Commentary: ‘House Of The Dragon’ Wisely Got More Dragons
by Frank Martin
The announcement of House of the Dragon was met with a lot of excitement from Game of Thrones fans. Dragons were a big hit on the show, and although they had significant impact at the end of the series, fans were still left wanting more of the iconic fantasy creatures. HotD was meant to satisfy that craving by focusing on the powerful House Targaryen and their dominance over Westeros using dragons at the height of their power. Unfortunately, the first season did not completely deliver on this promise. Now that the show has entered its third season, viewers are getting more than enough dragon action to satisfy them.
The Targaryen Civil War is in full swing as Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) has sent out her dragons to battle the armies fighting on behalf of her nephew Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney). She even recruits those who have traces of Targaryen blood in their veins to add more dragon riders to her roster. After making a deal with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), Rhaenyra rides her dragons to King’s Landing and takes her place on the Iron Throne, finally become the new ruler of Westeros.
The introduction of war into the story helped a lot in terms of showcasing the dragons. There were some present previously. However, they didn’t see a whole lot of action because there wasn’t a lot of combat to utilize them in. Since House Targaryen was split, both sides of this conflict had dragons at their disposal. With war ramping up, the audience get to see what it’s like deploying multiple dragons into combat situations in a grander way than they were in Game of Thrones or the first HotD season. It took a while to get here in full, but the prequel series is truly living up to the name.
House of the Dragon is now streaming on HBO Max.
