[TV] House of the Dragon

[Fencers]

Of course, this was the wrong thing to do with Criston, but the redhead probbably thought Criston and Rhaenyra were like him and Laenar.

He did that to let Cole know he had leverage over him. Not to be friendly.

[AcidicSyn]

He did that to let Cole know he had leverage over him. Not to be friendly.

Opening with his own secret was probably not the best way to go about that.

[Fencers]

Opening with his own secret was probably not the best way to go about that.

It wasn't a "secret".

[Fortress of Arrogance]

It wasn't a "secret".

publicly known secret is still a secret, though

[Koriani]

I don't think there's any logic intended to it. She's a teenager who was heavily intoxicated, very likely had just been sexually touched for the first time and exposed to extreme live sexual acts also likely for the first time. Then on top of it you have her uncle basically flaunting he as a man can do this whenever he pleases. When she knows her future is basically to be like Alicent and to have sex out of duty and not out of desire.

I think that entire scene is to show you that even the most reasonable people can succumb to temptation in the right circumstances. Doing so is simply human.

And I can get that might have been their (the writers') purpose - I just disagree they pulled it off 'successfully' in the way (or setup) they chose. (For me)

Maybe it works better in the book, as I understand (Possibly wrongly!) the Princess in the book is closer to 12/13 and not 18? (if that's all that was setup/provided in the book, I don't know how much detail was spent on it or not, or even if that's how it played out in the book). The level of "succumbing to temptation despite all consequences" stupidity works better, or is less jarring, as something a 12/13 year old might do vs. an 18 year old in this sort of powerful position. There is a lot of brain maturation in those 5 years (and even more so for the guard who's at least 21).

And I DO get it IS "simply human" and that, historically, yes, Royal affairs leading to death and war and imprisonment are all over the real world timeline =D. We don't need to get into which ones struggled with their decisions or how much thinking went into it or how old etc, that gets into real world history and as much as I'm a student of the historical biography/medieval royal genre, too much sidetracking and pointless .

Its just THIS writing-setup (or lack thereof), in THIS reality of Westeros, with THIS character (Princess more so than the Guard, who we are given much less about overall) and how they had portrayed her up until that point - the impulsive 'break' in character just didn't work for me. At all.

As I said before I think that's my bigger issue - the writing not presenting, until that MOMENT, a woman who was impulsive or rash in her thinking or decision-making. (Quite the opposite, IMO.) As I said in my prior post, a few scenes of a few minutes here or there, indicating this impulsivity was also part of her personality or thought process somewhere. They DID take the time, at least for one brief scene, to show how coldly uncaring she COULD be, selfish and inconsiderate of even men killing themselves in front of her for no reason (the scene of Suitors where she walks out in the middle of the duel where the boy kills the man without even a word to say - save a life and tell them if they fought like children she would pick none of them or something.). But that wasn't her being impulsive with her own life and safety and freedoms. Just uncaring what happened to anyone she saw as 'less than' or 'irrelevant' to her. Starting to show that "none of these characters are 'great people'."

Hell, by the time she's on the dance floor before her wedding - she's verbally-sparing with Daemon about that night as if she's a practiced consort. As if no, that night wasn't her first time ever being touched by a man or seeing people having sex. That after that 'tease and leave' this supposedly "so inexperienced she succumbs to the first horny feeling she has and risks the lives of two people to have sex RIGHT NAO" she's suddenly strong and sure enough to stand toe to toe with her Uncle, in public, on a dance floor, and taunt him for what happened? Eh - the person she is before, and after, the one night of passion just makes the one night of passion fit less and less. (to me) Alcohol doesn't cover (or excuse) all that.

Now, the decision making AFTER that event, was as expected and fit with the Princess's character as previously presented. All of that worked just fine. Her arrogance in believing she can pull off "I can marry this guy and we can both have affairs and it will all be fine" is pretty typical and standard and something we've seen x100 times before both in IRL AND in this series already with the original GoT (book series) time period. Her rejection of the Guard's offer - dead on expected, made sense, fit. I thought it naïve and ignorant of the Guard to confess to the Queen, but as presented it also made sense as an act of desperation and, given what we NOW know of the Guard, isn't surprising he's /still/ naïve and ignorant. But, at the same time, with how impactful and heavy he found his guilt to be, after the fact, for his Honor - just makes me less able to believe he would have made the original decision and 'succumbed' in the first place, without a moments hesitation - but, I digress. The writing and character logic /after/ the night of passion all works fine to me. Its just the "one stupid night" that, to me, left a bad taste in my mouth for the way they chose to portray it. (The taste of GoT Season 8)

But again - one scene. I'm still happy with the show and know that until we see two or three more "major character/plot decisions" like this play out in the show, I certainly can't claim there's a 'Pattern' here of writers jumping the shark for these moments in plot movement or character decision making. I'm not saying its all GoT Season 8! =D Just hoping it was a fluke in this setup for this particular plot point and NOT something we start seeing more often. I'd rather have a new show I enjoy!

[Myradin]

It wasn't a "secret".

It was likely a secret to some extent.

Yes his parents know, and Rhaenyra knows because as they said, she grew up around him. But i'm pretty sure it'd be something their house would like to keep a hush on what with wanting to continue their house and all.

[Ihavewaffles]

[Syegfryed]

Im gonna start saying that i dislike Game of thrones and the universe of the song of ice chronicles, not because is bad(while i do think is overrated), but because its a narrative that is build in a way that does not please me, as i rather read/watch stories that follow one person or a group instead..

But House of the dragon is actually enjoyable to me, maybe because it focus a smaller cast, but i did like more than GoT and it definitely miles better than Rings of Onion shit series over there, the difference in dialogue and narrative is absurd, in the very first episode it was more of a ride than 4 episodes of that crap.

The only bs moment that i can think of right now is Daemon and the arrows, but he does get shot later at least, while in another show they would prob stop the arrows with their teeth.

[Cynical Asshole]

He did it as a final favor to Rhaenyra.

He was basically tying off 3 loose ends by removing Laenor's temptation as well as a liability, removing Rhaenyra's potential witness to losing her virginity to a commoner from the King's Guard, as well as preserving his own honor if no one knows he broke his chastity oath.

This way both Rhaenyra's rule as well as his own honor could be saved if no one had any witnesses or evidence of any shameful stuff. Anything remaining would be just pure rumors and speculation, nothing solid.

Having said that, seeing Criston pummel that... redheaded backside mainstream headliner to death was a pleasant sight, if only so a fleeting one, but there are a few questions to ask:
1. Why did he do that(especially that the books described this act in A LOT MORE sensible manner)
2. why in Seven Hells did all the Kingsguard attending the feast do square root of nothing about him murdering a guy and walking away all the way to the Tree?
3. why did the redheaded guy approach him in the first place?


Also, the opening scene of the 11th killing his wife in a complete silence was so off
Also also, starting a feast without the queen? Also also also, queen entering mid-Speech made by the king? and not receiving a sever scold and a reprimand? What?

1. Answered above.
2. They were busing controlling the crowd. These are nobles, they can't just rush them like they are peasants. Also Joffrey was no lord, so there was no priority to stop Cole from pummeling some random. And on top of it, it is assumed that if a member of the King's Guard attacks somebody, that somebody is a threat to the king or is talking shit about the king.
3. Joffrey thought he could start a little clique of secret flings, maybe even have some leverage on Rhaenyra for the future. He obviously didn't know Cole at all, and it was very stupid to just come up to him with that bomb.

[Khaza-R]

I am assuming this episode is going to be when the time skip and changing of actors occurs. So far its only Rhaeneryna and Alicent getting replaced but its going to be weird if they use the same actor for Ser Criston since he's barely older than the two of them.

[Cynical Asshole]

I am assuming this episode is going to be when the time skip and changing of actors occurs. So far its only Rhaeneryna and Alicent getting replaced but its going to be weird if they use the same actor for Ser Criston since he's barely older than the two of them.

Daemon is the same guy since the beginning, obviously because being a Timelord means he doesn't age at all.

[druchii5]

Just starting watching the newest episode but damn...the first scene. They really do show how much it would truly suck to give birth in a period such as this...I'm not a "social justice warrior" or anything, but the show does a good job of portraying how the women characters face just as hard ordeals as the men

[PACOX]

A chess piece moving episode and boy have those pieces moved.

[RH92]

Oh my god, certainly the best episode yet... Was on the edge of my seat the entire time and that last piece of monologue sent chills down my spine.

[Twdft]

Quite the power move by Larys.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Another episode where it was too dark to see anything during certain scenes.

Harwin looked good with the yellow cape on. The only character design that stood out in the show (or maybe it's because the cape was bright enough to stand against the sheer desaturation of the show). Too bad he lost the cape and turned out to be yet another debaucherous character.

I don't understand why Damon's wife killed herself. She still could have had more children. Did she kill herself trying to motivate Damon to go back and become a Dragonlord?

The king is clocking out soon so it seems like the only likeable characters in the show will be, Aemond, Jacaerys, and Lucerys, by virtue of being young boys who haven't sinned yet. We'll be lucky if even one of them remain likeable later on.

- - - Updated - - -

It seems that the cast is stacked against Alicent. Rhaenyra has the merchant fleet house on his side. Damon is also married into the merchant fleet house and liked Rhaenyra, so there is a good chance he'll join her. Alicent just has... what? Otto her father, and... um... yeah that seems to be it.

[RH92]

I don't understand why Damon's wife killed herself. She still could have had more children.

Did the fact she was about to die elude you?

The maester proposed Daemon the same thing as they did to Viserys when Aemma was having major birth complications. Daemon however, couldn't decide to carve her up. Laena took the matters into her own hands and died the way she wanted, a dragonrider's death.

[Khaza-R]

Great episode. Tension and conflict so thick it could be cut by a knife. I am exciting to see the Rhaenerya v Alicent drama continue to unfold.

I don't understand why Damon's wife killed herself. She still could have had more children. Did she kill herself trying to motivate Damon to go back and become a Dragonlord?

She was unable to give birth naturally and was going to die anyway. I suppose she wanted to go out in some heroic way rather than dying as a bed wife. Still kind of fucked up though.

[Warning]

Great fking episode. Holy hell Alicent n Larys are doing so well making themselves into hateable villains. You can really see how the years and the people they spent time with affected everyone. Larys made Alicent worse, Alicent made Cole worse. Laena made Daemon a little more chill.

[Syegfryed]

Did the fact she was about to die elude you?

The maester proposed Daemon the same thing as they did to Viserys when Aemma was having major birth complications. Daemon however, couldn't decide to carve her up. Laena took the matters into her own hands and died the way she wanted, a dragonrider's death.

But did they took the baby out though? it was not clear, i imagined there was a timeframe to do both