House of the Dragon (GoT Prequel)

[Ben_in_Canada]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think he's struggling with his own desire to sit on the throne and supporting his sister's niece's cause with the flashbacks to young Rhaenyra. He's not being overly productive at the time of war for sure.

C'mon they're not that messed up....

[blankall]

Originally Posted by edslunch

She was the only half-likeable character on the show

She definitely seemed like the only one who was both not selfish and not dumb. There's a bunch of self-serving character who are smart, a bunch of honorable characters who are dumb, and some characters who are both self-serving and dumb.

Although I guess you could argue that Rhaenys should have seen the ambush coming. There was two separate greens with dragons ambushing her.

[Ashasx]

I am really annoyed with what's going on in Daemon's storyline. I was really excited at the beginning of the season when he arrived at Harrenhal, but it seems like every episode since has just been him seeing/hearing things that we aren't sure are even happening. I can't imagine the payoff is going to be worth it.

Just seems like bad writing that we started to see in GoT around season 5.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

I am really annoyed with what's going on in Daemon's storyline. I was really excited at the beginning of the season when he arrived at Harrenhal, but it seems like every episode since has just been him seeing/hearing things that we aren't sure are even happening. I can't imagine the payoff is going to be worth it.

Just seems like bad writing that we started to see in GoT around season 5.

There is source material, but Martin has written nothing but crap for 10+ years, so even if it follows the material it's likely confusing. But agree, Daemon's story is no good. Definitely enjoying it otherwise though. Or in spite of some flaws

[Looch City]

I'm all in on team Green cause they get #### done and are actually interesting characters.

And then there's Rhaenyra "oh my council hates me, let me constantly walk around in circles instead of doing ANYTHING" and Daemon "I've been on shrooms this entire season".

I haven't read the book mind you, but I highly doubt GRRM would write it this atrociously??

[getbak]

The book this is based on is written like a history book written many years after the events (sourced from three different accounts -- one by a Maester, one by a Septon, and one by the court jester). So, even within the book, there isn't always agreement on what specifically happened during the events and it very quickly moves through each aspect of the story.

The book is only about 800 pages and the story being covered in this series only starts about halfway through. Each season so far has only covered a couple of chapters in the book, so they're filling in a lot of details along the way.

Because the book is written with an unreliable narrator (or three), the showrunners have a lot of freedom to do whatever they want so long as they hit the high notes.

[Iggy_12]

So Alyn and Addam of Hull will be dragon riders for team Rhaneyra

I assume that Ulf fella with half Targaryn roots will be one.

So who are the unclaimed Dragons? Is Sunfyre (Aegons) dead?

Seasmoke to Addam
Vermithor silver wing and sheepstealer?

I havent read any books so purely guessing based on character build

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by getbak

The book this is based on is written like a history book written many years after the events (sourced from three different accounts -- one by a Maester, one by a Septon, and one by the court jester). So, even within the book, there isn't always agreement on what specifically happened during the events and it very quickly moves through each aspect of the story.



The book is only about 800 pages and the story being covered in this series only starts about halfway through. Each season so far has only covered a couple of chapters in the book, so they're filling in a lot of details along the way.



Because the book is written with an unreliable narrator (or three), the showrunners have a lot of freedom to do whatever they want so long as they hit the high notes.

Thanks for that! So the show writers are trying to fill in the blanks but keep writing the same thing over and over haha.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Looch City

I'm all in on team Green cause they get #### done and are actually interesting characters.

And then there's Rhaenyra "oh my council hates me, let me constantly walk around in circles instead of doing ANYTHING" and Daemon "I've been on shrooms this entire season".

I haven't read the book mind you, but I highly doubt GRRM would write it this atrociously??

Daemon's arc is missing a key character which is odd... so instead they're leaning into the hallucinations.

I personally don't mind it. We haven't seen the human side of Daemon to this point. It's made him hard to sympathize with let alone understand what he's all about.

At many points in GOT certain characters plodded along only to make their re-joining the fold more epic. I.e. Stannis for the first three seasons and even Dany in the east. Let them cook.

For those of us who know where it's going the Daemon bits are worth the wait.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Iggy_12

So Alyn and Addam of Hull will be dragon riders for team Rhaneyra

I assume that Ulf fella with half Targaryn roots will be one.

So who are the unclaimed Dragons? Is Sunfyre (Aegons) dead?

Seasmoke to Addam
Vermithor silver wing and sheepstealer?

I havent read any books so purely guessing based on character build

Looks like you've been reading the B&F wiki

Why not just read the book. You can be through half of it by next episode.

[blankall]

What is GRR Martin's role in the series? Is he approving all the gap filling?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by blankall

What is GRR Martin's role in the series? Is he approving all the gap filling?

He's approving the massive cheques HBO is sending to him.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by getbak

He's approving the massive cheques HBO is sending to him.

I wonder if, after seeing how rabidly fans attacked the ending of the show, to release the remaining books posthumously. That way he doesn't have to deal with the blowback, and can do cash the HBO cheques as he goes.

[Iggy_12]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Looks like you've been reading the B&F wiki

Why not just read the book. You can be through half of it by next episode.

I find it so confusing to follow all of it hahaha i have to watch the episodes like 3 times just to semi understand. Love it though!

[bdubbs]

Originally Posted by blankall

What is GRR Martin's role in the series? Is he approving all the gap filling?

I've read on Reddit that he's spoken fairly highly of some of the character changes made; specifically he likes Helaena's changes.

I checked his blog:

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/...ese-and-grief/

The HotD team have done the same thing here with Helaena. In the book, she is a plump, pleasant, and happy young woman, cheerful and kindly, adored by the smallfolk. A dragonrider since the age of twelve, Helaena’s greatest joy in life is to take to the skies on the back of her dragon Dreamfyre. None of the strangeness she displays in the show was in evidence in the book, nor is her gift for prophecy. Those were born in the writers’ room… but once I met the show’s version of Helaena, I could hardly take issue. Phia Saban’s Helaena is a richer and more fascinating character than the one I created in FIRE & BLOOD, and in “Rhaenyra the Cruel” you can scarcely take your eyes off her.

Still, I wish they had Helaena flying around King's Landing on Dreamfyre more often...

[GreenLantern]

This season started out pretty good but all the Luigi's Mansion stuff going on with Daemon is getting tiresome.

The dragon fight episode was epic, but other than that it has been a forgettable season.

[bdubbs]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

This season started out pretty good but all the Luigi's Mansion stuff going on with Daemon is getting tiresome.

The dragon fight episode was epic, but other than that it has been a forgettable season.

The bolded stuff is probably necessary to keep him in the episodes at all, because in the book he literally just waits around there doing nothing at all. I think the solution would have been to show him less, though.

[sureLoss]

One thing about the show I like is how the veneer of the mystique and mythology of the Targaryens has cracked and the reality is being exposed to the commoners.

"I thought the Dragons were gods." "They were just meat"

You need to be of noble blood and descendant of a Valyrian house. Nope a dragon can choose a bastard son with nothing to his name over someone that has titles, land, and money.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by bdubbs

The bolded stuff is probably necessary to keep him in the episodes at all, because in the book he literally just waits around there doing nothing at all. I think the solution would have been to show him less, though.

I see it as their way of giving him an arc where he can be more than just a hotheaded, power grabbing dummy. It's been nice seeing some of the departed characters return, but yes it's starting to get eyerolling now. His budding partnership with the witch has promise though. Maybe we could peg them as the future Stannis and Melisandre

The Darklyn guy had a face that immediately screamed "I'm about to die within minutes of my first appearance". But kudos to the one dragon trainer that had the presence of mind to slit his own throat, while fully engulfed in flame.

[bdubbs]

Oh for sure. I'm not the type to get upset over slow-burn type arcs, so if they want to give Daemon a "Stannis/Melisandre" type arc, I'm all for it.

I agree about the Darklyn guy; as soon as I saw him I said out loud 'this man is going to die'. I was wondering about the dagger that the dragon trainers seemed to carry and what it would do to a dragon but turns out maybe they're prepared for themselves for exactly the scenario that played out.