Emma D\u2019Arcy<\/a>). With this week\u2019s episode, their lifelong unity comes to a bloody end.<\/p>\nIn Episode 2 of \u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d Season 2, Arryk is dispatched by his vindictive commander, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), to infiltrate Rhaenyra\u2019s stronghold, Dragonstone, and assassinate her while posing as his own twin, one of her personal protectors. The ruse is exposed in horrific fashion when brother attacks brother; Erryk triumphs and saves his queen but kills himself rather than live with the pain of the act. As an allegory for the senseless squandering of human life in Rhaenyra and Aegon\u2019s so-called Dance of the Dragons, it is a hard one to miss.<\/p>\n
Yet, when it comes time to thank the actors for a chance to pick their brains about their brutal final duel for the fate of Queen Rhaenyra, I catch myself referring to their brain<\/em>, singular. It speaks to the effectiveness of the Tittensor twins\u2019 work as the doomed knights that their \u201cone soul in two bodies\u201d mentality is catching.<\/p>\nThe brothers are self-effacing about having landed these pivotal roles, though. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how big the pool of identical twins that they had to look in was, but when our agents came knocking about the job, we already had the long hair and the beards,\u201d Elliott said in a joint video call on Thursday. \u201cIn their eyes, we were pretty much ready to step into it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m never quite sure whether to offer my congratulations or my condolences in interviews like these.<\/strong><\/p>\nLUKE TITTENSOR<\/strong> We\u2019re happy about it! To be involved with a project of this kind, and then to be able to portray a twins relationship in such an amazing world, a world that we\u2019re fans of \u2026 These sorts of jobs in this industry are few and far between.<\/p>\nHow early did you know this was where your characters were headed?<\/strong><\/p>\nELLIOTT<\/strong> TITTENSOR <\/strong>Once we got the job, we researched the material up to the point of our deaths. We didn\u2019t want to go past that, just because we didn\u2019t want to spoil the rest of the show.<\/p>\nLUKE<\/strong> We did a bit of back research, maybe starting off at Aegon\u2019s conquest \u2014\u2014<\/p>\nELLIOTT<\/strong> And then up to our point. After that, we wanted to leave it as a bit of a mystery, didn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n\u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d is a civil war story, and civil wars are often described as wars of brother against brother. Your characters make that theme literal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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LUKE<\/strong> Our relationship and our death were very much a symbol \u2014 not just of what\u2019s to come, but the theme of the whole piece, really, which is family against family.<\/p>\nDoes taking on that symbolic weight add pressure?<\/strong><\/p>\nELLIOTT <\/strong>No, because that symbol is built within our relationship naturally, being identical twins. That\u2019s a unique relationship \u2014 unique only to identical twins, who are split-embryo. Even a twin who\u2019s not split-embryo \u2026 not to sound disrespectful, but they\u2019re more like a brother and sister born at the same time. An identical twin is a beautiful phenomenon of nature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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But you\u2019re playing identical twins in the act of killing each other.<\/strong><\/p>\nLUKE<\/strong> I think it helps. You\u2019re aware of what they\u2019re up against because of all these years of being a twin. If that was a scene between me and Criston Cole, it would probably be a bit harder. Doing it with Elliott made it easier to get there and sit in that head space. It\u2019s naturally grounded, something you can latch onto.<\/p>\nELLIOTT<\/strong> It\u2019s already rooted in your psyche. But it wasn\u2019t something that drained<\/em> the psyche too much because the scene took three days, and the emotional side was the last day. You definitely feel the baggage of going through something like that, so it was nice that the really extreme stuff was confined to just one day.<\/p>\nWhat was the physical process of the fight like?<\/strong><\/p>\nELLIOTT<\/strong> For the dance of the fight, we did 30-plus hours with the stunt team to make sure we got it right. We were very intent on making sure we could do the whole thing and didn\u2019t have to use the team for any shots, because we knew the emotional side was going to pierce through. It was just concentrating on making sure that the dance was right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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You\u2019re calling it a dance, but it looks like two people hacking at each other with sharpened metal sticks until one of them can\u2019t move anymore. It\u2019s brutal.<\/strong><\/p>\nLUKE<\/strong> Our swords have knuckle dusters over them, so you can\u2019t really do a lot of fancy twizzles and spins like a really slick swordsman. That made us think they\u2019re guys who are a bit heavy with their swords, who get up close and personal. We and Rowley and Ben [Rowley Irlam and Ben Wright, two of the show\u2019s stunt coordinators] tailored the fight to how we thought these two guys would fight. They wanted to make it feel \u2014\u2014<\/p>\nELLIOTT<\/strong> More realistic.<\/p>\nLUKE <\/strong>Like two brothers having a scrap at home: a bit rough, a bit dirty, a bit messy. Rhaenyra is trapped in a cage with two lions trying to take chunks out of each other.<\/p>\nIn the cloak-and-dagger sequence leading up to the assassination attempt and the duel, the similarity between the brothers is a source of suspense.<\/strong><\/p>\nLUKE<\/strong> What [the filmmakers] were trying to do narratively was confuse the audience. When Arryk stands at the door, there\u2019s a moment of you thinking, \u201cIs that actually Arryk, or is it Erryk?\u201d You\u2019ve seen us do a bit of a Scooby-Doo moment. That\u2019s a little bit of a trick with twins.<\/p>\nBut in the end, being brothers neither saves nor dooms them. Their senses of duty and honor drive them, and ultimately kill them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n