House of the Dragons: The Predecessor of Game of Thrones

 

House of the Dragons: The Predecessor of Game of Thrones

Madhurjain30

The House of the Dragon (Sky Atlantic) premiere episode is outstanding. It goes over every aspect that made its predecessor, Game of Thrones, such a behemoth of the small screen, particularly during its heyday, for an hour. It is Westeros at its meatiest—a best hits collection. Family members make unreliable pledges while plotting and betraying one another, both covertly and overtly. Fighting, romping, and jousting all take place. Dragons exist, of course. There are also leaking wounds, dismembered limbs, severed organs, an axe to the face, a caesarean without anaesthesia, and a drunken orgie. The universe of George RR Martin strides back onto our screens with complete assurance and panache.

Both fascinating and horrifying, it is. It is a precursor to Game of Thrones and recounts the fall of the Targaryen dynasty. However, after viewing the first six episodes of fighting and plotting, the real question is how it could possible take two centuries to collapse. While the characters change slightly throughout the course of the series, succession is the theme that ties everything together. It begins with the Monarch Lear-like possibility of a dying king selecting his heir.

Young Princess Rhaenyra, the sole child of King Viserys I, is the focus of episodes one through five. She is portrayed by Milly Alcock (Paddy Considine). Rhaenyra is a young woman of strength, ambition, and bravery who would make a perfect successor if it weren't for the Lords' prior declaration in very recent history that tradition requires a king, not a queen, to sit on the Iron Throne. Royal ladies in this universe are breeding devices and negotiating chips. In a later episode of the series, a male character remarks, "I am pleased I am not a woman." The phrase may serve as the campaign's slogan.

Viserys's brother enters the conversation amid much complaining over Rhaenyra. Daemon is a haughty peacock that doesn't want to follow the rules since they are in his opinion, unfair. There is an increasing feeling of urgency about where the political wheel will stop as Viserys starts to seem feeble. The political wheel is turning on a rumour. While Matt Smith plays Daemon as an arrogant and irate guy who can't fully betray his family name, I'd contend that Game of Thrones thrived on the strength of its villains, not the virtues of its heroes. He is an evil man who is a misogynist and a sadist, and up until episode six, he was the only really repugnant significant figure in King's Landing. In House of the Dragon, the gritty antagonists that are so entertaining to rage against are gradually revealed.

It has a certain distinctiveness that sometimes strengthens its effect and other times reduces it. It is highly complex and has a narrative emphasis, which is required given the large ensemble of individuals. Although other well-known names are referenced, like as a Tully here, a Stark there, or a haughty Lannister passing by, it is clear that the narrative is about the Targaryen dynasty. I doubt that I could have kept up if it had quickly switched between the Houses and their different centres of power given the amount of information. However, I did miss the scope of Game of Thrones and the show's ability to switch between such vividly detailed settings.

After moving ahead a few years here and there, episode six moves ahead by another ten years, by which time everyone has a lot of kids. (This has as much birthing as a One Born Every Minute episode, but weirdly enough, it doesn't have the same nice, fuzzy feeling.) A few of the characters are given new roles as adults, and the story is restarted—though maybe not in the way it originally appears. This was so sleek and correct, so plainly well-made, that there was really no opportunity of a blunder like that, even though the leap may have been startling. Beautiful, lavish, cinematic, and large-scale programming that pushes the limits of what television can achieve is House of the Dragon.It is little less enjoyable than its predecessor.