“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend to the Iron Throne.”
The official teaser trailer for the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon, is here, and with it, the beginning of the end of the Reign of House Targaryen—two hundred years prior to the events of the original series. Let’s get into it.
The Trailer
At the beginning of the trailer, we see Emma D’Arcy as an older Rhaenyra Targaryen looking over the water as narration from Corlys Velaryon’s voice-over takes us back to Westeros: “What is the brief, mortal life if not the pursuit of legacy.”
We then see two of the rival players in this story: Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower.
Next, we jump to King’s Landing where, inside the palace, Rickard Stark, Corlys Velaryon, and Boremund Baratheon pledge their allegiance to King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) and his heir, Rhaenyra Targaryen (a younger version played by Milly Alcock).
Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) then tells the younger Rhaenyra the quote I shared above over scenes of violence playing out.
A new major character appears walking into the hall, Lady Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) approaches and kisses King Viserys’ cheek. Her father, Ser Otto, declares, “We play an ugly game. You have the determination to win it.”
Next, comes a montage of dramatic scenes highlighting the growing tensions and factions between these two families, with one key moment of Alicent attempting to stab adult Rhaenyra.
Finally, there’s a shot of Matt Smith’s Daemon face to face with a dragon—as Corlys closes us out again with: “History does not remember blood. It remembers names.”
Booo, should have been, “it remembers fires.”
Anyway, the battle for the future of House Targaryen now has its players.
What We Know Based on Westeros History
Because getting into more about these characters is pretty much a spoiler for some aspects of the show they are trying to keep secret, I’m going to give a SPOILER WARNING here if you don’t want to know any more about the story. Okay, here we go.
I’ve written about the Targaryen Civil War a.k.a. The Dance of Dragons before in much more detail, but for just this teaser trailer, here is what’s key to know:
The main storyline is based on a period of British civil war known as the Anarchy. So, if you know your British history, you’ll be able to see where things go.
During the reign of Viserys I (Paddy Considine), he does not have any sons with his first wife. However, he decides that his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), will become the first queen of Westeros. However, the Hand of the King, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), plans to marry his daughter, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), to the king. This creates a power struggle between those who support Rhaenyra, which includes Matt Smith’s Prince Daemon Targaryen, and those who support the Hightowers.
The Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) dialogue comes from the fact that she was supposed to be Queen of Westeros as the only child of Aemon Targaryen, who was heir to the throne. Her grandfather, Jaehaerys I Targaryen, however, passed her over as heir and gave it to her uncle, Baelon.
Many were opposed to this. Eventually, Rhaenys gave birth to a son, Laenor Velaryon. When Baelon died, but Jaehaerys was still kicking along, old as dragon balls, it was decided that the new heir should be Baelon’s son Viserys who would become Viserys I.
As we know from Game of Thrones, the only woman to ever sit on the throne is Cersei Lannister with her own kind of fire and blood.
It is the kind of family drama that can only get more dangerous with dragons. What did you think of the new trailer? Any theories?
(featured image: HBO)
