House of the Dragon (Season 1 of GoT-related series discussion)

Kyriakos

Creator
Joined
Oct 15, 2003
Messages
74,557
Location
The Dream
Up to now, the GoT threads were in OT. However, if the mods decide this should be in A&E, I have no issue.

This is the final trailer, and the show begins in little over a week from now.


I think it looks ok. It might even have something of interest, if we assume Grrm wasn't as bored with it as with finishing Asoiaf.
 
Even when it “got bad” there were lots of great parts. Battle of the Bastards was one of the greatest sword battles in all of media.
 
Up to now, the GoT threads were in OT. However, if the mods decide this should be in A&E, I have no issue.

This is the final trailer, and the show begins in little over a week from now.


I think it looks ok. It might even have something of interest, if we assume Grrm wasn't as bored with it as with finishing Asoiaf.
I though it's all over the series of HBO. What about this new series? The time period before the events of te main serie?
 
I though it's all over the series of HBO. What about this new series? The time period before the events of te main serie?
I think it takes place roughly 200 years before the GoT show.

Of the actors, I think I have only seen that Dr. Who person before. But he looks right for the role imo.
 

‘House of the Dragon’ Is Coming. Here’s What You Need to Know.​

HBO’s new “Game of Thrones” prequel takes us back to the land of Westeros, hundreds of years earlier. We’ve got your cheat sheet.

In the final episodes of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” the mad queen Daenerys Targaryen incinerated most of the capital city of King’s Landing. But what was it like when it was all still standing, and the Targaryen dynasty ruled with an iron fist — er, throne?
That’s the question explored by “House of the Dragon,” the new series set in author George R.R. Martin’s revisionist epic-fantasy world. Created by Martin along with Ryan Condal, who serves as showrunner with the veteran “Thrones” director Miguel Sapochnik, “Dragon” takes place far back into the ancestral line of the “Thrones” protagonists Daenerys and Jon Snow, whose own Targaryen identity was revealed late in the original show’s run.
As their forebears battle for control of Westeros’s Iron Throne, what do you need to know about the new series, and its connection to what has gone before — or, more accurately, after? Our cheat sheet has you covered. Read on and prepare to dance with dragons.

A pregame of thrones​

Though it is the successor series to “Game of Thrones,” “House of the Dragon” is actually a prequel. Set 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, it chronicles the history of her royal family during a tumultuous time, a calamitous internecine war known as “The Dance of the Dragons.” During this conflict, a slew of Targaryens and their dragon steeds — these fire-breathing beasts were more plentiful at this point in Westerosi history — did battle for the Iron Throne.

That said, “Dragon” shares several key elements with its predecessor series. These include Martin, who wrote the books that form the basis of both shows — the “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels for the original series and the prequel book “Fire & Blood” for the new one.

Condal is new to the franchise, as is the entire cast. But Sapochnik, the other showrunner, directed several of the most memorable “Thrones” episodes, including “Hardhome,” “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Bells.” The composer Ramin Djawadi returns, as do unmistakable elements of his “Thrones” theme music.
In addition, the setting of King’s Landing and its royal seat, the Red Keep, are virtually identical to the versions we’ve seen previously, as are the various noble houses’ symbols or “sigils” and even their hairstyles. The Iron Throne itself may have been enhanced by hundreds more melted-down blades, but this is very much the same Westeros we’ve already occupied for eight seasons.


https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/...0036&surface=home-featured&variant=0_identity

Image
[IMG alt="“House of the Dragon” begins with the naming of Viserys as heir to the Targaryen throne."]https://static01.nyt.com/images/202...pg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale[/IMG]
“House of the Dragon” begins with the naming of Viserys as heir to the Targaryen throne.Credit...Ollie Upton/HBO
Spoiler :

A family affair​

“Game of Thrones” famously depicted strife between several noble houses, most notably the Starks and the Lannisters, who rose to power after the death of the last Targaryen monarch, the Mad King Aerys II. But most of these houses — Stark, Lannister, Greyjoy, Tyrell, Martell — recede into the background in “House of the Dragon.” The new show is focused almost exclusively on the Targaryen family, the dynasty that conquered Westeros over a century before the events that kick off “Dragon.”

When the series begins, a great council of the aristocracy is convened to select Old King Jaehaerys Targaryen’s grandson Viserys (Paddy Considine) over his older female cousin, Rhaenys (Eve Best), as heir to the throne, on explicitly patriarchal grounds. The council, a comparatively democratic body during these feudal times, is intended to put such questions of succession to rest.
In Westeros, as in our world, momentous decisions often reverberate in unexpected directions and lead to unanticipated conflict. The main players in “House of the Dragon” include the well-meaning but ineffectual King Viserys and his younger brother, the roguish Prince Daemon (Matt Smith), who would inherit the throne if his brother dies. Viserys’s closest adviser is Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand of the King — a position of great influence, as it was in “Thrones.” Hightower is a rival of the kingdoms’ richest man, the veteran seafarer Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), who is married to Rhaenys and who, like the Targaryens, is a descendant of the ancient empire of Valyria.
In an echo of the earlier succession dispute, another natural claimant to the throne is Viserys’s daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock as a youth, Emma D’Arcy as an adult), his only surviving child. Also central to things is Rhaenyra’s childhood friend Alicent Hightower (played by Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke), the daughter of the ambitious and calculating Otto.

Trouble, obviously, ensues.

Image
[IMG alt="The story’s main players include Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best)."]https://static01.nyt.com/images/202...pg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale[/IMG]
The story’s main players include Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best).Credit...HBO


Unreliable narrators​

“Game of Thrones” was based on Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels: “A Game of Thrones,” “A Clash of Kings,” “A Storm of Swords,” “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance With Dragons.” (Still to come: “The Winds of Winter,” which Martin has been working on for years, and “A Dream of Spring.”) But “Fire & Blood,” the “Dragon” source material, is written as a faux-historical tome rather than as a proper novel. Martin wrote the book in the voice of one Archmaester Gyldayn, a historian from within the world of Westeros itself. As such, many of its main characters’ motives, actions and dialogue remain matters of conjecture.

Complicating matters further, Gyldayn’s primary and secondary sources have their own conflicting writing styles, political loyalties and points of view. (Among the fandom, the most popular of these is “The Testimony of Mushroom,” a salacious account of events written by the Targaryen court jester, who does not seem to appear in “Dragon” at all, at least not yet.) These shifting viewpoints leave several crucial matters, from trysts to betrayals, in a did-they-or-didn’t-they limbo.

Given that several of these question marks drive the battles for supremacy that will likely drive “Dragon” in turn, the show will have to come down on one side or the other. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, these are likely to be the juiciest and most thrilling sections of the story, which will unfold over multiple seasons, if the gods be good.
Light your candles to the Seven, and we’ll learn together who comes out on top.
 
For those interested, GRRM's book The World of Ice and Fire has a very nice section on the events to be covered by the series (page 66 following for about 20 pages). It looks to be pretty exciting. While there are no books like GOT, there is a pretty strong outline of events and people.
 
I watched GOT seasons 1 & almost all of 2. Is this show for me? Or do I need to know mo?
If its happens 200 years before the main serie, you don't need to know nothing about the main serie to understand.
 
You... stopped watching GOT in the middle of Season 2? 😲
Heretic!

I was going to return to it, but then a giant wave of internet rage informed me that they messed up the last 2 seasons big time. Seems like a waste to watch a show only to be let down like that right at the end. I assumed I would read the books instead, but I doubt that will happen either due to time constraints
 
I was going to return to it, but then a giant wave of internet rage informed me that they messed up the last 2 seasons big time. Seems like a waste to watch a show only to be let down like that right at the end. I assumed I would read the books instead, but I doubt that will happen either due to time constraints
Like most rages on Internet, this one was also exaggerated.
Those last 2 seasons were still good, even if not on par with first 5.
 
The Targaryens Are Back and Blazing

It’s hard to imagine the uninitiated viewer getting past the introduction to the “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” without thinking, “Wake up and smell the Kool-Aid.” The ponderous recitation of textual obscurities; the litany of unintelligible names; the holy tone—is this a TV show or a religious exercise? Some may suspect, with good reason, that the modus operandi of the entertainment industry now is to create experiences that not only amuse but indoctrinate. (See: The Marvel Cinematic Universe.)

Sign me up: As cult-like as it may all seem, the unnervingly violent, unwaveringly self-important “Dragon” is a success dramatically, as captivating as any season of “Game of Thrones,” which was one of the most successful, popular and critically well-regarded series ever to appear on television. Combined with the existing following of fantasy author George R.R. Martin, “Dragon” arrives on HBO Sunday enjoying the most formidable of fan bases, and that base will be pleased—more pleased, surely, than it was with the “GOT” conclusion of 2019.
The Iron Throne—its platform bristling with the swords of the conquered, their angles anticipating an attack from any direction— is what everyone seems to want, and it will come as a shock to few (especially any readers of Mr.
Martin’s abundant fiction) that royal succession is the principal conflict of the story. Isn’t it always in the world of medievalist fantasy lit? As we are told, “House of the Dragon” begins in “the ninth year of Viserys I Targaryen’s reign—172 years before the death of the mad king Aerys and the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.” Daenerys, played by Emilia Clarke in “GOT,” was among the last of the Targaryens.

The new show is about her not-so distant ancestors, the “dragonlord” family that has already ruled the land of Westeros for a century, thanks in no small part to the fire-breathing beasts that appear out of the sky with only a few chirps of warning. They can incinerate enemies. And do.

Viserys is played by Paddy Considine (“In America,” “The Death of Stalin”), whose many fans might think him an unlikely choice to play a gray-bearded gothic despot. But his performance is marked by an originality shared by many in the cast, who resist following in any actorly footsteps, even as they enact a story that stomps along narrative territory so well-trod it can be mapped by memory: The aging king, desperate for a male heir to continue his century-old line, sacrifices his wife for the sake of the baby, loses the boy and has to name his daughter to inherit the throne— thus dictating a violent, intrigue-ridden course for the rest of her life (or, at least, season 1). It seems familiar.

The characters, on the other hand, are many, distinct and given depth by the people portraying them. Mr. Considine doesn’t do Lear, he doesn’t do Sauron, he doesn’t lapse into any previous portrayals of Henry VIII even if Viserys does have “Tudor” written all over him. He also has a sublime Rhys Ifans, on a very low boil, playing his closest adviser, Otto Hightower, this story’s version of Thomas Cromwell. Both men have daughters, childhood friends who’ll grow icy: Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey, young and sweet; Olivia Cooke, older and devious) will eventually marry the widowed king; Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock until episode 6 when Emma D’Arcy takes over) loves her father. She also knows he murdered her mother, more or less, which colors her perceptions of him, as it does ours.

Similarly, the decision to show the prolonged butchering of a woman in labor colors our perception of the series makers: Their reliance on sadism, cruelty and occasional disemboweling suggests either an adolescent impulse to push the violence as far as it will go or an understanding that what bonds the “Game of Thrones” com- munity is a shared stomach for edgy mayhem. When the king’s soulless, scheming, charismatic brother, Daemon (Matt Smith of “The Crown”), brings his City Watch to enforce the “ law” in the capital of King’s Landing, they leave heads, limbs and testicles scattered in the squalid streets.

And this is just episode 1. None of it is much of a stretch from the bloody aesthetic of “Game of Thrones,” but still: Are they trying to outdo their predecessor? Or simply honor a tradition? Either way, it doesn’t make the story any better, though the indulgence can be funny: A very lengthy seduction scene involving one participant in a full suit of armor takes some of the luster off the lust.





HBO ( 4)


Only the first six episodes were made available for review, but those chapters establish a very convincing world and its people.
Even the dragons do a good job of portraying real dragons, though they’re used rather sparingly during the early efforts to conquer the empire of Viserys from without and undermine it from within. The writing, which apparently drew heavily on Mr. Martin’s voluminous “Fire & Ice,” provides the actors with the kind of faux-noble dialogue that a cast has to overcome to make real, but they do. (Several have to speak in both English and Valyrian.) They also have to bridge large gaps of time between each episode—six months here, two years there and 10 years between episodes 5 and 6, which makes more plausible a change in cast. Devoted viewers will find themselves missing the elfin, pugnacious Ms. Alcock, and the earnest Ms. Carey as they morph into the actresses D’Arcy and Cooke.

But they might not find themselves missing “Game of Thrones” quite so much.

House of the Dragon
Begins Sunday, HBO

Clockwise from top: Paddy Considine and Milly Alcock,; Mr. Considine; Emily Carey and Ms. Alcock; Steve Toussaint

WSJ Review
 
I was going to return to it, but then a giant wave of internet rage informed me that they messed up the last 2 seasons big time. Seems like a waste to watch a show only to be let down like that right at the end. I assumed I would read the books instead, but I doubt that will happen either due to time constraints
The final 2 seasons are a bit of a mess, but still entertaining.
Don't let the internet rage stop you.


I'm now cautiously hyped for the new show.
 
Top Bottom