House Of The Dragon 2
HBO and HBO Go
4 stars
In 2022, the first season of the highly-anticipated prequel to Game Of Thrones (2011 to 2019) disappointed many – it felt flatter, tonally.
Now that three episodes of the second season are out, it is clear that the creators are doubling down on the first season’s narrowed scope.
They have stayed away from the things that made Thrones special, such as the diversity of characters, ranging from sellswords and barbarian marauders to priestesses and nobles. Also banished from the Seven Kingdoms are witches with their magic, along with much of the humour.
Instead, fans got several dank castles and members of three highborn families, the Targaryens, the Velaryons and the Hightowers. The new season cements the impression that the writers hope to, as they say, class up the joint by ridding itself of its pulpy fantasy elements.
It is a gambit that carries some risk, but here are three reasons why this changed tack might work.
1. No sorcery, therefore no plot loopholes
When warlocks and wizards are introduced into a story, a deus ex machina problem also enters. Any thorny plot issue can be resolved with magic, like the great eagles that pluck Frodo and Sam from the side of an exploding mountain in The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003).
To be fair, the magic in author George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire novels gave the Thrones series some of its greatest thrills.
The spell-protected white walkers made for great villains. However, they also raised the stakes so high that by the final season, its creators had painted themselves into a corner: How were the good guys going to beat the unbeatable walkers in a way that felt earned and in keeping with canon?
As it turned out, the writers’ solution was booed everywhere, but a good answer to the walker problem was always going to be difficult to come by.
In House Of The Dragon, the absence of “abracadabra” solutions allows the story to develop in a grounded way. Conflicts started by people have to be fixed by people. Still, the appearance of magic later in the show cannot be ruled out.
Not all fantasy tropes are gone – the show has kept the fact that every impenetrable castle has a convenient secret passageway. Also, there is a gratuitous scene set in a brothel where the concept of private rooms does not exist.
2. Dragons are not the only answer
“Burn it all” – when all you have is a dragon, every problem can be solved with dragon fire. In Season 2, a dragon-on-dragon civil war is viewed by cooler minds as the medieval form of Mad, or mutual assured destruction.
Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) was supposed to be the heir to the Iron Throne until she was replaced by the son of her closest friend Alicent (Olivia Cooke). Rhaenyra’s rage is compounded by the fatal mauling of her son Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) by Vhagar, the dragon ridden by Queen Alicent’s son Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) in the finale of Season 1.
Despite this, Rhaenyra is reluctant to either wage full war or use her dragons. Like her late father Viserys (Paddy Considine), she has empathy, which is felt by some around her to be a sign of weakness. It adds to the intrigue, raising the question of what it will take to rouse her to seek the dragonfire option.