House of the Dragon’s Ser Alfred Broome Is More Important Than You Think

This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 5 and addresses events from Fire & Blood that will spoil future episodes of the show.

If we’ve learned anything from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, it’s that you can’t trust anyone. As Cersei Lannister once said, “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die,” and we’ve seen this mantra cross over into the prequel. Heading into the second half of season two, House of the Dragon’s body count continues to climb. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of new characters to take their place.

Alongside Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), one of the show’s newcomers is Jamie Kenna’s Ser Alfred Broome. First appearing in season two’s “A Son For a Son”, Ser Alfred had an expanded role in episode 5 “Regent”. Having lost Rhaenys (Eve Best) in episode 4, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) tries to hold her own among the men of her council. Although Ser Alfred seems like a loyal Black, for now, that could soon change.

Ser Alfred Broome previously appeared on Rhaenyra’s Dragonstone council, remembered as the one who suggested she claim she ordered the murder of Prince Jaehaerys in a moment of madness. Despite this slight, Rhaenyra is holding him closer in episode 5 and reminds Ser Alfred how he served under King Jaehaerys I. When we leave Ser Alfred, he’s tasked with meeting Daemon (Matt Smith) at Harrenhal to try and remind him he’s supposed to be on Team Black instead of his own quest to the Iron Throne. The thing is, it’s not just Daemon who’s out for his own gains, as Ser Alfred becomes a major player in the evolving Targaryen Civil War. 

In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book Fire & Blood, Ser Alfred Broome continues as a loyal Black but stays at Dragonstone when Rhaenyra eventually takes King’s Landing. Although King Agegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) escapes, the throne is finally Rhaenyra’s and she names Ser Robert Quince (a character we haven’t yet met) as the castellan of Dragonstone over an enraged Broome. Rhaenyra is eventually betrayed by her dragonseeds, the King’s Landing dragonpit is stormed, and she’s forced to sell her crown to flee back to Dragonstone. She’s met by Ser Alfred Broome at Dragonstone but is unaware that Aegon II is hiding on the island.

Martin’s “The Rise of the Dragon” chapter mentions how the hiding Greens were able to find allies among the Dragonstone garrison, including Ser Alfred, thanks to promises of a lordship, land, and wealth. During the Fall of Dragonstone, there’s a fight between Aegon II’s dragon Sunfyre and Baela Targaryen’s (Bethany Antonia) Moondancer. Ser Alfred personally kills Ser Robert but is stopped from taking out Baela. He then leads the party to meet Rhaenyra when she lands on Dragonstone, with the former being surprised to see the charred corpse of Ser Robert.

With her Queensguard slain, Rhaenyra is taken before Aegon II and fed to Sunfyre in one of the Dance of the Dragon’s most iconic moments. As for Ser Alfred, he remains loyal to Aegon II for the rest of the war. Don’t worry, he meets a suitably grisly end when he’s eventually shoved off a drawbridge and left to writhe in agony for days atop iron spikes. All these events are still a long way off, and it looks like season 2 might not even get as far as the famed Battle of the Gullet. Still, House of the Dragon is good at foreshadowing, like a season 1 Easter egg teasing Rhaenyra’s fiery demise. Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) made a throwaway reference to Rhaenyra’s end in Game of Thrones season 4, while the increased focus on Ser Alfred has us confident it’ll play out in a similar way. 

Ser Alfred Broome’s betrayal is the kind we’ve seen several times in the source material and the live-action Game of Thrones, like Petyr Baelish betraying Ned Stark as a power move or Walder Frey executing the Red Wedding because Robb Stark broke his oath. Ser Alfred Broome selling Rhaenyra out to the Greens because she doesn’t make him castellan of Dragonstone seems even more trivial, so expect him to become Public Enemy No. 1 if this twist makes it into the series. At least Vhagar won’t be the most hated character anymore. 

As House of the Dragon continues to heat up, the in-fighting only gets worse, and there are betrayals on both sides. Broome might be a minor character for now, but assuming that showrunner Ryan Condal stays close to the source material with Rhaenyra’s fate, he’s someone we should all be keeping our eyes on as one of the Seven Kingdom’s most brutal betrayers and Rhaenyra’s very own Judas.

New episodes of House of the Dragon season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.