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HBO Releases First Costumed Photos from House of the Dragon


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5 minutes ago, Angel Eyes said:

You know, the Histories and Lore had Viserys (son of Rhaenyra) AWOL and captured by pirates. How are they going to write him back in?

Season breaks?

They'll cross that bridge if they even come to it.

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1 hour ago, Sigella said:

No purple eyes... :crying::tantrum:

THEY'RE NOT DOING PURPLE EYES?! *screech. 

1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said:

I think one thing they can do with him is to show that he is constantly reminded that he bears the Conqueror's name, and that he aspires to be a warrior-king like the Conqueror and just like Jaehaerys but he always fails

Jaehaerys never tried, though. He fought, but he didn't do it like Aegon. Aegon II is a weakling, lecherous, drunkard, gluttonous usurper. Very unlike Jaehaerys and Aegon I. 

40 minutes ago, Angel Eyes said:

You know, the Histories and Lore had Viserys (son of Rhaenyra) AWOL and captured by pirates. How are they going to write him back in?

He was retrieved by Lord Alyn from House Rogare of Lys. I think the price was the Viserys/Larra marriage (Really Larra? He's seven years younger for chrissake), not fighting Hosue Rogare or it's interests for 100 years, and I think 100000 golden dragons. Read FaB, it'll tell you. 

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14 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Daemon saw himself as Viserys’ heir before Aemma’s death in the books, too. If Aemma is still alive when the show starts, then this isn’t a departure from canon.

Exactly. And the earlier press releases/information we got on Princess Rhaenys indicated Rhaenyra would eventually become the king's heir during the course of the show.

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I’m guessing they’ll make Alicent something of a femme fatale in the show, with Otto encouraging her to seduce Viserys, similar to how Littlefinger coaches Sansa in TWOW. 

I expect something along those lines for the beginning of the series:

Queen Aemma is alive and pregnant, nobody expects her death, nobody plans to replace her yet. Rhaenyra is the spoiled only child of the king and queen, and Alicent her best friend and companion she grew up with. Their relationship has Rhaenyra as the blood royal being the one in charge, while Alicent is just the daughter of the Hand ... who isn't that prestigious himself. I'd also expect that Rhaenyra and Alicent both have the hots for Daemon, competing for his attention and Alicent, perhaps, giving her maidenhead to Daemon - which will be part of the reason why Otto loathes him.

After Aemma's death Otto and Alicent push the king to install Rhaenyra as Heir Apparent - the romance between Alicent and Viserys will only start after that. A very powerful way to do that would be if Alicent catches Viserys' eye because she passionately speaks for Rhaenyra being worthy of becoming the Heir Apparent. Alicent and Viserys will only marry/have an affair after Rhaenyra is Heir Apparent. And from that point their relationship dynamic will change because the queen outranks the Heir Apparent ... even before Alicent's has children of her own. Which will make things even worse.

But we also can draw certain dynamics from the press releases about Daemon and Viserys, since the latter really seems to have a rather dismissive view of Daemon, with Daemon not so much being imagined as 'a super cool guy', but rather as an embarrassment in the ruling department - they could have scenes with Viserys, Otto, and Daemon at council where the guy completely sucks at the jobs his given, forgetting assignments, numbers, being completely unable to do his job. You have this kind of dismissive affection Viserys feels for his brother in his line from FaB where he says: 'Let Daemon play at war, it will keep him out of trouble.'

10 hours ago, Athanasius Pernath said:

I'd also dare to say that Criston Cole will mostly be a 'good guy' in the beginning (as in honorable, devoted to Rhaenyra, maybe they will actually be in love, maybe not, still a love triangle it's actually the most safe choice for a tv show) and of course Otto Hightower will have many redeeming qualities.

I expect there to be an actual affair between Criston and Rhaenyra which is going to end badly when she marries Laenor (assuming we get Laenor and her marriage to him - which we should, since they should not cut this gay character). We should get some real juicy sex scenes, after all.

Otto Hightower could be a very sympathetic character while he basically defends the Realm against the prospect of a King Daemon I, especially if they portray as a person who would well and truly suck at running a government.

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They will both turn against Rhaenyra only after her marriage with Daemon.

That I don't think - Rhaenyra-Alicent should start to fray when Alicent is queen and thus outranks Rhaenyra ... and things should further deteriorate when Alicent has sons. Although things shouldn't be completely broken between them. That will only come after what's 120 AC in the books - Aemond losing his eye and Rhaenyra marrying Daemon.

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Speaking of which, IF we get Aegon II just as it is in the book, than that is by far the MOST DIFFICULT character to write and cast.

In the chronicles of the maesters he is a VERY bland character. Kinda jerkish, but not so much. Not smart nor dumb. Not nice, but not evil either. And most of all, without really any peculiar quality. Seriously, pretty much its only real 'colourful' personality trait is not a personality trait at all, but just a trivia "he has the most beautiful dragon ever" XD

So either they will merge Aegon and Aemond together (which I doubt, 'cause Aemond works pretty great as a character for the tv show as it is) or I expect Aegon to have a huuuuge 'reskin' :D

The biggest problem with Aegon II is during the Dance when he is basically either a pawn or completely absent.

But that could actually be an interesting plot since it would make the roles of Alicent, Aemond, and Criston Cole more important - as they are in the books. Aegon II is actually more a Tommen/Joffrey kind of character - a figurehead of a movement, not so much somebody who runs things.

4 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I think one thing they can do with him is to show that he is constantly reminded that he bears the Conqueror's name, and that he aspires to be a warrior-king like the Conqueror and just like Jaehaerys but he always fails. He has some honor, which is briefly shown in the writing when he initially thinks that he shouldn't take Rhaenyra's promised heritage, until his mother and Otto convince him otherwise. 

Realistically, that 'honorable trait' of Aegon II is either completely invented ... or just a sign of his cowardice since he is afraid that the Realm would not accept him as king.

But that changes quickly enough - once Aegon is king he no longer has any redeeming qualities. I mean, even after his restoration he wastes money and resources on those ridiculous statues of his dead brothers.

The show could make him more sympathetic if he is more a not-so-bright pawn of his mother and grandfather in the show, and starts to somewhat develop after the first losses he suffers - Jaehaerys, mad Helaena, injuries, etc. But technically he should basically not have much/any screentime until he comes back to kill Rhaenyra on Dragonstone.

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3 hours ago, Jaenara Belarys said:

He was retrieved by Lord Alyn from House Rogare of Lys. I think the price was the Viserys/Larra marriage (Really Larra? He's seven years younger for chrissake), not fighting Hosue Rogare or it's interests for 100 years, and I think 100000 golden dragons. Read FaB, it'll tell you. 

I'm aware of that in the books, it's just that this goes unmentioned in the show.

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57 minutes ago, Kolx said:

Does anyone know then if all the Velaryons will be black in Hotd? If that’s the case then Angel Coulby would be perfect for the role of Laena Velaryon

There is a leaked picture of a young black woman with white hair, likely Laena. I don't know who she is. @The Dragon Demands could tell you more.

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1 hour ago, Kolx said:

Does anyone know then if all the Velaryons will be black in Hotd? If that’s the case then Angel Coulby would be perfect for the role of Laena Velaryon

I guess they could be, even if the idea is that Corlys' mother was black and the Velaryons before Corlys were white, because Corlys is already fifty years old in 103 AC, meaning the other Velaryons we might see as extras, etc. would be Corlys' siblings, his six nephews and (at least) two great-nephews plus other female relations ... and all of them could be descended from Corlys' mother.

The chance that any uncles of Corlys' are still around in the 100s wouldn't be that high. And if they were to include the Vaemond Velaryon subplot as well as, eventually, Daenaera Velaryon, they would have to include the descendants of Corlys' brothers.

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The on-the-ground spy reporters in Cornwall say that production seems to have mostly wrapped as of Wednesday night. Of the two locations, all the filming trucks have packed up and left from Holywell Beach, and they think the St. Michael's Mount location is probably done too, barring some pickup shots or something in the next day or two.

So I think we won't see anymore spy photos of note....but for all we know, at any time HBO could release more official promo pics based on the past 2 weeks of shooting. So we shall see. 

......

Think of the locations you'd actually need for an adaptation of The Rogue Prince:  King's Landing, Dragonstone, Driftmark, Harrenhal, and the Stepstones. Most of those will be filmed in Spain (as they said they're filming in "the UK and Spain"), possibly revisiting old locations for KL and Dragonstone. I suspect that Spain's Canary Isles may stand in for some of the Stepstones, otherwise beaches in Spain.

Harrenhal is a question mark....I made a list once of all the locations we'd lose from not returning to Northern Ireland.  For example, the Eyre was a matte painting so that's not an issue. The big thing we lose are the Castle Ward settings: "generic field in central Westeros" and "generic forest in central Westeros".  But hardly any of the Rogue Prince takes place in the Riverlands because the war hasn't started yet.  At any rate I did a breakdown, and we don't need Castle Black, or Winterfell exteriors again....the ONLY distinct exterior location from Northern Ireland that we lost was Harrenhal (filmed at Banfield). 

So will they be filming any other exterior shots in OTHER parts of the UK?  Do they NEED to? I think Harrenhal might just be interior scenes. 

Otherwise I think they'll be either filming internal stuff at Leavesden Studios, or moving to Spain now.

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I think Aegon's depiction will depend on whether the show wants us to pick a side, or whether they go all-in on Rhaenyra. If I had to guess, Aegon will be written as kind of a loser--a sulky, petulant d-bag. But if they want the audience to feel conflicted, then they'll have to give him some redeeming qualities; a lovable loser instead of a bratty one. 

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55 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I think Aegon's depiction will depend on whether the show wants us to pick a side, or whether they go all-in on Rhaenyra. If I had to guess, Aegon will be written as kind of a loser--a sulky, petulant d-bag. But if they want the audience to feel conflicted, then they'll have to give him some redeeming qualities; a lovable loser instead of a bratty one. 

I'd expect him to take a back seat in the whole thing. I think the big conflict of the show insofar as the Dance is concerned will be Rhaenyra vs. Alicent, not so much what their children thought about the whole thing.

Aemond is going to be the guy who is truly an active villain.

And in that sense Aegon II might indeed have some redeeming qualities ... in the sense that he is a pawn of his mother, never a player in his own right. Which, in the end, he isn't even in the book, if you look at this pitiful end. When the council suggests Aegon could take the black it is him mother who persuades him not to do this ... and seals his fate that way. The guy never had a chance, really.

I'd also not be surprised if it fell to Alicent to feed Rhaenyra to the dragon in the show, not Aegon II.

One way to make this a compelling story could be to make the entire conflict about the desire of two women to rule - one in her own right, the other through her son(s) or grandchildren.

That kind of thing would only necessitate minor changes to Alicent's character.

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@Linda

Based on the spy photos we saw, I don't think they're implying that the Velaryons are "a black Valyrian family" stretching back before the Conquest, but that specifically Corlys's mother was black, and thus the younger branches of the Velaryons (the ones that actually intermarried with the main royal Targaryen line, with Aegon III) aren't black at all. We saw a mix of people wearing the same clothing style, some black, some white.

I think the implication is that his father Corwyn Velaryon married a Summer Islander or something.

I actually agree that making ALL VELARYONS mixed race, stretching back to the Conquest and before that, would have been quite contrived...I completely agree and I don't want to diminish your point.

But the distinction is, I don't think that's what they're actually doing.

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1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I think Aegon's depiction will depend on whether the show wants us to pick a side, or whether they go all-in on Rhaenyra. If I had to guess, Aegon will be written as kind of a loser--a sulky, petulant d-bag. But if they want the audience to feel conflicted, then they'll have to give him some redeeming qualities; a lovable loser instead of a bratty one. 

I hope they go all in on Rhaenyra. She is the rightful queen, Aegon the greedy usurper. 

1 minute ago, The Dragon Demands said:

I think the implication is that his father Corwyn Velaryon married a Summer Islander or something.

 

Can the Myrish be added to that? 

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....Myrish look more Rhoynar that Summer Islander.

But the...polyglot, cosmopolitan, maritime culture of itinerant merchant sea traders going from Lys to Braavos and King's Landing along the Narrow Sea. We see Summer Islanders around these major ports all the time.

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3 minutes ago, The Dragon Demands said:

....Myrish look more Rhoynar that Summer Islander.

 

OK, rule out the Myrish. 

 

3 minutes ago, The Dragon Demands said:

But the...polyglot, cosmopolitan, maritime culture of itinerant merchant sea traders going from Lys to Braavos and King's Landing along the Narrow Sea. We see Summer Islanders around these major ports all the time.

But will Lord Daemon allow the marriage of a lowly trader to his eldest son and heir? It'd have to be a princess of the Summer Isles. 

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