Some spoilers ahead!
‘The House of Dragon’ is set more than a century before the ‘Games of Thrones ‘ begin. It is based on the book ‘Fire and Blood ‘ by George Martin and created by Ryan Condal and George Martin. According to Forbes.com, the HBO Max show has more than 20 million views per episode. This achievement is far more than what ‘Lord of the Rings’ currently receives. ‘Games of the Thrones’ is in people’s recent memory, while the trilogy of rings is already two decades old. The series has a beautiful setting and design. The dragons are gorgeous and realistic. However, from the first few episodes, the show is swimming in the concept of child brides, incest, and gore.
The opening of the show highlights the Kingdoms’ obsession with male heirs. And the long-reigning king, Jarhaerys, named a distant male heir, bypassing his only child, Princess Rhaenys, at the discretion of the great council of older men. The new king, too, lacks a male heir and is hesitant to name his daughter as heir. Furthermore, Princess Raenyra’s showcase of valour and play with dragons is mocked by her father. The Queen reminds the daughter how women serve the realm by squeezing out children and giving birth as a battleground for them. The King sacrifices his wife for a son, who eventually succumbs after one hour. After losing his wife and newborn son, King Viserys names his daughter heir. As the story evolves, the king does not hesitate to father a number of heirs with his teenage bride, Lady Alicent.
The show has marvellous costumes and designs. The dragons, though, seem to be a showpiece, and hardly any war is seen using them, except for spitting fire here and there. The creative team meticulously planned the colour and pattern of the dresses and designs. The heir’s tournament occurs in the first episode and reminds the audience of a scene from the movie ‘Gladiator.’ However, the premise is the drama unfolding within the king’s family. The King’s younger brother, Daemon, catches eyeballs with his bold and coarse behavior. Despite several complaints about him, the king pardons his actions. Daemon and others contended in the competition to thrash and smash their opponents and were cheered by the crowd. Meanwhile, the Queen is fighting for her life during childbirth.
The background sound and music create suspense, like a scene where the cries of the bleeding queen are juxtaposed with the hammering and lashing of bodies in the arena. The princess is not aware that her father has chosen the unborn child for the life of his wife. The makers focus the camera on the raw flesh and blood coming from the slashed stomach, cut to bring out the prospective heir to the throne. And this newborn succumbs after birth, bringing sadness to the atmosphere. The queen dies in the process, and the king gets generous proposals from people craving the throne. The Lord Corlys offers his 12-year-old daughter to the king to father a future male successor.
The royal brothers’ relationship is complicated. The King loves his brother but does not admit him to the council and keeps him on city watch. Prince Daemon is highly ambitious and cunning. He roars on entering the kingdom by cutting the flesh of criminals and displaying their parts on the spears of his army. When the king hears that Daemon has badmouthed his dead son, he banishes him from the kingdom. The prince is relentless and steals the dragon egg to be brought back by the teenage princess, who is as ambitious as the prince himself. Sir Otto, the right hand of the king, subtly presents his juvenile daughter on a plate to the king to manufacture male scions. And the adolescent friend of the princess becomes the queen. Business marriage is trendy in fantasyland too.
During an emergency at the naval fleet created by the creature named the Crabfeeder, the king refuses to intervene to prevent war with free cities. In contrast, Daemon does not shy away from showing his daredevilry. The king is busy fathering heirs and celebrating birthdays when people suffer. In the fight between the sea snake and the crabfeeders, Daemon shows exceptional bravery and deceit to win the game. Meanwhile, the royal carriages carry a fully pregnant teenage queen and hundreds of attendants to celebrate the birth anniversary of young prince Aegon. The audience pities the young mother, who is exhausted from ceaseless births.
The greed of adults creates damage to the friendship between two young girls. Lust for power drives Daemon to take his adolescent niece to a whore house. Their sexual interaction gets interrupted due to the daemon’s hesitation. The princess, in contrast, fulfills her body’s desire by sleeping with Sir Criston Cole. The Queen’s father, Sir Otto, makes sure the king knows about his daughter’s adventures. It leads to the marriage between the son of Valerian’s house and the princess.
The audience is amazed by the time jump seen in the sixth episode. Most of the female characters are changed. And the king is still alive, despite vomiting blood and fainting on several occasions. Many critics anticipated that King Viserys may have died. But he is alive nevertheless. His erstwhile teenage wife is old and mature.
The HBO max fantasy series holds the promise of a good storyline in upcoming episodes as the interest of viewers is piqued by the transformation of characters. If ‘Games of Thrones’ was filled with action, thrills, wars, and battles, then ‘The House of Dragon’ is mostly seen as a family drama where members brawl for the throne. It is seen that dragons are not used to their full, and there is not much use of visual effects, which are present in the ‘Lord of the Rings.’ It is too early to state if there will be more adventurous scenes involving dragons, battles, or fights.