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| “ | Debt collectors. An eye for an eye, a son for a son. We only want the one, t' square things. Won't hurt the rest o' you fine folks, not one lil' hair. Which one you want t' lose Your Grace? | „ |
| ~ Cheese to Helaena Targaryen. |
| “ | Fuck the Hightowers. | „ |
| ~ Blood expressing his hatred of House Hightower. |
| “ | Maegor's tunnels. Great big rat's nest, it is. I know them better than the shape of my own cock. | „ |
| ~ Cheese on his knowledge of the Red Keep's secret tunnels. |
Blood and Cheese are minor antagonists in the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise and the television adaptation House of the Dragon. They are a duo of assassins who were hired by Prince Daemon Targaryen to murder one of the two sons of King Aegon II Targaryen, in revenge for the murder of Prince Lucerys Velaryon, who was killed by his uncle Aemond.
Blood was portrayed by Sam C. Wilson while Cheese was portrayed by Mark Stobbart.
Appearance[]
Blood appears as a tall, muscular, and hulking swordsman, while Cheese is a short and skinny ratcatcher.
Biography[]
Blood[]
Not much is known about Blood's past, and his real name is lost to history. All that is known about him is that he was a butcher as well as a serjeant of the Gold Cloaks, the City watch of King's Landing. After he brutally murdered a whore while in a drunken rage, he was stripped of his gold cloak and dismissed from the City Watch. Blood began to spend time in Flea Bottom, the poorest part of King's Landing.
Cheese[]
Cheese's past is a complete mystery, along with his name, which, along with Blood's, is lost to history. At an unknown point, he was hired as a ratcatcher. According to Mushroom, the court fool, Cheese became really familiar with the secret halls, hidden doors, and tunnels that had been secretly built throughout the Red Keep during the reign of Maegor I Targaryen.
Dance of the Dragons[]
After Prince Lucerys Velaryon was murdered by his vengeful uncle Prince Aemond, which made the latter a kinslayer, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Lucerys' mother, collapsed in grief. In response to his nephew's death, Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's husband/uncle, who was away at Harrenhal in the Riverlands, sends her a message via a raven that her son would be avenged. Through his spymaster, Mysaria, Blood and Cheese were employed to kill one of the sons of King Aegon II.
Thanks to Cheese's knowledge of the Red Keep's secret underground tunnel system, the duo was able to infiltrate the castle through a forgotten passageway. Cheese then led Blood into the heart of the Red Keep, successfully avoiding the guards along the way. Reaching the Tower of the Hand, they crept up through the walls before slipping into the chambers of Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower. There, they bound and gagged her while Blood strangled her bedmaid to death. Blood and Cheese then waited for the arrival of Queen Helaena Targaryen and her children, as the two assassins knew that it was the queen's custom of taking her children to see their grandmother before putting them to bed every evening.
Blood and Cheese leaving with Prince Jaehaerys' head right after killing him.
That night, when Helaena arrived with her three children, Blood kills her guard before grabbing her eldest son, Prince Jaehaerys, while Cheese took hold of her youngest son, Prince Maelor. Though Blood warned Helaena that she and her children would die if she screamed, it was said that the queen remained calm. When she demanded the identity of the two assassins, Cheese stated that he and Blood are debt collectors and that a debt has been owed; an eye for an eye, a son for a son. But he assured Helaena that neither she nor anyone else would be killed. When he asks her on which of her sons she wanted them to kill, the queen pleaded with them to kill her instead, which was turned down and Blood reminds her that it has to be a son. Cheese warns Helaena that Blood will rape her daughter, Princess Jaehaera, out of boredom if she doesn't make a choice soon. When she was once again forced to make an impossible choice under the threat that all of her children will be killed, the queen tearfully chose Maelor.
It is unknown why Queen Helaena chose her youngest son over the eldest. Perhaps it was because she believed that Maelor was too young to understand, or maybe it's because Prince Jaehaerys is the king's firstborn son and heir. Seeing that she had chosen Maelor, Cheese mockingly whispered into the boy's ear, saying, "You hear that, little boy? Your momma wants you dead." before giving Blood a grin, and the hulking swordsman immediately killed Prince Jaehaerys by striking off the boy's head with a single swing of his sword, to Queen Helaena's horror, and she began to scream.
Blood and Cheese fled with Prince Jaehaerys' head, and they evaded capture from the castle guards by once again using the Red Keep's secret passageways. Two days later, while attempting to escape King's Landing, Blood was seized at the Gate of the Gods while Jaehaerys' head was found hidden in one of Blood's saddle sacks. While being tortured, Blood revealed that he intended to take the prince's head to Harrenhal, where he would collect his reward from Prince Daemon. He further gave a description of Mysaria but didn't reveal her identity. Blood died thirteen days later. The City Watch and their commander, Ser Luthor Largent, searched all throughout King's Landing for Mysaria and Cheese, but the two were nowhere to be found.
Legacy[]
Due to having witnessed her eldest son's death, Queen Helaena was left mentally broken and she immediately fell into clinical depression while slowly descending into madness, eliminating her as a dragonrider. She even went as far as to intolerate the presence of Prince Maelor, for she had chosen him to die but Jaehaerys was killed instead. King Aegon, in rage and grief over the death of his eldest son, combined with his paranoia, immediately has all the ratcatchers in King's Landing hanged, and the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower, had to replace them with one hundred cats.
The assassination of Prince Jaehaerys by Blood and Cheese had a strong negative effect on not only House Targaryen but also nearly all of Westeros, as this event is what ultimately led to the beginning of open-war between the Blacks, the supporters of Rhaenyra, and the Greens, the supporters of Aegon II. Later, the death of Prince Jaehaerys (alongside Prince Maelor, who also died during the Dance of the Dragons) would come to have a lasting impact on Rhaenyra herself, as the death of both of the young princes is one of the main reasons the smallfolk and The Shepherd rose in a riot against Rhaenyra, who was also accused of murdering Queen Helaena, who actually committed suicide.
House of the Dragon[]
Backstory[]
Like his novel counterpart, nothing is known about Blood's past nor his real name. All that is known is that he joined and began serving House Targaryen as a member of the Gold Cloaks and developed a strong dislike of House Hightower. While Cheese's past is also unknown along with his name but he was an indebted gambler who served the Targaryen household as a ratcatcher and while he worked, he became familiar with the secret tunnels and passageways that were built by King Maegor the Cruel.
Season 2[]
A Son for a Son[]
Following the death of Lucerys Velaryon, after he was accidentally killed by Prince Aemond Targaryen, Rhaenyra Targaryen was left devastated and enraged. Harboring a strong hatred for Aemond for her son's death, she vengefully declares her desire to have him die as payback. Secretly smuggling himself into King's Landing, Daemon finds Blood, who was busy doing his service as a Gold Cloak, and bribes him into letting him into the capital. They then meet Cheese in a part of flea bottom, where the latter was having dinner with his pet dog. Daemon hires them both to kill Prince Aemond but if they failed to find him, then they had to kill "a son for a son", as Daemon seeks to avenge Lucerys' death. Though he only payed them half of the money he owes them, he promised to pay the remainder of the bribe if they bring him the son's head.
Having grown familiar with the secret tunnels that were built by Maegor the Cruel, Cheese, accompanied by his dog, used the passageways to lead Blood into the Red Keep. They passed through the castle's kitchen and then the throne room, where Aegon II Targaryen is busy drinking and talking with his cronies. As they go through another secret passageway, Cheese hesitates to go further, admitting that he doesn't know how to navigate the upper floors, and he feared that they'll be suspected if they walk around the royal chambers. He was forced into doing so after being threatened by Blood. Though Cheese tells him that he knew of a secret stairway that leads to the royal floors, he warns Blood that once they get there, he won't know his way around. As they moved on, Blood cruelly kicks away Cheese's dog. When they reached the royals' floor through a secret door, Blood and Cheese split up in their search for Aemond. When Blood goes to lay out rat traps, he was caught by a handmaid and he tells her that he is laying out traps for the rats.
Apparently not believing him, she immediately fled when Blood turned around to lay out the traps. Alarmed by this, the latter, after setting up the traps, goes to look for the maid, but she was already gone, and he knew that it would only be a matter of time until the castle guards are roused. While looking for Cheese, he hears a commotion from nearby and finds Cheese holding his knife to Queen Helaena Targaryen's neck. Not recognizing her, Blood demands Cheese on who she is and the ratcatcher reveals her identity. Thinking that Cheese wants to kill her, he reminds him of Daemon's order but Cheese points across the room, and Bloods finds Prince Jaehaerys and his sister Princess Jaehaera sleeping in their beds. However, as the two appeared to look the same, Blood and Cheese couldn't tell on which of them is Jaehaerys.
Wanting to rush immediately before the guards are alerted, Blood correctly claims that Queen Helaena knows on which of the two children is her son and Cheese forces her to point Prince Jaehaerys out, threatening to "bleed the hell out" of her and her children if she refused. A terrified Helaena tries to offer them her necklace, claiming it is of value. Though Blood takes it, he nevertheless rejects it, telling her that the necklace is not a son. Seeing Cheese continuing to threaten her with his knife, the Queen, knowing she could only save her daughter Jaehaera, reluctantly points to her sleeping son. Blood seems to believe her until he thinks that Princess Jaehaera is Prince Jaehaerys, assuming that Helaena is trying to trick them. However, Cheese knew that the Queen is being honest, so they let her go.
As Blood covers Jaehaerys' mouth to prevent the boy from screaming loudly, Queen Helaena, helplessly watching in horror as Blood and Cheese murder her son, goes to get Princess Jaehaera from her bed just as the two assassins kill Jaehaerys. As she quietly scooped her daughter up and fled the room, Blood and Cheese began removing Jaehaerys' head. Reaching Queen Alicent Hightower's chambers, where she is making love with Ser Criston Cole, Helaena collapsed onto the floor with her daughter in her arms, and she reveals to her mother that her son was killed, leaving Alicent in shock.
Rhaenyra the Cruel[]
Blood and Cheese successfully escaped the Red Keep undetected. While Cheese stayed behind in King's Landing presumably to lay low, Blood decided to flee from the capital so he could deliver Prince Jaehaerys' head to Prince Daemon. Meanwhile, as the Greens and their council had received word of Jaehaerys' assassination, all of the castle servants were forcefully rounded up for interrogation while the Gold Cloaks were put on high alert and security was heightened. Upon learning of his son's murder, King Aegon II flew into a violent rage and immediately declared war on Rhaenyra, as he believed her to be responsible for the incident.
At the Gate of the Gods, Blood was eventually caught while escaping and Jaehaerys' head was found in a sack. Bloodwas then taken to the dungeons, where Larys Strong will interrogate him through torture. Before the Master of Whisperers could even begin, Blood, consumed with fear, immediately confessed that he and Cheese were payed half by Daemon Targaryen and half for completing the task. In addition, he revealed to Larys that he was assisted by a ratcatcher (Cheese) who was hired by the royal household, but admits he doesn't know the man's real name.
When Blood fearfully asks Larys if he is going to hurt him, the latter tells him he isn't and is also not gonna vouch for King Aegon. Blood was shocked and even more terrified when Aegon II himself entered the cell before the latter vengefully kills him with a mace. As he was informed that Blood was helped by a ratcatcher, Aegon was unable to identify which of the Rratcatchers in the Red Keep's employ is the one who aided Blood and so has them all executed before having their bodies hung from the castle's ramparts. However, unbeknownst to King Aegon, Cheese was among the executed ratcatchers. Thus, with his and Blood's death, Prince Jaehaerys' murder was avenged.
Legacy[]
The actions of Blood and Cheese, alongside Prince Daemon, would come to damage Rhaenyra's reputation and cause; Ser Otto Hightower began spreading the false belief that Rhaenyra is responsible for Prince Jaehaerys' murder, in an attempt to turn the public against her, which ended up working; During Jaehaerys' funeral procession, Queen Helaena received an overwhelming amount of sympathy from the smallfolk, who began to denounce Rhaenyra as a kinslayer, with a man even nicknaming her the Monstrous. However, this would soon fade away when King Aegon rashly executed all the ratcatchers, consequently earning him the hatred and scorn of countless smallfolk, including the families of the executed ratcatchers.
When the murder and funeral of Prince Jaehaerys reached Dragonstone, Rhaenyra was horrified to learn that she is blamed for the princeling's death. Though she ordered for ravens to be sent out to the realm with the message of denying the allegations, her maester, Geradys, warns her that her denial would not be received in good faith. Lord Bartimos Celtigar, Rhaenyra's Master of Coin, adds in that the Blacks' position is greatly damaged, as a result of the assassination, and Ser Alfred Broome believes it would not be long for an "aggrieved mother" to seek revenge for her son's death, which Rhaenyra refutes.
She states that she doesn't bear any ill will towards Queen Helaena before discovering Prince Daemon is likely the true culprit. She confronts him in private, and Daemon admits his responsibility for Jaehaerys' death. Rhaenyra angrily notes that the boy's death had weakened her claim to the Iron Throne and she now had to struggle with raising her own armies to support her cause. She ultimately came to distrust her uncle/husband and sees his loyalty as questionable, which led to a bitter argument between the two, leading Daemon to leave Dragonstone and capture Harrenhal.
Blood and Cheese's killing of Prince Jaehaerys' on Daemon's orders would become widely known and condemned by half of Westeros; When a few Riverlords confront Prince Daemon over giving orders to Willem Blackwood to ravage House Bracken's lands, Lord Darry contemptously reveals to Daemon his and their knowledge of the latter's responsibility for Prince Jaehaerys' assassination, calling Daemon "the man who ordered the slaughter of a child in his mother's arms."
Quotes[]
| “ | Whispers slithered through the taverns and back alleys of Flea Bottom. Two men were found; one was a former Gold Cloak, the other a ratcatcher in the Red Keep who knew all its secrets. History remembers them only as Blood and Cheese. | „ |
| ~ Catelyn Stark on Blood and Cheese. |
| “ | Cheese knew the Red Keep better than the shape of his own cock. | „ |
| ~ Writings of Mushroom. |
| “ | Queen Helaena pleaded with the men to kill her instead. "A wife's not a son," said Blood. "It has to be a boy." Cheese warned the queen to make a choice soon, before Blood grew bored and raped her little girl. "Pick," he said, "or we kill them all." | „ |
| ~ Archmaester Gyladyn's writings about Blood and Cheese's pressure on Queen Helaena. |
| “ | You hear that, little boy? Your Momma wants you dead. | „ |
| ~ Cheese to Maelor Targaryen. |
Gallery[]
Novels[]
House of the Dragon[]
Trivia[]
- Prior to the airing of A Son for a Son, the brutal murder of Prince Jaehaerys by Blood and Cheese was highly anticipated by many, and was compared to the Red Wedding scene from the Game of Thrones episode The Rains of Castamere.
- Ever since the episode aired, many readers of Fire & Blood were left disappointed by the unexpected changes to the 'Blood and Cheese' scene, in which the unhinged events in the book were not added, as Prince Jaehaerys' murder in Fire & Blood is more intense and disturbing, in which Queen Helaena was forced to choose on which son would die, and she ultimately chose to sacrifice Maelor to the two assassins, hoping that the young boy would not understand, but Blood and Cheese killed Jaehaerys anyway, leading Helaena to lose her mind to insanity and grief.
- A major complaint is on how Blood and Cheese were able to sneak past the guards undetected, which was addressed in the following episode:
- When Ser Criston tries to blame Ser Arryk for what happened, Cargyll makes it clear that the lack of surveillance was due to the fact that all the guards were watching King Aegon while he was getting drunk with his friends in the Throne Room, and that Helaena, despite being the queen, hasn't have yet an assigned a protector (which is criticized by Ser Arryk himself).
- Overall, the scene was mostly well-received by the general audience.
- A major complaint is on how Blood and Cheese were able to sneak past the guards undetected, which was addressed in the following episode:
- In the novels, while Blood was still captured, tortured, and executed, and the ratcatchers were all hanged, Cheese managed to escape, though his fate was left ambiguous. In House of the Dragon however, both Blood and Cheese are killed. with Blood meeting a slightly altered end (being beaten to death by Aegon II after being caught) while Cheese was among the ratcatchers hanged.
External Links[]
- Blood and Cheese on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- Blood and Cheese on the Wiki of Westeros.
