WARNING! This article contains major SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 2!

The confirmation of a character’s death in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 2 solves a long-standing mystery that I figured would never find closure in George R.R. Martin’s books. House of the Dragon is adapted from George R.R. Martin’s 2018 fictional history book Fire & Blood, which tells the history of House Targaryen from various unreliable narrators and sources. Consequently, the book leaves plenty of questions unanswered, fates unknown, and misconceptions about the Targaryens that House of the Dragon’s cast and characters are able to finally set straight in the show’s depiction of the truth.

While House of the Dragon has shockingly revealed presumed-dead characters to actually be alive, such as Laenor Velaryon’s season 1 survival twist, the Game of Thrones prequel also gives closure to some historical figures whose fates were left more ambiguous in the book. This happens to be the case for an unnamed character introduced in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1, who plays a role in a huge Targaryen tragedy but, since his identity was never discovered, his fate couldn’t be officially pinned down by historians. However, the HBO show now gives a final answer to whether he died.

House Of The Dragon Confirms That Cheese Did Actually Die

The book leaves Cheese’s death somewhat ambiguous

As the show cuts to the reactions of smallfolk in King’s Landing seeing the dead bodies of hanged ratcatchers, House of the Dragon confirms the death of Cheese (Mark Stobbart). While Blood was confirmed to have been tortured to death, the book left the ultimate fate of Cheese ambiguous, as nobody knew his real name. As revenge for Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen’s death, King Aegon II Targaryen had the Red Keep’s ratcatchers hanged in hopes of killing the murderer in a cruel process of elimination, but there was always the possibility that Cheese had evaded capture.

I figured Cheese may have fled King’s Landing and brought his ratcatching work elsewhere, but House of the Dragon season 2 debunks this possibility. Among the hanging bodies in the streets of Flea Bottom is Cheese, with the pain seen on his dog confirming his owner didn’t escape the wrath of King Aegon. However, after revealing the fates of both Blood and Cheese, I’m still concerned about what happens to his dog and whether the pup will be seen again in House of the Dragon’s future.

House Of The Dragon Still Leaves Another Blood & Cheese Mystery That Likely Won’t Be Solved

Their real names are still lost to Westerosi history (& viewers)

In addition to the fate of Cheese’s dog, I’m still left wondering about another mystery from House of the Dragon season 2’s Blood and Cheese story. The HBO show has done an excellent job of explaining questions that Fire & Blood’s narrators didn’t have the answers to, but one that I thought would be resolved, surprisingly, wasn’t. After House of the Dragon season 2, episode 2’s ending, the franchise has still yet to explain what Blood and Cheese’s real names are. As such, the Gold Cloak butcher and Red Keep ratcatcher are forever known to Westerosi history and Game of Thrones viewers as simply “Blood” and “Cheese.”

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