This article contains Spoilers for House of the Dragon
House of the Dragonwould not be complete without a few dragon battles, and last week, fans finally got a glimpse of a spectacular two-on-one battle sequence. Among the battle’s biggest fans? None other than series authorGeorge R.R. Martin.
Martin took to his “notablog” in order to praise the episode. Martin gave lofty proclamations about the battle, claiming that no other dragon fight came close to the sequence. Raving about the effectiveness of the sequence, the author said:
“Has there ever been a dragon battle to match it? I seem to recall thatREIGN OF FIREhad a few scenes where a dozen dragons were wheeling through the skies. So, okay, maybe that was abiggerscene, with more dragons on screen… but abetterbattle? I don’t think so. Our guys knocked this one out of the castle. I think they took it as a challenge. And the dragons…”
House of the Dragon
Taking place about 172 years before the events ofGame of Thrones,House of the Dragontells the tale of the rise of the Targaryens, the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria. The popular HBO spinoff show first starred Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower before they were replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who play the older versions of the characters. Also starring in the series is Matt Smith (Prince Daemon Targaryen) and Paddy Considine as Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys Targaryen.
Last week’s battle sequence featured the first official battle of the Dance of the Dragons. Although Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) had been attempting to keep dragons out of the civil war, she realized the futility of her actions, and sent Rhaenys (Eve Best) and her dragon, Meleys, out to do battle with the army of Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). This turned out to have been a trap, however, and Rhaenys was forced to face both Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) on dragonback. While Aegon and his dragon, Sunfyre, were left horribly maimed, Aemond and his dragon, Vhagar,managed to kill Rhaenys and Meleys.
House of the Dragon’s Adaptational Changes
While House of the Dragon has largely been faithful to its source material, Fire & Blood, it has been known to put its own twist on the story. Martin’s latest post also touches on his feelings towards the series' adaptational changes, and it appears that he does have one complaint about the dragons: the heraldry.Martin’s dragons are famously more like wyverns, dragon-like creatures that have two legs and two wings, more like birds.
House of the Dragon Fans React to Alicent Hightower’s ‘Teatime’
One scene in the latest episode of House of the Dragon left some fans confused.
For that reason, Martin took issue with House Targaryen’s heraldry inHouse of the Dragon. Rather than having two legs, as the sigil does in the books,the showrunners opted to use a four-legged dragon on the Targaryen coat of arms. According to Martin,House of the Dragon’s Targaryen heraldry is wrong, but it followsGame of Thrones' use of it:
Someone got sloppy, I guess. Or someone opened a book on heraldry, and read just enough of it to muck it all up. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. A couple years on, HOUSE OF THE DRAGON decided the heraldry should be consistent with GAME OF THRONES.. but they went with the bad sigil rather than the good one. That sound you heard was me screaming, “no, no, no.” Those damned extra legs have even wormed their way onto the covers of my books, over my strenuous objections.
Martin’s reservations about adaptational changes are well-known. He has often reiterated that he believes in separating show canon from book canon. While the draconic heraldry may seem like a small issue, it appears that Martin was making a larger point about changes to his source material. He signs off his post by writing,“Ignore canon, and the world you’ve created comes apart like tissue paper.”
House of the Dragon continues on HBO and Max on Sunday.
