the next House of the Dragon thread

[butterweedstrover]

5 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Creatively, it would be better for everybody if HBO focused its' efforts in more novel directions and GRRM focused more on the novels. But things are the way they are, and there is nothing we can do about it.  

Hope and pray. 

But seriously, I think Martin needs a wake up call. He wants HBO to make him into the Stan Lee of fantasy (as he was harping about his legacy on his notablog) without having a finished product in the ASOIAF world. Yeah the world of ice and fire is done but that was more of an encyclopedia, good luck adapting it. 

If HBO drops him maybe he would see his own legacy for what it is and rededicate himself to finally slaying the beast (his main series) as a final hurrah and then enjoy retirement and keep his body and mind in peace and relaxation.

[Lord Varys]

Kind of fun how George can spell 'Valyrian' and 'Velaryon' differently ... but he really cannot pronouce those two words differently. You can see how he told Condal that he thought about making the Valyrians black may have been a good idea ... and the guy thinking 'George wanted to make the make Velaryons black? Well, swell idea, that could actually work...'

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

9 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

You can see how he told Condal that he thought about making the Valyrians black may have been a good idea ... and the guy thinking 'George wanted to make the make Velaryons black? Well, swell idea, that could actually work...'

This reminds me of the joke that Warner Bros wanted to cast Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor in BvS and told the casting agent that they wanted Heisenberg, but the agent misunderstood and cast Jesse Eisenberg instead.

[The Dragon Demands]

4 hours ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Because he's a charming asshole and gets things done.

* He reforms the goldcloaks

* He conquers the Stepstones after their piracy

* He clearly has none of the typical Westerosi xenophobia

* He's a badass dragon rider

 

Daemon gets results, damn it!

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by The Dragon Demands

[C.T. Phipps]

1 hour ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

This reminds me of the joke that Warner Bros wanted to cast Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor in BvS and told the casting agent that they wanted Heisenberg, but the agent misunderstood and cast Jesse Eisenberg instead.

I mean we had a conference at four seasons landscaping.

Man, I cannot wait until tomorrow. I think this may be the only time I have been pacing and waiting for something since I was a child.

[butterweedstrover]

People are saying HotD is light on humor. I don’t need it to be a comedy, just some levity on moments of great despair or stress. 
 

For example, in season 3 of Game of Thrones Davis is beseeching Salador for help as says: 

“you drank with me on my wedding,” he says. 
 

“and you drank with me on four of mine.”

[C.T. Phipps]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-08-19/house-of-the-dragon-review-hbo-game-of-thrones

I like the LA times review on this.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

2 hours ago, Khloey said:

Don't know if you guys have seen it, but I just found 2 news videos with GRRM commenting on the Velaryons, the Hightowers :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFrxVMXrdGs

By the way, why is the fire on the Hightower sigil green? It looks a bit off in general and reminds people of wildfire, which it definitely isn't supposed to.

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 minute ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

By the way, why is the fire on the Hightower sigil green? It looks a bit off in general and reminds people of wildfire, which it definitely isn't supposed to.

It’s supposed to signify a call to war.

[The Bard of Banefort]

I’m going to be super anxious tomorrow. We’ve been talking about this for so long that I just want to get it over with already lol.

For what it’s worth, even when I love a movie or show, I find that bad reviews are usually more informative and thought-provoking than good ones.

[Lord Varys]

19 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

By the way, why is the fire on the Hightower sigil green? It looks a bit off in general and reminds people of wildfire, which it definitely isn't supposed to.

In the books the Hightower lighthouse is indeed fueled by wildfire. For the show they seem to give the green fire the specific meaning of a call to war.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

4 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

In the books the Hightower lighthouse is indeed fueled by wildfire.

Oh, I completely missed that.

[Lord Varys]

2 hours ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Oh, I completely missed that.

Correct that, it is actually only in war time, a call to arms. From FaB:

Quote

Atop the Hightower, the great beacon fire turned a baleful green as Lord Martyn Hightower called his banners. Oldtown waited for the dawn, and the coming of the dragons.

I thought I remembered the color of the flames from the scene where Silverwing and Alysanne land on the Hightower itself, and the dragon's wings fan the flames of the fire. But there we don't get a color. Apparently the Hightowers aren't so rich that they can afford to burn large quantities of wildfire 24/7.

Thinking about that - I'd expect that the idea that Alicent's green dress is indeed an old Hightower symbol for war/conflict goes straight back to George. It would just be a tiny detail he didn't work into the book (although Condal could have come up with that, too, realizing that the green fire and the green dress are an obvious connection).

In any case, having the color of wildfire in the game there really strengthen the symbolism - Alicent might be a born Hightower, but she is a Targaryen by marriage now. Lacking power over dragonfire she latches on to the next best thing - wildfire.

I like that very much.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Lord Varys

[The Dragon Demands]

1 hour ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

By the way, why is the fire on the Hightower sigil green? It looks a bit off in general and reminds people of wildfire, which it definitely isn't supposed to.

they light the Hightower's flames green when they call their war banners. In book five. The TV show took that idea and said that their heraldry on their shields, i.e. when they're carrying shields in war, would therefore carry the green flame of war. Fair enough.

[The Bard of Banefort]

I don’t really understand how Metacritic works. How do they come up with a score for non-starred reviews?

[EggBlue]

 Despite all of the show’s dexterous villains, fierce emancipators, persevering women and supernatural surprises, it handed the crown to a boy who’d literally slept through much of the show’s 73-episode run.

 

by default , Aegon III's coronation has a better chance of being received well that Bran's never had. after all, he is a Targaryen , he'd be prince of Dragonstone after Joff's death , he's Dragon queen's son instead of some lost boy from far North and most importantly he is not going to be emotionless . but still ,they really need to flesh him out and all his trauma throughout the series .

[Ran]

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I don’t really understand how Metacritic works. How do they come up with a score for non-starred reviews?

Editorially. The staff read them and assign a value based on their judgment of the positive praise and negative critique within the review.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

7 hours ago, The Dragon Demands said:

they light the Hightower's flames green when they call their war banners. In book five. The TV show took that idea and said that their heraldry on their shields, i.e. when they're carrying shields in war, would therefore carry the green flame of war. Fair enough.

But then they're essentially carrying war signals during a peaceful time, no?

[Ran]

People have axes, dead babies, hanged men, etc. on their shields. They are not promising to hang you or kill your baby or kchop your head off presently. Ditto the Hightower flame in their heraldry showing the green flames of war -- its a warning that they're capable of going to war, not a promise that they are.

I'm fine with it. I don't think George came up with the green flame thing when he first described their heraldry to us and then again in the books, so the orange flames are the canonical for ASoIaF and the green are the canonical for GoT.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Ran

[Lord Varys]

I'd imagine the show went with green flames in the Hightower heraldry to make the connection to the green fire in wartime ... which is the inspiration for Alicent's green dress and the subsequent name of the 'Green faction'.

I doubt we are going to see Oldtown and the Hightower in season 1 of HotD ... but even if we did, we are likely not going to see its fires burning green. That will be something for early season 2 when we get introduced to Prince Daeron and Lord Ormund and they are calling the banners of House Hightower (and only a fraction of them shows up).

In that sense, I guess it made sense to emphasize the meaning of the green dress by actual showing the green fire in the lighthouse on the heraldry of House Hightower.

Thinking about Oldtown and Daeron/Ormund ... @The Dragon Demands suggested on twitter that they do flashbacks to the years in between to give us more scenes with the actresses playing young Rhaenyra/Alicent to close some gaps in their development. I think it could also be great to have some scenes with Daeron and both his mother and his father via flashbacks.

George erased a very touching element from FaB when making it clear that Daeron was in Oldtown when his father ... that he wept when he learned about his father's death (being the only family member showing any sign of grief over the death of the king). I think it could be a great way to introduce Daeron and his character by having a scene where Lord Ormund receives a letter from Otto or Alicent telling about Viserys' death, Aegon's coronation, etc. ... and we see Daeron weeping when he is told about this, followed by some flashbacks to young Daeron talking to his father before he left, seeing some true affection there, etc. What could really be great if it turned out that Daeron was Viserys' favorite son and Alicent hated that he preferred him to both Aegon and Aemond and decided to send him to Oldtown to separate him from his father so he might not end up in team Black or betrothed to a hypothetical daughter of Rhaenyra's.

I think to make Daeron stand out as a character on his own feet they would have to really flesh him out. The fact that he was away during all or most of the squabbling at court means he should have an outsider view on the matter, meaning he could really start as a guy who wants to restore the peace in the family or at least stop the war from escalating.