The House of the Dragon Season 2 premiere started at Winterfell and then The Wall. We met Cregan Stark, who shared something interesting with Jacaerys Velayron.
Caution: there are minor spoilers to the start of House of the Dragon Season 2.
The episode opened with Jace at Winterfell, where we see men gathering around and pulling stones out of a bag. It turns out that some men at Winterfell at picked to go to The Wall and become members of the Night’s Watch. This is an honor, and a tradition that we don’t see happening in Game of Thrones.
It’ll be interesting to see when this tradition came to an end. It’ll also be interesting to see when a certain belief of monsters North of the Wall came to an end. After all, House of the Dragon is set a little more than 100 years before Game of Thrones.
Cregan Stark corrects Jace on the reason The Wall stands in House of the Dragon
Jace notes that Rhaenyra needs the Northmen to fight for her. Why are they going to a wall that protects Westeros from the snow and Wildlings? Cregan Stark points out that this wall does far more than that.
He notes that when King Jacaerys and Queen Alysanne arrived in the North, their dragons wouldn't fly to the other side of The Wall. They knew something was on the other side, and Cregan knows that it is "death."
He doesn’t say they are White Walkers. The name of these creatures never comes up, but he knows that there is some sort of magic on the other side. I would love to see a conversation between Cregan and Rhaenyra about this. After all, she knows about the Prince Who Was Promised and the White Walkers.
Jace takes Cregan seriously, it seems. He didn’t once argue with the fact that the size of The Wall meant that it had to be for more than just the Wildlings and some snow. This is something he’ll learn more about if Rhaenyra names him her heir and passes on the dagger.
At some point, though, it seems the legend of the White Walkers becomes just that. Everyone forgets all about them, and the dagger ends up in Littlefinger’s hands in some way. Does Rhaenyra not get a chance to pass on the story due to the Dance of the Dragons? Is this where the knowledge of the White Walkers comes to an end?