Welcome back to Westeros! It’s been nearly 10 billion years since our last visit (three actually, but it feels like an eon) and the place is different and the same.
For example, House of the Dragon is set nearly two centuries before Game of Thrones, when the Targaryens ruled and their powerful dragons appeared in the sky. But the story has all the pro-political intrigue, brutal violence, erotic sex scenes, and power-hungry struggles that turned Game of Thrones into a cultural sensation.
The House of the Dragon premiere was highly anticipated by fans, entertainment critics, HBO, parent company Warner Brothers Discovery, and myself, the House of the Dragon synopsis writer.
So, let’s dive into how this series kicked off in Episode 1, “Heirs of the Dragon.”
Editor’s Note: Overall spoilers for House of the Dragon Episode 1: Heirs of the Dragon follows (as you might expect, since this is a recap)
So many Targaryens, only one Iron Throne
The Dragon Heirs begins with some explanation. About a century after Aegon conquered Westeros, the Targaryens were at the height of their power. However, trouble looms as Old King Jerrys approaches death. His two sons died, leaving a group of potential heirs to the Iron Throne.
The House of Lords calls for the decision, and the two best choices for them are the grandchildren Rhaenys and Viserys. She has a stronger claim, but he’s…well, he’s a man. They end up voting for Viserys, while Rhaenys is known as “The Queen That Never Was”. The nobles’ distaste for women in power will obviously be a major theme in this series, just as it was in Game of Thrones.
Nine years later, Viserys has one teenage daughter, Rhaenyra, but is convinced that his pregnant wife, Queen Aemma, will give birth to a son. He even holds the heir championship, as lords and knights travel from all over the world to participate.
Rhinera is full of courage and vitality. She loves to ride her dragon, Syrax, and wishes she was a warrior heading into battle. But Aemma reminds her that their role is to continue the Targaryen streak. The Queen notes that “the puerperium is our battlefield.”
She has a close relationship with the current heir to her father, her uncle, the Demon Prince. He was appointed commander of the City Watch and returned to King’s Landing with a gift for her – a Valyrian steel necklace. The moment a demon clamps her around her neck it beats with some true incest energy. Targaryens gonna Targaryen, right?
Rhinera is also close to Aliscent, the daughter of the King’s Hand. Otto Hightower is very loyal to Viserys and hates Daemon. He is furious when Daemon leads his golden cloaks in a violent and bloody raid into the criminal areas of King’s Landing. The night ends with several dozen heads, hands, arms, legs and other parts of the body stacked in a chariot.
Dimon argues that it is merely law enforcement, but Otto and many other council lords find this spectacle distasteful.
To start Game of Thrones
The tournament kicks off with a giddy Viserys announcement announcing that the Queen’s employment has begun.
After gossiping about several nobles with Aliscent, the Eye of Rhinera is captured by a handsome knight named Sir Creston Cole. Apparently, he’s a commoner (inspirational!) and is of Dornic descent (interesting).
Ser Criston and Daemon meet each other in a duel, where Criston shocks the Prince by rejecting him. The demon grabs a sword, and plans to continue the hand-to-hand combat. Despite Demon’s prowess and fame as a fighter, Creston defeats him. He asks Rhaenyra for her favour. Hmmm, will the princess fall in love with the common people? Who is not a Targaryen? Now that would be a shocking turn of events.
Meanwhile, Viserys is summoned from the tournament to Aemma’s birth room. The child is crippled and the professors give him a choice: it is possible that they will save the child if they cut him off, but Emma will die.
The heads are torn off but it ends up giving them the go-ahead for surgery. This spectacle is not for the faint of heart (or the faint of heart). She screams and screams more, while blood flows from her.
Finally, the child comes out and cries. He is a boy.
fire and blood
The Queen’s funeral is held on a cliff near King’s Landing. The crematorium containing Emma’s wrapped corpse contains another, smaller figure – baby Bailon did not survive.
The masks look like a ghost. It is up to Rhaenyra to give the order to light the crematorium. “Dracarys,” she told Syrax. The flames devour poor Emma and Bailon.
Returning to the council chamber, Otto raises the issue of succession. Dude, give the grieving widow some time? Corlys Velaryon initially states that Daemon is the heir, but Otto points out how violent and reckless the prince would be and what a terrible ruler he would be (all while the man in question eavesdrops from behind the screen).
The Hand mentions Rhaenyra, but the other lords protest that she is just a girl. This leads Corlys to raise his wife, Rhaenys, the queen he never was. Their bickering reaches Viserys, who leaves.
Otto makes a cunning move to ensure that Daemon never becomes the heir: he sends his beautiful daughter Alicent to console the king.
After hearing the council meeting, Damon spent a rowdy night in the brothel with his friends at City Watch and his lover, Mysaria. He delivers a toasting Bailon speech as “Heir to a Day”.
Those words belong to Viserys, courtesy of Otto, of course. The king is angry because his brother was basically celebrating the destruction of his family. Viserys effectively banishes Daemon by ordering him to return to his wife in Runestone. He has decided to name Rhaenyra his heir.
Before she is made heiress, Viserys tells her a secret that has been passed down from king to heir in the Targaryen line. Egon had a vision that a terrible winter was coming, one that could bring about the end of men. The Targaryen must sit on the Iron Throne to unite the world against this threat. Egon called his predictions “a song of ice and fire.”
As the lords of Westeros, including Rickon Stark of Winterfell, pledge allegiance to Rhaenyra, Daemon and Mysaria take a trip on the Caraxes.
Only time will tell how long this situation lasts. Or if you want to be spoiled, you can read George R.R. Martin’s history book “Fire and Blood,” House Targaryen’s chronicle. But, as we know from Game of Thrones, the Targaryens don’t stay in power. Now, they are Rome before the fall. And with dragons, the fall will be even more epic.
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