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New Peek at House of the Dragon


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The trailer got millions of views but also millions fewer than the first trailer.* I guess that maybe there were more people who watched the first trailer out of curiosity then lost interest. I’m curious how the current economy is going to affect shows like HOTD, since I imagine that more people will be cutting back on streaming services to save money.

 

*Which is still much better than the Westworld trailer, which barely surpassed 1 million views on YouTube. How has it survived this long? Between the actors’ salaries and the production design, I don’t see how HBO isn’t losing money on Westworld. I also think that shows like WW (and Season 8 of GOT, for that matter) are showing the downside of having off-years between seasons. It’s hard to maintain momentum, and even when the audience stays with the show, they have higher expectations due to the longer wait. I think the backlash to Season 8 may have been less extreme if it didn’t follow a two-year wait.

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22 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

*Which is still much better than the Westworld trailer, which barely surpassed 1 million views on YouTube. How has it survived this long? Between the actors’ salaries and the production design, I don’t see how HBO isn’t losing money on Westworld. I also think that shows like WW (and Season 8 of GOT, for that matter) are showing the downside of having off-years between seasons. It’s hard to maintain momentum, and even when the audience stays with the show, they have higher expectations due to the longer wait. I think the backlash to Season 8 may have been less extreme if it didn’t follow a two-year wait.

the only people who benefit from these off-years are youtubers ! how else would people need "what happened thus far " videos?!:P

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2 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I see Daemon as the kind of guy who would sleep with his wife semi-regularly just as a reminder that he was the one in charge and could do whatever he wanted with her. That’s how Aegon IV apparently was with Naerys, and we’re told that he was never attracted to her.

I don't think Rhaenyra is supposed to be the kind of woman you could treat in that way. And Daemon couldn't even treat Rhea Royce in that way, apparently. Naerys was Aegon's younger sister and thus effectively his property. Rhaenyra was the Heir Apparent to the Iron Throne, a widow, and the ruler of Dragonstone when she married Daemon. That is a completely different relationship dynamic.

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1 hour ago, Ran said:

There was someone sharing the views across major social media and it looks like the trailer primarily was seen on Twitter for some reason rather than on Youtube. I haven't found something similar for the first teaser, but in any case, it seems to be doing very well against other big anticipated projects.

It might be an age thing. Most adults I know barely remember Stranger Things, but there’s a huge community of teens on Instagram obsessed with ST. It looks to be the same on YouTube. Obi-Wan is probably bigger on Reddit. 

I’m not sure what Twitter’s audience is. In my experience, it’s mainly just politicians and celebrities yelling at each other all day. I don’t really know any regular people who use it.

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28 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

a random thought about the show: I hope they'll flesh out Laena a bit, considering she is the one who rides the oldest deadliest dragon at the beginning

It looks like that, since it seems as if all the Velaryons are there for what looks like a war council for the Stepstones campaign. If they show scenes of the war, we are likely to not only see Caraxes there but also Meleys, Vhagar, and Seasmoke.

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I’ve always favored “gold shall be their crowns” as a reference to hair, but I’m wondering now if we’ll get a Queen Myrcella between Tommen and Aegon. If both Rhaenyra and Dany are deposed because “bitches be crazy,” then having a clever young queen with lots of potential who is deposed by Aegon (probably through JonCon’s brutality) could soften the blow a bit. She would be a queen who didn’t go mad, but lost because of the cruelty of men. And it would make Aegon more morally grey. 

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12 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I’ve always favored “gold shall be their crowns” as a reference to hair, but I’m wondering now if we’ll get a Queen Myrcella between Tommen and Aegon. If both Rhaenyra and Dany are deposed because “bitches be crazy,” then having a clever young queen with lots of potential who is deposed by Aegon (probably through JonCon’s brutality) could soften the blow a bit. She would be a queen who didn’t go mad, but lost because of the cruelty of men. And it would make Aegon more morally grey. 

Oh, well, Myrcella doesn't have to be a Queen Regnant to be a queen.

There are two scenarios I can see for her - as a shortlived Queen Regnant like Jane Grey if she is actually getting back to KL with Lady Nym and Tommen dies or disappears for some reason before Aegon can take the capital. But then she could also become Aegon's first queen consort as the obvious way to soften things and prevent a siege/sack of the city would be to hand over the throne to Aegon in exchange for him marrying Queen Myrcella.

If Lady Nym's party is captured by the Golden Company while still en route to KL Myrcella might end up being married to Aegon without ever being proclaimed Queen Regnant - she would be a tool to undermine Tommen's reign and to strengthen Aegon's claim.

In both scenarios I'd expect Jon Connington to eventually act like Unwin Peake, possibly even mimicking the death of Queen Jaehaera by having Myrcella thrown into the dry moat. Not just to end the line of the Usurper as he promised but also to free Aegon for Arianne or Sansa or Daenerys should that become a political necessity.

In general I think George won't go so much for 'mad Daenerys' in the books but rather 'mad Aegon'. He is the guy who has neither dragons nor vast resources and would thus much more tempted to commit atrocities and do away with the niceties when push came to shove.

Daenerys' reputation might be as black as that of Maegor when she arrives in Westeros ... but she has the resources to ignore all that. She has the dragons she can point to, she has the strength to use the veiled threat like Jaehaerys I.

Aegon has none of all that. And once or if his followers are all in - which they likely all will be once he takes Storm's End and then quickly the Iron Throne because that will be a rush of power for the people around.

This doesn't mean Daenerys might not also have her own motivations to commit atrocities, but I don't see her in the position to be pressured in this direction by the general political situation.

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On 5/20/2022 at 4:35 PM, Sotan said:

Lena Heady was a great example of someone who never read the source material and still killed it, especially in the early seasons.

Show Cersei is clearly the main character that is more different from their book counterpart. And for the worse.

Of course, Lena is a great actress and the blame lies at D&D's feet, but one can't help but wonder how it would have turned out had Lena read the source material. If she had played Cersei as it should have been played (the narcissim, the sexuality, the alcoholism,...) in the first seasons, the writers may have grasped some understanding of her character and written more consistent material for her later on.

That said, I'm not sure if this time it as important that House of the Dragon's actors read the books. As it's been said upthread, Fire and Blood is written in a way that doesn't give any definite insight on the real characters behind the historical figures. Everything we have are second-hand accounts of the tales from biaised witnesses. In this case, they'll need to go to the showrunners if they need any further clarification of what is really going on with their characters.

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If the actors read the books, then only to get a very broad overview about what kind of character they are playing and what the plot of the show is going to be they star in.

For some characters FaB could provide a rough guideline - Emma D'Arcy certainly could get a feeling for her character since Rhaenyra is fleshed out in colorful detail.

It is much tougher for characters like Viserys I, Rhaenys, the Strongs, etc.

But since the writers pretty much have the freedom to decide who is going to be a villain or a hero in this story - or rather: who is going to be more heroic/less villainy and vice versa - reading the source material wouldn't be of much help.

Knowing it could still help a dedicated actor in talks with the writers about what their character is supposed to be about. Harry Lloyd's knowledge about the book and the character he played was the deciding factor that Viserys Targaryen was as accurately depicted as he was in GoT.

[That said, I prefer it if the writers and the directors know and do care about the source material and adapt the roles accordingly - in many cases the ideas writers have about their roles are not exactly all that positive.]

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And speaking about Harry Lloyd - it is quite sad that they didn't cast him for a role in HotD. The Targaryens are inbred as fuck, so Daemon or Viserys or one of the Velaryons could have easily enough looked and talked exactly like Viserys III.

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5 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

And speaking about Harry Lloyd - it is quite sad that they didn't cast him for a role in HotD. The Targaryens are inbred as fuck, so Daemon or Viserys or one of the Velaryons could have easily enough looked and talked exactly like Viserys III.

Glidus, is that you?

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On 5/22/2022 at 6:41 PM, Lord Varys said:

Oh, well, Myrcella doesn't have to be a Queen Regnant to be a queen.

There are two scenarios I can see for her - as a shortlived Queen Regnant like Jane Grey if she is actually getting back to KL with Lady Nym and Tommen dies or disappears for some reason before Aegon can take the capital. But then she could also become Aegon's first queen consort as the obvious way to soften things and prevent a siege/sack of the city would be to hand over the throne to Aegon in exchange for him marrying Queen Myrcella.

If Lady Nym's party is captured by the Golden Company while still en route to KL Myrcella might end up being married to Aegon without ever being proclaimed Queen Regnant - she would be a tool to undermine Tommen's reign and to strengthen Aegon's claim.

In both scenarios I'd expect Jon Connington to eventually act like Unwin Peake, possibly even mimicking the death of Queen Jaehaera by having Myrcella thrown into the dry moat. Not just to end the line of the Usurper as he promised but also to free Aegon for Arianne or Sansa or Daenerys should that become a political necessity.

In general I think George won't go so much for 'mad Daenerys' in the books but rather 'mad Aegon'. He is the guy who has neither dragons nor vast resources and would thus much more tempted to commit atrocities and do away with the niceties when push came to shove.

Daenerys' reputation might be as black as that of Maegor when she arrives in Westeros ... but she has the resources to ignore all that. She has the dragons she can point to, she has the strength to use the veiled threat like Jaehaerys I.

Aegon has none of all that. And once or if his followers are all in - which they likely all will be once he takes Storm's End and then quickly the Iron Throne because that will be a rush of power for the people around.

This doesn't mean Daenerys might not also have her own motivations to commit atrocities, but I don't see her in the position to be pressured in this direction by the general political situation.

There’s a tendency among Dany’s critics to see Aegon as a boy wonder who’ll be brutally put down by his cruel aunt.

Whereas, to me, everything points to Aegon and his followers taking savage revenge on Tommen and Margaery, and anyone associated with the outgoing regime.

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1 hour ago, SeanF said:

There’s a tendency among Dany’s critics to see Aegon as a boy wonder who’ll be brutally put down by his cruel aunt.

Whereas, to me, everything points to Aegon and his followers taking savage revenge on Tommen and Margaery, and anyone associated with the outgoing regime.

I blame D&D for that. were people speculating "mad queen Daenerys" before the show's finale? 

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30 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

I blame D&D for that. were people speculating "mad queen Daenerys" before the show's finale? 

Well, long before that you had people like @AppleMartini and @tzewho used to give the impression that Daenerys had wronged them personally. So, yes, Mad/Evil Daenerys has always been around as a fan theory.  And, I've little doubt that if we ever get TWOW, her story will turn darker, now that she's learned that playing nice with her enemies is futile.  But, then, pretty well everyones' story will turn darker.

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17 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

If the actors read the books, then only to get a very broad overview about what kind of character they are playing and what the plot of the show is going to be they star in.

For some characters FaB could provide a rough guideline - Emma D'Arcy certainly could get a feeling for her character since Rhaenyra is fleshed out in colorful detail.

It is much tougher for characters like Viserys I, Rhaenys, the Strongs, etc.

But since the writers pretty much have the freedom to decide who is going to be a villain or a hero in this story - or rather: who is going to be more heroic/less villainy and vice versa - reading the source material wouldn't be of much help.

Knowing it could still help a dedicated actor in talks with the writers about what their character is supposed to be about. Harry Lloyd's knowledge about the book and the character he played was the deciding factor that Viserys Targaryen was as accurately depicted as he was in GoT.

[That said, I prefer it if the writers and the directors know and do care about the source material and adapt the roles accordingly - in many cases the ideas writers have about their roles are not exactly all that positive.]

Pretty much every major character in GOT was someone different to their book counterpart. Which is partly down to the medium - most shows rely upon spectacle over good characterisation - but also owes a lot to the two D's not really understanding Martin's story. 

I think they saw it in the end as a kind of anti-morality tale, where people who try to do good are just stupid saps, and Cersei and Littlefinger are the people to emulate.  The Starks becoming like the Lannisters showed that they'd grown up, and learned how to play The Game.

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5 hours ago, SeanF said:

There’s a tendency among Dany’s critics to see Aegon as a boy wonder who’ll be brutally put down by his cruel aunt.

Whereas, to me, everything points to Aegon and his followers taking savage revenge on Tommen and Margaery, and anyone associated with the outgoing regime.

It is not just that - it is also Aegon as a lie Daenerys will slay as the Slayer of Lies. This certainly doesn't mean Aegon will be a Euron-style villain ... but it certainly could mean that he and his movement won't be helpful in the fight against the Others, doing more harm to Westeros than good.

I mean, Aegon is basically Varys' project, his arc will be about the question whether Varys' plan to create and groom the ideal king from birth is going to be a good idea or not. And while I don't exactly want Varys to fail, I think this plan does have severe flaws. Varys may have kind of modelled his Aegon on Egg ... but only kind of. The boy lived a sheltered and protected life as far as we know. He was always surrounded by friends and people who cared for him. He was never in any real danger, never actually lived a life on the streets or learned how the poor people of Westeros actually lived. Also, the people caring for him seem to have told him from very early on that he was actually a prince destined to be king one day - something Egg never actually believed. He is Aegon the Unlikely, and that he would be king one day may have been something that only became a real possibility in 233 AC when his father died unexpectedly.

All that could indicate that Varys' Aegon is not going to be an understanding or kind or dutiful king ... but rather an entitled king, a king who thinks he is destined to get whatever the hell he wants.

Add to that the lesson about paranoia/mistrust Tyrion taught Aegon, the fact that Jon Connington is slowly dying of greyscale which will cause him to act more and more reckless and, one assumes, also more and ruthless when dealing with real or imagined obstacles. In addition, Connington could infect Aegon himself and/or bring a pandemic of the grey plague to Westeros. Even if Aegon and his people were then implementing effective measure to stop or slow down the plague, it should sure as hell blacken his reputation.

Also, Aegon will have to face powerful and cruel enemies of his own long before Daenerys even moves west. Euron and Cersei and Littlefinger and Stannis are not going to melt away just so he can shine and sparkle.

My personal guess is that the big twist about Varys is going to be that circumstances will force him to eventually turn against Aegon, possibly even putting him down for 'the good of the Realm', and that might be the toughest decision for him to make, because Illyrio is likely not going to follow him there. I certainly could see Varys belatedly join Daenerys, realizing that true monarch/leader cannot be created through manipulation but only if a good person actually wants to do the job and life allows him/her to live out his/her potential, etc.

Basically, if you want to put your money on who is going to be 'the evil Targaryen' in ASoIaF then my money would be more on Aegon than on Daenerys. She might end up being tragic figure, anyway, but she is not going to be the show nutcase.

I can still only see her going to die in connection with the plot about the Others, not in a political murder taking place after the Others are defeated. There is not going to be much to do after the Others are dealt with, and pretty much no one would defy or think about defying a leader of the coalition who defeated them. One could see Euron/Cersei and some of their lackeys trying to resist or attack the good guys ... but they would not have enough strength to actually take an entire city hostage.

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The vision of the mummer’s dragon leads me to believe that Aegon will be very popular. The Undying may have told Dany to slay the lie, but that doesn’t mean it will go well for her. Quaithe also told her not to trust Quentyn and that was bad advice. There’s no reason to even introduce Aegon unless he’s a popular ruler; if he’s just going to be a mad and cruel king for Dany to take out, then Cersei would do just as well.

And we’re already seeing the Daenerys the Mad reputation form, even if it’s undeserved. Quentyn and Arianne are in different countries, but they’ve both heard rumors about her that disturb them. Mace Tyrell has already started propagating the belief that she’s as mad as her father. And when Gerris and Arch get back to Dorne and tell everyone that Dany laughed in Quentyn’s face, that will just be taken as further proof of her cruelty.

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