The second season of House of the Dragon will be full of battles, all of which will create a lot of anticipation among fans. To paraphrase Alicent Hightower’s (Olivia Cooke) phrase in the trailer – “The war will be fought, many will die and the winner will end up ascending to the throne” – the War will be fought, many battles will be bloody and the winner will try to ascend to the throne. Yes, we will see victories and defeats on both sides, and our hearts will suffer. And no battle will be as bloody as the Battle of the Lakeshore.

The one who warned us was George R. R. Martin himself in the book Fire and Blood and you have to bet that it will be the biggest of the season, the one that would end this part of the series. It will be?

The conflict will involve large numbers of soldiers on opposing sides, rivaling some of the biggest battles we’ve seen in Game of Thrones, including that of the Bastards.

The battle, which obviously took place on the shore of a lake, and should only happen towards the end of the season as the North, with the Starks, took a while to “arrive” to the south. In the drawing of who is with whom, House Lannister supports the Greens, while House Stark and most of the Lords of the Riverlands support the Blacks.

At this point in the story, we will have already had the biggest casualty on the black side with the death of Rhaenys (Eve Best), but Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) is already in King’s Landing, on the Iron Throne. Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is in Harrenhall, with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), recovering. In the meantime, one of the casualties we will witness is that of Lord Jason Lannister, who leads an army east in support of Aegon II Targaryen but will be killed in the Battle of the Red Fork.

Even slaughtered, the Lannister soldiers remain with their new wounded commander, Lord Humfrey Lefford. The problems only worsen when they arrive near the west coast of God’s Eye and discover that they are outnumbered by the enemy Queen’s supporters. That’s why they take on the defensive, staying with their backs to the lake, on the shore. Humfrey then sent ravens to ask Prince Aemond for help, but the message did not reach him because the ravens were shot down. To make matters worse for the greens, the number of Rhaenyra’s defenders gains further reinforcements with the arrival of Ser Garibald Grey, Lord Jon Charlton, and the young Lord Benjicot Blackwood. The Lannisters were trapped.

A bloodbath

However, the Lannister position is tactical: they may be on the defensive, but their opponents couldn’t launch a direct attack without heavy losses. At the same time, if they chose to wait to starve the Lannister army, Aemond could come through the skies riding Vhagar, which would be even worse. The option was to move forward.

The attack began at dawn, with the Lannisters resisting as best they could, but being forced to return to the God’s Eye. Bodies pile up on both sides in carnage. Having this recognition of being bloody in a universe where violence is common, makes us understand how graphic this battle will be and has the potential to be one of the most memorable, even without the protagonists involved. Most importantly for those who support the blacks, it will be a crushing defeat for the Greens.

When the news reaches Harrenhall, the response is obviously passionate. Aemond and Ser Criston Cole leave the castle, with the Commander heading south to meet Lord Ormund Hightower. The problem is that on the way, his men are frightened by the bodies they find and many abandon him. Eventually, he is ambushed in what became known as the Battle of the Butcher’s Ball.

Although readers and fans of the book consider this to be a prominent battle in House of the Dragon, I personally have my doubts. It is interesting strategically, but it does not count on the direct participation of any of the main players on either side.

I consider that there are more elements against than in favor. Battles are expensive in terms of production, and, in a season with fewer episodes, this battle would need to have an immediate and weighty consequence to justify the investment. While tragic and interesting, I suspect the Battle of the Lakeshore wouldn’t fit. Am I wrong?

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