? House of the Dragon: the Ultimate Guide

Everything You Need to Know About the New House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon: this is the name of the Prequel announced by the huge HBO production studio in October 2019. Scheduled for October 2022, we’ll tell you all about the well-kept secrets of the series everyone’s talking about!

Just after the cancellation of The Long Night, the prequel originally planned on the origin of the white walkers, HBO turned around and decided to focus on one of the most emblematic family of the series: the Targaryen house whose past will be told in a spin-off series broadcast on the American channel OCS. ?

1) the Synopsis of the Spin-off Game of Thrones

A. The Origin of the Targaryens

Based on the series of books by the famous author G. R. R. Martin, soberly named A song of Ice and Fire, the plots take place in the same universe as Game of Thrones, but 300 years earlier. Everything is centered on the house of Targaryen, with a past full of dramas and wars of all kinds, opposing men and dragons.

Here is the exact synopsis:

Centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, the House of Targaryen, the only family of Dragon Lords to have survived the Valyria disaster, settled on Dragonstone. This is the story that begins with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and continues with the generations of Targaryen who fought to preserve it, until the civil war that tore their dynasty apart.

Again and again, it is about who will sit on the throne and rule the world. ? By the way, if you haven’t been following Game of Thrones, you should read our article: The Dragons of Game of Thrones to understand what’s at stake. Otherwise, as you know, the Iron Throne has created countless conflicts over the centuries, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. That’s why Drogon, the last dragon of Daenerys, melts it down after his mother’s assassination, as if he understood that this simple object was responsible for so many dramas. ?

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Everything seems to indicate that the scenario would turn to an event both epic and fatal that we will explain just below: The Dance of the Dragons.

B. The Dance of the Dragons

This tragic event was the first large-scale civil war to take place in the Game of Thrones world. It also has the peculiarity to see the 2 opposing camps possessing dragons and thus killing each other in the most violent way possible. You can imagine that the use of flames is highly recommended.

The Dance of the Dragons game of thrones

The worst in history? The two chiefs who opposed each other are both from the Targaryen family since they are half-brother and half-sister…they are more exactly Aegon II and Rhaenyra. In the end, neither of them survived the battle and it will be Aegon’s son, then named Aegon III, who will be crowned. ?

At the origin of the conflict: the death of former King Targaryen Viserys I. Immediately afterwards, his half-brother was crowned. Furious and considering that the throne is his due, Rhaenyra sets up his own council called The Black Council. To oppose her half-brother, she crowns herself. What audacity! The green light for the battle is launched. ?

She nevertheless agrees to forgive her half-brother Aegon if he bends his knee and officially recognizes her as Queen. He refuses her generous request and officially declares her a traitor. You know what happens next: the death of the two heroes in a fierce battle. ⚔️

2) House of the Dragon: Casting

Unfortunately, no teaser or casting information was broadcast. To be patient, we made you a small list of the characters that are likely to be included in the series given their importance (no spoilers, they are just theories ?):

?King Viserys I: His death in the year 129 marks the race for the inheritance of the Iron Throne between the pretenders Rhaenyra and Aegon II. He is above all a man of peace, renowned for his generous character. He owned a dragon named Balerion the Black Terror, known to be the biggest and most powerful dragon to have existed in the universe of the series. However, there is little chance to see him in the prequel.

?Daemon Targaryen: He is the masterpiece of the outbreak of the Dance of the Dragons, the deadliest civil war in history. Brother of Viserys, very good warrior, he is unfortunately completely crazy. He took the virginity of Rhaenyra (his niece), and crowned her himself upon his brother’s death. ? His personal dragon: Caraxes.
?Rhaenyra : Nicknamed “The Joy of the Kingdom” when she was young, this bright-eyed girl was much appreciated by her father Viserys I and the people in general. As she grew up, she became stubborn and thirsty for conquest: a common point to Daenerys Targaryen obviously! She dies at the same time as Aegon in the civil war. Her personal dragon: Syrax.

According to you, who will play this character who already promises to be mythical? On our side, we’re working on the actress Katheryn Winnick, whom you must know if you’ve seen the Vikings series. We’ll see if time proves us right. ?
?Harwin Strong alias “The Bone Breaker“: He was Rhaenyra’s lover before his marriage with Daemon. He is not a Targaryen, so he does not have a Dragon.

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?Aegon II Targaryen: He is crowned king following the death of Viserys in the year 129, and dies in 131 in the civil war against Rhaenyra. His reign lasted only a short time and is marked by chaos, which makes him a bitter and very withdrawn man. In addition, he is unscrupulous: he did not hesitate to buy the virginity of a prostitute on the market, to get her pregnant and abandon her for example. His personal Dragon: Sunfyre the Golden.

?Aegon III Targaryen : Son of Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, Aegon the Unlucky reigns from 131 to 157, he manages to stop the apocalypse which made so many victims. However, his life is an accumulation of tragedies: when he is 10 years old, his mother is delivered in front of him at the mercy of a dragon that kills her. He becomes a melancholy monarch, distant and very lonely.

3) House of the Dragon: Creators and Writers

Like many fans, you may have been disappointed by the work of showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for the last season of Game of Thrones. For some, it’s “a little disappointing”. For others, it’s a lamentable waste, an insult to the script as G had conceived it. R. R. Martin. Good news for the most disappointed among you: these screenwriters are not part of the Prequel project! It remains to be seen if House of the Dragon will be as good as announced…

So there are three big names to remember:

?Miguel Sapochnik : He’s behind three of the biggest episodes of Game of Thrones – the award winning “Battle of the Bastards“, “The Bells“, and “The Long Night“. He will be directing the Prequel as well as a few episodes of the project. As a co-producer, he had expressed his great difference of opinion with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss who systematically contradicted his ideas and would have left him very little artistic freedom. Given the result, he should have been allowed to get a little more involved! In an interview, Sapochnik will say :

“I desired to kill everybody, at the commencement i desired to kill Jorah in the horse cost. I was once up for killing genuinely everyone. I desired it to be ruthless, so that in the first 10 minutes, you say, ‘All bets are off; every person ought to die”.

In the end, it was precisely the lack of this cruel and unpredictable aspect of the TV series that disappointed viewers the most. We are far from the first episodes full of twists and turns. ?

?Ryan J. Condal: Less well known to the general public, the American screenwriter has been announced as the showrunner of House of the Dragon. He is notably director of the films Rampage and Colony.
?G. R. R. Martin: A writer, producer, and screenwriter, this renowned man is the author of the world of Game of Thrones. The prequel is based on his books Fire and Blood. Good news: unlike the last two seasons of Game of Thrones, he will be directing some episodes and will have his say on the entire script. Yippee!
Of course, we can say goodbye to Tyrion, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, hoping that the new characters will be just as endearing.

4) Filming Locations of House of the Dragon

We can’t confirm 100% of the shooting locations since for the moment the producers are in the recruitment phase and nothing has been filmed yet. ? Nevertheless, it is very likely that the sequences will be shot in the same locations as those seen in Game of Thrones.

There is every reason to believe that viewers will find Westeros and Essos again! If you live next door or are going on vacation, this could be your lucky day. ?

A few examples:

?Bardenas Reales, Spain: This location was used to film the Dothrak Sea!
?Klis, Croatia : This is the place chosen for the city of Meereen! The confrontation between the sons of the Harpy and Daenerys was filmed there.
?Dubrovnik, Croatia : It is THE place not to be missed. It was used to film King’s Landing, which we see in the first season of the series and all along, it is also the place of the Red Keep where Cersei Lannister is lamentably humiliated. ? SHAME!

?Strangford, Northern Ireland: How can we not evoke Winterfell, fortress of the unjustly cursed Stark? We all remember a certain episode of season 3 which ends in a terrible bloodbath…?
Another filming location which has very strong chances to appear : The island of Gaztelugatxe in Spain which is the filming location of Dragonstone Castle, in other words…the Targaryen HQ. ?

5) Other Series Planned by Hbo?

HBO has announced that it will continue the Game of Thrones craze with new series or series derived from the same universe. However, as Casey Bloys announced, no new series on the horizon except House of the Dragon, which is the only priority for the studio.

No official release date, but this adaptation will be released during 2022. Give us your opinion as a comment : future mythical series or reboot of the eighth season ?

Don’t hesitate to visit our Game of Thrones items. Hope you enjoyed our post about The House Of The Dragon, see you next time!