House of the Dragon: How Prequel Connects to Game of Thrones

Table Of Content

• ‘House of the Dragon’: Everything We Know About the ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel
• Balerion the Black Dread
• How and when to watch House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel
• Bantam Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (A Targaryen History) (A Song of Ice and Fire)
• Paddy Considine leads the cast as King Viserys Targaryen.
• Production

Rhaenyra gets crowned Queen in Dragonstone, while Alicent has her son Aegon crowned in King’s Landing. We’re now just weeks away from season 2 of House of the Dragon, so let’s quickly recap the events of the first season and what we can expect from the upcoming episodes. The young male dragon Vermax is the steed of Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett). This silver and blue she-dragon has been the steed of both Princess Rhaena Targaryen (daughter of Aenys I) and Queen Helaena Targaryen at different times. “The Red Queen” is the steed of The Queen Who Never Was, Princess Rhaenys (played in House of the Dragon by Eve Best). Meleys is described in The World of Ice & Fire as “old and cunning, lazy, but fearsome when roused.” Rhaenys and Meleys made quite a splash in the penultimate episode of House of the Dragon's first season.

‘House of the Dragon’: Everything We Know About the ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel

House Of The Dragon: The Life Of Aemond Targaryen, Explained - GameRant

House Of The Dragon: The Life Of Aemond Targaryen, Explained.

Posted: Sun, 28 Apr 2024 18:00:00 GMT [source]

So instead of giving her the Iron Throne, Jaeherys holds a meeting with a bunch of the lords called the Great Council of 101 AC. They decide that Baelon’s son Viserys (Paddy Considine) should inherit the Iron Throne instead. The first season received highly positive reviews, with praise towards its character development, visual effects, writing, score by Ramin Djawadi, and performances.

Balerion the Black Dread

HBO’s Game of Thrones saw the return of dragons to Westeros after an almost two-century absence. House of the Dragon draws from Martin’s companion novel to the main series, Fire & Blood, which outlines the history of the Targaryen family. The show kicks off when a Targaryen king, Viserys, names an unexpected heir, a choice that eventually leads to civil war within the powerful family. Episodes one to five centre on young Princess Rhaenyra (played by Milly Alcock), the only child of King Viserys I (Paddy Considine). Rhaenyra is a strong, ambitious and courageous teenage girl, and would be an ideal heir, were it not for the fact that the Lords have already made it clear, in very recent history, that tradition demands a king, and not a queen, on the Iron Throne.

How and when to watch House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel

House of the Dragon brings viewers back to the reign of House Targaryen, 200 years before the events of the original series, when King Viserys Targaryen ruled over the Seven Kingdoms with the help of 17 dragons. During his reign, Viserys had named Rhaenyra, his daughter by his first wife, as his heir, but upon Viserys’ death, his eldest son, Aegon, by his second wife instead ascended the throne, causing a great rift in the kingdom. By this time, Rhaenyra was also married to her uncle, the “rogue prince” Daemon Targaryen who had long sought the throne himself.

Most Read

On the game board, you'll find key locations throughout your journey across Westeros and Essos. As usual, the main goal is taking control of as many strongholds as you can. Plastic dragon eggs and dragons replace houses and hotels, and the board game comes with 102 themed cardboard coins. Once you accumulate enough strength--dragons certainly help--rival houses will hopefully bend the knee. Or perhaps Westeros will be invaded by the hungry beings (kids) from beyond the wall (their room) and no house will win (because you need to stop playing). All in all, the wait to find out is nearly over, relatively speaking.

Bantam Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (A Targaryen History) (A Song of Ice and Fire)

Morning has pink scales and black horns and is the steed of Lady Rhaena Targaryen (played in House of the Dragon by Phoebe Campbell). Once ridden by Queen Alysanne Targaryen, this she-dragon will later become the steed of Ulf the White, a “dragonseed” character yet to be introduced in House of the Dragon. “The Bronze Fury,” the third largest dragon, is described in The World of Ice & Fire as “old and hoary.” This male dragon was once the steed of Jaehaerys I Targaryen, aka the Old King.

Paddy Considine leads the cast as King Viserys Targaryen.

Thrones fans may recall when young Shireen Baratheon and Ser Davos briefly discuss the battle as she reads a history book about it. If you want to see how that part of Targaryen history unfolds, you’ll have to keep an eye on House of the Dragon. Yes, the series is a prequel with Ryan J. Condal (Rampage and Hercules) and Miguel Sapohnik (whom you may remember from Game of Thrones favorite episodes “Battle of the Bastards,”“Hardhome,” and more) at the helm.

10 House of the Dragon Retcons That Impact Game Of Thrones - CBR

10 House of the Dragon Retcons That Impact Game Of Thrones.

Posted: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

However, the showrunners may take creative liberties and deviate from the source material as we’ve seen done in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon’s first season. Ahead of the looming battle, Max is promoting season 2 of House of the Dragon with two trailers — one for each Targaryen side. The dueling teasers, as they’re so-called, showcase the rivalry between Team Green in support of Alicent and Team Black representing Queen Rhaenyra.

Production

Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) will step up as Castellan of Harrenhal, Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) will surface as Otto Hightower’s son, and Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) will follow up on his work in the Stepstones campaign. Before George R.R. Martin’s Westeros endured the Game of Thrones, Aegon the Conquerer set up his House of Targaryen to rule the Seven Kingdoms. Now, HBO is gearing up to show us the mayhem that happened when this house splintered into two sides that each claimed the Iron Throne.

Featuring an ensemble cast, the show portrays the events leading up to the beginning of the decline of House Targaryen, a devastating war of succession known as the "Dance of the Dragons". Having skipped forward a few years here and there, it jumps forward another decade for episode six, during which time everyone has a lot of children. (There is as much childbirth in this as an episode of One Born Every Minute, though oddly enough, it lacks that warm fuzzy feeling.) A handful of the characters are recast as adults, and the action is reset, though not as definitively as it first seems. This leap might have been jarring, but this is so elegant and proper, so obviously well-made, that there was no real chance of a misstep like that. House of the Dragon is gorgeous, opulent television, cinematic and big, pushing at the edges of what TV can do. House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019, with casting beginning in July 2020 and principal photography starting in April 2021 in the United Kingdom.

Now, is this the same as a writer or a showrunner or George R.R. Martin confirming that “beast beneath the boards” was foreshadowing Rhaenys on Meleys in Season 1 rather than Blood and Cheese in Season 2? Definitely not, but it does feel to me like it debunks the Blood and Cheese prophecy theory. All in all, it probably doesn’t make a huge difference one way or the other if House of the Dragon somehow confirms what Helaena was referring to. Still, it was fun to theorize during Season 1 and the long wait for Season 2. The Blood and Cheese incident that is presumably on the way early in Season 2 is the one thing that I suspect might flip some Team Black fans over to Team Green. This is when Daemon uses some pretty despicable means to exact revenge on the Hightower-Targaryens for the death of Lucerys.

The House of the Dragon timeline picks up approximately 172 years prior to the birth of Daenerys Stormborn and the death of her father the Mad King, Aerys – the last Targaryen to sit on the Iron Throne before Game of Thrones begins. After Rhaenyra cuts short her tour of Westeros, Daemon introduces the princess to the Street of Silk after dark. Viserys hosts a tournament to celebrate the birth of his second child. Raise your own personalized virtual dragon in a new augmented reality app available for download in the Apple and Google Play app stores on your mobile device. The cast and crew break down everything you need to know before you dive into Season 1.

"I have seen rough cuts of a few of them, and I’m loving them," Martin wrote. There's also narration, courtesy of Prince Daemon, who says, "Gods, kings, fire, and blood. Dreams didn't make us kings—dragons did." Dimly lit and ambiguous as it is, it doesn't reveal too many plot details, but the clip does include close-ups of the new characters, including Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), as well as some jousting and sword fighting. Emilia Clarke, who portrayed the Mother of Dragons herself for eight seasons on Game of Thrones, admitted that she doesn't know anything about the Targaryen-centered spin-off. "I genuinely don't know anything about it," the actress told Jimmy Fallon in October 2019.

It feels like the writers may be trying to slot Daemon into that position, since he’s an outspoken but wily and potentially dangerous figure. He’s depicted as an outlier in the Targaryen family (same as Tyrion), and we get to see Daemon in a brothel in the first episode (also like Tyrion). He’s played by well-known actor Matt Smith, who is certainly a commanding presence.

The following is a list of all the dragons that appeared during the Dance of the Dragons. Some have already debuted on House of the Dragon, Season 1, while others aren’t expected to appear until later seasons due to the significant passages of time chronicled in Fire & Blood. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed." There is a specificity that both works in its favour and occasionally weakens its impact. It is incredibly rich, and it has a narrative focus that is necessary, considering the huge cast of characters. Obviously, it is about the Targaryen dynasty, and though other familiar names are mentioned – a Tully here, a Stark there, an arrogant Lannister dropping by – this is the Targaryens’ story.