The House of the Dragon twins have names that closely match their looks

Episode 9 of Dragon’s House“Green Council”, perhaps the most explosive episode of By HBO Game of Thrones prequel series yet. The usual court intrigues the show made its bones go on, but after dramatic event of the episode 8“Lord of the Tides”, the movie in Westeros is moving at a fast pace.

You may also think you are seeing double. But don’t touch that dial or put Negroni sbagliato; Those two handsome bearded men were twins. Both are members of the Kingsguard, and both have thin facial hair and a common air of “yes to each other.” And they are twins named Arryk and Eryk.

Really.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for episode 9 of House of the Dragon.]

Photo: Ollie Upton / HBO

The brothers spent a good chunk of the episode tracking down Aegon, who disappeared into the city just when his family needed him most – when he needed to get off his spoiled ass and get anointed. be king. Ser Erryk, the Prince’s sworn shield then and now King Aegon, complained to Ser Otto Hightower that he could not keep an eye on the young future King because of the way the young man flaunted his power. to create an excuse to escape. . When they finally found Aegon, they dragged him outside, only to be stopped by Ser Criston Cole and Aemond, Aegon’s brother, who had taken Aegon away to work on the find.

But something very interesting happened in the meantime: While Ser Arryk fought Ser Criston (and lost), his brother Ser Erryk simply…watched and then dived out of the whole thing. submit. Disgusted by the political conspiracies that follow King Viserys .’s deathhe sneaks Rhaenys Targaryen out of the castle, leading up to the episode’s explosive finale.

It’s lovely, for many reasons. First of all, twins are fun in cinema: They’re the main characters in my favorite live-action video movies, and these two guys (played by real-life twins Elliott and Luke Tittensor, known for his dual role as Carl Gallagher in the United Kingdom Shameless) would be a trading hit that’s a perfect fit for the likes of Scott Adkins.

But it’s also deeply thematic. The entire episode focuses on a broken kingdom and the disconnect between the ruling class and the people they want to care for, and the rifts that arise when electric vacuums appear (and who is injured in the process). this). What better example of that than twins, separated by an impending war? It’s a lovely device from one of my favorite fantasy novels, by Ken Liu Grace of kingsand I’m happy to see the place Dragon’s House take it as well.

Photo: Ollie Upton / HBO

This is also a big upgrade for a character with Wiki Thrones entry At the time of this writing, led the following exchange:

Alicent: “Whatever it is, Ser Arryk, it will need to wait.”

Erryk: “I’m Erryk, sir.”

I wanted to quickly forward the continuation of this post to Arryk and Erryk’s parents. Cargylls – what the hell are you thinking??? (George RR Martin, I was know the weird naming tricks you’re getting.) How in the world do you yell at one and not the other, or praise one and not the other? Why are you putting yourself in this bind???

I’ve reached out to the official Polygon parent of the two, Matt Patches, for comment:

Although I could see the advantage of summoning the twins by shouting a vaguely identical name from the other side of the castle, this was a smart failure for anyone else to deal with these idiots. It’s really “who was first”.

Ser Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, I salute you. But perhaps think of a nickname.