Dance of the Dragons.” In House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4, we see the Battle of Rook’s Rest. A relatively small holding becomes the site of the first clash between dragons, leaving a fan favorite character and her mighty mount dead in the process.

**Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4, now streaming on Max**

House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 ends with the death of Rhaenys Targaryen ( Eve Best ), aka The Queen Who Never Was. The wise elder stateswoman of Team Black volunteers herself to ride out and face Ser Criston Cole ( Fabien Frankel ) on the battlefield, totally unaware that Team Green has intended Rook’s Rest to be a trap. So Rhaenys and her dragon Meleys are killed by Aemond ( Ewan Mitchell ) and Vhagar, marking the first real dragon-on-dragon battle of the war.

So how exactly did Ser Criston Cole and Aemond lure Rhaenys to her death? What wrinkles came up in the plan? And why didn’t House of the Dragon give Rhaenys her iconic whip from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood ? Here’s what you need to know about Rhaenys’s death in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4…

‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 4 Ending Explained: Did Aegon Die? Did Aemond Kill Aegon?

Rhaenys is killed by Aemond in a clever plan concocted by the prince and Ser Criston Cole…but it’s a plan that is almost completely ruined by the surprise appearance of Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney).

Okay, so last week Ser Criston Cole began his campaign to ride through the Riverlands, taking over castles, adding to his armies, and firming up support for Aegon. While conventional wisdom would suggest that Cole and his army should be marching on Harrenhal, to reclaim the stronghold from Daemon (Matt Smith), the newly appointed Hand of the King marches further east to Rook’s Rest. Why? To lure Rhaenyra’s dragons into the fray, of course.

Team Green’s forces are harrying the small castle of Rook’s Rest in the hopes that Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) will finally send a dragon — and she does. Rhaenys and Meleys arrive to aid Rook’s Rest, wholly unaware that Aemond and his massive dragon Vhagar are lying in wait.

However, there’s a twist even Ser Criston Cole and Aemond don’t see coming. A drunk and depressed Aegon has impulsively decided to also fly to battle on the back of his gilded dragon, Sunfyre. Aegon also has no idea that Vhagar is there. So he engages with Meleys at his peril. Sunfyre is smaller and agile, but lacks the might and bite of Meleys.

Vhagar arrives just in time to “save” Aegon. (Well, actually, Aemond indiscriminately Dracarys-es both Meleys and Sunfyre at the same time, almost killing his brother in the process.) By the episode’s end, Vhagar has pounced on Meleys. The older, bigger dragon crunches down on the Red Queen’s long neck, killing Meleys in the process. Rhaenys knows she’s dead and falls to the earth, blowing up a good portion of Rook’s Rest in the process. Aemond looks on at her destruction in pride. A clear change from when he looked on his guilt and horror at nephew Luke’s (Elliot Grihault) death in the Season 1 finale…

‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Episode 4 Recap: Deception And Death In Dragonland

George R.R. Martin fans know that Rook’s Rest contains an iconic line describing Rhaenys courageously going to battle when she sees Vhagar and Sunfyre approaching: “Princess Rhaenys made no attempt to flee. With a glad cry and a crack of her whip, she turned Meleys toward the foe.” So hardcore fans might be wondering why this moment — specifically the whip — was cut from the show. Especially since Eve Best has publicly talked about her character’s whip before.

“Very, very, very tragically, I was presented with this stunningly beautiful whip,” Best explained during a roundtable interview Decider attended last month. “What I requested was entirely as a joke. And they did come up with this unbelievably beautiful red leather whip and they then sent me off. I had two whip-cracking lessons.”

“But then it mysteriously disappeared,” she said. “It was like the character that just kind of didn’t quite make the audition.”

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“And no one ever said anything?” a surprised Steve Toussaint, who plays Rhaenys’s husband Lord Corlys Velaryon, asked.

“No one mentioned it. I occasionally said, when I was on the dragon, I would occasionally say, ‘Has anyone seen my whip?’ And people would sort of leave the room or something, you know, and I don’t know why,” Best said.

“I mean, I think the complicated thing — I know because I know in the book, and that’s part of why the conversation came up in the first place was, that there are moments when it says she cracks her whip. But the thing is, actually what came up in the filming, was the reality is you can’t possibly whip a dragon.”

Best conceded that idea of Rhaenys cracking her whip in battle “is lovely,” but that “in context…to have a whip is rather pathetic.” It’s too small a tool to wrangle a dragon.

“Actually, what became more important was the relationship with Meleys, which was actually a huge part of this season for me and and increasingly became the most significant relationship for Rhaenys,” Best said, noting that as everything around Rhaenys is crumbling, Meleys is the only relationship that’s still sacred.

“Yeah, Meleys was her rock,” Best mused.

Which only puts the tender moments between the dragon and her rider in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 into more tragic context. When Meleys is killed, Rhaenys truly knows she has nothing left.

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