Rhaenyra the Cruel, episode 2x02 of House of the Dragon included one of the most anticipated scenes by fans of the book Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin, the one starring the twins Arryk and Erryk Cargyll, introduced in the first season and separated by the conflict between the Greens and the Blacks.

Stop reading if you haven't watched the episode yet. From here on there will be spoilers.

As with all events of the time, Archmaester Gyldayn collects in the book several versions of what happened, so readers were eager to find out which one the series chose, whether the cynical and cruel tale of Mushroom or the more romantic one that became a legend.

In Mushroom's account, the fight "lasted only a few moments and there was no declaration of fraternal love." According to him, they accused each other of treason and Arryk died immediately, while Erryk agonized with a deep wound in his belly "for four days during which he did not stop howling in pain and cursing his brother."

According to the bards, they said "I love you, brother" "And I you," before drawing their swords, and as the great maester Munkun tells it, "they fatally wounded each other and died one in the arms of the other with tears streaming down their cheeks.

And it is right here where The House of the Dragon pays homage to Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones.

The fraternal duel in the series

Displaying his deepest hypocrisy, Criston Cole decides to shift the blame for the breach of security at the Red Keep onto Arryk Cargyll and even dares to accuse him of lacking honor for having the hem of his white cloak stained with mud. He then sends the guard to Dragonstone with the mission of posing as his twin brother, Erryk, to reach Rhaenyra and assassinate her.

Arryk manages to reach the queen's chamber, but is interrupted by his brother Erryk, leading to an inevitable confrontation in which both are willing to die honoring the oath of loyalty they made, one to Aegon and the other to Rhaenyra.

In the end, as the bards and Grand Maester Munkun recounted, the brothers said they loved each other and embraced until Erryk killed Arryk and proceeded to fatally impale himself with his sword after asking for forgiveness from the queen.

The connection to Sansa

This romantic version of the story that the troubadours turned into a legend is the same one that Sansa Stark recalls in chapter 41 of A Clash of Kings:

"Prince Tommen sobbed. 'You wail like a suckling babe,' his brother hissed at him. 'Princes do not cry.'

"Prince Aemon the Dragonknight wept the day Princess Naerys married his brother Aegon," said Sansa Stark, "and the twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk died with tears on their cheeks after each mortally wounded the other."

As revealed by Ryan Condal to The Hollywood Reporter, he has always been fascinated by the story of these two brothers precisely because it was a story that Sansa idealized in the books of A Song of Ice and Fire:

"Sansa has that romantic vision that she has of how that fight was and how they dueled for hours, as if it were the duel from The Princess Bride. We have two people who are on different sides of this conflict and don't know what to do with this oath. I think it makes it more tragic to see these two brothers trying to keep their oath, but who literally find themselves in a mortal combat between them to defend it."