'House Of The Dragon': Actor Daniel Scott-Smith Confirms Crabfeeder Had Greyscale

New details about HBO's "House of the Dragon" villain Craghas Drahar, aka the Crabfeeder, have emerged. Actor Daniel Scott-Smith, who has played the role, offered insight into his on-screen character's backstory, confirming speculations that Crabfeeder indeed had greyscale.

Episode 3 of the record-breaking "Game of Thrones" prequel series saw Prince Daemon trounce the Crabfeeder to death in a battle. Not much is known about the character, and despite his brief appearance in the series, Scott-Smith hinted that his backstory might become crucial later in the show's run.

"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 told EW.

The actor said that while Craghas Drahar was portrayed as the bad guy in the books, there's a story behind the character that explains why he acted the way he did. "Craghas 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," he explained.

Confirming that the Crabfeeder had greyscale, Scott-Smith said: "So we spoke about the idea of him being a prince, or that he calls himself a prince, so he came from sort of higher House. We spoke about that and the gradual decline to where he is, how the greyscale might affect him physically, even mentally."

Weaving greyscale into Crabfeeder's backstory suggests that the villain had dealt with the disease for several years before his death and used a mask to cover the patches of greyscale on his face. This surprising twist makes Crabfeeder's story more interesting since the character wasn't described as having the disease in George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood" book.

In "Game of Thrones," greyscale is a bitter in-universe disease that causes madness. Considering that it has remained a baffling disease in the "Game of Thrones" timeline, it makes sense that the characters in "House of the Dragon," which is set long before the events in "Game of Thrones," would be even less familiar with how to approach or diagnose the disease.