The epic A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin and the HBO show based on them are both pure fantasy fiction. Even though Martin sometimes uses real events from the Middle Ages, there is no Targaryen dynasty, dragons, or a land where it is always winter.
Still, even with all the ice zombies and red witches, a big part of Game of Thrones’ success was how seriously it took itself as a fake historical document. It wasn’t about our history, but it could have been about the history of someone else. Somewhere in the multiverse, there’s a modern version of King’s Landing where kids go to school and learn about Aegon the Conqueror and how he conquered and settled a continent that would later become a country full of capitalist comforts.
House Coming of the Dragon
Come House of the Dragon, the first prequel to Game of Thrones. It is based on Martin’s prequel book Fire & Blood, which is written from the point of view of Westerosi historian maesters. In the first episode, this HBO show puts the fake historical fiction parts of George R.R. Martin’s books in the spotlight even more. “The Heirs of the Dragon” could be a lost pilot for a royal period drama like “The Crown” or “The Tudors,” even though it has a bigger budget that lets them show more CGI dragons.
It’s hard to say how people who haven’t read the A Song of Ice and Fire books will react to the first episode of House of the Dragon. The fans of ASOIAF, on the other hand, have to be as happy as pigs in dragonshit. George R.R. Martin chose his friend and huge ASOIAF fan Ryan Condal to be the showrunner for this first project after “Game of Thrones.” Right now, it looks like that was a smart, necessary choice, not the result of arrogance or favoritism on the part of the author. Martin has made an alternate history that is so detailed and full that only true fans like Condal and co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik could understand it.
Even though “Winter is Coming,” the first episode of Game of Thrones, will always be special to most people because it was their first time in Westeros, “The Heirs of the Dragon” is better in many ways because it is much more focused. Except for a flashback in the ruins of Harrenhal before the end credits, the story is all about King’s Landing and Viserys I’s royal court there.
That first scene in Harrnehal is very important because it sets the historical stage (see, we’re talking about history again) for what will happen next. King Jaehaerys I has been on the Iron Throne for 60 years. Even though “The Old King” or “The Conciliator,” as he is sometimes called, is probably the best ruler Westeros has ever had, he will soon have to deal with a tough question about who will take over.
Both of the king’s sons have died, and there are at least 14 people who think they should be the next king. Come to the Great Council of Harrenhal, where all the great lords of Westeros meet in the broken-down castle to talk about the issue and then vote on it. In the end, the lords of Westeros choose Viserys, the fourth son of Jaehaerys, over Rhaenys, the third daughter of Jaehaerys.
So much of the show Game of Thrones is about the past. Even though the White Walkers were a threat to their very existence, the Lords of Westeros only cared about their own history. Who fought with whom? Which house was known for the bravest acts? What kind of rule was set by a little-known royal act and when? In a world without a widely known book of laws, what really matters is what has happened in the past. And the bad example of primogeniture is set in this first scene.
The memories of that Harrenhal Great Council cast a dark shadow over the rest of the episode. This gives “The Heirs of the Dragon” a useful sense of clarity that grounds the episode’s main themes and plot, even though it has a lot of characters with confusing names written by George R.R. Martin.
Yes, the average Game of Thrones viewer might not know much about Viserys I (Paddy Considine), Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), Daemon (Matt Smith), Alicent (Emily Carey), or Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) just yet. But they do know how they feel about the most important issue, which is who will be the next king.
Meeting With Viserys I
In this episode, we meet Viserys I. At first, he seems like a good all-around guy. He’s not as smart about politics as his grandfather Jaehaerys I, but he’s also not as crazy as Daenerys’s father Aerys II, also known as “The Mad King.” He has put together an impressive small council to run the realm. Hand of the King Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) is in charge, and Lord Corlys Velaryon, also known as “The Sea Snake,” is the Master of Ships. He is the most impressive man of his generation. One gets the impression that Viserys would rather tell jokes at the Small Council table than listen to Lord Corlys’s well-researched reports about military alliances in the east.
However! Not bad at all. The peace of the Jaehaerys years is still being enjoyed by the realm, and Viserys hasn’t done anything yet to change that. Not only that, but Viserys seems to treat his lovely wife, Lady Aemma Targaryen nee Arryn, with respect and deference (Sian Brooke). He listens to her even when she tells him in a serious way that the baby she is carrying will be her last. Her work has been hard, and she can’t lose any more babies. The problem, of course, is that King Viserys has already pushed Lady Aemma to her limit, and no one knows it.
One of the best things about Martin’s writing and how he sees people is that most, if not all, of his characters, are fools of fate. Even for the kindest people in Westeros, outside forces like family, honor, and duty often take control of their lives… and often end them.
If Viserys and Aemma were just simple shopkeepers in Flea Bottom, Viserys might have noticed that his wife’s body was at its limit and not pushed her into another pregnancy. But he is not a store owner; he is a king. And a king needs an heir, especially since the Great Council of Harrenhal decided just nine years ago that the king’s sons should be given priority.
Viserys’s impatience is understandable, and if we want to be very kind, we could even say that it was selfless. We all know that in “Game of Thrones,” you either win or you die. Viserys need to win for the sake of his family and the kingdom. Still, all of these choices lead to death in the end.
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The fact that Queen Aemma died while giving birth is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen on TV. The show cuts between shots of Aemma lying on her bed, sweaty, pale, and covered in blood, and shots of the restless knights at the jousting tournament smashing each other’s faces in with their maces. But the truth is that there is no way to compare the two. Aemma’s breech birth and the early C-section that followed are much more invasive, personal, and scary. For our readers in the United States, this might be a good time to give to your state’s abortion fund.
Of course, it’s all for nothing, as these things usually are. Viserys gets his son back, but the baby dies soon after. Rhaenyra wonders in angry Old Valyrian at the funeral of her mother and brother if the time when her father’s son was alive was the happiest time in his life. Even though Viserys is the main focus of much of this first episode, it is clear that Rhaenyra will soon be in charge of the House of the Dragon. Before Emma D’Arcy takes over as the older (but maybe not wiser) princess, it looks like young actress Milly Alcock is more than up to the task.
It’s easy to see Arya Stark in any young female Game of Thrones character who doesn’t trust the patriarchy. Rhaenyra is fiery and strong-willed, which is a lot like Arya, but she also seems to be very much her own person. She loves to ride her dragon, Syrax, and her parents say she always smells like a dragon when she does. However, she also seems to be at ease in court. She studies with her best friend, Alicent, the daughter of the Hand, under the big weirwood tree in King’s Landing. During the jousting tournament, they like to talk about who is secretly pregnant.
In the story of Fire & Blood, Martin’s maesters say that Rhaenyra was called “The Realm’s Delight” because she was always happy and stayed close to her father after he made her his heir. Rhaenyra won’t be as fun for long now that her mother is dead and she has to take care of the Iron Throne.
But for now, it’s nice to see that someone is having fun in this sad world. Alcock has great chemistry with Carey, which makes it even more upsetting that Ser Otto wants Alicent to marry Rhaenyra’s father. “You could wear one of your mother’s dresses” is like Dragonfire to the gut in terms of how it makes you feel.
Overall, the acting in this first episode is great, which is exactly what it should be. So far, the show has been a quiet historical fiction, so most of the action happens inside each character as they deal with all the different contradictions that come with being royalty. Keeping this in mind, Daemon Targaryen, the king’s brother, is definitely the most interesting character House of the Dragon has made so far.
The Casting of Matt Smith
I’ll admit that I didn’t understand why Matt Smith was chosen to play the volatile and often cruel Daemon. Matt Smith is a great actor, but he also looks like a kind man, which helped him a lot as the Eleventh Doctor. Because of that one perfect scene in Morbius, we know that Smith has the body to play King’s Landing’s most corrupt cop, but can he really play someone with so much swagger? Yes, he can, it turns out.
Daemon’s scenes as a thorn (or a sword prick from the Iron Throne) on his brother’s side are good, but Smith really shines in the jousting scene in the middle of the episode, which is also the episode’s climax. Daemon enjoys being the mean guy as he kills Gwayne Hightower’s horse to make the Hand of the King look bad. Then, it’s very satisfying to see him get punished right away by Ser Criston Cole of the Dornish Marchlands, a less famous knight (Fabien Frankel). Ser Criston will definitely play a big part in the Wars to Come, and this is a great way to introduce him.
The jousting scenes are the best parts of this episode and the best proof that House of the Dragon can be as good as Game of Thrones or even better. I like how dedicated the show is to show the “real” history of things that aren’t real, but pure historical fiction doesn’t often lend itself to exciting visual storytelling. Before Game of Thrones became a hit and HBO spent more money on it, most of its episodes followed a predictable visual format in which well-dressed characters sat in different castle rooms and talked about important things.
Those talks were definitely interesting, but they didn’t take advantage of some of what TV can do for telling stories visually. With the exciting kinetic jousting scenes in the first episode, it seems like both the budget and the storytellers of House of the Dragon are already ahead of their parent show.
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In the last few minutes of “The Heir of the Dragon,” the show promises to push the limits of its “just the facts, ma’am” historical format. The news that Viserys tells Rhaenyra is so shocking that it’s hard to believe. With what seems to be George R.R. Martin’s approval, House of the Dragon has now shown that Aegon I didn’t just come to Westeros to rule it, but also to save the world. The Long Night is coming, and when it does, a Targaryen must be on the throne. This is something that is told to every new Targaryen king.
We know that by the time Daenerys is born, that information has been lost. Could the game of royal telephone come to an end in Rhaenyra’s time? I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the hard-working historians who worked on House of the Dragon find.
