The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 3, "The Burning Mill," which premiered Sunday, June 30 on HBO. This article also contains mention of suicide.

When it comes to shocking deaths, Game of Thrones really stands out in the annals of pop culture, especially for those who didn't read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books. People died left, right and center to spotlight how brutal those fictional, medieval times were. Now, Season 2 of House of the Dragon is detailing the precursor years to that story.

As Season 1 showed, the 200 years before Daenerys Targaryen's birth had some shocking deaths, one of which includes young Lucerys Velaryon being killed by Aemond's dragon, Vhagar. As House of the Dragon inches closer to all-out war, heads are starting to roll. However, there is a pacing problem that takes away from the impact of what should be more emotionally heart-wrenching moments.

House of the Dragon's Major Deaths Came Too Quickly

House of the Dragon Season 2 finds Matt Smith's Prince Daemon Targaryen wanting retribution on behalf of Rhaenyra. He hates that Otto Hightower has stolen the Iron Throne using his kin. The fact that Lucerys' body can't be found riles Daemon up even more. As his rage festers, he hires Blood and Cheese to murder one of Alicent's sons, which ends with her grandson, baby Jaehaerys, being decapitated. Soon after, these assassins are found.

Matthew Needham's Larys Strong is essential to the capturing of Blood and Cheese. Both men are promptly killed, with Blood being bludgeoned to death by the brazen King Aegon for the loss of his boy. Cheese is later killed when all the ratcatchers employed by the Royals are hanged. Later on, Arryk is sent by Ser Cristion Cole to kill Rhaenyra Targaryen at Dragonstone. Criston believes in an eye for an eye. However, Arryk's twin, Erryk, protects Rhaenyra, kills his brother, but dies in the process by ending his own life. While some of these deaths are meant to be shocking, they are also rushed, which diminishes their impact.

Starting with the twin knights of the Kingsguard, they were barely featured in Season 1, apart from Erryk stealing the crown from the Red Keep and bringing it to Rhaenyra. His twin brother, Arryk, declared his fealty to Aegon and the Greens. Blood and Cheese didn't even factor in until Season 2, and Aegon's twin children similarly didn't get much screen time. The audience needed to spend more time with the two sets of twins, in particular, in order for their deaths to be more strongly felt.

Arryk and Erryk's bond, for example, needed exploring so that when Erryk ended his own life to not live with the pain and guilt, it would have felt a lot more gut-wrenching. Audience members would have known why Erryk couldn't live without the brother he was born with, and why he had to die with him. As for Aegon's children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, fans didn't get much time to connect with their personalities, and how they were as children, prior to Jaehaerys' death.

House of the Dragon Needed Its Victims More In Season 1

Playing these characters up more in Season 1 of House of the Dragon would have improved the impact of these characters' deaths. With respect to Arryk and Erryk, flashbacks could have shown why they chose their respective teams. This would have added more weight to their fight as brothers in Episode 2, "Rhaenyra the Cruel." More specifically, it would have highlighted why one supported Rhaenyra while the other supported Aegon, and why these differences led to their eventual rift. Arryk and Erryk were more than just Kingsguard knights. That's what the show wants to transpose to viewers, yet, there isn't insight into what makes them tick.

All that Season 2 shows is Arryk not liking Criston Cole's orders, and Erryk being utterly devoted to Rhaenyra. The characters needed more development in order for viewers to connect with them and for their deaths to matter more. It's why almost any hero or villain from Game of Thrones is still being talked about, even long after the series ended. The majority of deaths were slow burns that took time to get to without harming the show's pacing. Of course, Game of Thrones had more seasons to flesh out its characters, but Season 1 deaths like Ned Stark worked because the character had a prominent role.

This formula needed to be applied to the characters who were fated to die, including Blood and Cheese, the latter of which was shown to have a wife when he was killed. In George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood, Blood and Cheese were known to the White Worm (Mysaria), as she collected information on both Team Green and Team Black. She knew knowledge was power and wanted to leverage it. Showing how Blood and Cheese operated within her network would've further fleshed them out. By the Season 2 premiere, fans would've seen why Blood and Cheese would work with Daemon, leading up to their eventual deaths.

House of the Dragon Breaks Its Own Creative Fabric

Season 1 of House of the Dragon didn't follow a harried formula. It took time to build Viserys up as a torn king, show his flaws on the Iron Throne, and why he had children with the daughter of his hand, Otto Hightower. It later showed him old and dying. Even though Viserys had a flawed rule and participated in Westeros' patriarchy, fans did feel some sympathy towards him, as he wasn't a man made for the grime of politics. This allowed viewers to connect with those around him, such as the queen who didn't ascend, Rhaenys, and the daughter he wanted to, Rhaenyra.

Audiences sat with Lucerys as well, feeling his innocence, fright and hatred towards his cousins. When he died, it was really heartbreaking, and marred the diplomacy Alicent tried to foster. The show could've similarly spent more time with Jaehaerys since he was fated to die young, and as mentioned, more screen time could have serviced Blood, Cheese, Erryk and Arryk better. Their backgrounds could've informed their motives, heroism and betrayals. Such an approach would've resulted in fuller, fleshed-out characters. Instead, the Season 2 deaths revolve around characters who end up undercooked and incomplete.

For a case in point, Blood and Cheese were an example of how poverty could draw people into a life of crime. The knight twins spoke to how politics could easily divide families, even among close family members. This would have allowed the audiences to really deem their deaths as full-blown tragedies. Westeros' Seven Kingdoms is a realm teeming with monsters, so the more fans can learn about the players involved, the richer the storyline. Ultimately, these characters were teeming with potential, and while they weren't ruined, there is a sense that their scope was botched due to the need to spill blood and careen towards the "Dance of the Dragons."

House of the Dragon debuts new episodes on Sundays on HBO and Max.