brake alert: Don’t read if you haven’t seen the “House of the Dragon” series premiere, “Heirs of the Dragon.”
Welcome back to Westeros! It’s been three years since we last stepped into the realm of fantasy. Now, we’re going back nearly 200 years to meet a new cast of characters from an earlier generation in Game of Thrones history. This time, rather than a sprawling tale across various families and cities, “House of the Dragon” focuses mostly on the royal Targaryen family in the King’s Landing.
The spin-off sets the scene by showing how King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) came to power. Years ago, the council had to decide whether Viserys or his cousin Rhaenys (Eve Best) would succeed their grandfather. They chose Viserys, since there was no woman in charge before (it foreshadows!).
Now, he leaped forward several years in Viserys’ reign as king: he emphasized that there were no male heirs to take over the Iron Throne after him. He has one daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (played as a teen by Milly Alcock), but she prefers riding dragons over ruling nations. Also, her best friend is Alicent Hightower (played as a teen by Emily Carey), who is the daughter of Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), The Hand to King Viserys.
While we’re at it, let’s meet the other main players on the Viserys Council: Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), who has married Viserys’ cousin Rhaenys, and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Viserys’ trouble-making younger brother who rides dragons, drives watching town and kills Street criminals. Among the Targaryen members is Queen Emma Arryn (Sian Brooke), wife of Viserys, who bears what he hopes will be a male heir. If Viserys doesn’t have a son, next in line for the Iron Throne is Daemon, and Viserys and Otto Hightower don’t want that to happen.
To celebrate the impending birth of his child, Viserys is planning a duel session with all the fierce knights of Westeros, including a pair of Baratheons, the elite Dornish elite, and Otto’s son Hightower and Daemon in some awesome armor. As the knights cut each other to bloody pieces, to the delight of the citizens of King’s Landing in the crowd, Queen Aemma goes into labor. However, there are some complications with childbirth. Grand Master Viserys gives an impossible choice: sacrifice one or lose both.
Desperate for a male heir, Viserys asks the gentlemen to work on Aemma and remove the child. This results in the world’s most gruesome cesarean section in the Middle Ages, which kills Aemma but saves the child – a boy. However, the child is sick. Things don’t look very bright for Viserys’ heir as the council learns about the birth.
The next thing we see is a funeral pyre with Emma’s body… and next to it is the lifeless corpse of her newborn son. The funeral ceremony was so embarrassing, that Rhinera said she hoped her father would find happiness in the few hours that he had a son. Then her dragon told Dracarys her mother’s body, and now it was time to find out the line of succession.
Satan is the presumed heir to the Iron Throne, as he is Viserys’ younger brother, but he’s not exactly a king. Rhaenyra is another option, but is Westeros ready for a queen? And let’s not forget Raines, “the queen that never was.” It seems that she and Lord Corliss Philaerion are planning something. Also, are the great powers plotting a rogue plan for the throne?
Meanwhile, a demon is in a brothel and rants about Viserys and his dead son, who was “Heir for a Day”. His rudeness belongs to Otto Hightower, who, understandably, tells Veseries, not happy. Viserys orders Daemon to leave King’s Landing, but not before Daemon inflicts some insult on his older brother and Otto Hightower. Also, Viserys keeps accidentally wounding himself on the Iron Throne, and the wounds look very pretty – but that’s the least of his worries at the moment.
The demon flies away on a dragon with Misaria (Sonoya Mizuno), a former prostitute and now her most trusted confidant. Returning to King’s Landing, Viserys tells Rhinera that he wants her to be his heir. He also named their predecessors Aegon Targaryen, the coming long winter that might wreak havoc on Westeros and “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which is basically the entire plot of “Game of Thrones.” After Rhaenyra was officially named next in line to the Iron Throne, the Council and the other princes of Westeros pledged allegiance to her and Viserys. This must be a happy moment for Rhaenyra, but she seems pretty nervous about the whole thing and might just want to fly away on her dragon.
Nothing bad happened in Westeros, so Rhaenyra and her family will surely enjoy a smooth transition of power. No hard feelings, demon!
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