The dragons are safe and sound
House of the Dragon graciously restored our faith on HBO adaptations
(*Contains spoilers for House of the Dragons S1 and Game of Thrones)
Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin's world really captivate me. I bought the first book of Songs of Ice and Fire all the way back in 2010 and devoured the next four books soon after. It's an engaging story that immediately grabbed my attention. Whenever a twist and turn happened or a brand-new character appeared, I enjoyed cheering them on or suffering from their sudden bad luck.
I especially liked that it was a completely unexpected series. You would never guess where George was heading.
Even though it's a fantasy, it's still believable and focuses on humans and their relationships. Their struggles with family, power, religion, honor, legacy, and everything in between.
When Game of Thrones aired on HBO I already knew the whole (written) story and I kept all the spoilers to myself, as a true friend would do. I enjoyed seeing everyone react as it aired and even had a weekly Sunday meeting with friends to watch together at some point.
The show's final seasons were a disappointment, but truth be told, I knew it would happen. Without the source material, it wouldn't be as engaging, and I had always expected an awful ending.
Nevertheless, it still left a bitter aftertaste. Not because the ending itself and its final decision points were uninspired, but because it was just really poorly done. To get to those points we needed much more along the way. A mad Daenerys that ends the Targaryen dynasty could make sense and even be a pretty cool story ending. However, this should not be done so suddenly and unexplained as it was on GoT.
It made many people angry and uninterested in the prequel to GoT, House of the Dragon. Probably, there are still some people out there that refuse to come back. But they shouldn't. I would argue that the lack of expectations has made the show seem even better.
Here are some reasons it has been so successful, and will probably continue to be:
1 - The source material
House of the Dragon is not based on novels, as was Game of Thrones. It is based on Fire & Blood, written as a history book. That means that from day 1 of adapting and creating House of the Dragon, they had to develop their own stories and scenes. Scenes and dialogues had to be created. These stories fill in between what is in the book and make for a cohesive story.
The story was there, but not anything that resembled a TV show script.
We can't say the same about GoT. The producers had a much easier time adapting the novel, sometimes having dialogues and scenes exactly as they were in the books. When they ran out of novels to adapt, things got out of control. They started having many issues with how to develop these characters and get them to where they needed to be.
HotD doesn't have the same risk, since they had to do so much on their own. In addition, there is still a lot of the story to adapt from Fire & Blood, and they are aiming for only 4 seasons.
2 - How they approached the main rivalry on the show
he show revolves around the Dance of the Dragons, a period of significant war in Westeros that started inside the ruling Targaryen family. There were more dragons during this period in Westeros, which is why the Dance of Dragons represents both family members as well as actual fighting between the dragons themselves.
It concerns a rivalry between two women, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. And HotD took the effort to truly develop this rivalry. Both women are stuck in a patriarchal world where they have very limited agency in their lives. And it's this appearance of agency in Rhaenyra that Alicent resents.
In fact, although they seem as if they are the main perpetrators of the war, the truth is that they are both dealing with circumstances brought on by the men in their lives, especially their fathers. Not only their fathers, but all men around them are also trying to get closer to power (the crown) and "put their names in the history books".
As a matter of fact, the only thing Rhaenyra and Alicent do is follow family traditions and do what is expected of them. They constantly try to mend their feuds, but circumstances make it impossible.
3 - The casting
The casting is really on point. The young and older versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent are look-alikes and talented actresses. Olivia Cooke and Paddy Considine are especially stealing the show, and they are likely to win next year's Emmy.
The only sad part is that some of the actors cast for younger versions of the main characters were there only for an episode or two. Which is a waste.
4 - Attention to details
From the costumes, how they are made, and what they symbolize in each scene, to having each dragon look differently, HotD excels. Simple details, like showing the biology of dragons, how the eggs are laid, and how the dragons are mounted and tamed, create an immersive experience.
These tiny details add up in such a thoughtful way to the book and make the fans happy without being obvious fan service.
5 - The story
HotD focuses on humans and their desires and aspirations and how those move history. There is a clear understanding of the conflict between the two sides and the theme from the beginning, and we can see the motivations behind each character. Women are central but have to navigate their circumstances.
In general, the show follows the book closely, but adds more flavor to it and makes wise choices when it does make changes. As a result, even those who have read the source material are surprised.
What have they done wrong so far?
1 - Scenes that make no sense for shock value
There were many complaints around the last scene from episode 9, and indeed this scene although really cool, doesn't make much sense. Rhaenys while attempting to escape Kingsland gets her dragon during Aegon's coronation and kills many people there watching the coronation and threatens all the royals present.
In the book, there's nothing even close to that and it would completely change the story. It is OK to have something that is not in the book if it makes any sense. If she had taken sides with Raenhyra, she could have ended the coup right there and prevented a war. And why would she do that and not simply escape? Where was the point if it wasn't to kill them?
The same can be said of Rhaenyra and Leanor's wedding scene where Criston Cole kills Sir Joffrey Lonmouth the lover of Leanor Velaryion. That would be completely unacceptable in this world and it makes no sense whatsoever that he didn't face any kind of punishment or consequences for his actions.
He is from the Kingsguard and can't just kill a Lord, someone that was invited to the castle for a wedding, out of the blue. He would probably face trial and at least be sent to the Night's Guard. In the book, he also kills him, but it's in a joust, so it was an “accident” and makes much more sense. Even so, Viserys isn't too pleased with this accident.
It makes no sense at all that he could still be around, still serving as the King's guard without any issue. That didn't make sense. But it did provide a shocking scene. It reminded us never to go to a wedding in Westeros.
2 - Sudden time jumps
The time jumps felt too clunky and fast at times. I would especially like to have seen more of Harwin Strong and Laena Velaryon. They played a big part in the story and were really engaging characters that we could have seen more of. It would especially make their deaths seem much more powerful and painful if we had spent more time with those characters.
I do understand though, that maybe we wouldn't cheer for Rhaenyra and Daemon as a couple as much if we had seen them more time with the others. However, honestly, I don't think it would make much of a difference.
Looking forward to the upcoming season
House of the Dragon has been a success. It reinstalled the hype that Game of Thrones had. I can safely say so for the inundation of memes on Twitter after each episode. Everyone is still a bit on edge about the quality of the show after the flop of GoT though. When something weird happens that is unexplainable, it's a whole online apocalypse-like drama.
Nevertheless, I believe we (as fans) can enjoy this ride without much to worry about for the upcoming seasons. All we need to do is not take it too seriously. It's only a TV show with dragons in the end.
Fire & Blood (George R.R. Martin). Fire and Blood begin their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and continue on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.
Although it's written as a history book it's quite easy and enjoyable to read, especially if you are already a fan.
How to train your dragon. Yes, I couldn't miss this joke. Yes, I couldn't miss this joke. Even so, How to Train Your Dragon is a pleasant and cute cartoon worth watching. Hiccup a hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself. He learns there may be more to the creatures than he thought. Like many other children's animation movies, it portrays characters that don't fit into their expected roles. However, they manage to save the day exactly because they are different from everyone else.
House of the Dragon. You don't need to have watched Game of Thrones to watch HotD, because it is a prequel set hundreds of years before. House of the Dragon will mainly portray an internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power.
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