- Fans discuss the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel ahead of the sixth episode
By Venessa Anthony
The reign of House Targaryen begins: House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, is here. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, it tells the story of House Targaryen.
While only five episodes have been released so far in the ongoing drama – with the next episode scheduled for release on 25 September – many have taken to the internet to voice their opinions on the much-anticipated series. Considering the hype and hate that surrounded its predecessor, House of the Dragon has a lot to live up to, but unlike the original Game of Thrones, this is expected to have a smaller, less expansive cast, focusing primarily on the titular House of the Dragon, the Targaryen family, and the immediate members of their court.
House of the Dragon tells the story of an internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power, 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. Though House of the Dragon is a canonical Game of Thrones prequel and is adapting material from hundreds of years before the events depicted in the original show, the show’s creative team have emphasised that it will have its own identity and tone that will evolve and emerge over the course of the show.
In other words, the show will feature all the political manoeuvring, explicit bloodshed, and giant CGI dragons that Game of Thrones fans have come to expect, but it will still make sense to viewers who didn’t watch the original series.
Dulini Peiris, an avid fan of Game of Thrones (GoT), shared that House of the Dragon (HoD) was strongly evoking feelings of nostalgia.
“I’ve read a bit of the books, and since the book Fire and Blood is written by a maester, it’s not written in the original GoT books’ visions,” she explained and pondered whether the maester was mentioned much, concluding that she was not given much characterisation.
“In HoD, she is one of the key characters – you get attached to her, you start rooting for her, just like we did with Danny (Daenerys),” which in her opinion, makes the show that much better. She also observed that the makers of the show seem to be taking their sweet time with character development, which guarantees that we, as the audience, get attached to each and every character, and noted that the actors also seem to fit into their role so much better this way.
Antoinette George, another long-time fan of the show, also expressed that the House of the Dragon so far in its five episodes have somewhat exceeded expectations with regard to story focus. Although she did note that it could almost be entirely attributed to the fact that this story is available on paper, and George R.R. Martin has already laid the groundwork. Nevertheless, she added: “Credit must be given to the incredible performances, particularly that of Matt Smith, who I’m sure has become a fan-favourite by playing Damon in a charismatic and lovable way.”
Despite the raving reviews of the show, George opined that something must be said about the look and feel of the show – while the dragons and all of the big CGI look good enough, she noted that the costuming feels a little cheap, to put it mildly.
“Maybe it’s just me, but the white Targaryen hair really takes something special to appear realistic,” she said. Other than that, however, she has no criticism and is ready to kick back, relax, and watch the show, since, she pointed out, as the show progresses, the story is picking up pace quite nicely.