It promises to hit many of the same beats: large-scale battles, political intrigue, sex (much of it incestuous), fire-breathing dragons, a dash of high fantasy gobbledygook and, of course, a bunch of maddeningly similar names to remember.If you suspect you will struggle to tell your Daemons from your Daerons or your Rhaenyses from your Rhaenyras, this is the article for you.We should stress that you can absolutely go into the series blind and expect it to make sense, even if you never watched Game of Thrones. But a little background knowledge might help make the complex, dense world of Westeros more comprehensible.Here, then, are the essentials.What is the ‘House of the Dragon’?First, a quick history lesson.About 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the continent Westeros was invaded by Aegon Targaryen, subsequently known as Aegon the Conqueror.The Targaryens were foreigners from a land called Valyria, which had been destroyed in a mysterious natural disaster. They were distinguishable by their platinum blonde hair, their tendency to favour inbreeding, and most of all, their ability to tame and ride dragons.The regular human armies of the Westerosi stood no chance against the dragon riders, and so Aegon successfully united six of the continent’s seven disparate kingdoms under his rule, with the seventh to follow later.From the surrendered swords of his enemies, he created the iconic Iron Throne.House Targaryen went on to rule Westeros uninterrupted for almost three centuries, until the so-called “Mad King”, Aerys Targaryen, was overthrown in a rebellion. Aerys’ two surviving children, Viserys and Daenerys, fled across the sea and dreamt of winning back their family’s crown; Daenerys’ quest to do so was one of Game of Thrones’ key plot threads.End of history lesson.As you will have grasped, House Targaryen is the titular House of the Dragon. The prequel show takes place almost 200 years before Game of Thrones, when the Targaryens were at the absolute height of their power, and revolves around a bloody civil war.The main players in the story are Daenerys’ ancestors.Brand new charactersThe good news for those of you who never watched Game of Thrones, or whose memory of that show’s characters and plot are hazy, is that it doesn’t matter. As this series is set so much earlier in the timeline, there won’t be any returning characters to keep track of; no members of the original series’ cast have been born yet.No familiar faces, then. But experienced viewers will recognise a bunch of names. The Starks, Lannisters, Arryns, Freys and Tullys are all there, among other powerful families.The setting should evoke plenty of nostalgia as well, with King’s Landing and Dragonstone serving as the Targaryens’ major seats of power.Expect some key differences from Game of Thrones, though. Most significantly, dragons are still very much around and being ridden into battle. There will be almost 20 different dragons in the prequel series, most of them bonded with a different rider.There are also a couple of important families who did not feature in Thrones.House Hightower, seated in Oldtown, is among the most powerful in the realm. Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, will play a key role in House of the Dragon, as will his daughter Alicent.(If you missed Thrones, the Hand of the King is, as the title suggests, the ruler’s right-hand man. Across the original series, the various hands tended to do most of the governing while their kings focused on less taxing pursuits.)The other new family to watch is House Velaryon, which is based on an island called Driftmark. Like the Targaryens, the Velaryons are of Valyrian descent; you will notice that many of them have the same characteristic platinum hair.The Velaryons are known for their sea power and their riches, which give them immense influence. Lord Corlys Velaryon, nicknamed the Sea Snake, will be a key powerbroker in House of the Dragon.Stream HOUSE OF THE DRAGON express from the US on Binge August 22, or watch on FOXTEL. New BINGE customers get a 14-day free trial. Sign up at binge.com.auDifferent source materialGame of Thrones was based on an unfinished series of novels by George R.R. Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire.The show started as an adaptation, but strayed further from the books as it progressed, and eventually showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss ran out of source material.By the final few seasons, the pair were creating their own plot instead of adapting Martin’s work (he still hasn’t finished the novels). The author had outlined his intended ending to Benioff and Weiss, but they were forced to map their own way there.This awkward situation was to the show’s detriment, and Thrones’ final season ultimately disappointed a great many viewers.There are reasons for both optimism and pessimism with House of the Dragon.On the positive side, the source material is complete this time. The prequel is based on Fire and Blood, a spin-off book from Martin which tells the history of House Targaryen.On the negative side, Fire and Blood is written much more dryly than the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, almost as though it’s a history textbook. That means it lacks the masterful prose, and particularly dialogue, that early seasons of Thrones often lifted directly from the page.So, showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik know the broad outline of their entire story going into House of the Dragon; they won’t need to improvise an ending. But they do need to turn a relatively dry book into something compelling on screen.Spoiler warning: What to expect from the plotWe already mentioned the quick, back-of-the-box premise for House of the Dragon: it will tell the story of a brutal Targaryen civil war, known in-universe as the Dance of the Dragons.If you would like a more specific rundown, read on. But if you want to go into the show blind, stop now. By delving into more details, we’ll be spoiling a few key early plot points and character motivations, which I suspect will form the basis for most of season one.Again: if you don’t want to enter season one with a pretty good idea of how its plot will unfold, stop now.Right then.As the show begins, King Viserys Targaryen sits on the Iron Throne, but the identity of his rightful heir is unclear.The King has only one surviving child, Princess Rhaenyra, and no sons. And as there is a history of men being favoured over women in the line of succession, Viserys’ brother, Prince Daemon, considers himself the proper heir.Tension ensues. Viserys puts an end to it by formally naming Rhaenyra his successor.The situation becomes complicated again when, following the death of his first wife, Viserys remarries. His new, much younger bride is Alicent Hightower, daughter of the King’s Hand, Ser Otto Hightower.Viserys and Alicent have four children together, including three sons. The eldest is named Aegon II, after the Conqueror.Two Targaryen factions emerge, each with its supporters across the kingdoms. They are nicknamed the Greens and the Blacks, the colours derived from gowns famously worn by Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra, respectively, at a great feast.The Greens support placing Aegon, Alicent’s son, on the Iron Throne upon Viserys’ death. The Blacks support Rhaenyra’s claim.Dastardly political machinations occur, and when Viserys finally dies – with Rhaenyra still his named heir – the two factions launch a bloody war for the throne. The Dance of the Dragons.If House of the Dragon follows a similar pace to Game of Thrones, I’d expect the events above – and a great many other things we didn’t mention – to take up most of the show’s first season, with the inciting incident of Viserys’ death happening in the later episodes. But that is just speculation.Of course, that’s all just set-up, with the war that follows providing the meat of the story. You can expect massive battles, dragon fights and, I’m afraid, a lot of close family members going to bed with each other.If you want to know how it all unfolds ahead of time, you can always check out Fire and Blood. But that is where we’ll leave it.Are you hyped for House of the Dragon? Send us your thoughts! @Sam Clench | samuel.clench@news.com.au
Powered by WPeMatico
