HBO's House of the Dragon

HBO’s episodes from Martin’s very fertile (“earthy”) mind are stories well told with first class actors. While the dragons are great fantasy, the dialog is what I find so incredibly on point from the very first season of Game of Thrones. House of Dragon continues the political history lessons. Also, it even clearly demonstrates the inherent risk in business and family behaviors. Latest episode certainly underscores that critical high level meetings are literally “time under fire” for those expressing opinions.
 
Man, that was a hard episode for me to watch. Not that it wasn't a great episode, just that seeing someone in that kind of pain is really hard for me to watch. My Dad is 96 and I saw a lot of him in that episode. I seriously don't think I could make it through that episode again.
 
For those wondering how many seasons to expect, George RR Martin has offered an opinion courtesy of his blog:
If HOTD had 13 episodes per season, maybe we could have shown all the things we had to ‘time jump’ over… though that would have risked having some viewers complain that the show was too ‘slow,’ that ‘nothing happened.’ As it is, I am thrilled that we still have 10 hours every season to tell our tale. […] I hope that will continue to be true. It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish.

Granted, the media is being the media and not only treating this as though it’s an official reveal when it’s clearly not, but also largely assuming GRRM’s suggested timeframe when it could easily be interpreted in two different ways. Just about everyone is confidently reporting that the entire series will amount to four seasons (one possible read) – while he could just as well be referring only to the yet-to-come Dance of the Dragons, in which case we may get five seasons total.

The civil war lasts two years, so three more seasons would work out to an average of three to four weeks between episodes, while four more seasons would work out to an average gap of two to three weeks. Either way sounds great to me; as much as I understand the time jumps, I think I would have preferred the 13-episode version of Season 1.

GRRM also confirms Paddy Considine’s anecdote:
The character he created (with Ryan and Sara and Ti and the rest of our writers) for the show is so much more powerful and tragic and fully-fleshed than my own version in Fire & Blood that I am half tempted to go back and rip up those chapters and rewrite the whole history of his reign. Paddy deserves an Emmy for this episode alone.”

Random Musings | Not a Blog
 
Last edited:
Is this Aegon the one who becomes the mad king? With so many people having the same names and actor changing, its hard for me to keep track of who is who.
 
Is this Aegon the one who becomes the mad king? With so many people having the same names and actor changing, its hard for me to keep track of who is who.
That's Aerys II, born about a century past the civil war.

I've found this site particularly helpful for these sorts of questions:

Edit: Forgot to mention - HBO's official site also includes a handy family tree that gets updated each episode:
 
Last edited:
Blackfyre looked soooo good.
Well you're in luck! An interview with the swordsmith Peter Johnsson just premiered courtesy of the showrunner's prop-collecting podcast "The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of" (interview starts at 43:55)...


Also, if you check out the podcast's FB page, they've posted several high-res and making-of shots:

And if you still crave more, they interviewed the maker of the stunt swords, armorer Tim Lewis, last season (HOTD discussion starts at 1:04:35)...
 
Last edited:
Well you're in luck! An interview with the swordsmith Peter Johnsson just premiered courtesy of the showrunner's prop-collecting podcast "The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of" (interview starts at 43:55)...


Also, if you check out the podcast's FB page, they've posted several high-res and making-of shots:

And if you still crave more, they interviewed the maker of the stunt swords, armorer Tim Lewis, last season (HOTD discussion starts at 1:04:35)...
I have Longclaw and Ice from Game of Thrones already and I definitely see getting a Blackfyre as well.
 
I think what I'm enjoying the most is that the source material is basically a history book, written by unreliable narrators. You can know EVERYTHING that happens in the story as it was told, but then be blindsided by the ACTUAL events as they happened.

I won't spoil anything, but just like how in the book, a certain event occurs out of malice & hatred, but the show then shows that it was actually, pretty much, an accident. As many occurrences in real life, the event MAY have then been reframed to build the reputation & legend of the character, but either way, I enjoy knowing the story but still being surprised in a good way. Not just having my expectations 'subverted' just to show how 'clever' a writer thinks they are.

Overall, I think this was the strongest episode to episode season of television I've seen in a couple of years, & even though I sometimes thought GoT was a bit of a slog to get through, even when it was 'good', I've already found myself going back & rewatching episodes of HotD.

Long wait for season 2, though.
 
I think what I'm enjoying the most is that the source material is basically a history book, written by unreliable narrators. You can know EVERYTHING that happens in the story as it was told, but then be blindsided by the ACTUAL events as they happened.

I won't spoil anything, but just like how in the book, a certain event occurs out of malice & hatred, but the show then shows that it was actually, pretty much, an accident. As many occurrences in real life, the event MAY have then been reframed to build the reputation & legend of the character, but either way, I enjoy knowing the story but still being surprised in a good way. Not just having my expectations 'subverted' just to show how 'clever' a writer thinks they are.

Overall, I think this was the strongest episode to episode season of television I've seen in a couple of years, & even though I sometimes thought GoT was a bit of a slog to get through, even when it was 'good', I've already found myself going back & rewatching episodes of HotD.

Long wait for season 2, though.
Usagi Pilgrim,
Great reflection on the variance between history and the actual occurrence of events. This observation, as you characterized, is in line with other astute observers on this thread.

No doubt history leaves out many important details. Certainly Martin could have added them in HotD. Intentionally did not is praise worthy, since that clearly the scope is so large. Very realistic also ( since so much detail and facts are missing.)

Permits the good writers to insert many clever and entertaining specifics. In my opinion, they have so far done a high quality job in adding to the fictional world created by the mind of Martin. Actually a little too scary when you compare the control of dragons by a few to the technology of today. Seems to set up the ending in GoT.
 
Ff66yJxacAAUsB7.jpeg.jpg


This shot is freaking terrifying.
 
I really loved the series - it's nice to see GoT being good again. Plus it had some sweet sweet jewellery props for me to replicate. I made this one after ep 2, but I was a bit annoyed that Rheanyra never wears it again. Daemon giving it to her kinda made it seem more important that It was.
PXL_20221014_154213209.jpg
 
Speaking of dragons, how do they steer these things? There is no bridle, no reins, the riders don't wear spurs, they don't even say "turn left, turn right, go up, go down" or anything. How do these dragons know what to do?
 

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top