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House of the Dragon premiering August 21

First episode dropped and short review, it's good, folks. Show and book spoilers below:

Top to bottom this looks like a really good production. Writing, acting, costumes, sets, cinematography, all come together in a really good way, this is a really nice show to watch.

All the characters are well-acted and I like the little mannerisms they give them which really make them more endearing, like Alicent picking her nails or Viserys being a nerd with his tabletop wargaming set. My friends and I talked it over and I'm pretty sure he mains Stormcast Eternals. I also like the look into the Hightowers whose motivations are kind of veiled in Fire and Blood. Rhaenys got a nice moment but we didn't get much from the Velaryons, hopefully there's more of them next episode.

Rhaenyra and Alicent are also kinda gay.

Matt Smith is playing an incredible heel in the form of Daemon, whose defining trait isn't just that he's a cop, but that he invented being a cop. It's amazing, he literally gives like a Thin Gold Line speech. What a creep, can't wait for the King's Landing riots.

People are talking about the big reveal that Aegon the Conqueror foresaw the Others returning and wanted to unite the realm to fight them, I'm kind of ambivalent on that reveal but given GRRM's involvement in this show I'm fairly sure this will be book canon as well, so that's interesting.
 
It says something when Viserys Targaryen, who before this I generally regarded as a useless boob of a king, was legit one of my favorite characters. Really solid writing and acting.
 
ScottishMongol said:
GRRM was right, he really does have this quiet dignity, the show captures the tragedy of a guy who really had no business being king.
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Definitely, you can tell he's in over his head even though he's trying

Daemon is 100% right, the Council fundamentally is a bunch of scheming assholes and Hightower is an asshole. What with immediately bringing up succession issues and Kind of whoring out his daughter. Daemon's an awful person but he does seem to legit care for his family.
 
Teen Spirit said:
Definitely, you can tell he's in over his head even though he's trying

Daemon is 100% right, the Council fundamentally is a bunch of scheming assholes and Hightower is an asshole. What with immediately bringing up succession issues and Kind of whoring out his daughter. Daemon's an awful person but he does seem to legit care for his family.
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I mean, not really, Daemon is a cop who's grooming his niece. Sure Otto is pushing Alicent into a relationship with Viserys which is bad, but he has a very good reason to want to keep Daemon as far from the throne as possible.
 
ScottishMongol said:
I mean, not really, Daemon is a cop who's grooming his niece. Sure Otto is pushing Alicent into a relationship with Viserys which is bad, but he has a very good reason to want to keep Daemon as far from the throne as possible.
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True, very true. Admittedly I think my old biases towards the blacks effected my judgement. Though admittedly what Otto did with Alicent was probably the biggest "What the fuck is wrong with you" moment of the episode for me.
 
Teen Spirit said:
True, very true. Admittedly I think my old biases towards the blacks effected my judgement. Though admittedly what Otto did with Alicent was probably the biggest "What the fuck is wrong with you" moment of the episode for me.
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Not even Viserys killing his wife by putting her through a fatal operation without her consent?
 
ScottishMongol said:
Not even Viserys killing his wife by putting her through a fatal operation without her consent?
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The lack of consent was a major WTF but it was very clearly laid out that it was either "Lose your wife or lose both", there's no way to handle a breech birth with that technology in a way that keeps the mother alive. He should have handled it so much better for sure though, like holy fuck dude try not make your wife's last moments one of terror and agony.
 
stratigo said:
I mean, the failure also lays on the shoulders of HBO too, not just dnd.

And, like, the current ceo of HBO is a fucking moron.
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Very true.
Teen Spirit said:
Definitely, you can tell he's in over his head even though he's trying

Daemon is 100% right, the Council fundamentally is a bunch of scheming assholes and Hightower is an asshole. What with immediately bringing up succession issues and Kind of whoring out his daughter. Daemon's an awful person but he does seem to legit care for his family.
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Daemon telling Viserys that
Otto is a grasping cunt
was a highlight of the episode lol.

Really good premiere, very happy with it. The costuming and armor also looks like its really on a whole other level over GOT. They weaved together character work, exposition and worldbuilding together really well.
 
Rhaegar I said:
Viserys really should sack both of them, since between the two of them they'll drive Westeros to the Dance.
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Unfortunately while you can fire a noble from being your advisor, you can't fire your brother from being part of the line of succession (unless you kill him, which is kinslaying). This episode really does drive home why everyone was desperate to find someone other than Daemon to be heir.
 
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ScottishMongol said:
Unfortunately while you can fire a noble from being your hand, you can't fire your brother from being part of the line of succession (unless you kill him, which is kinslaying). This episode really does drive home why everyone was desperate to find someone other than Daemon to be heir.
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That's true, and I can't say I blame Otto for immediately wanting Viserys to have a new wife, even if it's kind of disgusting he's "nudging" his clearly reluctant daughter to be the new wife. I do wonder how that little plot will play out now that Viserys very publicly declared his daughter the new heir.
 
Teen Spirit said:
Admittedly I think my old biases towards the blacks effected my judgement.
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Given the show's casting choices, I really wonder if they're still gonna use the old terms for the two Targaryen factions, or giving it now a different context with the greens now calling Rhaenya's people the blacks solely for Velaryon's skin-colour, kinda like how the Corleones were called the Irish Mob by their enemies due to them making an adopted Irish person their consieligere.
 
Gul Damar said:
Given the show's casting choices, I really wonder if they're still gonna use the old terms for the two Targaryen factions, or giving it now a different context with the greens now calling Rhaenya's people the blacks solely for Velaryon's skin-colour, kinda like how the Corleones were called the Irish Mob by their enemies due to them making an adopted Irish person their consieligere.
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Nah, the trailers already established there will be a scene of Rhaenyra wearing a black dress while Alicent wears a green one. The original source of the faction names is going to stay. Odds are the Velaryians being black will only be brought up in relation to the Strong bastards (with the kids all being white being seen as evidence that Laenor Velaryian isn't their father), if at all.
 
Screencaps from the tourney:

Lord Baratheon


Knight Line-Up (House Bolton!)


Ser Gwayne Hightower:


Ser Vardis' armor from Tyrion's Trial by Combat (S1, GOT) makes a brief return:


A knight of House Mallister and ... not sure:


A knight of House Lannister having a bad day:


And a knight of House Stark having an even worse one (maybe that's why Lord Rickon looked so annoyed at the end?)


Ser Criston's appropriately quite crappy looking armor:


And Daemon's lovely set:

 
So is that scale armor on Daemon's stomach a historical thing? Either way, it looks fantastic and the winged helm is appropriately big.

I think there's some shots where it looks a little foamy? I don't know if it's full on proper steel but it doesn't seem like it. It looks better in motion than in screenshots.
 
Hykal94 said:
So is that scale armor on Daemon's stomach a historical thing? Either way, it looks fantastic and the winged helm is appropriately big.
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I doubt there's a direct historical equivalent, closest might be lamellar armor?

I think there's some shots where it looks a little foamy? I don't know if it's full on proper steel but it doesn't seem like it. It looks better in motion than in screenshots.
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Sadly the best armor they've made - in terms of realism - is still Loras' Season 2 set, when Brienne is first introduced.
 
No wonder Daemon lost, he was wearing rubbery prop armor and everyone else was just wearing normal plate armor.

(Which, I have heard the point that Westerosi technical stagnation is a big missed opportunity here: could have gone with less advanced mail armor as standard to have a different aesthetic for the show's "English Anarchy with Dragons" thing).
 
For whatever reason, it seems getting good mail is pretty expensive, despite the fact you can dress extras or people in the back with fake wool mail. It's why prop departments have this rubbery ass looking thing.

It's also partly a safety thing. I have no doubt the reason why Aegon's horns is probably something soft is to protect Matt Smith's neck.
 
Hykal94 said:
For whatever reason, it seems getting good mail is pretty expensive, despite the fact you can dress extras or people in the back with fake wool mail. It's why prop departments have this rubbery ass looking thing.

It's also partly a safety thing. I have no doubt the reason why Aegon's horns is probably something soft is to protect Matt Smith's neck.
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It's also almost certainly also a concession to comfort and convenience for the actors. The actors are going to be on set for 12+ hours a day - even when they're not acting (a shot can be as brief as a few seconds or as long as a few minutes) they're going be rehearsing with the director or fight choreographer, talking with each other to figure out some last minute acting ideas, having a coffee, taking a smoke break, sitting around, etc (being on set is a combination of hours of mind numbing tediousness with minutes of "Holy fucking shit" excitement).

Those kinds of costumes are pretty elaborate to get in/out of and once the actor (and the stunt team) are strapped in that's pretty much it for the day, so you want to hit that sweet spot between "looks realistic" and "isn't going to give Matt Smith heatstroke".
 
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