House of the Dragon

[IrishBhoy]

 Any Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fans going to be watching this prequel? From what I can gather it looks like it’s been given a budget that will allow it to compete at the same level as the later seasons of GoT, potentially more depending on how well received it is. 
 

Set around 2-300 years prior to the events in Game of Thrones, it tells the story of a Targaryen civil war where siblings are set against each other for the right to the Iron Throne, at a time when the Targaryens were in no short supply of dragons. George R.R. Martin seems to have had a influential role in the direction of the series, and many people who worked on the original GoT series have returned for this one, including Ramin Djawadi who done such an excellent job as musical composer. 
 

I’ve seen a few YouTube videos where they show images from the sets of Kings Landing, Dragonstone and Harrenhall. From those images it looks like they have went into unbelievable detail to keep Westeros true to what we have seen in GoT, and also true to the original Ice and Fire book series. I bought the books during lockdown but have only managed to finish A Game of Thrones so far, and I’m about a third of the way through A Clash of Kings. I know this series doesn’t rely at all on any book material but it’s given me the motivation to go and try and finish the book series first. GRRM has a certain style of writing that I know is not to everyone’s taste, but I find his overly descriptive approach brings a clarity to his words and allows for a deeper understanding of character traits and personalities; which is helpful in a book where not everyone is telling the truth to the reader and it’s up to you to find a characters ulterior motives.
 

I hope the producers of House of the Dragon take the criticism of the later seasons of GoT on board, where character dialogue was ignored for fancy special effects. I think most people would agree that the political manoeuvring of characters like Littlefinger and Varys was what made the early seasons of GoT so good, so I hope they lean heavily on those kind of storylines. 

[Rodhull]

Yeah, I have high hopes for this as a big fan of the previous show and the books. Wasn't expecting too much with the way the show ended but have been sufficiently hyped by the recent trailers and coverage. 

The events of this series are mentioned briefly in the original book series but covered pretty extensively in the separate book Fire and Blood. It's written by Martin in a very different style though, kind of as a non fiction account written well after the fact and maesters are using several separate sources to try and piece together what really happened. It covers all the major events but leaves nearly all the specific details vague or unknown so the people doing the show should still have a lot of creative licence to mould the show as they see fit. 

It'll be interesting to see how many series they plan for the show to last. The story  covers a pretty long period of time but they could easily wrap it up in a series of two or stretch it out for quite a few depending on how in depth they want to get. 

[IrishBhoy]

On 29/07/2022 at 02:24, Rodhull said:

Yeah, I have high hopes for this as a big fan of the previous show and the books. Wasn't expecting too much with the way the show ended but have been sufficiently hyped by the recent trailers and coverage. 

The events of this series are mentioned briefly in the original book series but covered pretty extensively in the separate book Fire and Blood. It's written by Martin in a very different style though, kind of as a non fiction account written well after the fact and maesters are using several separate sources to try and piece together what really happened. It covers all the major events but leaves nearly all the specific details vague or unknown so the people doing the show should still have a lot of creative licence to mould the show as they see fit. 

It'll be interesting to see how many series they plan for the show to last. The story  covers a pretty long period of time but they could easily wrap it up in a series of two or stretch it out for quite a few depending on how in depth they want to get. 

I was contemplating reading Fire and Blood before watching the series but apparently it’s written in the style of a family biography, from the memory of a Targaryen maester who GRRM has said might not have got every detail correct. 

[Rodhull]

8 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

I was contemplating reading Fire and Blood before watching the series but apparently it’s written in the style of a family biography, from the memory of a Targaryen maester who GRRM has said might not have got every detail correct. 

It's a decent read but can't imagine it being crucial. I bought it when the kindle version was on sale so was glad to do that but not sure if I'd say its worth full price. 

As you say it's a Maester writing a historical text about the reigns of the Targaryens and normally quoting several eye witness accounts of most major events. Many of which he explains may not be completely reliable for one reason or another. 

I'm not even sure if I finished it or not but it fills a hole for now with the long wait for book 6.

[LongTimeLurker]

Really wouldn't bother trying to read it. Not as bad as Tolkein's Simarillion but similarly different from ASOIAF to the extent of being quite turgid in comparison. The three Dunc & Egg novellas are a much better read and it's really too bad that he spent so much time on Fire & Blood rather than finishing that project off along with Winds of Winter. Cynical observers might even suggest he rattled off a relatively low quality tome to meet some contractual obligation with his publisher and/or set up another major pay day with HBO.  Season 8 of GoT was so comically bad that the goose that laid the golden egg may be beyond resuccitation at this point unless the script writers on this project are very good because Fire & Blood doesn't have the dialogue from GRRM that helped make Seasons 1-4 so good. 

[Craig fae the Vale]

I quite enjoyed Fire and Blood, wasn't anything like the main series, but I thought it was a decent read. Looking forward to this series, just hope the writing is up to scratch.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

Not read Fire and Blood, I have The World of Ice and Fire, which is a similar encyclopedia/history type book written by a Maester. Reckon this series will be decent though, despite not being Martin's writing, as they've got the ambiguity and wiggle room to do some cool stuff. A Knight of the 7 Kingdoms/Dunc and Egg series would have been better though.

ASOIAF is never getting finished.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

On 29/07/2022 at 01:55, IrishBhoy said:

 Any Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fans going to be watching this prequel? From what I can gather it looks like it’s been given a budget that will allow it to compete at the same level as the later seasons of GoT, potentially more depending on how well received it is. 
 

Set around 2-300 years prior to the events in Game of Thrones, it tells the story of a Targaryen civil war where siblings are set against each other for the right to the Iron Throne, at a time when the Targaryens were in no short supply of dragons. George R.R. Martin seems to have had a influential role in the direction of the series, and many people who worked on the original GoT series have returned for this one, including Ramin Djawadi who done such an excellent job as musical composer. 
 

I’ve seen a few YouTube videos where they show images from the sets of Kings Landing, Dragonstone and Harrenhall. From those images it looks like they have went into unbelievable detail to keep Westeros true to what we have seen in GoT, and also true to the original Ice and Fire book series. I bought the books during lockdown but have only managed to finish A Game of Thrones so far, and I’m about a third of the way through A Clash of Kings. I know this series doesn’t rely at all on any book material but it’s given me the motivation to go and try and finish the book series first. GRRM has a certain style of writing that I know is not to everyone’s taste, but I find his overly descriptive approach brings a clarity to his words and allows for a deeper understanding of character traits and personalities; which is helpful in a book where not everyone is telling the truth to the reader and it’s up to you to find a characters ulterior motives.
 

I hope the producers of House of the Dragon take the criticism of the later seasons of GoT on board, where character dialogue was ignored for fancy special effects. I think most people would agree that the political manoeuvring of characters like Littlefinger and Varys was what made the early seasons of GoT so good, so I hope they lean heavily on those kind of storylines. 

Slightly jealous that you're reading the books for the 1st time. 

Until you get to the point where you realise how much the show butchered characters and storylines in the last 4 seasons.

[IrishBhoy]

On 04/08/2022 at 18:52, Stringer Bell said:

Slightly jealous that you're reading the books for the 1st time. 

Until you get to the point where you realise how much the show butchered characters and storylines in the last 4 seasons.

I must say I am really enjoying the books, it’s slow progress but the story just comes alive in your head with the overly descriptive writing style used. 
 

I sort of wish that I had read the books before watching the TV series as I’ve already got a face for most of the characters, when I think I would have preferred my imagination to make the appearances of the characters. 

[D Angelo Barksdale]

35 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

I must say I am really enjoying the books, it’s slow progress but the story just comes alive in your head with the overly descriptive writing style used. 
 

I sort of wish that I had read the books before watching the TV series as I’ve already got a face for most of the characters, when I think I would have preferred my imagination to make the appearances of the characters. 

Yeah, although I think it can make you appreciate how well they did with some of the castings in the show. Especially the Lannisters. There's also a few interesting characters as you progress through the books that got little or no screen time.

[IrishBhoy]

58 minutes ago, Stringer Bell said:

Yeah, although I think it can make you appreciate how well they did with some of the castings in the show. Especially the Lannisters. There's also a few interesting characters as you progress through the books that got little or no screen time.

I’ve sort of ruined that for myself by looking online and reading up about all the characters that are book only. I’ve met a couple so far. Am I right in saying the Red Priestess’ play a bigger part in the book story than they do in the show? 
 

I always thought the TV show should have explored more storylines that involved the magic of the world. Daenerys’ storyline in Qarth involved a lot of those themes, and a red priestess appeared and gave a warning to Jorah  Mormont, but it was hardly mentioned again after that. 
 

 

[D Angelo Barksdale]

5 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

I’ve sort of ruined that for myself by looking online and reading up about all the characters that are book only. I’ve met a couple so far. Am I right in saying the Red Priestess’ play a bigger part in the book story than they do in the show? 
 

I always thought the TV show should have explored more storylines that involved the magic of the world. Daenerys’ storyline in Qarth involved a lot of those themes, and a red priestess appeared and gave a warning to Jorah  Mormont, but it was hardly mentioned again after that. 
 

 

Aye, there's quite a bit more about the Red Priests and their motives and the prophecies in the book. You only get Melissandre and Thoros in the show, but you meet a couple of others in the book and also visit their main temple in Volantis.

I would agree with the magic thing, although I can understand why the show mostly concentrated on the Dragons and Direwolves. There's a couple of characters and storylines heavy with magic that develop in the later books that were cut completely from the show.

 

[IrishBhoy]

3 hours ago, Stringer Bell said:

Aye, there's quite a bit more about the Red Priests and their motives and the prophecies in the book. You only get Melissandre and Thoros in the show, but you meet a couple of others in the book and also visit their main temple in Volantis.

I would agree with the magic thing, although I can understand why the show mostly concentrated on the Dragons and Direwolves. There's a couple of characters and storylines heavy with magic that develop in the later books that were cut completely from the show.

 

Good to know. I’m not the fastest reader but I had been trying to get through a few chapters of A Clash of Kings each night and I’m currently about three quarters of the way in, but I’ve started reading a book on how to play Game Theory Optimal Poker which is about 800 pages deep, so ACoK is on the back burner for a week or so. I don’t like to read more than one book at a time, and I have a habit of dreaming about the books subject matter once I fall asleep. If I tried to mix ACoK with the Poker book I would be dreaming about Joffrey Baratheon going all-in with jack ten against Robb Starks pocket aces. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by IrishBhoy

[IamKim]

Can somebody help me out on how to watch house of dragons outside US? By anywhere I mean people who are living outside US?

Edited August 22, 2022 by IamKim

[IrishBhoy]

On 17/08/2022 at 11:58, IamKim said:

Can somebody help me out on how to watch house of dragons from anywhere? By anywhere I mean people who are living outside US?

It’s going to be on Sky Atlantic in the UK, and I imagine it’s going to be on almost every illegal streaming platform moments after its premier on HBO. I don’t think you will have much trouble finding a way to watch it as long as you have access to the internet. 

[MONKMAN]

The trailers look incredible.  I'll be setting an alarm for 3am tomorrow morning to watch it.

[UpInTheAyr]

Good reviews coming out about this (first episode already leaked). Not quite as enthused myself, still bitter after the hatchet job the did on the original series. What could have been the best tv series ever turned into a laughing stock.

Could this be the last great HBO show with it being gutted by Discovery with the merger?

[Loki]

I can’t wait for the Discovery specials “Hardhome Killer Walkers, are they real?” and “When Dragons Attack”.  I remember when Discovery was about good quality documentaries,  now it’s just utter trash tv.

Anyway I watched the episode and it is very much in the realm of setting everything in place.  It was enjoyable and looking forward to the rest.  Matt Smith is incredibly good.

[Homer Thompson]

Very enjoyable first episode, obviously setting things up for what's to come. 

Really strong Game of Thrones vibes 

[Rodhull]

Yeah thought that was pretty decent.