In House of the Dragon, the main conflict is between members of House Targaryen. However, there is another conflict viewers should be paying close attention to.
Currently, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) is heir to the Iron Throne after her father, King Viserys (Paddy Considine) revoked Prince Daemon’s (Matt Smith) claim.
While Daemon gathers in the background to try and reclaim his title. At the end of Episode 2, Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) decided to join sides with Daemon thanks to the king rejecting the offer of marriage to Corlys’ daughter, Laena (Nova Mosé-Foueillis).
However, there has been another storyline that is simmering away under the surface involving Corlys and will become much more significant as House of the Dragon continues.
Most notably, it involves a character called Crabfeeder and his hold on the Stepstones.
So, who is Crabfeeder and why is the Stepstones conflict so important?
Who is Crabfeeder in House of the Dragon?
From what has been revealed so far in House of the Dragon, Crabfeeder is a lawless character who likes to feed pirates to the crabs, hence his title.
According to Digital Spy, Crabfeeder’s real name is Craghas Drahar and he is a Myrish prince who heads the Triarchy.
The Triarchy has also been mentioned before in House of the Dragon by Lord Corlys and this army is a coalition of free people from Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh.
This alliance was formed as a result of the Battle of the Borderland which saw the defeat of the pirates invading the Stepstones. Now Crabfeeder heads the Triarchy, having also taken control of the Stepstones.
Why are the Stepstones important?
The Stepstones is an area that sits between King’s Landing between Westeros and Essos, according to Polygon.
It is a small rocky chain of islands that separates the main land masses and, thanks to the Triarchy, a toll is paid by ships who want safe passage between the two places.
Lord Corlys has spoken about his rising displeasure at having to pay the toll to the Triarchy and, in particular, he mentioned that he was losing ships to the Crabfeeder.
While Corlys brought his concerns to the king, Viserys was not overly interested in punishing the Crabfeeder for rising tolls and disappearing ships.
Corlys wanted Viserys to make a strong stand against the Triarchy, but he flat-out refused. Then, when the king also refused to marry Corlys’ daughter, the lord took matters into his own hands, sending word to Prince Daemon.
Episode 2 of House of the Dragon ended with the pair discussing the Crabfeeder and pointing out that should Daemon take possession of the Stepstones and get rid of Crabfeeder that many mighty houses in Westeros would be appreciative of his actions, gaining him more power and prestige in his pursuit for the Iron Throne.
As to how this all unfolds remains to be seen, but the preview for Episode 3 does show this storyline will be continued next week, and if the TV show follows the events in the book, it looks likely viewers might get their very first epic battle coming up at some point in Season 1.
House of the Dragon airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on HBO Max.