Spoiler Alert: Spoilers for House of the Dragon Episode 3 Ahead

Through three episodes, House of the Dragon has managed to introduce a horrifying villain and then slaughter the character in a gruesome manner. The predecessor series, Game of Thrones, was known for creating vile villains capable of the most heinous acts before killing them off the show in brutal ways, and the prequel series is doing no different.

The Crabfeeder, also known as Craghas Drahar, is one such character introduced in the second episode of House of the Dragon. By episode 3, a war is waging in the Stepstones, and Drahar and Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen are in the middle of it. The Crabfeeder is played by Daniel Scott-Smith, although he is nearly unrecognizable underneath the makeup and prosthetics required to bring his character to life. Smith has seen a few notable roles in Men in Black: International and Dune, however, his part in House of the Dragon may be the most significant to date. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly regarding his character, Smith said he loved playing a villain whose personality isn’t set in stone.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Crabfeeder is mentioned in Fire & Blood, the 2018 historical novel from George R.R. Martin detailing the Targaryen family history. However, his character has very few details to base him on, leaving the rest up to Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik, and the rest of the House of the Dragon crew.

“He’s a nasty character. So as an actor, it’s a dream. It’s nice when you have details, as well, but it’s also nice when it’s a completely open book. That gave us the freedom to do what we wanted with the character, which, on a creative level, was incredible for me and I think for the directors, as well, because we could play with it and build our own version of Crabfeeder.”

Scott-Smith Says There Are Two Sides to the Crabfeeder

     HBO Max

Although we won’t be seeing more of the Crabfeeder (since Daemon Targaryen split open his torso), his character was interesting nonetheless. Craghas Drahar didn’t spend much time in the spotlight, but his gruesome method for killing his enemies is one of the most memorable in the Thrones universe. Despite his vicious tendencies, Daniel Scott-Smith tells EW there are two sides to his character.

Fans of House of the Dragon won’t have to worry about the Crabfeeder any longer, as his guts spill along the Stepstones. His background as a prince may have been interesting; however, there are many stories to tell in the prequel series, and the team is forced to move along at a quicker pace in the earlier episodes. You can tune into House of the Dragon, premiering with a new episode every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max at 9 pm E.T.

“Craghas Drahar is seen as the bad guy, but for any bad character there’s always got to be a journey of how they got to that point. We wanted to remember that there’s two sides to him. So we spoke about the idea of him being a prince, or that he calls himself a prince, so he came from some sort of higher House. We spoke about that and the gradual decline to where he is, how the greyscale might affect him psychically, even mentally. We wanted to show the more prince, royal side, but then we also wanted to show the more feral side, which came through when he holds the hammer. We wanted the idea of the hammer turning him into more of a beastly character.”