House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 is titled “The Burning Mill.” It’s a reference to the Battle of the Burning Mill, a brutal incursion pitting House Blackwood against House Bracken that marks the first official offensive of the civil war between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). We never see this battle onscreen, however. The HBO show opens with an argument between teenagers that cuts immediately to a vast field covered in corpses. The mill in the background has been burned to a crisp. This is the gruesome aftermath of what Rhaenyra and Aegon have unleashed on Westeros: a civil war that will not only pit brothers against brothers, as with the doomed Cargyll twins, but that will stoke centuries old feuds all over the realm.
So who exactly are the Blackwoods? Why do they hate the Brackens? Was the teenaged Blackwood who accosts the young Bracken knight supposed to be beloved book character Benjicot “Bloody Ben” Blackwood? Wither Alysanne Blackwood? And why is House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 named after a battle we don’t even see on screen??
Let’s dive into the Blackwoods, Brackens, and what exactly House of the Dragon is trying to say by opening this week’s episode on their conflict…
House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 “The Burning Mill”: Who are the Blackwoods and the Brackens?
House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 “The Burning Mill” opens with a petty argument between teenaged boys. The newly knighted Ser Aeron Bracken (Ryan Kopel) is showing off his new sword to his fellow Brackens, when young Davos Blackwood (Kieran Butler) accosts him. The boys begin to argue over the placement of boundary stones. Davos insists the Brackens moved them to steal land, while Ser Aeron dithers about a new “assize” granted them by their liege lord, Grover Tully.
However, the squabble soon escalates when Ser Aeron calls the Blackwood boy a “baby killer.” Davos realizes that the Brackens have declared for Aegon, while the Blackwoods stay loyal to Rhaenyra. Insults about Team Black versus Team Green are bandied and Ser Aeron finally pulls his sword on Davos. The Blackwood boy says, “You wouldn’t dare.” We then hear the sounds of a battle and see Ser Aeron dead on the same field, a sword stuck through his neck.
The camera then pans up and back to reveal the land, which was once verdant, covered in the corpses of both Blackwoods and Brackens. The Battle of the Burning Mill’s victims.
Okay, so, why do the Brackens and Blackwoods hate each other? Is it just due to the dispute between Aegon and Rhaenyra? Hardly.
The Brackens and Blackwoods are, like the Starks and Strongs, First Men. Meaning they belong to the most ancient houses of Westeros and existed in tandem with the Children of the Forest and all that magical stuff that seeps into George R.R. Martin’s storytelling. According to Martin, the Blackwoods once lived in the North, but then the Starks drove them south to the Riverlands, where they ruled as kings during the Age of Heroes. It was also at this time that the Blackwoods and Brackens became bitter enemies. The Blackwoods allege the Brackens were petty horse thieves who hired sellswords to kill and usurp the Blackwoods, while the Brackens maintain they were the kings of the Riverlands who were betrayed by their vassals, the Blackwoods.
Basically, the Brackens and Blackwoods are the Hatfields and McCoys of Westeros. We already saw back in House of the Dragon Season 1 that they’ll take any opportunity to fight each other. Remember when little Willem Blackwood (Alfie Todd) killed Jerrel Bracken (Gabriel Scott) during young Rhaenyra’s (Milly Alcock) tour? (Note: in the books, this is Samwell Blackwood and Amos Bracken, but same difference.)
As the Greens muse during their subsequent Small Council scene, the Blackwoods and Brackens are always fighting. However, now it’s all the more bloody and brutal because they’re doing so in the names of Rhaenyra and Aegon. “The Burning Mill” represents the bloodshed that is now being spilled over the Targaryens’ own internal strife. The smallfolk are the ones suffering the most for these royals’ “Game of Thrones.”
(Oh, and if you’re having trouble keeping the Brackens and Blackwoods apart, just remember that the Blackwoods are Team Black, aka for Rhaenyra. Which means the Brackens are Team Green.)
Did We Meet Ben Blackwood in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 “The Burning Mill”?
Fans of George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood know that as the war heats up, two young Blackwoods take center stage. Benjicot “Bloody Ben” Blackwood and his sister Alysanne “Black Aly” Blackwood are involved in some of the most heated battles in the Riverlands. So is the young Blackwood who starts the fight with Ser Aeron supposed to be Ben Blackwood? Nope.
House of the Dragon hasn’t yet cast or introduced Ben or Alysanne to HBO viewers. That was Davos Blackwood in House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 3 “The Burning Mill,” and he is probably dead, like Ser Aeron.
Interestingly enough, it’s mentioned that Lord Samwell Blackwood was killed during the battle. In the books, this happens and his young son and heir — Benjicot — takes over. So perhaps we’ll see Benjicot yet in House of the Dragon. In fact, maybe it’s for the best that he and Alysanne missed the Battle of the Burning Mill.
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