In your opinion, how does House of the Dragon stack up against Game of Thrones?

[Lord Varys]

On 12/20/2023 at 7:35 PM, Ser Arthurs Dawn said:

And this one is wild to me, because as of now, only Rhaenyra and Daemon know about it. "Guys, please! We have to work together for the greater good!"  "..Why?"  "Well, I can't tell you, it's a secret."

I do wonder why they show writers included the prophecy. Was it for ironic reasons? Did they want to replace Rhaenyra's ambition with some sort of "weight of responsibility"?

We don't know who was told the information between the episodes. As Jacaerys Velaryon is Rhaenyra's heir it stands to reason that she might have told him already - or will tell him upon his return from his mission in season 2.

The point of that, though, is that the Dance as a war will not only result in the death of most of the dragons but also the loss of this prophetic knowledge - or at least the belief in it - as Rhaenyra might never get around to tell little Aegon III.

And even if she did tell him or make the attempt ... in light of all his trauma and loss during the war he might not actually believe shit like 'Well, all your half-brothers and your father and uncles (and eventually his mother herself) died because of some belief in an obscure prophecy'.

That stuff is not likely going to sit all that well with him ... and we already know from season 1 that Daemon doesn't really believe in that stuff, either, which is why his brother never told him. He might certainly not be alone in this. And it is not that it is this is a really big secret. Alicent also knows that her husband believed in prophecy a lot. He could have told her about the prophecy, too, or she might have put some of the pieces together ... but that is not just the thing she (or many other people) might actually a lot about.

[Lord of Oldstones]

HOTD is like those later seasons, there are no consequences for actions. So yes its forgettable series for me. I  stopped watching after dragging myself till Ep 8. Dont think im ever continuing this show.

[The Bard of Banefort]

I feel like HOTD is both better and worse than GOT in its portrayal of women. On the pro side, they’ve cut back on the sexual assault scenes. Some of the sex scenes actually feel sensual (for a show that was so big on sex, GOT was remarkably unsexy in how its characters interacted. It was more like a Playboy photo shoot, where all the sex appeal was just attractive people standing around without any clothes on). It doesn’t have the same exploitative feeling to it, which made even Arya and Gendry’s love scene in S8 feel cringe-inducing. Women actually speak directly to each other (when I went back and watched the trailers for GOT, I believe there was only one instance of a woman talking to another, unlike the HOTD trailer, which put a huge emphasis on the dynamic between Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Rhaenys). They’re even occasionally friendly to one another (I remember there being commentary about how the scene where Gilly meets Sam’s family was one of the only times women on GOT were nice to each other). As someone who found most of GOT’s costumes hideous, this is also an area where HOTD greatly outperformed its predecessor.

At the same time, the female characters of HOTD are very. . . flat. They have no desires or ambitions. None of them want power, but instead have it forced upon them by circumstance. Rulership is a burden they resent. Motherhood brings them no joy (even Rhaenyra, who bonds with her sons, spends more than half the season haunted by the prospect of childbirth, which is presented as worse than death itself). Whereas GOT focused on women overcoming the obstacles of a patriarchal world and thriving despite the barriers it imposed on them, the three main female characters of HOTD all resign themselves to being passive housewives. Alicent never manages to stand up to Viserys, Rhaenyra turns a blind eye to all of Daemon’s flaws, even when this includes physical violence against her, and Rhaenys FFS won’t even champion her own granddaughter’s inheritance when someone with a weaker claim to Driftmark tries to take it from her. Every relationship between them and a male contemporary is depicted as predatory.

The women aren’t allowed to be bad or even morally ambiguous. Everyone talks about how Rhaenys bursting through the Dragonpit was the worst part of HOTD, but I find Alicent launching a coup because she genuinely misunderstood her husband’s last words (who she knew was hopped up on drugs) far dumber and more indicative of HOTD’s biggest flaws. Alicent has every reason in the world to champion her son’s claim over Rhaenyra’s, but in the writers’ minds, her not supporting a fellow girlboss is a far greater sin than putting her sons at Team Blacks’ mercy. It reminds me of the new wave of Anne Boleyn stans who are convinced that she was an innocent bystander who was carried along entirely by wicked men. Was Anne the conniving slattern that she’s traditionally remembered as? Probably not. But no one who’s part of a decade-long plot to topple both a reigning monarch and the state religion is totally innocent and powerless, just like how no one who launches a civil war does it by accident. Watching Olivia Cooke try to explain Alicent’s character arc in interviews is an exercise in cognitive dissonance; we’re back to the good old days of GOT actors trying to rationalize why their characters behave in such bizarre ways.

And look, I realize that GOT left HOTD in a really tough spot. The misogyny on GOT was so blatant that it permanently tarred the franchise. Showrunners are people too, and it’s clear that all of them are in fear of backlash in the age of social media (James Hibberd, while technically discussing FCKAD and not HOTD, basically said as much in his Reddit AMA). Because of how poorly Daenerys’ ending was received, Rhaenyra’s ending is all but doomed to the same fate, which is why they’re trying to write it as intentional social commentary—the weight of the patriarchy destroyed Rhaenyra and without it she would have triumphed. But in doing so, they sacrificed a lot of what makes these characters human and, frankly, compelling. 

Edited January 6 by The Bard of Banefort

[Him of Many Faces]

On 1/1/2024 at 5:20 AM, The Bard of Banefort said:

Alicent has every reason in the world to champion her son’s claim over Rhaenyra’s, but in the writers’ minds, her not supporting a fellow girlboss is a far greater sin than putting her sons at Team Blacks’ mercy.

Show Alicent was made so weak and naive. Like seriously, she had no idea about the green council planning to crown her son? She had no ambition to make her son the king? Making Alicent a victim of patriarchy and Rhaenyra's childhood bestie was a mistake. She should have been a cunning player at the game, the spicy evil stepmother. So many ways to make her an interesting character since Fire and Blood only gives a template. Why not make her and Otto partners in crime? A father and  daughter playing the long game together to take the Iron Throne for their family? Fire and Blood definitely makes it seem like their political goals were the same and they got along well. 

Edited January 11 by Him of Many Faces
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