Season 1-Episode 01

The Heirs of the Dragon

The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion. They’re a power man should never have trifled with. One that brought Valyria its doom. If we don’t mind our own histories, it will do the same to us.

Viserys Targaryen, to his daughter Rhaenyra

Major Plot Points: A tourney in honor of the King’s new heir, Aemma Targaryen gives birth, Daemon is granted a new job title, Rhaenyra gets some new responsibilities, Alicent talks to the King about history

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The (highly expository) intro refers to the time as 101 A.C. This means 101 years since “Aegon’s Conquest”.
2. Rhaenys was the daughter of Jaehaerys Targaryen’s eldest son Aemon. This is why some believed she had more right to rule than Viserys, who was the son of Aemon’s younger brother, Baelon.
3. Syrax was Rhaenyra’s dragon, and you can hear Alicent remark she may one day be as large as Caraxes. Caraxes was Daemon’s dragon and his violent temper was legendary.
4. The Velaryons are also from Valyria like the Targaryens. The two families intermarry frequently. In the show the only Velaryon we have seen so far (besides a quick camera pan that shows his 2 white haired children) is Lord Corlys, he’s in the below picture second from the right, next to his wife, Rhaenys, the queen who never was.
5. Rhaenyra and Alicent weren’t described as being such close friends in the book, but the book took a much higher level at describing the events portrayed on the show, so I think it makes perfect sense.
6. Fun little detail I discovered, the marbles that the small council members place on their table before discussion is a tradition that comes from Valyria, where marbles represented honor. So they place them down to display their commitment to being honorable. Definitely doesn’t work but still a cool thing
7. The Baratheons and Targaryens are loosely related from some marriages, which is why Rhaenys calls the Baratheon knight “cousin”.
8. Criston Cole (the guy who beats the Baratheons, and then eventually Daemon) is from the south, and of Dornish descent. At this point in Westeros history, Dorne is not yet part of the Targaryen kingdom. However, King Viserys is still called “King of the Seven Kingdoms”, because they lay claim to it. In actuality the crown has 0 control or power over Dorne.
9. Targaryen’s were forced to “convert” to the Westeros dominant Faith of the Seven in order to appease the people and prevent a religion fueled revolution. However they still followed the strictly Valyrian practice of funeral pyres, and their ashes were all brought to King’s Landing.
10. It is always discussed as a myth, or wives tale, that any ruler who sits upon the Iron Throne and is cut by it, is not fit to rule. It is seen as the throne itself rejecting their sovereignty. Not a great look for our boy Viserys.
11. Some VERY interesting stuff from Viserys at the end here. He mentions that the doom of Valyria was brought upon by the taming of dragons. This is new info for book readers as well, the fall of Valyria is still shrouded in secrecy. Next up, he talks of the fact that Aegon invaded Westeros based on a prophetic dream, which also predicts the Long Night, and by extension, the white walkers. Apparently GRRM made them put this information in the show which means that Aegon had these dreams in the books too. Not as exciting for show watchers who know how it all ends, but this is great for book fans, adds some fresh intrigue for the first time since 2011.
12. Let’s get our tinfoil hats on. Rhaegar Targaryen (Jon Snow’s father, Daenerys’ brother) was seen in a vision by Dany in the House of the Undying (Season 2 blue lipped wizard house from Qarth) playing a song on his harp, and told Dany it was the Song of Ice and Fire (this was book only). We now also hear that Aegon referred to his dream of the Targaryens saving the world from the winter as the same thing. For some unknown reason Rhaegar forsook his wife/children and then ran off with Lyanna Stark. She grew pregnant and then Rhaegar was killed by Robert Baratheon at the Battle of the Trident. It could be imagined that his actions were prompted by a knowledge of this prophecy, hence why he uses the prophecy name in his song

Other Points to Notice

1. Interesting to see how the people of King’s Landing do not find a dragon flying over their city to be anything special at all. No one even looks really. 172 years later things were quite different.
2. The triarchy that is raiding pirates and controlling sea routes mentioned by Otto Hightower surely won’t come up again?
3. The heraldry of the different houses in this show, along with the crazy helmets and armor, was all put in the show at the request of GRRM, who felt that the original Game of Thrones lost some of the magic the books had in terms of ridiculous color and outfits.
4. Immediately we see tension between the king’s brother Daemon and his hand, Otto Hightower. The Hightower’s are the lords of Oldtown, one of the largest cities in Westeros and where the Citadel is located (where the maesters go to school to get their chains and questionable medical knowledge).
5. Alicent does not get an approving look from her father, Otto, when she grants Daemon her favor. It was a power move by Daemon to even ask her, seeing as how he had just beaten her brother in a joust by a dirty play, and was known to never get along with her father on the small council.
6. When Rhaenys remarks that the knights at the tournament were “green as summer grass”, it was very reminiscent of when Catelyn Stark makes the same observation on Renly’s army before he was to fight his brother Stannis in the field. Usually not a great foreshadowing of military prowess.
7. Otto sending his daughter to the King’s chambers can’t be written off as him just trying to help his grieving friend. The fact that he made Alicent wear her mother’s more mature fitting clothes make his intentions pretty clear. The man is certainly ambitious and has no problem using his daughter in a power play.
8. The dagger that Viserys gives Rhaenyra, is in fact the same exact dagger that we first see in S1 of Game of Thrones, when an assassin uses it to attempt to …assassinate Bran Stark. Many conspiracies and plot-lines later, in Season 8 that same dagger is used by Arya to kill the Night King. Very long journey for that knife.
9. “Promise me Rhaenyra, promise me.” is a DIRECT callback to, in my opinion, the most iconic line in Game of Thrones: “Promise me Ned, promise me” said by Lyanna Stark as she held baby Jon Snow in her arms and begged Ned to never reveal his true father. Let us hope this promise does not cause quite as much trouble.

Stray Observations:

1. It’s cool seeing Harrenhall as a place where actual events happened, not just acts of torture and random conversations between Tywin Lannister and Arya.
2. I like how they took the original iron throne that has become so famous from Game of Thrones, and made it look more brutal again.
3. Did you have “watch a man’s peen get sliced off” on your episode 1 bingo card?
4. The tournament in season 1 of Game of Thrones was so much lower budget it’s hilarious. HBO basically could only afford one set of bleachers.
5. Took me my second viewing today to notice that Daemon’s horse has a fucking dragon scale helmet on it. Targaryens take the “dragon” thing way too far sometimes but I’m here for it.
6. I’ve never given birth personally but that no anesthesia C-section was so hard to watch what the fuck HBO.
7. I was shocked when Daemon actually yielded to Criston Cole. Maybe not such a prick after all?
8. Heir for a day. Daemon is incredible. Calling his brother weak was probably not a good move if he wanted to stay in King’s Landing though.
9. The last shot shows Rhaenyra and then plays Daenerys’ theme music. Pretty cool but I kinda hope this show tries to keep its distance from Game of Thrones. I probably could have done without the winter prophecy as well, but if GRRM wanted it in then we just have to hope it does not spiral out of control. People are still mad at the other show’s ending. If you need a refresher on the Game of Thrones finale, past me did a fantastic job covering it here.

RIP: Queen Aemma Targaryen, and the “Heir for a day”.