Dragon or Driftwood

Sierra McCoy
Oct 11, 2022
6 min read

🚨Stop HERE!! If you have not watched the show The House of Dragons, I ask that you exit NOW and press play...like LITERALLY!! Go Go Go!! Also Spoilers ahead

Ok so now that we've gotten that out of the way, I know and hope those reading have been watching HBO Max's and George RR Martin's latest phenomenon and first prequel series of its name: House of The Dragon.

This is a simple guide to let you know all the players, what's happen so far, and to geek out over the learned history I've gained. I may also point out some minor details that might have been missed.

First Meet the Characters:

House Targaryen

King Viserys-First if his name; king of all 7 seven realms 👑⚔️🐉

Queen Aemma- 1st Wife of Viserys, may she Rest In Peace ⚔️🙏🏽🤰🏼

Rhaenyera Targaryen-First Born Daughter of King and Queen Aemma 👸🏼🐉

House Hightower

Otto Hightower- Hand 🤚 to the King

Queen Alicent Hightower- 2nd Wife to the King; Daughter of Otto

House Velaryean

Lord Corlys-Snake of the Seas; Lord of the High Tides ⚔️🌊⚓️

Princess Rhaenys-Wife of Lord Corlys; Cousin to King Viserys; 👸🏼🐉⚔️🌊

Lady Laena- Daughter of Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys; Wife 1 of Daemon Targaryen 👸🏽🌊🐉

Lord Laenor- Son of Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys; First Inheriter to be lord of the High Tides 🌊⚔️⚓️🐉

So this is the base of your main players for the show. While not a film clearly, this show doesn't lack in providing cinematography and filmatic tatics of drama to make it feel like your at the theater 🎥🎞

The storytelling in this show 'bar none.' Every moment, every scene has surprises and hidden enuendos that make each episode sneak peak more cryptic than the Mayan Empire.

We land in the House of the Dragon at a time where King Viserys is in a position to name the next heir to ever so desired, like this thing is an addiction, and everyone needs an intervention, Iron Throne.

While the King did not earn this throne, the right to name an heir came with the job. And his first wife Queen Aemma, happened to be pregnant at the time.

It didn't work out so well, I'll spare all of us the details of that 🕊 but it left Viserys with only a true option.

Rhaenyra is named heir to the Iron Throne for House Targaryen.

Since the announcement, lines and alliances begin to form, a lot of those of incest. Don't worry I cringe too, I go all the way back to Episode 1 of Game of Thrones. *insert body shakes here*

All the while it seems like, most people just keep begging for things. The main thing is for Rhaenyra's hand.

But King Viserys being #GirlDad he told her she could choose.

So much happens but I'm telling ya baby girl said if I can't find a place to get this pristine white hair pressed, it's gone be a no go 👏🏾Sir 👏🏾Criston 👏🏾Cole 👏🏾

He then becomes a hater of course! And aligns himself with now Queen Alicent *WARNING* there are a lot of time jumps and I'm moving fast to shorten this up.

There are of course people that die, how do they not in anything GoT related. Queen Alicent snd Princess Rhaynera were very close friends but with her father choosing to marry Alicent, it broke immediately.

Since then there's been some wedding and some kids. The first wedding was that of Sir Laenor and Princess Rhaynera to strengthen the power of House Targaryen and House Velaryean. Both of "the old" in GoT world.

Major Red Wedding Flashbacks happened but it wasn't as red ⚔️🙌🏾🙌🏾

We learned that Sir Laenor is a gay man that does not want the responsibility of being a Lord and inheriting the High Tides. By this point he's "fathered" 3 dark haired boys!👶🏻👦🏻👦🏻

So for him to live his life freely some choices had to be made. In all episodes that are available, this is where I give MAJOR dragon eggs(praise) to the editors. They did a wonderful job in making you believe what you hear because while your in shock a plan is a foot ⚔️🕊

I think this is really when we see great film tactics because the movement of the camera really expresses the urgency within the scenes while making time faster then it looks.

"Speed drives drama"

The time in which this plan is happening is on a sad weekend type ordeal, as one of our characters is buried, at sea. Again nobody is safe in GoT ⚔️🌊

At this funeral we start to see the dynamics of the current characters as there's been a bit of a time jump.

Close ups and tight spaces of movement with little to no dialogue serves as a tension builder, it leaves the audience wondering, what's the match being played and who's winning..?

At this particular time we really got to see CGI in a television series really play out interactively with one of the characters. Outside of heavy hitters, such as Marvel, I think HBO really nailed it when it came to Vhagar and other dragons.

To sum it up, an eyeball goes missing forever, child legitimacy is questioned(very obvi why though 👦🏻), a dragon is claimed, an adult gets cut, and blood wedding bells ring 🔔👰🏼‍♀️🤵🏼‍♂️🐉

All while our King Viserys has told people to go bed like 20 times.

Now here are the new players that will take over because as you've read, but I didn't make clear, these was mainly kids acting a fool at a funeral service.

King Viserys & Queen Alicent's Kids

Prince Aegon(already seeing a problem here...? Good 👍🏾)
Princess Helaena (little coo coo but she be knowin 👁)
Prince Aemond(the fire burns deep with this one 🐉🔥)

Princess Rhaynera's Kids

Prince Jacaerys aka Jace- actual father passed, known father "murdered"
Prince Lucerys aka Luke-Samething
Prince Baby Joffrey(not evil, so sweet and adorable)
Unnamed on the way

Prince Daemon Targaryen

Lady Baela- Mother is Princess Laena of House Velaryean; Lord Corlys Daughter
Lady Rhaena- Mother is Princess Laena of House Velaryean; Lord Corlys Daughter
Prince Baby Viserys - Mother Princess Rhaynera; Daemons niece; Heir to Throne
Prince Baby Aegon-Mother Princess Rhaynera; Daemons niece; Heir to Throne

The 2 and Under babies we don't see very often if at all because they can't talk yet 🙌🏾⚔️🐉😂

Now that a new board has been set we find ourselves at another auspicious occasion that rings more suspicious. Lord Corlys, has been severely wounded and the full status of his health is unknown but we do know he's on a boat somewhere on his way back to driftwood.

Our worth is not given, it must be made."

While he's floating along, more sprinkles of succession come start to fall, even though Lord Corlys told his wife, Princess Rhaynese who he wanted to succeed him as his son Sir Laenor is "unavailable."

The main piece of driftwood trying to soak up power is Lord Corly's Brother Vaemond. So much so that everyone has taken a trip to King's Landing to petition their why's of yes and no.

🎶 At the family reunion, who we introducing...🎶

Technically it's King Viserys, to remind everyone who the F he is, to show up for Rhaenyra, and to show how much love he has for his family.

I think this is a moment where we really get to see non verbal healing between 2 brothers as Daemon confidently protects Viserys and helps him get to the throne. It was lovely to see the softness of Daemon through his protective instincts, which we get a glimpse of that moment through his shortly seen(by us the audience) marriage to Princess Laena.

While his actions are RADICAL, like slicing a head in half for questioning the King's running of his house, you can see that Daemon is the carrier of the theme and book title "Fire and Blood." He values EVERYTHING that is true Targaryen but mainly accepts what it can become through his love for Laena and now Rhaenyra.

How shots are framed in the show really give insight to the intimate moments and thought process of characters. There's a moment in Episode 8 where Queen Alicent is holding a meeting with Lord Vaemond and her Father the Hand Otto Hightower, the crew framed her between the cutouts of the chair across the table from her. While it looked like art hanging in a cathedral church wall, it also expressed the trapped feeling Alicent is always in due to taking on, not of her choice, the role of wife and Queen to the King of the Seven Realms.

Now can we say she takes the number Seven and Horoscopes a bit to the extreme....eh it's possible. I mean she did remodel the castle 🏰 🥴

Here's what we've learned in this episode, we see the full dynamics of the family again, Daemon has zero hesitation(cough cough Aemond), the realms are on the brink of war from some "foe," there's like 10 Aegons, Alicent took some whispers to heart, and we said goodbye to King Viserys, First of his name, King of the Seven Realms.

I truly love House of the Dragon, it's been one of the best sequel prequels I've seen. I love jumping into new stories and worlds like this. It was amazing to see people that looked like me in a royal bloodline and even more so I love the twist and turns.

Now we find ourselves wondering the over arching question of Who's going to be on the Iron Throne.

I hope to get to write more about this show and touch more on the cinematic pieces of it. I hope for now you've enjoyed my guide to the players and my passion for fantastic storytelling.

Remember that while we're 172 years away, Winter is Coming.