Game of Thrones - House of the Dragon [HBO]

[JCC]

She didn't kill them because everyone there was protected by plot armor. One of the show runners in the post credits interview all but acknowledged it didn't really make sense.

[hepcat]

We know that Aegon also has numerous bastard children running around.

We know that because we're omniscient viewers in the audience. Most folks in the story don't. Also, just popping up and announcing you're the bastard son of a king isn't much of an assurance you're going to get a welcome wagon and a gift basket with a crown in it.

She had the chance to wipe out pretty much the entire administration right there and then. As JCC says though, the reason she didn't is plot armor related.

[Daveman]

We know that Aegon also has numerous bastard children running around.

We know that because we're omniscient viewers in the audience. Most folks in the story don't.

When we were shown the Homeless Child Fight Club they look at a small, white-haired kid and mention how Aegon has fathered a lot of bastards.

It was a brief bit of dialog, but it was in the show.

[hepcat]

As I said, most folks in the story don't know that though.

[McNutt]

That was my take too. He has bastards running around and that pit child was most likely one of them. He's a pretty shitty guy all around. Burnin's too good for him!

[Jaymann]

We know that Aegon also has numerous bastard children running around.

We know that because we're omniscient viewers in the audience. Most folks in the story don't.

When we were shown the Homeless Child Fight Club they look at a small, white-haired kid and mention how Aegon has fathered a lot of bastards.

It was a brief bit of dialog, but it was in the show.

Setting the stage for The Feral Bastard King.

[EvilHomer3k]

We know that Aegon also has numerous bastard children running around.

We know that because we're omniscient viewers in the audience. Most folks in the story don't. Also, just popping up and announcing you're the bastard son of a king isn't much of an assurance you're going to get a welcome wagon and a gift basket with a crown in it.

She had the chance to wipe out pretty much the entire administration right there and then. As JCC says though, the reason she didn't is plot armor related.

Of COURSE it's plot armor. Everyone has said so. In my original response to you I said, "Obviously Rhaenys can't kill them all because then the show's over. ". But you asked for other reasons so I tried to come up with some.

[hepcat]

I think you have me confused with someone else. I never actually asked you to do that.

[Exodor]

She didn't kill them because everyone there was protected by plot armor. One of the show runners in the post credits interview all but acknowledged it didn't really make sense.

I took it that she didn't kill them as a sort of payback for Alicent having her locked her in her room instead of immediately strung up next to Ser-Guy-Who-Wears-Black-And-tried-to-Get-Out-of-the-Castle-Gate-But-I-Don't-Remember-His-Name.

[El Guapo]

She didn't kill them because everyone there was protected by plot armor. One of the show runners in the post credits interview all but acknowledged it didn't really make sense.

I took it that she didn't kill them as a sort of payback for Alicent having her locked her in her room instead of immediately strung up next to Ser-Guy-Who-Wears-Black-And-to-Get-Out-of-the-Castle-Gate-But-I-Don't-Remember-His-Name.

I do like the post-episode discussions of the episode, but I feel like this is one downside with them. Like one can come up with reasonable-ish reasons why a character does something like this, but then when you hear the showrunners basically say "yeah, a lot of people are going to think that this doesn't make sense", it doesn't really help. Reminds me of the GoT showrunner saying "Dany just forgot about the Iron Fleet."

[pr0ner]

Spoiler:

Aemond fucked things up

[McNutt]

Spoiler:

How do they know Aemond was responsible? I mean, it's a pretty safe bet, but nobody saw it.
I didn't like the bully turn Aemond took in this episode. He's beginning to come off as a bad guy and I was hoping he'd just be someone loyal to his family.

[El Guapo]

Spoiler:

How do they know Aemond was responsible? I mean, it's a pretty safe bet, but nobody saw it.
I didn't like the bully turn Aemond took in this episode. He's beginning to come off as a bad guy and I was hoping he'd just be someone loyal to his family.

Spoiler:

In this episode?? Did you miss him bullying his cousins at the family dinner in Episode 8 right after Viserys managed somehow to create a friendly environment? He's clearly been marked as a bad guy since the last time jump at least.

But in terms of your questions, they probably don't know 100%. BUT the last time that anyone saw Aemond and Lucerys, Aemond was very publicly threatening him and telling him to cut his eye out. Then Lucerys hops on his dragon and flees, Aemond does the same shortly thereafter, and Lucerys isn't seen again...doesn't take a ton to put the pieces together (so to speak).

Plus if someone finds the various dragon bits that fell to earth, that'd make it even clearer.

[McNutt]

Spoiler:

Did you miss him bullying his cousins at the family dinner in Episode 8 right after Viserys managed somehow to create a friendly environment? He's clearly been marked as a bad guy since the last time jump at least.

I would not have applied the "bad guy" label to him before. He had a nasty fight when he was a kid, so I'm not holding that against him. The dinner toast was a total power move. He has a legitimate beef with his nephews' claim to the throne, so it doesn't make him a bad guy to call that out.

This demand for his nephew's eye was what shifted the character into "bad guy" territory. I've always said that stories can be even more interesting when neither of the two people opposed to each other are bad guys and I was hoping this would be the case here.

[coopasonic]

I was really confused when I watched episode 9 thinking it was the season finale and that was a really weird place to end it. Then I watch episode 10 and...

Spoiler:

well... yeah. I can only assume the writers hate us.

Note: That's not really a spoiler, but being cautious.

[Jaymann]

Motto: Never send a dragon to do pigeons work.

[Sudy]

Wasn't it kind of an odd idea to:

Spoiler:

...send your adolescent sons out to potentially hostile kingdoms on dragonback without any kind of escort or support? Sure, "dragons are faster than pigeons" and all, but the younger prince can barely tie his own shoes and his dragon couldn't toast a marshmallow. Aemond beat him there anyway. Rhaenyra was far from correct about the Duke of Vvardenfell's reaction. Obviously she had reservations, but how could she think Lucerys could negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag if something went wrong? She seems smart enough not to be that trusting of the other lords who she clearly recognizes may not fall in line of their own accord.

[Smoove_B]

I don't think so, no. I don't believe there was any expectation of retaliation or violence at this point - everyone seems to be acting like there's still open negotiations and until there's a formal declaration of war, there's no reason to expect hostilities.

I'd need to go back and watch it again but I'm pretty sure I saw a look of surprise on someone's face - that he wasn't expecting what happened to happen and he knows what it now means for the bigger picture.

It certainly sets up where this is all headed.

[coopasonic]

I'd need to go back and watch it again but I'm pretty sure I saw a look of surprise on someone's face - that he wasn't expecting what happened to happen and he knows what it now means for the bigger picture.

Yeah,

Spoiler:

his being shocked

was the most shocking thing about that encounter.

[Smoove_B]

This week there was a lot of name dropping - houses that were big parts of the OG series. Did I miss it or didn't they mention the Greyjoys? I'm not a GoT scholar so maybe I don't understand why they would or wouldn't be named, it was just weird to hear all the other "contemporary" names and nary a Greyjoy.

I guess I'm just confused because I don't recall the Velaryon name coming up in GoT and the Greyjoy name (unless I missed it) isn't mentioned in this show. And yet, both are seemingly nautically awesome.

[El Guapo]

This week there was a lot of name dropping - houses that were big parts of the OG series. Did I miss it or didn't they mention the Greyjoys? I'm not a GoT scholar so maybe I don't understand why they would or wouldn't be named, it was just weird to hear all the other "contemporary" names and nary a Greyjoy.

I guess I'm just confused because I don't recall the Velaryon name coming up in GoT and the Greyjoy name (unless I missed it) isn't mentioned in this show. And yet, both are seemingly nautically awesome.

I thought I heard a reference to the Greyjoys during this or another recent episode. They're not major players at the moment though, so not a focus of discussions for the most part.

IIRC this is ~ 150 years before the events of GoT, so some houses do well and remain during that time (Starks, Lannisters, Baratheons) and some do not. Given that the Velaryons aren't around during GoT, pretty sure they're one of the latter.

[Jaymann]

They haven't grown enough trees yet.

[JCC]

I thoroughly enjoyed the final episode and the first season overall. You know, when I could actually see what was going on in it.

Generally, I find the idea of just the "Game of Thrones" without the White Walker threat that was a part of GoT less interesting. But, this show is excellent and has won me over. The cast is superb. Really excited for season 2. And I guess we might get season 3 as well before we get LOTR season 2. (Spend more money Bezos you bastard. Pick up the pace!)

I also find it hilarious, that the people who run House of the Dragon are puzzled by the fans (paritcularly women) pretty much loving Daemon. It's almost like they don't watch the show. He's just awesome. (And YES, we all know he is a horrible person!) If you want me to root against him, make your antihero less teriffic.

[msteelers]

Wow. Emma D’arcy’s face in that last shot… It’s going to be a LONG wait for season 2.

[hepcat]

It was good. But honestly, I’m more obsessed with the impracticality of having a giant stone stable that you shove red hot coals under in order to create a medieval lite brite map. I mean, I would think that goddamn thing is a friggin’ griddle after 30 minutes.

“Ser Erryk, would you please stop cooking bacon on top of Winterfell? The sizzling is distracting!”

And let’s not even think about someone with their back to it innocently leaning their tushy on it for a second.

Spoiler:

Speaking of Ser Erryk, it’s nice to see the franchise is continuing the conceit that anyone can travel anywhere on this show at the speed of plot. If I’m not mistaken, Rhaenys left Kings Landing on a dragon, he did not. Yet they seem to arrive at Dragonstone at about the same time.

[msteelers]

There was at least a day or two between when those characters arrived, and Dragonstone is not very far from Kings Landing. I think the question is how did he get on the island?

Spoiler:

They showed us that they were specifically keeping an eye out for small boats. So how did this knight just stroll up on the royal funeral like that?

If they said it I missed it.

[hepcat]

What was with the

Spoiler:

scene with Daemon singing show tunes or whatever to Pete's Dragon at one point? Did I miss something (and just to cut most of you off, of course I realize I miss a lot, I'm just asking about this specific instance...for now).

[Smoove_B]

I took that to be:

Spoiler:

Him going under Dragon mount to try and entice one or more of the unclaimed dragons that were mentioned in the last episode. For whatever reason, singing in High Valyrian is part of the ritual and the dragon that came out was a big boi - perhaps on par with Vhagar, the current heavyweight champion of Westeros.

Maybe they explain how the above process works in the books, but to me it's either quasi-magic or big stones.

[hepcat]

Ah, that makes sense.

Spoiler:

That whole incident with the youngest prince and prince one eye (again, i'm done with trying to remember most of the names on this show) was done well. We think that prince one eye is evil...but then we realize after he tries to stop his dragon from treating the youngest prince like bacon bits that he's just a bully. His look of remorse (I'm hoping that was remorse) after the fact brought me back to having SOME sympathy for the character. I really like that actor too. He's just really good in that role.

[McNutt]

Ewan Mitchell as Aemond (the one-eyed prince) is my favorite, and that's saying something because they knocked it out of the park when they cast this show.

One thing I like about this show is that they the cast is believably attractive. Sure, some are certainly very good looking, but it isn't a requirement, like when you see Charlize Theron as the small-town police detective.

[El Guapo]

Ah, that makes sense.

Spoiler:

That whole incident with the youngest prince and prince one eye (again, i'm done with trying to remember most of the names on this show) was done well. We think that prince one eye is evil...but then we realize after he tries to stop his dragon from treating the youngest prince like bacon bits that he's just a bully. His look of remorse (I'm hoping that was remorse) after the fact brought me back to having SOME sympathy for the character. I really like that actor too. He's just really good in that role.

Spoiler:

I wasn't sure whether that was remorse or whether that was "holy shit am I in trouble?" Pretty sure that he wasn't authorized to kill a rival envoy, let alone Rhaenyra's son, and doing that is crossing a point of no return on the impending civil war.

[El Guapo]

I took that to be:

Spoiler:

Him going under Dragon mount to try and entice one or more of the unclaimed dragons that were mentioned in the last episode. For whatever reason, singing in High Valyrian is part of the ritual and the dragon that came out was a big boi - perhaps on par with Vhagar, the current heavyweight champion of Westeros.

Maybe they explain how the above process works in the books, but to me it's either quasi-magic or big stones.

Spoiler:

Yeah, Daemon talks about the unclaimed dragons as part of the balance of power in the pending civil war.
One of Team Black's advantages is that they both control more dragons with riders, and they control the main source of unclaimed dragons as well. If they can find a way to tap the latter, it'd be a huge advantage for them.

[El Guapo]

It was good. But honestly, I’m more obsessed with the impracticality of having a giant stone stable that you shove red hot coals under in order to create a medieval lite brite map. I mean, I would think that goddamn thing is a friggin’ griddle after 30 minutes.

“Ser Erryk, would you please stop cooking bacon on top of Winterfell? The sizzling is distracting!”

And let’s not even think about someone with their back to it innocently leaning their tushy on it for a second.

Spoiler:

Speaking of Ser Erryk, it’s nice to see the franchise is continuing the conceit that anyone can travel anywhere on this show at the speed of plot. If I’m not mistaken, Rhaenys left Kings Landing on a dragon, he did not. Yet they seem to arrive at Dragonstone at about the same time.

Every fantasy universe needs to have its own unique OSHA violations.

[hepcat]

Ah, that makes sense.

Spoiler:

That whole incident with the youngest prince and prince one eye (again, i'm done with trying to remember most of the names on this show) was done well. We think that prince one eye is evil...but then we realize after he tries to stop his dragon from treating the youngest prince like bacon bits that he's just a bully. His look of remorse (I'm hoping that was remorse) after the fact brought me back to having SOME sympathy for the character. I really like that actor too. He's just really good in that role.

Spoiler:

I wasn't sure whether that was remorse or whether that was "holy shit am I in trouble?" Pretty sure that he wasn't authorized to kill a rival envoy, let alone Rhaenyra's son, and doing that is crossing a point of no return on the impending civil war.

In either case, it shows that his intent wasn't to kill.

Every fantasy universe needs to have its own unique OSHA violations.

Science Fiction AND Fantasy. We have the lack of guardrails in most Empire facilities in Star Wars, now we have giant griddle tables in House of the Dragon. Leave that friggin' table on for a few hours, then try to pick up one of your damn metal pawns you placed on Kings Landing earlier that day to show everyone where you went on your vacation and watch the fun.

[EvilHomer3k]

Ah, that makes sense.

Spoiler:

That whole incident with the youngest prince and prince one eye (again, i'm done with trying to remember most of the names on this show) was done well. We think that prince one eye is evil...but then we realize after he tries to stop his dragon from treating the youngest prince like bacon bits that he's just a bully. His look of remorse (I'm hoping that was remorse) after the fact brought me back to having SOME sympathy for the character. I really like that actor too. He's just really good in that role.

Spoiler:

I wasn't sure whether that was remorse or whether that was "holy shit am I in trouble?" Pretty sure that he wasn't authorized to kill a rival envoy, let alone Rhaenyra's son, and doing that is crossing a point of no return on the impending civil war.

In either case, it shows that his intent wasn't to kill.

Every fantasy universe needs to have its own unique OSHA violations.

Science Fiction AND Fantasy. We have the lack of guardrails in most Empire facilities in Star Wars, now we have giant griddle tables in House of the Dragon. Leave that friggin' table on for a few hours, then try to pick up one of your damn metal pawns you placed on Kings Landing earlier that day to show everyone where you went on your vacation and watch the fun.

People used to put hot coals in their bed (made of straw). Putting them under a stone table really isn't a big deal.

Wasn't it kind of an odd idea to:

Spoiler:

...send your adolescent sons out to potentially hostile kingdoms on dragonback without any kind of escort or support? Sure, "dragons are faster than pigeons" and all, but the younger prince can barely tie his own shoes and his dragon couldn't toast a marshmallow. Aemond beat him there anyway. Rhaenyra was far from correct about the Duke of Vvardenfell's reaction. Obviously she had reservations, but how could she think Lucerys could negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag if something went wrong? She seems smart enough not to be that trusting of the other lords who she clearly recognizes may not fall in line of their own accord.

Yes, that was very odd. I assumed they would go with their fiancees/cousins. I was rather surprised when they didn't.

Of course,

Spoiler:

Dragons are also much better protectors than pigeons. I think you can be reasonably sure your prince is safe when he's with a dragon. Just having them land near you is pretty scary for 99% of the population. But they can't protect you against a dragon 5 times their own size. Not in response to you, but I am going to assume that if you find a dragon bit in half it's a pretty easy guess that person with the biggest dragon in Westeros did it. At the very least it narrows the suspects down to two-people.

[hepcat]

People used to put hot coals in their bed (made of straw). Putting them under a stone table really isn't a big deal.

They were completely enclosed inside metal containers though. There's a difference between shoving an open Weber grill with red hot coals under your mattress and sticking a closed metal pot filled with hot coals under your mattress a few hours before bedtime. Now, if we can get a breakdown of the tables material, I might be less inclined to file a report with the Dragonstone City Council.

p.s. this is all just goofy banter. I'm not REALLY going to report anyone to the City Council.

[ImLawBoy]

I'm just catching up on this thread after watching the last couple of episodes. FWIW, I'm not going to bother spoilering plot points from the show, as I think it's a bit silly for something that's already aired. I can't imagine that there are too many people who are keeping up with the thread but who aren't up to date with the action - that's just asking to be spoiled. I know I avoid these kinds of threads until I'm current on the show and then catch up. If there are those who do want to try to keep up on the thread without having seen the show, though, consider this your SPOILER WARNING that you should probably skip my posts. (Of course, if I had any knowledge of what were coming via the books or other resources, I'd spoiler tag those.)

So, Episode 9. This was probably my least favorite episode of the season. There were some good elements of course, but the big drama was a race between Otto's and Alicent's teams to find Aegon first so that they could be the first to suggest whether or not to kill Rhaenyra? The drama didn't feel real to me. Larys's foot fetish was also weird to me. I'm sure he has enough power and wealth that he could hit the Streets of Silk to find someone willing to let him look at their feet while he rubs one out. Heck, they'd probably even let him suck on their toes. Maybe this'll be expanded into some sort of power play in Season 2, but for now it seems like it was just an attempt to add an ick/shock factor.

I did like how Aegon went from reluctant king to drunk on power with the masses cheering for him, but count me among those who were dissatisfied with Rhanys's appearance with the fireless dragon. She heedlessly kills and/or maims hundreds with her stunt, but then refuses kill a few more to prevent a civil war. I might have been OK with this if I hadn't watched the interviews after the show where they tried to justify this as her not wanting to do this to another mother. I could've come up with some justifications for this (e.g., she was letting them know that she was undecided, but that they also owed her big time because she could have ended Aegon II's reign 2 minutes after it started), but for them to give me a BS rationale left a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, I think they redeemed this somewhat in Episode 10 . . . .

I really liked Episode 10 and thought it was a great way to finish the season. I thought that Rhanys's explanation that she spared the Greens because it wasn't her war to start was reasonable (and much better than her sympathy for another mother), and she also showed that she wasn't going to take sides until Corlys declared (another better reason that mommy empathy). I liked the conflict between Rhaenyra and Daemon, with her being more measured and him being more warlike. I was impressed that he ultimately deferred to her, even if he was sulky about it.

I loved the hibachi map table. It's stupid and ostentatious and very royalty-like. Plus, if anyone gets peckish during a long strategy session they can whip up a quick grilled cheese without having to go to the kitchen. (I assume there is also a mini-fridge in there somewhere that somehow cools things with fire.)

I think they're setting Jace up to be the noble good guy (finally someone to root for without the baggage!), so it made sense for him to suggest that he and Luke go as messengers. I thought it was pretty obvious that they were going to off Luke, though, when Rhaenyra was trying to convince him how safe he'd be. As to why she'd send them off alone, I think she was relying on Westerosi custom that envoys/messengers are protected. Just as she prevented Daemon from taking any action against Otto, Borros Baratheon stopped Aemond from taking any action against Luke (in his halls, anyway).

I had some sympathy for Aemond when he first got Vhagar - he was picked on by both Aegon and Jace for not having a dragon, so he took things into his own hands and got himself one. Good for him! I bought into the heel turn with over the last few episodes, though, with him becoming so arrogant and starting to bully others (the cycle of bullying continues!). Plus, he looks so cartoonishly evil now that I just figured I should go with it. Still, he was obvously just trying to terrorize Luke and not kill him. Turns out dragons aren't so easy to control, even if you're a Targaryen.

Overall I was very happy with Season 1!

[EvilHomer3k]

People used to put hot coals in their bed (made of straw). Putting them under a stone table really isn't a big deal.

They were completely enclosed inside metal containers though. There's a difference between shoving an open Weber grill with red hot coals under your mattress and sticking a closed metal pot filled with hot coals under your mattress a few hours before bedtime. Now, if we can get a breakdown of the tables material, I might be less inclined to file a report with the Dragonstone City Council.

p.s. this is all just goofy banter. I'm not REALLY going to report anyone to the City Council.

Apparently it uses candles. You can call off OSHA.

[El Guapo]

I can confirm that ImLawBoy's opinions are 100% correct.

But yeah, I do enjoy the inside the episode vignettes, but the downside is that sometimes they give really dumb explanations for things that have much better explanations available...and that's annoying.

[El Guapo]

People used to put hot coals in their bed (made of straw). Putting them under a stone table really isn't a big deal.

They were completely enclosed inside metal containers though. There's a difference between shoving an open Weber grill with red hot coals under your mattress and sticking a closed metal pot filled with hot coals under your mattress a few hours before bedtime. Now, if we can get a breakdown of the tables material, I might be less inclined to file a report with the Dragonstone City Council.

p.s. this is all just goofy banter. I'm not REALLY going to report anyone to the City Council.

Apparently it uses candles. You can call off OSHA.

I just want them to film a special mini-episode focused on the contractors who were paid to install the Moon Door in the Eyrie. "Hold on, you want us to install a giant hole in the floor to periodically throw people through? And no guard rails? Gonna have to talk to legal on this one..."